fulltimestudent,
When you read the OT, you are reading the views of only one voice, the priestly Yahwists who were determined to have all worship centralised at their location, Jerusalem. You are reading their propaganda.
The fact is that other sectors of the Hebrew community were not monotheists, which is the reason for the complaints and assertions that needed to be made by the Yahwists. For example, when the general Hebrew populace (typified through the power group known as the People of the Land) accepted YHWH, they assigned EL's wife Asherah to him. And they worshiped both YHWH and Asherah together. Consider the references to her in the OT.
It is, of course, more complex than can be described here, but EL was the supreme God in charge of the elohim comprising 70 Gods. YHWH was a minor, warlike, angry god, in contrast to nature of EL. Gradually, the Hebrews (the hill-dwelling Canaanite tribes) took on YHWH from their neighbours. Other gods, such as Baal, figure in the mix (consider the bull at Sinai), but as I indicate, you need to study books that are devoted to the subject. I have listed some of these books on recent threads (exactly which, I do not recall, but not so long ago).
Doug