Yahwism

Yahwism is the name given by contemporary scholars to the religion of the ancient kingdoms of Israel (circa 930–720 BCE) and Judah (circa 930–587 BCE). Yahwism was essentially polytheistic, incorporating several gods and goddesses. The primary god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah was Yahweh, along with his consort, goddess Asherah. Various biblical passages indicate that statues of Asherah were kept in Yahweh's temples in Jerusalem, Bethel, and Samaria. Secondary gods and goddesses included Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, each of whom had their own priests and prophets. A third tier of specialist deities may have existed such as the god of snakebite cures. Biblical text identifies him only as Nehushtan. A fourth and final tier included divine beings such as the mal'ak, messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels and cherubim of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The existence of other gods was denied in the second half of the Book of Isaiah. During the monarchic period (10th to 6th centuries BCE), the religion of Israel moved towards the sole worship of Yahweh. Initially, these theological changes were confined to small groups, only spreading to the population at large during the general political turbulence of the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. This progressive evolution towards monotheism culminated by the end of the Babylonian exile in the late 6th century BCE. By the 4th century BCE, Yahwism had coalesced into what are now known as Second Temple Judaism in Judah and Samaritanism in Israel. Yahweh was not the original principal god of Israel, but rather El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon whose name forms the basis of the name Israel. None of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have Yahwistic theophoric names (ones that incorporate the name of Yahweh). The Hebrew Bible gives the impression that the Jerusalem Temple was always meant to be the central and sole temple of Yahweh, but archaeological remains of other temples have been discovered at Dan on Israel's northern frontier, Arad, Beersheba, and Motza in the southern region of Judah. Shiloh, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah, and Dan were also major sites for festivals, sacrifices, vow-making, private rituals, and the resolution of legal disputes. During an era of religious syncretism, it became accepted among the Israelite people to consider the Canaanite god El as the same as Yahweh. El was soon thought to have always been the same deity as Yahweh, as noted by Exodus 6:2–3: "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." Worship of Yahweh as sole deity began at the earliest with prophet Elijah in the 9th century BCE, and at the latest with prophet Hosea in the 8th. Even then it remained a minority view before gaining ascendancy in the exilic and early post-exilic period. Some scholars date the advent of widespread monotheism to the 8th century BCE and regard it as a response to Neo-Assyrian aggression. The rituals detailed in Leviticus 1–16, with their stress on purity and atonement, were followed only after the Babylonian exile and the transition from Yahwism to Judaism. Before this era, any head of a family could offer sacrifice as occasion demanded. In addition to the sacrificial priests, a major role in Yahwism, and later in Judaism, was fulfilled by prophets and epic heroes (Samson and Joshua, for example).