Jahve, the one and only god?

Presumably Jahve enthroned on a winged wheel

 

I once read that there presumably has been around 3000 gods and goddesses up till now. Actually, I'm sure there must have been even more, but most of these old religious figures have been forgotten or have been absorbed by other deities. One of the reasons for this is that faith changes over time. Once people believed in gods who, for them were as genuine, powerful, and important as Jahve became for us. We tend to laugh a little at those who worshipped these "pagan" gods and goddesses of the past, but that's not fair. To them their gods, and their myths were as true as those that go with The Bible is - or were - for Christian believers. What's interesting is that people tend to build a pantheon in most societies and to fight those who don't believe in their god/gods - that is unless they include the non-believers's deities in their own religion. One thing is for sure, all over the world religions change and develop over time ....

 

When the Jews didn't destroy the inhabitants of Canaan as they had been told to do, but stayed and even married Canaanite women they were exposed to the foreign gods that were incorporated into their pantheon. One of these foreign gods was the Canaanite El who was the consort of the mighty goddess Asherah. Actually, she seems to have had several consorts which makes it interesting that with time Jahve blended in with El: Actually, most - but not all - scholars believe that El and Jahve were - or became - one ....

Asherah

Findings indicate that when entering Canaan the Jews were polytheistic: Jahve was not the omnipotent "sky-Daddy", but was part of a Divine Counsil which ended up being absorbed by him. There are references to Jahve's presiding over a pantheon e.g. in some of The Psalms, and he is called "Elohim". Also other parts of The Old Testament have references to Jahve and his "council". One must not forget that "The Bible" came into being not in a flash, but as a lengthy process of 1000 years: Circa 1200 BC-circa 200 BC. As to Abraham and the other old patriarchs they seem to have come into existence around 721 BC when Israel fell to Assyria. Originally Jahve was connected with the exodus from Egypt, Moses and the Ten Commandments.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Council 

 

https://www.openbible.info/topics/jahve 

 

https://www.worldhistory.org/Yahweh/ 

 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yahweh