176
T
he earliest authors of the
Jewish Bible seem to
have acknowledged the
existence of many gods, but
insisted that the one whose name
is rendered as YHWH was the
greatest among them, and that
the Israelites should worship only
YHWH. It appears, then, that at
some time during the biblical
period, the Jewish people moved
from this exclusive worship of
one god among many (known as
monolatry) to the belief that only
one god existed (monotheism).YHWH rules all nations
In addition to the views of the
Bible’s authors, archaeological
evidence suggests that the early
Israelites worshipped a variety
of regional gods. The prophets of
the god YHWH, whose writings
comprise a large portion of the
Bible, harshly rebuked the people
for this practice. It is not clear
whether the prophets were all
true monotheists, but they did
believe that YHWH was supremely
powerful and ruled over all nations.
In 722 BCE, the Assyrians
conquered the northern kingdom of
Israel and exiled its people. Around
130 years later, the BabyloniansIN CONTEXT
KEY SOURCE
Second IsaiahWHEN AND WHERE
c.540 BCE, Babylon/JudeaBEFORE
1400–1200 BCE The prophet
Zoroaster forms a new religion
with one supreme god.c.1000 BCE The “Song of the
Sea,” a poem in the Bible’s
Exodus, proclaims YHWH
supreme over other gods.c.622 BCE King Josiah of
Judah abolishes worship
of gods other than YHWH.AFTER
c.20 BCE–40 CE Philo of
Alexandria argues that biblical
monotheism had anticipated
later Greek philosophical
conceptions of God.7th century Islam is revealed
to the Prophet Muhammad,
and monotheism supplants
polytheistic beliefs held
among the tribes of Arabia.YHWH is the
greatest god; his power
is supreme, universal,
and eternal.Because he is
omnipotent he needs
no subordinates.No other being can
countermand his wishes.Even events that harm his
people—the Israelites—are
orchestrated by him.There are no other gods
but YHWH.Both the evil and good of the
world are part of his plan.BESIDE ME
THERE IS NO
OTHER GOD
FROM MONOLATRY TO MONOTHEISM