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Henotheistic Israel

Henotheism is defined in the dictionary as adherence to one god out of several. Many scholars believe that before monotheism in ancient Israel came a transitional period. In this transitional period many followers of the Israelite religion worshiped the god Yahweh but did not deny the existence of other deities accepted throughout the region. Some scholars attribute this henotheistic period to influences from Mesopotamia. Many believe that Mesopotamia, particularly Assyria shared the concept of the Cult of Ashur with Israel. This concept entailed adopting the gods of other cultures into their pantheon, with Ashur as the supreme god of all the others. This concept is believed to have influenced the transitional period in Israelite religion in which many people were henotheists. Many also believe that the myths of ancient Mesopotamia also influenced many of the myths in the Torah and later in the Bible. The most famous of these being the myth of the great flood which can be found throughout Mesopotamian religion.

Israelite religion was formed from ancient Canaanite religion which itself was formed with influence from many Mesopotamian religious traditions. This is due to the fact that the Canaanite culture inhabited the same region prior to the emergence of Israelite culture. Canaanite religion was a polytheistic religion in which many gods represented unique concepts. Most scholars agree that the Israelite god of Yahweh was adopted from the Canaanite god El. El was the creation god and as such it makes sense for the Israelite supreme god to adopt El’s characteristics. Monotheism in the region of ancient Israel and Judah however took a while to firmly take hold. Before monotheism was firmly cemented in the culture of the Israelite's, a period of transition from polytheism to monotheism occured. In this transitional period many people were henotheistic. Worshiping Yahweh above all other gods, but not denying the existence of other gods that had for so long been a part of their tradition.

During this period of henotheism many families worship different gods. Religion was very much centered around the family, as opposed to the community. People sparsely populated the region of Israel and Judah during the time of Moses. As such many different areas worshiped different gods, due to social isolation. It was not until later on in Israelite history that people started to worship Yahweh alone and fully convert to monotheistic values. Part of that switch from henotheism to monotheism was when kings in Israelite territory started to promote Yahweh over all other gods. They made him the official god of the Israelite kingdom, and the religion of Israel began to diverge dramatically from ancient Canaanite religion.

Scholars have used the Bible as evidence to argue that most of the people alive during the events recounted in the Old Testament, including Moses, were most likely Henotheists. Many quotes from the Old Testament support this point of view. One quote from Deuteronomy 29 reads, “ They [the Hebrews] went and served alien gods and paid homage to them, gods of whom they had no experience and whom he [Yahweh] did not allot to them”. Many believe that this quote goes to show that in the early Israelite kingdom followed similar traditions as ancient Mesopotamia. In which each major urban center had a supreme god, and as such each culture came to be associated with their major deity. For Assyrians it was Ashur and for the Israelites it was Yahweh. The quote examined above describes Hebrews leaving a major urban center with Yahweh as chief god, and migrating to other Urban centers which had different chief gods.

Many attribute the concept of angels and demons found in Judaism and Christianity to the tradition of henotheism. Instead of completely getting rid of the concept of other supernatural beings these religions changed former deities into angels and demons. Yahweh became the supreme god governing over angels, demons and humans. With angels and demons considered more powerful than the average human. This tradition of believing in multiple forms of supernatural beings is attributed by many to the traditions of ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan and their pantheons of gods.