History
- Evolution of Judaism - Pre-Mosaic Stage
Little or nothing can be
known for certain about the nature of Hebrew worship before the
migration from Egypt. In Hebrew history, Abraham is already worshipping
a figure called "Elohim," which is the plural for "lord." This figure is
also called "El Shaddai" ("God the Mountaineer (?)," translated as "God
Almighty"), and a couple other variants. The name of God, Yahweh, isn't
learned by the Hebrews until Moses hears the name spoken by God on Mount
Sinai. This god requires animal sacrifices and regular expiation. He
intrudes on human life with astonishing suddenness, and often demands
absurd acts from humans. The proper human relationship to this god is
obedience, and the early history of humanity is a history of humans
oscillating between obedience to this god and autonomy. This god is
anthropomorphic: he has human qualities. He is frequently angered and
seems to have some sort of human body. In addition, the god worshipped
by Abraham and his descendants is the creator god, that is, the god
solely responsible for the creation of the universe. The god of Genesis
is bisexual: he/she is often referred to in female as well as male
terms. For instance, this god is represented frequently as "mothering"
or "giving birth through labor pains" to the world and humans (these
passages are universally mistranslated in English as "fathering"this
god is only referred to as a "father" twice in Genesis ). In Genesis ,
Elohim or El Shaddai functions as a primitive law-giver; after the
Flood, this god gives to Noah those primitive laws which apply to all
human beings, the so-called Noahide Laws. Nothing of the sophistication
and comprehensive of the Mosaic laws is evident in the early history of
the human relationship to Yahweh as outlined in Genesis .
Scholars have wracked their brains trying to figure out what conclusions
might be drawn about this human history. In general, they believe that
the portrait of Hebrew religion in Genesis is an inaccurate one. They
conclude instead that Hebrew monolatry and monotheism began with the
Yahweh cult introduced, according to Exodus, in the migration from Egypt
between 1300 and 1200 BC. The text of Genesis in their view is an
attempt to legitimate the occupation of Palestine by asserting a
covenantal relationship between Yahweh and the Hebrews that had been
established far in the distant past.
All these conclusions are brilliant but tentative, for we'll never know
for sure much of anything substantial about Hebrew history and religion
during the age of the patriarchs or the sojourn in Egypt. Nevertheless,
scholars draw on the text of Genesis to conclude the following
controversial ideas about early Hebrew religion:
Early Hebrew religion was polytheistic; the curious plural form of the
name of God, Elohim rather than El, leads them to believe that the
original Hebrew religion involved several gods. This plural form,
however, can be explained as a "royal" plural. Several other aspects of
the account of Hebrew religion in Genesis also imply a polytheistic
faith.
The earliest Hebrew religion was animistic, that is, the Hebrews
seemed worship forces of nature that dwelled in natural objects.
As a result, much of early Hebrew religion had a number of practices
that fall into the category of magic: scapegoat sacrifice and various
forms of imitative magic, all of which are preserved in the text of
Genesis .
Early Hebrew religion eventually became anthropomorphic, that is, god
or the gods took human forms; in later Hebrew religion, Yahweh becomes a
figure that transcends the human and material worlds. Individual tribes
probably worshipped different gods; there is no evidence in Genesis that
anything like a national God existed in the time of the patriarchs.
The most profound revolution in Hebrew thought, though, occurred in the
migration from Egypt, and its great innovator was Moses. In the epic
events surrounding the flight from Egypt and the settling of the
promised land, Hebrew religion became permanently and irrevocably, the
Mosaic religion.
From:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/HEBREWS/HEBREWS.HTM
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