The Biblical Understanding of YHWH’s Role in Ancient Israel’s History

Is the Hebrew Bible history or theology?

Like all historiography, biblical accounts of Israel’s national history are both selective and interpretive. They emphasize that Israel’s history was guided by God and that the religious conduct of the people of Israel is the key to understanding their history. In other words, the biblical account is more an ideological interpretation of the past than an objective narration of events. It is essentially the history of Israel’s relationship with its God, YHWH. The nation was born with God’s command to Abraham to migrate to the land of Canaan. After taking the people of Israel out of Egypt, God entered into a covenantal relationship with them by giving them the laws by which they were to live. Their welfare depended on adherence to those laws, particularly God’s command that Israel worship God alone and shun the worship of other gods, including idols. Episodes of idolatry led to disaster.

The Bible maintains that all the military crises in the promised land stemmed entirely or in part from repeated lapses into idolatry by the people or their kings, which the Bible often attributes to their accepting the religious practices of remaining Canaanites and of neighboring states and the dominant empires. According to the book of Kings, the Northern Kingdom was idolatrous from the start: its first king, Jeroboam, established sanctuaries with golden calves to compete with the Temple in Jerusalem. A later king, Ahab, married a Phoenician princess, Jezebel, who promulgated the worship of the Canaanite god Baal in the kingdom. There were also periodic episodes of idolatry in the Southern Kingdom, as well as persistent worship at “shrines,” sanctuaries other than the single site that according to the book of Deuteronomy was to be the only legitimate place to worship YHWH. This site is identified in the book of Kings as Jerusalem. A few kings of Judah undertook extensive religious reforms, but their efforts were usually short-lived. Prophets warned that these sins would lead to the destruction of both kingdoms. The book of Kings evaluates every monarch by whether he tolerated these sins or acted against them. After the destruction of both kingdoms, the narrative confirms that idolatry was the cause.

Were the Israelites not really monotheists?

The origin of the central theme in the biblical understanding of history, namely, Israel’s duty to worship YHWH alone and to shun other gods, is one of the most intensely debated subjects in biblical scholarship. The debate involves a distinction between monolatry, the practice of worshiping only a single god, without denying the existence of other gods, and monotheism, the belief that only one god exists. Were these phenomena part of Israelite religion as early as the Bible says, or did they develop only later, with monolatry developing first and then, with the classical prophets, monotheism? Some references to the worship of other gods by Israelites must be authentic, but certain scholars question whether polytheism in Israel was really as extensive as the Bible’s sweeping accusations suggest. Archaeological evidence, particularly figurines and inscriptions, is also pertinent. A few figurines (including one of a bull) might represent a male deity, and there are a great number of figurines of naked females, perhaps representing goddesses. There is, however, no consensus that these do represent deities (see Figurines and Seals and Seal Impressions). Among the inscriptions from the late ninth to sixth centuries that invoke divine blessings, a few may possibly invoke a goddess alongside YHWH (see Inscriptions, Letters, and Blessings and Curses), but most invoke YHWH alone. Similarly, among the hundreds of personal names in inscriptions from this period, a few may refer to other gods, but they are vastly outnumbered by the YHWH names. All this evidence illustrates some of the ways that religious allegiance might express itself, although scholars disagree about its bearing on the extent of polytheism in Israel.