Does the Hebrew Bible shows unmistakable traces of polytheism?

Answer 1

It depends on your perspective, but it's probably inaccurate to use the word "unmistakable" in this instance.

Answer:The traditional understanding is that mention of foreign gods in the Hebrew Bible is nothing more than an acknowledgement that some people worship them. It doesn't mean to ascribe any truth or genuine power to them. See Deuteronomy 4:39. This is made clear by the dozens of verses that explicitly belittle and dismiss the polytheistic gods (such as Deuteronomy 4:28).

The entire Hebrew Bible is predicated upon the existence of One God. God wrecked the Egyptian idols (Exodus 12:12) and warned against idolatry (Exodus 22:19). Abraham worshiped "the Lord God of Heaven and Earth" (Genesis 14:22 and 24:3) and complained about the idolatrous Philistines' lack of fear of God (Genesis 20:11). Jacob confiscated the idolatrous images taken from Shechem (Genesis 35:2) and got rid of them (Genesis 35:4); and refrained from invoking the gods of Nahor (Genesis 31:53). Rachel pilfered Laban's statue-images (Genesis 31:19) in order to prevent him from idolatry (Rashi commentary, ibid.). Joseph placed his hope in the God of the Forefathers (Genesis 50:24). Moses characterized the Golden Calf as "a great sin" (Exodus 32:21, 30) and punished the worshipers (Exodus ch.32).

Shortly before he died, Moses warned the people that he suspected that they would eventually succumb to the sin of idolatry (Deuteronomy 29:17). Joshua gave a similar warning (Joshua ch. 24).

These warnings came true. Many of the Israelites went astray after the foreign gods (Judges 2:11). However, God punished the people for this; and His prophets consistently made it clear that idolatry is a cardinal sin.

The Jews never invented their own idol. It was always the baneful influence of other peoples. And there were times when the entire Jewish nation repented (Judges 2:1-4) and prayed to God (Judges 3:9, 3:15, 6:6, 10:10).

Because of the idol-worship that did happen, images of idols have been found in Israel too. Images of the true God aren't found because it is forbidden to represent Him through imagery (Deuteronomy 4:15-16).

It should be noted that the tradition of the One God was handed down in every generation, whether by the few or the many; and it is those who handed down the tradition whose beliefs we Jews continue today. Deborah ascribed victory to God (Judges 4:14), Gideon tore down the idolatrous altar (Judges 6:25-27); Samson prayed to God (Judges 16:28), as did Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11) and Samuel (ibid. 12:18); Eli blessed in the name of God (1 Samuel 2:20), Saul built an altar to God (1 Samuel 14:35); Jonathan ascribed victory to God (1 Samuel 14:12), as did David (1 Samuel 17:46); and Solomon built the Temple for God (1 Kings 8:20). A number of the kings "did what was right in God's eyes": Asa (1 Kings 15:11), Yehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:43), Yehoash (2 Kings 12:3), Amatziah (2 Kings 14:3), Azariah (2 Kings 15:3), Yotam (2 Kings 15:34), Hizkiah (2 Kings 18:3), and Josiah (2 Kings 22:2).

And, of course, the Prophets, who spoke in the name of God and warned against idolatry: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and so on.

Answer There could be no sign of polytheism in The Bible unless the Hebrew people were actually polytheistic at some time in their history. Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) describe hundreds of artefacts found by archaeologists in ancient Israel and Judah, attesting to the polytheistic nature of their religion, so any traces of polytheism found in the Bible would be consistent with the facts established by archaeologists and should not be dismissed lightly. However, it would be inaccurate to describe all such references as "unmistakeable", as there could be other explanations for some of these.

The story of Abraham speaks nothing of monotheism, but contains instances where polytheism is the natural meaning, even if not unmistakeably so. Genesis 20:13 is one case of possible polytheism. The Hebrew word 'elohimmeans God when used in a singular context or with a singular verb, but means gods when used with a plural verb. Here it is translated into English as God, consistent with modern usage, but the verb is plural. So, we do not know whether God or gods caused Abraham to leave his father's house. When Abraham met the three 'elohim, this seems a very real case of three gods but modern readers argue they were only angels, although Abraham referred to one as the Lord.

In 2 Samuel 21:19, it is El-Hanan who slew Goliath. El-Hanan was originally the name of a Semitic god, not a mortal hero, which points to Goliath having one been part of the myth surrounding El-Hanan, but incompletely transposed to the story of David in order to eliminate traces of polytheism from the record.

The story of Jacob and Esau have unmistakeable traces of polytheism, with Jacob the moon god and Esau the sun god. As rivals, they even fought in thewomb, and Jacob sought to prevent Esau being born first, requiring mental and physical skills far beyond those of a mortal baby. The story morphed into a story of ancestral humans, but the polytheistic traces are unmistakeable.

Shortly after leaving Esau, Jacob was left alone and wrestled with an opponent all night until the break of day, when the man said he must leave (Genesis 32:24ff). Even though his leg was dislocated, Jacob refused to let his opponent go unless he blessed Jacob. That the 'man' was a god is amply demonstrated - Jacob asked for his blessing, he had the prerogative of changing Jacob's name, Jacob's new name was Israel (generally assumed to mean 'wrestled with God') and Jacob called the place Peniel ('the face of God') because he had seen God face to face. If the man who wrestled with Jacob was a god, then Jacob was also a god in the very early tradition behind this passage, as demonstrated by the fact that he was such an even match for his opponent. And if the opponent was a god, he was also a sun god - daybreak signalled the end of the contest, he had to leave Jacob before the sun could rise, then the sun rose upon Jacob. Of course, modern readers attempt to place various different meanings on the story, but none of them is a good fit. This was the daily struggle in which the sun god defeats the moon god at dawn.