What was the first to teach monotheism or belief in one god?

Answer 1

A:Lang, cited by Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) tells us of the beliefs of the Hebrew people: "In the four and a half centuries during which there were one or two Israelite monarchies (ca. 1020-586 B.C.), there was a dominant, polytheistic religion that was indistinguishable from that of neighboring peoples."

This all began to change with the reign of King Josiah in the seventh century BCE. He introduced religious reforms that included making monotheism the official religion of the Jews. However, many scholars say that these reforms were only partly successful and that polytheism continued to be practised by the ordinary people until the Babylonian Exile. In the event, monotheistic Judaism did become the religion of all Jews.

Answer 2

It depends on how you define monotheism, because many ancient religious had systems virtually identical to monotheism, but with slight variations, such as monolatry and henotheism.

In a broad sense, the first monotheists may have been certain sects of Hinduism, around 3000 BCE. If you only consider ethical monotheism, the first one is Judaism, practiced possibly as early as 2000 BCE, but there are many debates as to weather Judaism originated as a monotheism or a henotheism.