Why does God forbid polytheism?

Answer 1

Until the late monarchy, the people of Israel and Judah were themselves polytheistic. They followed bizarre and cruel practices, which included child sacrifice by fire (see, for example, 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). Children had no rights and a son who struck his father must be put to death; daughters were sold for a bride price. Prostitution was a fixed part of public worship, as we see by reference to temple prostitutes. Archaeologists have found numerous pictures of gods, dating to the early monarchy and the period of the Judges, and inscriptions that showed the goddess Asherah to be the divine consort of YHWH (God).

The later prophets said that polytheism is, by implication, turning one's back on God and insisted that God forbids polytheism. It was through their intercession, and the impact of the Babylonian Exile, that God was able to reach the Jews with his prohibition on polytheism.

Answer 2

From the beginning of history, Adam and Noah were commanded against polytheism (Talmud, Sanhedrin 56), and they taught all who were willing to listen. Researchers have found traces of this initial belief in the One God, which gave way to idolatry relatively quickly (Rashi commentary, Genesis 4:26), before the time of Abraham.The reasons for the prohibition are:

1) Polytheism is, by implication, turning one's back on God.

2), God foresaw that it would become a slippery slope, devolving into bizarre and cruel practices, and eventually mere materialism. This is what the Israelite prophets fought against, when their own people began to be tempted (see this linked page).

Idolatry tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the idols were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior. Many of the ethics that today are taken for granted were as yet unknown to the practitioners of polytheism.For example:

1) Classical European nations held that killing one's unwanted young babies is perfectly acceptable.

2) Children had no rights. In Carthage, babies were sacrificed in fire. Roman law (Patrias Potestas) permitted a man to kill his male descendants of any age and for any reason. Professor and former President of the American Historical Association, William L. Langer (in The History of Childhood), writes: "Children, being physically unable to resist aggression, were the victims of forces over which they had no control, and they were abused in almost unimaginable ways."

3) Under Israelite law, "an eye for an eye" has always meant the monetary value placed upon it by the court (Talmud, Bava Kama 83b). Roman law, however, included literal retaliation (Twelve Tables of Roman Law, 7:9).

4) Romans were killed for the crime of slander (Twelve Tables, 7:8).

5) A Roman could be killed for assembling a noisy crowd at night and disturbing the town (Twelve Tables, 9:6).

6) In Roman law, anyone could accuse a man of owing them money and the debtor could be killed (Twelve Tables, 3:10).

7) In Europe, the Druids practiced human sacrifice throughout Gaul and the British isles. Virgins were sacrificed by casting them into wells. Other victims were hung or burned. The Goths, too, offered up human victims. Ibn Fadlan famously describes the sacrifice of a female slave as part of a Viking ship burial which he witnessed in 922 CE. Anglo-Saxon excavations suggest that female servants were sometimes killed and buried with their master who had died, or were buried alive.

8) In Central America, the gods were propitiated by cutting out the hearts of victims.

9) Prostitution was a fixed part of public worship throughout the East.

10) In the Roman cities, the Bacchanalian feasts became so wild that a royal decree was promulgated that they be held outside city limits.

Answer 3

The many gods of polytheistic religions certainly don't. If they did they would forbid their own religion.