What is monotheism and why did this belief set the ancient Hebrews apart?

Answer 1

The Hebrew's belief in one God was in marked contrast to the many gods of the nations round about them at that time. Archaeologists who have deciphered ancient writing in Egypt, for example, have discovered that as they looked at the earliest dated records the beliefs tended closer towards monotheism, as evidence that something akin to this was the original religious expression of mankind. By the time the Israelites existed as a nation, this primitive monotheism which the Israelites themselves maintained continuously as their official religious expression had deteriorated into polytheism, often of the grossest kind, in other nations.

Answer 2

A:Monotheism is belief in just one god, while polytheism is belief in more than one god. Prior to the Deuteronomistic reforms of King Josiah of Judah, in the seventh century BCE, the Hebrew people were polytheistic with a religion almost indistinguishable from those of their neighbours. King Josiah made monotheism the official religion of Judah, although many scholars believe that polytheistic beliefs remained very widespread until the Babylonian Exile. At this stage, the only other monotheistic religion in the Near East was Zoroastrianism, the religion of the benefactors of the Jews. For the remainder of the first millennium BCE, Jewish monotheistic beliefs were almost unique in the world and were written back into The Bible to provide a largely monotheistic history of the Israelites.

Answer 3

A:In ancient times, monotheism was inherent to Zoroastrianism for most of the period after 1700 BCE, Egyptian religion under Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) around 1364 to 1347 BCE and Judaism from around the sixth century BCE onwards. The Greek philosophers also described monotheism around 500 BCE, without necessarily subscribing to it.

The obvious difference between monotheism and polytheism is that monotheism allows only one God to exist. Even monolatry and henonism accept the existence of other gods, while only worshipping one God. The commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3)" is as consistent with the monolatry of the late monarchy in Judah as it is with monotheism, since it only demands that Yahweh (God) be the first and most revered god. The Persians believed thatit did not matter what people called their god, Ahura Mazda, as long as they worshipped him, and apparently thought of the Jewish God as synonymous with their own.

Polytheistic cultures, including the early Hebrews, made use of divine images in art but monotheism is often thought of in conjunction with aniconism - the absence of idols and divine images. In fact, archaeologists date Jewish aniconism from the beginning of the seventh century BCE, when Judah was moving towards monolatry but long before the full adoption of monotheism.