What was the religion of the ancient Hebrews?

Answer 1

Judaism, the same as today, except that sacrifices have been replaced by prayer and study.

AnswerJudaism is now a monotheistic religion and it is easy to believe that was always the case, but until the late monarchy at least, the Jews were polytheistic just as their neighbours were. Lang, cited by Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel), tells us "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. Insofar as there were differences between the Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Tyrian, etc. versions of religion, these beliefs stayed within the framework of Near Eastern polytheism, and each should be interpreted as a local variant of the same basic pattern. The Israelites . . . venerated their own protector god who was there to provide for health and family. But they venerated Yahweh [God] as well, the regional and national god, whose special domain dealt with war and peace issues."

The ancient Hebrews worshipped many gods but by the end of the Babylonian Exile, at the latest, the national God Yahweh was to become the one God of Judaism, the new religion of Judah.

Answer 2

The Torah itself; what we now call Judaism. http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-history/judaism-and-monotheism

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-philosophy/principles-of-judaism

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-history/what-was-israelite-society-like

Answer 3

If by Israelites, we are talking about the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, they were at all times polytheistic, although centuries later the scribes of the southern kingdom, Judah, rewrote history in an attempt to hide what had become an embarrassing fact. As an example, the name of one of the biblical judges is Jerubbaal, which indicates that his father named him in honour of the god Baal, known to have been worshipped in Israel, but Jerubbaal was also known in the Book of Judges as Gideon. The author of Judges, a staunch follower of Yahweh, could not write the story of the hero who had been chosen to drive out the Midianite menace, when his name was associated with Baal. Instead of using the artificial name Gideon, 2 Samuel 11:21 renames him as Jerubbeshet, so once again removing Baal from his real name. Later, 1 Chronicles 8-9 altered his name further, to Ishboshet (‘man of shame’).

Lang (cited in English by Keel and Uehlinger in Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel), tells us: "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. Insofar as there were differences between the Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Tyrian, etc. versions of religion, these beliefs stayed within the framework of Near Eastern polytheism, and each should be interpreted as a local variant of the same basic pattern. The Israelites . . . venerated their own protector god who was there to provide for health and family. But they venerated Yahweh [God] as well, the regional and national god, whose special domain dealt with war and peace issues."

With some relatively minor differences, the religion of Judah was much the same as that of Israel during the same period. After the destruction of Israel, Judah moved towards monolatry, at least as its official religion, although there is evidence of polytheism continuing right up to the time of the Babylonian Exile. By the time of the Babylonian Exile, Judaism had become strongly monotheistic and, as noted briefly above, made considerable efforts to wipe out all memory of its polytheistic past.

Answer 4

We now know, through biblical exegesis and through Archaeology, that polytheism was practised by the people in Judah and Israel. This, in turn, was to a substantial extent based on the religion of their Canaanite forebears. Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) say there were no strict boundaries between the Israelite/Judahite religion and that of its neighbours, at the end of the ninth century and during the eighth century. The early Hebrews had one additional God that was not worshipped by their neighbours, the god Yahweh who originally came from southeast Palestine or northwest Arabia, and is evident earlier in Judah than in Israel.

As the early gods gradually disappeared from the Jewish pantheon, the monotheistic religion we now know as Judaism began to evolve.

Answer 5

Ancient Israelites believed in a God called Yahweh. Yahweh was also the God for the kingdom of Judah.

Answer 6

Today it is called Judaism. In ancient times it was simply called The Torah, without a specific name.

Answer 7

We refer to it as Judaism, but in its time, it had no name.

Answer 8

We refer to it as Judaism, but in its time, it had no name other than Torah.