If the Hebrews were first Polytheistic how did Hezekiah influence the doctrine of one God?

Answer 1

The Jews were never Polytheistic - they were originally Henotheistic. That is, they worshipped one G-d but it was a local G-d, and they didn't deny that other deities might exist. Abraham was a Hebrew, and his father was a Pagan, who worshipped many gods. But Abraham made the eternal covenant with the Jewish G-d and as he was the founder of Judaism, from that time on, there was always the idea of connecting to only ONE G-d, even though it was initially a local and tribal G-d who protected the Israelites. It was after Moses and the Israelites received the Torah at Mt Sinai, that the Jews became strictly Monotheistic, and the local deity became a universal G-d. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a consequence of the above Hezekiah was merely seeking to return his people to the faith of their fathers in terms of belief in one universal deity. His authority was the Jewish scriptures and universal belief.

Polytheism was the belief of the inhabitants of the land which belonged to Israel by right from the time of Abraham, but not yet possessed. At times numbers of the nation adopted these beliefs, but this was never ever the official or true religion of Israel.

The idea that the religion of Israel evolved through Polytheism to Henotheism to Monotheism was part of the now disproven Documentary Hypothesis or JEDP Theory of Julius Wellhausen, Kuenen and others in the 19th century. The evidence in the religion of Israel actually points the other way.

Hezekiah's authority thus comes from the Hebrew scriptures, its official religious document and also its official religion which had been departed from but nevertheless persisted in the faithful. Hezekiah merely encouraged a return to this original and official religion of Israel which was already fully formed from Moses' time.