Monotheism is the idea that there is one, single God over all. Polytheism is the idea that many gods exist. Most primitive cultures are polytheistic. I suspect that as people try to explain their world without the benefit of science, they propose supernatural theories, such as animism, magic, ancestor spirits and polytheism as forces defining their environment. With the complexity of the world, it is easy to theorize why the idea of multiple gods with varying agendas could be proposed by primitive man. With a little imagination it is easy to see how a primitive people without the benefit of a scientific approach could develop a polytheistic theology in order to explain the world around them.
Some early middle eastern religions began to approach monotheism such as Amenhotep IV of Egypt, who attributed the creation to a single god, the sun-god Aten. It appears that some of his predecessors held similar ideas. Amenhotep IV (married to Nefertiti) banned the priesthoods of other gods, altered monuments, illegalized all but Aten images (solar ray disc, see attached picture) and even changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning "servent of Aten". His ideas were later rejected and Egypt returned to polytheism.
Most Middle Eastern polytheistic religious texts begin with a theogeny, or the story of the origin of the gods. These stories are couched in epic poems. There is evidence of biblical writers responding to these earlier texts, and that knowledge of these texts were common at the time Genesis, Isaiah, Psalms & Job were written (more on this later).
Yahweh* is not included in a theogeny -- because He always existed, a key concept of monotheism. How could an unchanging, perfect being come into existence, or change? Unlike other middle eastern religions, Israelites do not have festivals commemorating events in their God's life -- because He is non-changing, so there are no events to commemorate. Festivals instead are about historic events of nation of Israel.
Today, three of the world's major religions descended from the Hebrews; Judaism, Christianity & Islam. All three are monotheistic and claim to worship the God first described by the early Hebrews.
* "Yahweh" can also be construed as "YHWH" (Hebrew text, traditionally without vowels), or "Jehovah," (English).
Some early middle eastern religions began to approach monotheism such as Amenhotep IV of Egypt, who attributed the creation to a single god, the sun-god Aten. It appears that some of his predecessors held similar ideas. Amenhotep IV (married to Nefertiti) banned the priesthoods of other gods, altered monuments, illegalized all but Aten images (solar ray disc, see attached picture) and even changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning "servent of Aten". His ideas were later rejected and Egypt returned to polytheism.
Most Middle Eastern polytheistic religious texts begin with a theogeny, or the story of the origin of the gods. These stories are couched in epic poems. There is evidence of biblical writers responding to these earlier texts, and that knowledge of these texts were common at the time Genesis, Isaiah, Psalms & Job were written (more on this later).
Yahweh* is not included in a theogeny -- because He always existed, a key concept of monotheism. How could an unchanging, perfect being come into existence, or change? Unlike other middle eastern religions, Israelites do not have festivals commemorating events in their God's life -- because He is non-changing, so there are no events to commemorate. Festivals instead are about historic events of nation of Israel.
Today, three of the world's major religions descended from the Hebrews; Judaism, Christianity & Islam. All three are monotheistic and claim to worship the God first described by the early Hebrews.
* "Yahweh" can also be construed as "YHWH" (Hebrew text, traditionally without vowels), or "Jehovah," (English).
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