Ancient Israel Religion
Ancient near eastern religions were polytheistic recognizing and worshipping more than one deity. 2 jun 1940 pp.
According to the religious narrative of the hebrew bible the israelites origin is traced back to the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs abraham and his wife sarah through their son isaac and his wife rebecca and their son jacob who was later called israel whence they derive their name with his wives leah and rachel and the handmaids zilpa and bilhah.
Ancient israel religion. Deities of ancient israel the religion of ancient israel was not as simple as most people might think. There were three major deities that were important to the israelites and their surrounding. The society of biblical literature stable url.
The polytheism though was counterbalanced by devotion to one or two primary deities. In assyria the patron god was ashur and in ancient israel it was yahweh. Between the 10th century and 7th centuries bce ancient israelite and judean religion was polytheistic.
However both israelite and assyrian cultures recognized each other s deities during this period. Biblical monotheism the concept of a single god with universal authority stands out as a unique development in ancient israel. In modern times christianity judaism and islam are all monotheistic religions.
Smaller faiths include sunni islam christianity mostly melkite and orthodox and the druze. Journal of biblical literature vol. Religion in israel is manifested primarily in judaism.
The ancient near east and the religion of israel author s. As early as the 10th century bce israelite and judean religion began to emerge within the broader west semitic culture otherwise known as canaanite culture. 99 some scholars have used the bible as evidence to argue that most of the people alive during the events recounted in the old testament including moses were most likely henotheists.
This article suggests placing renewed emphasis on the consideration of israelite religion in the context of the amorite antecedents that are evident for many israelite religious traditions by means of the archaeological record. Israel is the world s only jewish majority state. That israel had ancient memories of its nomadic origins and no memory whatsoever of its canaanite origins seems to strongly o 2007 the author religion compass 116 2007 587 614 10 1 11 11 1749 8171.
