Yhwh, the Goddess and Evil: Is 'monotheism' an adequate concept to describe the Hebrew Bible's discourses about the God of Israel?

Thomas C R�Mer

doi:10.4102/ve.v34i2.841

Abstract

The concept of �monotheism� has become a matter of debate in Hebrew Bible scholarship. This article investigates whether the concept should still be used, starting with Second Isaiah, who in the early Persian period elaborated a discourse that presented Yhwh as the only god. Therefore he had to integrate into this deity functions traditionally attributed to goddesses and to demons or evil gods. However, this attempt did not succeed. The goddess, whose elimination is probably reflected in Zechariah 5, returned in a certain way through the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 8, and the �dark sides� of the gods were materialised in the figure of Satan, who experienced an impressive career in the following centuries. The question of evil is not resolved in the Hebrew Bible. Some texts admit the autonomy of evil, whereas Isaiah 45 claims that Yhwh himself is at the origin of evil. This diversity makes it difficult to characterise the Hebrew Bible as the result of a straightforward evolution from polytheism to monotheism.

Highlights

In a recent article, Jurie le Roux has emphasised the fact that in Biblical and historical research the ‘good’ question is as important as the answer (Le Roux 2009)
It is my pleasure to offer to my revered colleague and dear friend the following preliminary observations in which I will ask whether we still should continue to use the term ‘monotheism’ when speaking of the theological discourses of the Hebrew Bible
It has been used since in order to prove the superiority of the monotheistic religion in regard to paganism and polytheism

Summary

Introduction

Jurie le Roux has emphasised the fact that in Biblical and historical research the ‘good’ question is as important as the answer (Le Roux 2009). Second Isaiah presents Yhwh in the same role that the Babylonian god, Marduk, plays in the Cyrus cylinder.

Results

Conclusion