Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
The early Hebrews were polytheists, and the early conceptions have God as one of a number of elohim. He didn't claim to be the only god. He simply required his followers to put him first in their worship. (Moses besting the Pharoah's magicians has a strong flavor of "My god can beat your gods!") I was curious about the transition, and how he went from "the god that is our god" to "the only god that exists."
Dennis
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There were multiple natural phenomena to explain away, so it stands to reason that there was a pantheon in early Judaism. Further, Judaism is not only fractious now but probably started as a combination of beliefs meeting at the crossroads which was Canaan. From what I can see it appears to be at least partially the result of an exposure to Zoroastrianism, which appears to have still more in common with Christianity.