Q&A: The Book A Brief History of YHWH
The Book A Brief History of YHWH
Question
Hello. Have you happened to read the book A Brief History of YHWH by Dr. Yigal Ben-Nun, which shatters faith?
Among the things that come up there are that YHWH had an image, and that there was no single monolithic concept of YHWH. There was not only YHWH, but additional gods as well. Among those other gods, YHWH is the newest. He was preceded by one much more important than he was, considered his father, whose name was El. Both El and YHWH are proper names and not generic ones. He came from northern Arabia, the southern Transjordan. He claims there were many statues in the First Temple, including a statue of YHWH. The monotheistic narrative did not exist at all, and people worshipped idols like all the other nations.
Answer
I haven’t read it.
Discussion on Answer
I’ve read it, and read it well. It shatters faith only if you read it without a critical sense and without familiarity with the research material. This is a very low-level author, and his book was panned from wall to wall. See for example here and get an impression of the level of the failures.
The evidence he brings in the book isn’t worth a clove of garlic. Conjectures (full of holes) with no good evidence at all.
If you want to discuss a specific issue, we can.
By the way, where is it mentioned that there was a statue in the Temple? Maybe cherubs, but that’s not exactly a statue of the Lord…
Do you have a source? I saw that he likes to use examples of bowing before the Lord as proof that there was a representation of the Lord as a statue. And from that it follows, supposedly, that there was a statue there.
But even today in Aleinu we “bow,” and it isn’t before a statue. So is there any proof here at all? Everyone goes according to his own approach. It sounds like a circular argument.
I just now went through a concordance on the Torah and Prophets (I didn’t have the energy to continue to the Writings),
I assume the main difficulties he raises are from verses of this sort:
45. “And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and bow before the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 26:10)
Or
70. “Then David rose from the ground, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothes, and came into the House of the Lord, and bowed; then he came to his own house, and when he asked, they set bread before him, and he ate.” (II Samuel 12:20)
———-
And this is supposedly parallel to what goes on among the nations, for example:
94-96. “In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to bow there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow in the house of Rimmon—when I bow in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” (II Kings 5:18)
———
But there was something interesting: I didn’t see verses where the nations bow not in front of idols.
On the other hand, Abraham’s servant bowed at Laban’s place, and apparently there was no statue of the Lord there—unless he pulled a statue out of his pocket at that exact moment….
“And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord.”
And likewise with Gideon:
“Then it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed, and returned to the camp of Israel, and said: Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”
What do you think?
Kobi, I haven’t finished the book yet. The findings and studies are interesting. As I wrote, El is a proper name and not a generic one like Elohim.
M, or perhaps Moshe Rat. I do have a critical sense, and still I used the words ‘shatters faith.’ I don’t see him as a low-level author, and I haven’t seen wall-to-wall criticism. I already saw the link you sent before. For some reason, anyone who contradicts your belief, you only try to knock down, and anyone who doesn’t, you elevate. You’re looking for something to cling to at any price. So how shall I tell you this—religion is in its death throes, so let it be. Like in the story of the Zen teacher: the more you try to catch the bird in your hand, the more it escapes from you. Relax your hand and it will stay.
Buenas noches.
No worries, I’m not Moshe Rat.
In any case, if you come in already convinced in advance that these things are true (without any proof, because Ben-Nun doesn’t bring any in his book), then indeed there is no point in discussing it and this whole conversation is unnecessary. There are good materials in the world on the development of religion (Zevit, Smith, Dever, Cross, etc.), but Ben-Nun simply isn’t one of them, and more than once I found basic factual errors in him. It seems to me that the wave of enthusiasm around him is only because of the provocativeness and the confident way he speaks (a bit like Yuval Noah Harari). In any case, I’m not impressed by confidence but by arguments, and as someone who has read scholarship—and not just one work on the subject—a lot of what he says is simply baseless or just conjectures with no foundation whatsoever. There definitely are real questions regarding the development of the religion of Israel (and see, for example, the defenses by Kaufmann, Albright, Hess, Susan, Tigay, and Helmer); of that there is no doubt. But his specific book is really not a serious part of that discourse, and his specific arguments truly have no basis. Sorry, but that’s how it is.
In any case, if you come in already convinced and not willing to discuss, then there’s definitely no point in doing so. Good luck.
As far as I know, M is not Moshe Rat… And what is this story of the Zen teacher? I glanced at something on Google and it doesn’t seem related.
In any case, and first of all,
The assumption that God/Elohei and the like is a generic name but El is a proper name has something strange about it, since it’s the same root, no?
Just as Elohim can also mean judges, so too El means power, as in: “It is in the power of my hand to do you harm.”
Likewise, if “El” is a proper name, and the name of the Lord is attached to it, why assume these are two separate beings?
As when they say: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, Amen. Hallelujah.”
And regarding the name El, for example:
“And Abram said to the king of Sodom: I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.”
Or: “And God said to him: I am El Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins.”
So if Elohim ≠ El ≠ Shaddai, then we already have three names that are connected as one, no?
And if it is a generic title, then verses like these are very understandable:
“For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?” (Psalms 89:7)
“Who is like You among the mighty, O Lord? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus)
“For you shall bow down to no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34:14)
“O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do according to Your works and according to Your mighty acts?” (Deuteronomy)
“For who is God besides the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?” (II Samuel 22:32)
“Who is a God like You, forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.” (Micah 7:18)
“Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which He loved, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.” (Malachi 2:11)
And similarly regarding gods among other nations:
As it says in Judges:
“Then it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again and played the harlot after the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. And the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side.”
And likewise the name El in construct with their idol:
“And all the lords of the tower of Shechem heard it, and they entered the stronghold of the house of El-berith.” (Judges 9:46)
Or
“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations. They have no knowledge, those who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save.” (Isaiah 45:20)
“And it shall be for a man to burn; and he takes of it and warms himself, yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god and bows down to it; he makes it a carved image and falls down before it.” (Isaiah 44:15)
“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and against the God of gods he shall speak marvelous things; and he shall prosper until the indignation is accomplished, for what is determined shall be done.” (Daniel 11:36)
M, I didn’t come in convinced. I heard him speak and wasn’t impressed. You’re welcome to write.
Ask Michi for my email and we’ll continue from there in private.
M, can you recommend specific books in this area of the development of religion?
By Albright, Hess, and the rest of the group you mentioned there?
* Hess’s book Israelite Religions
* Kaufmann – The History of the Israelite Faith, volumes 2 and 3 in the 8-volume edition, or those same parts printed in volume 1 of the 4-volume edition (I’ll say in advance—it’s a critical book)
* The article “Between Ugarit and Qumran” by Grintz. It appears in his wonderful book Origins of the Generations (or online) – very, very highly recommended
* The Bible Versus Its Environment – Wright
* Albright – Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan
* Cassuto’s article on the sons of God (and other articles) in his book Biblical Literature and Canaanite Literature
* Helmer – Israelite Religion
* Jeffrey Tigay’s articles in Cross’s memorial volume
And there are many more…
Thanks
A. How is the book?
Are the arguments interesting?
Seemingly, the word El means what today is understood as a name for divinity. As it says, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” No? Or “for all the gods of the nations are idols,” etc., or “the Lord God” (Genesis 2), and so on….
What do you think about Ratio’s critique here:
https://rationalbelief.org.il/tag/%d7%99%d7%92%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%91%d7%9f-%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%9f/
Too bad Rabbi Michi really hasn’t read it and won’t write columns about the book instead of his musings on contemporary politics. Personally, I haven’t read it.
The Rabbi, may he live long, has to return to the field of faith from his columns on fictional politics and popular literature.
This is the order of the day (Gideon Sa’ar), this is an emergency call-up order (Yoaz Hendel). We are all calling for a broad unity government of faith.