Q&A: Yigal Ben-Nun
Yigal Ben-Nun
Question
In the entire biblical library there is almost no trace of belief in one God—universal, abstract, and denying the very existence of other gods. Throughout the entire monarchic period until the Persian period, Israelites and Judahites worshipped many gods; in the Temple in Jerusalem stood statues of the Lord, Asherah, and other gods, and the people bowed down to them; the Lord is a new god whose origin is in northern Arabia and who arrived here no earlier than the days of Jehoshaphat and the House of Omri; the Lord had a consort, Asherah; Shaphan son of Azaliah initiated a theological-political reform and formulated its principles in the book of Deuteronomy; Shaphan’s cultic reform from the days of Josiah failed, but influenced the birth of Judaism; belief in a supreme God, creator of heaven and earth, developed under the influence of Persian culture (because in the First Temple period He was perceived as a territorial god, meaning ruling only over His own land, while the gods of other nations ruled over theirs); … the Jewish religion was born only after the cessation of sacrifices in the Roman period, parallel to the spread of Christianity.”
Rabbi, what do you think of his claims?
Pretty strong claims, no?
Answer
Yigal Ben-Nun is a sensation-chaser who churns out theories by the kilogram with no real basis (and not only in the biblical field). The criticism of him comes no less from his fellow scholars than from believers. This has already been discussed more than once here on the site, and you can also find material online.
As for his “strong claims,” may he live long and well:
In the entire biblical library there is no belief in a universal God except in some marginal and negligible place like the beginning of the book of Genesis, where He creates the heavens and the earth and all that is in them (oops, maybe He only hung up the sun of the Land of Israel and created only the animals of this land. Sorry I missed that scientific possibility).
Throughout the biblical period they indeed worshipped idols, and they were rebuked and punished for it. What does that prove? That people sin from time to time? Or perhaps we accept the biblical description that they worshipped, but not that they were rebuked and punished? Why? Because that’s what we feel like doing. Still, we’re dealing with a multidisciplinary artist with two doctorates from Paris, so he has the right to say whatever he wants and be considered someone making strong claims.
And of course, how could I forget: the Jewish religion was born with the spread of Christianity. Actually Moses our Rabbi was a Christian who converted to Judaism. The Christians crucified him because of his denial of Jesus. Jesus grew up in Pharaoh’s house when the Egyptians decreed against the Christians that every newborn son…
So please, spare me and all of us this collection of nonsense. I do not even intend to go on arguing or dealing with it. I have more useful things to do.
Oh, in any case, congratulations to the Lord on finding a fine and gracious spouse, Asherah, may she live long and well. Maybe that explains the worship of Asherah and the service offered to her, for as we have received by tradition: “How does one dance before the bride…?”
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Michael Abraham, your answer was important—thank you!
As for the questioner, even though 8 months have passed, you should know: I stopped taking Mr. Yigal Ben-Nun seriously the moment I read that he said in an interview—quite seriously!—that since the Ark of the Covenant is not found in the patriarchal stories, it simply did not exist…! (To remind us, Yigal holds the view that the Torah narratives are a late invention from the Persian and Greek periods—but even according to his own approach there is no reason to talk about the Ark of the Covenant in the patriarchal period, since it had not yet been created… after all, even the inventors of the Bible know what they are inventing, but for some reason Mr. Yigal does not understand that… and the rest—go and learn.) At that point I stopped taking him seriously, and anyone who takes him seriously.
You need to ask him whether the Jews/Judahites learned to breathe on their own, or whether they also “stole” that from Persian and Hellenistic culture.
It’s an antisemitic trend of erasing Jewish history. Well, that’s nothing new; the “author of Psalms” already wrote: “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more…”.
The Lord is a new god whose origin is in North Africa, and his name is Yag, or in full, Yigal.