(urth) Original Sin and pagan gods

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

B,

Yes, there is a definite development of monotheism in the course
of the Bible, especially if you go through it in the order it was written
rather than the order it appears in a bound volume. This involves dividing
some books up in ways that sometimes seem almost arbitrary --
for example, Genesis seems to have had (at least) four major
authors or base texts from which the book we have today was finally
redacted. (That's why there are doublets of a number of passages,
including the two creation accounts.)

In the earliest phase, other gods were seen as real beings and
rivals to YHWH. The later redactors mostly edited this stuff out,
but it still peeks through in places.

The main account of the Torah (the first five books, Genesis
through Deuteronomy) seems to have been written at a time
when other gods were seen as real, but not really gods, not on
the same order of being as YHWH. A good example of this is the
account of the plagues of Egypt: Pharaoh's "sorcerors" (who
would most likely have been priests) were able to duplicate some
of the miracles God performed through Moses and Aaron, but not
all of them.

By the time of the Prophets, they are seen as being either petty
beings (who are mocked with names like "Beelzebub," baalzhavuv,
"Lord of Flies"), impotent (as when the priests of Ba'al are unable to
call down fire but Isaiah is), or nonexistent (the theme of mocking
idolators as worshipping "gods" made by human hands, or
"no-gods").

For what that's worth.
-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
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