(urth) Oannes

[Jerry Friedman]

>On 3/19/2012 5:05 PM, James Wynn wrote:

> 
>>> Lee:
>>> I mean the God of the OT recognizes the existence of rival gods,
>> Jerry Friedman wrote:
>> In the early books, but not the later ones.
> 
> It never occurred to me that in the early books of Bible God is ever depicted as actually feeling to be in competition with actual rivals (as opposed to /effective/ competition for the affections of his worshipers). While the early books seem to assume that His worshipers DO believe in rival gods, the upshot of the storytelling seems to imply that the true circumstances are otherwise.


I shouldn't have said that in the OT God recognizes the existence of other gods, since I'm not sure he does.  As you say, his worshipers do, even Moses (Ex. 15:11: "Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh?"), and God never takes any of the opportunities to correct them.

> In Genesis, he condemns Sodom and Gomorrah even though they do not appear to be his worshipers. In Genesis one never seems to encounter a god he must compete with or overcome. In Exodus, God plagues the Egyptians and their gods are not even addressed. In Numbers, Balaam's prophecy seems to assume one God who blesses and condemns. Also, in 1 Samuel, when the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant, they offer it before Dagan. Then the next morning the find the idol fallen forward on its face in front of the Ark.

Possibly suggesting that God beat Dagon.

> Also in 1 Kings when the Aramites decide that the gods of the Israelites are gods of the hills. So they decide to fight them in the plains where they can be easily defeated.  So God thrashes them extra hard to make a point.
> And in Job, argued to be the earliest book written,

Really?  I thought it was supposed to be post-Exilic.  Why couldn't those people put copyright dates on their books?


>there is really no credible alternative to God offered even though Job's worship of God does not protect him from harm.

I agree that there's no clear evidence of God's interactions with other gods.  But there's no clear evidence of monotheism till Second Isaiah (Is. 44:6), I'm told, so it seems likely that the authors of the books agreed with the characters that there were other Gods, but the Israelites were supposed to worship just one.

Jerry Friedman