Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

Ancient Man’s View of the Heavenly Realms

For the average ancient man it was common to envision the godly entities of the heavens in pairs. These pairs normally consisted of a husband-wife ratio which essentially reflected the importance of the family unit in ancient times. For it was the help and patronage of the family and clan that protected and eased people’s daily hardship. One example of this husband-wife pair comes from the Syrian city of Ugarit (modern day Ras Shamra) where from the 14^th century BCE onwards we have a rich deposit of religious literature that has revealed ancient worshippers outlook on the gods. These people worshipped a variety of gods, of whom the high god was called El and his consort was called Athirat.

A Divine Marriage in Judah & Israel

A similar picture has been suggested in regards to the early religious life of the Israelites and Judahites. There exists some evidence from archaeology that many people also worshipped the god Yahweh with a female consort called Asherah. (See Kuntillet Ajrud and the Khirbet el-Qom Inscriptions). In fact it is not just extra-biblical evidence that can be cited in support of this older version of how the heavens were ordered, but the bible itself reveals a picture that seems to place Asherah in a legitimate position of worship early on in the religion of the nation. For example we are told that Asherah (generally believed to by a stylized tree or pole, possibly a date palm) was installed in the Temple of Jerusalem and in other sanctuaries around Judah at different times (2 Kings 18:4; 21:7).
Some have suggested that even the decorations used inside the Temple, the “cherubim, palmettes and calyxes” (1 Kings 6) helped to legitimize her position since she was worshipped in the form of a tree, and the decorations inside the Temple upheld the ancient motif of the Tree of Life flanked by two guards (like in the Garden of Eden story). This picture from Judah is likewise reflected in the northern kingdom of Israel. King Jehu who was a great religious conservative, destroyed the worship of Baal that had sprung up in Israel, but did not destroy the Asherah that was installed in his capital city of Samaria. This particular story seems to reveal that early religion in Israel was pro-Asherah and that such a position was in step with being a conservative follower of Yahweh.

Yahweh stands Alone

However this idea did not retain its legitimacy as time moved on. Another idea began replacing it, an idea that Yahweh was alone in his dealings with human kind, and that he was almighty and none other existed besides him. This ideology that is found so eloquently expressed in the book of Deuteronomy, naturally takes an aggressive stance to anything else that may attempt to steal or share Yahweh’s glory. It is thus not surprising to see the high anti-Asherah rhetoric in the bible that stems from this increasingly developed theology of Yahweh.

It is in this vein of thinking that we see religious reforms carried out in the land of Judah under Hezekiah and Josiah (2 Kings 18 & 23). They removed and destroyed the symbol of Asherah wherever she was found in the country- and in so doing proved to be more radical and innovative in their approach to how the world and the heavens were ordered.
They broke tradition with the ancient religious beliefs that had been so normative in their area of the world and in the worship of Yahweh in its early stages, and they struck a new path that led to the monotheistic religion of today.

Background

The years 738-734 BCE had been frightening for Judah and her neighbor Israel as they watched the Empire of Assyrian attack and annex into their growing State the strong nations of Syria, Phoenicia, Media and Urartu in succession. The possibility that they too would fall victim to the Assyrian war-machine and lose their independence caused them to react in a variety of ways.

Israel and Judah Become Enemies

Israel went into a league with other smaller nations that previously had been her enemies. The idea was that unity would give them strength. Those nations that refused to sign up to this Syro-Ephraimitic League were considered as enemies and were to be politically isolated and attacked in order to intimidate them into joining. This is how Judah became an enemy of Israel. Judah refused to join the League knowing that it represented only a small and ultimately pointless resistance to the might of the Assyrian Empire who would stop at nothing to reach the Mediterranean and beyond.

Judah Joins Assyria

By not joining the League Judah became vulnerable and open to attack. In this situation Hezekiah’s father Ahaz petitioned the aid of Assyria and made a decision to side with the most powerful Empire in the world. This ultimately placed the kingdom of Judah under Assyrian domination, but did so on the terms of Judah. There was no bloodshed, no cities were destroyed and Judah was able to remain semi-autonomous due to her early capitulation. Everything in Judah thus continued as before, with the monarchy intact, and the religious system in operation. Sadly for Israel her rebellion led to her being absorbed into the Assyrian Empire; her land was destroyed and her people carried off into exile. Israel was never a kingdom again.

Judah Changes her Policy

Ahaz taught his son Hezekiah to continue this policy of subjugation to the mighty Assyrian Empire, and it was a policy that Hezekiah maintained when he became King. However when Sargon II of Assyria died in 705 BCE, Hezekiah decided to use Assyria’s momentary weakness to lead a rebellion against the Empire and break-free completely from its grasp.

Aftermath

It was the wrong decision to make. Assyria’s new King Sennacherib proved to be as brutal as his father- and destroyed the Kingdom of Judah for her rebellion. It was the beginning of the end for Judah. She never really recovered. After all her cities were destroyed she lived on for a hundred years until in her weakened state she too was exiled like Israel before her.

Early Years

Akhenaten was born into privilege and security. His father Amenhotep III had reigned long, promoting a prosperous Egypt by replacing the damaging military campaigns of the past with international diplomacy for the future. He was a figure who upheld and believed in the traditional religious systems. Amun-Re was viewed and worshipped as the head deity of the nation and around him were a deluge of minor deities of varying importance; a situation also known as a pantheon. The name even of Pharaoh himself reflected this traditional reverence of Amun-Re, with his own name meaning “Amun is Content”. This name, and the traditions linked with it were passed onto his heir, Amenhotep IV who began reigning in the 14^th century BCE.

Amenhotep becomes Akhenaten

However when his son, Amenhotep IV took the throne, he began to make a series of changes that would rock his country to the core. The first step he took was to move the capital city of Egypt from its traditional seat in Thebes (modern day Luxor) to a new site called Akhetaten (el-Amarna). The next step was to change his name to Akhenaten (meaning Effective spirit of Aten), and establishing the Aten “light” as the ‘one god’ of Egypt. The idea of “oneness” in Egyptian religion is not rare, however what is rare is insisting on its exclusivity, which is what Akhenaten did in his promotion of the Aten and his rejection of Amun.

Egyptian Monotheism?

It may be safely stated that Akhenaten’s theology was a radical innovation of prevailing ideas that already existed in Egyptian religion. However is it fair to say the worship of the Aten was “true monotheism”? One offer is that this form of worship at best represents Primal Monotheism; meaning that there exists one Supreme god and all the other gods are but an aspect of this single deity. Another view sees this as plain henotheism, a head deity amongst lesser ones.

However one aspect of Aten worship that one finds intriguing is the state-sponsored destruction of the traditional gods that were still apart of the religious scene. This reminds us of the religious reforms of Kings’ Hezekiah (2 Kings 18) and Josiah (2 Kings 23) of Judah who destroyed various ‘Canaanite’ religious features in an effort to consolidate worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem, a policy which at its core was to promote Yahweh as the one true God.