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The Reign of Kings and a Prophet

In the years prior to the Babylonian destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, the Judahites had enjoyed a religious revival and cleansing that had been implemented by the hands of King Josiah (641-609 BCE) and had been encouraged by the voices of the kingdom’s prophets. This period of revival occurred in the lull between the fall of the Assyrians and the rise of the Neo-Babylonians of whom Nebuchadnezzar is perhaps the most memorable figure. From the time of Josiah until the end of the nation we see three of his sons (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah) and one grandson (Jehoiachin) sit on the throne of Judah and throughout all this time we have one prominent prophet, Jeremiah, speaking to the kings and the people.

How Jeremiah became Public Enemy Number One

Jeremiah had not been satisfied with King Josiah’s reforms nor the heartening knowledge that the Assyrian Empire had come to an end. His mouth was full of prophecies of doom directed at the Israelites. These messages astounded the people who reacted with fists and imprisonment to his threats (Jer 19:14-20:3; 26). His message went completely against the trust they had, that God would save them as he had done in the days of Sennacherib and Hezekiah. Furthermore his message was a paradox they did not understand- surrender to a heathen king to save yourselves. The call to surrender had nothing to do with sin and repentance, but rather accepting that it was God’s will that every nation should put on the yoke of the Babylonians, and thus survive (Jer 27-28). However the notion of surrendering to the Judeans meant not trusting in God for their salvation and so they ignored and despised him as a raving lunatic. When the Babylonians finally besieged Jerusalem Jeremiah was being half-staved in a miry pit for inciting insurrection amongst the people and army.

Jeremiah’s Unknown End

The hard-necked people of Judea did not surrender and for their insolence, (as seen by the Babylonians), they were dealt with decisively. The age-old temple established by their forefathers was razed to the ground and the population, in a series of waves, was exiled into the east for work-projects. For thirty-eight years Jeremiah had cried a message that had fallen on unhearing ears, his logic being inconceivable to them. In the end he was forced against his will into exile in Egypt where he died in an unknown place.

His life was one of deep service not only to those in Jerusalem- his last recorded prophesy deals with the idolatry he found when he arrived in Egypt. Jeremiah should be remembered as a man whose heart was broken for his people. For he deeply believed in the sanctity of this nation and its covenant with God, and through this conviction was cut by the continuing blindness of the people. However Jeremiah should be remembered for the promise from God he imparted to them, that if they return to God with “all their heart” then God “will give them a heart” to know and fear him (Jer 24:7, 32:39).

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.

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.