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 Yahweh in the Exile

Ezekiel’s vision of the presence of God in Babylon had been an important step in rejuvenating the religion of Yahweh in the exile. The presence of God no longer rested in a temple or resided within the kingdoms of men, but he was omnipresent. Yahweh had followed his people into Babylon and he had called to himself a prophet from out of his people. Contact had been established.

A New Jerusalem in Babylon

The Jews from Judah were grouped together and settled into a place referred to by a cuneiform text dated to 498 BCE as the “al Yahuda” the “city of the Judahites” in Babylon. From other texts we know already that deportees normally retained the names of their old towns- for example the cities of Ashkelon and Gaza reappeared in Babylon with the arrival of Philistine slaves, as too with the new city of Tyre with the arrival of the Phoenicians. Knowing this, it is not too far to assume that the “city of the Judahites” is nothing less then a referral to the people of Judah living in the New Jerusalem in Babylon! In fact this same phrase “city of the Judahites”, is clearly used in reference to Jerusalem when they mention how they besiege and destroyed the city all those years ago!

 This helps us visualize the new environment of the Judean deportees in exile. They were settled together, meaning that they could rebuild a sense of community again. Furthermore we know that the royal family and the priesthood were taken into captivity- meaning that to a degree we can assume that the royal and religious hierarchies were also involved in the rebuilding work that took place in the New Jerusalem in Babylon and that there was a religious framework in place to help the community through their present-day crisis.

An Old King Freed

Not only were the Jews living together with a religious framework in place but also there was positive news about their imprisoned king, king Jehoiachin. Now king Jehoiachin had been captured and exiled when Nebuchadnezzar first came against Jerusalem in 597BCE. However after 37 years of being in prison he received a royal pardon from the king and was invited to eat and dine at the Kings table daily. This story told in the bible and confirmed from cuneiform texts tells us of the hope this community must have began to establish that one day, religiously and politically, they would be free again.

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.

While in Israel the nation began to understand that Yahweh was the one true God with all the qualities and powers to heal and protect his people, the world at large did not hold to this viewpoint. In Mesopotamia (the area of Iraq and Iran today) lived great nations that had a plethora of deities to beseech and call upon, each with their own special talent.

Gula’s Cult

Gula was one such deity that took on the form of a woman; her ability was to heal those afflicted physically or magically. In fact her main temple in Isin would be the equivalent of our hospitals today. Within the temple precincts were trained physicians that held expertise in one of two fields. The first field dealt with the medical aspects of healing (the asutu), while the latter dealt with the magical realm (ashiputu). Thus it was a place of consultation where petitioners could be guided to a diagnosis.

There were many forms of treatment depending on the affliction. Oftentimes a liver of an animal was dissected for a diagnosis, an herbal remedy ingested or even a figurine constructed that would become a vessel to contain the sickness (these were buried afterwards).

Gula’s Cult Symbol

A good Mesopotamian deity was always accompanied with a symbol. Nabu the scribal god for example, was represented by a stylus (a pen). Interestingly it was the dog that came to represent the Healing cult, probably due to the fact that a dog would lick clean its wounds and recover but also because it was a guard. The dog symbol thus guarded against certain sicknesses and took on the role of protective magic within her cult.

However despite the contact the Israelites had with the Mesopotamian cultures they still spoke of their god, Yahweh, as the one who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3