How the God of Israel Was Born: Merging Two Ancient Traditions
I explore how Judaism emerged not from a single revelation at Mount Sinai, but from the gradual convergence of two distinct traditions: the northern Canaanite worship of El and the southern desert cult of YHWH. By examining archaeological evidence from Ugarit and Egyptian records, I reveal how these separate divine identities were harmonized into the monotheistic faith we recognize today, challenging the traditional narrative of an instant birth.
The original Hebrew text is not a monolith written by a single hand contemporary with the events, but an imposing stratification of independent sources, often openly at odds with one another.
- andsoitis
There are 3 major strands of monotheism:
a) Atenism in Egypt (c. 1350 BCE)
b) Israelite / Hebrew
c) Zoroastrianism in Persia
While some scholars (like Freud) have proposed a link between (a) and (b), it remains contested and unproven.
What is, however, likely, is a link between (c) and (b), specifically that Zoroastrianism likely influenced Second Temple Judaism during the period of Persian rule over Judea, particularly ideas about cosmic dualism, angels, demons, and eschatology.
- red_admiral
For more on this topic, the book Fields of Blood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_of_Blood) has a couple of chapters on this. It's a fascinating history.
- throw0101d
See also perhaps "RLST 145: Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)" (originally recorded in 2006):