Development of Yahwism in Israel's Religion

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

II. THE COMMENCEMENT OF YAHWISM

III. YAHWISM DURING THE PRE-MOSAIC PERIOD

IV. YAHWISM DURING THE MOSAIC PERIOD

V. YAHWISM DURING THE POST-MOSAIC PERIOD

VI. CONCLUSION

VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. INTRODUCTION

The Israelites are a set of people that are so passionate about their religion. It is interwoven with other factors of their life, for they are inseparable from their religion.¹ There is no such word as "religion" to someone from the Near East because there is no dichotomy between sacred and secular.² Suffice to assert that it is a futile attempt to separate an average Israelite from their religion. In their religion, the priestly community exercised a fundamental role in maintaining the order of life in the community and were the ones who stood at the center of religious life.³

The history of Israel reveals that their religion was a metamorphosing one and an essential source for its knowledge is the Old Testament.⁴ The religion began with the Patriarchs who understood God as El and gave him different names due to their various experiences; for instance, in Genesis 17:1, God revealed Himself to Abram as El Shaddai before Yahwism which is the main focus of this paper became a national religion. Helmer Ringgren avers that the basic tenet of this Israelite religion is "hear, O Israel our God is One...”⁵ In this paper, this researcher shall discuss the commencement of Yahwism, its development in Israel's religion, specifically looking at the Pre- Mosaic period, the Mosaic Period, and the Post- Mosaic Period.

II. THE COMMENCEMENT OF YAHWISM

Yahwism refers to the doctrines related to the worship of Yahweh.⁶ It was connected with (YHWH tseva'ot ) usually translated as "LORD OF HOSTS" and associated with the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolizes the warlike presence of Yahweh among His people (Num 10:35-36,1 Sam 4:3-4).⁷ However, the discussion regarding the commencement of Yahwism is debatable. Some Scholars, on the one hand, posit that Yahwism started even before the Patriarchs. On the other hand, some scholars aver that it began with Moses because he was the first and foremost recipient of the revelation, cult founder, and inspired leader.⁸ In which case, His ancient worship was practiced by the Israelites.⁹ John R. Hinells notes that official Yahwism took several forms and included openness to artistic, musical, and literary products.¹⁰

III. YAHWISM DURING THE PRE-MOSAIC PERIOD

In this paper, this period shall stretch from creation to the period of the Patriarchs. The J account traces the inception of Yahwism back to the third generation of men (Gen 4:26).¹¹ It can be seen in Genesis 3:8 that the Voice of Yahweh usually came to have fellowship with Adam meaning that God was already revealing Himself to Adam as Yahweh. This is further seen in Genesis 4:3-4 when Cain and Abel brought offerings to Yahweh, meaning that by this time, Yahweh’s worship included farm produce and fat portions of firstlings of flocks. G. J. Wenham is of the opinion that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob understood God as Yahweh, among other names ( El Shaddai, El Olam, El Bethel).¹² This suggests that they had already known God by this name even before Moses came on the scene.

However, David F. Hinson disagrees with G. J. Wenham and explains that Abraham did not use the name Yahweh because a later storyteller knew that Abraham had served the same God whom Israel was serving and therefore put the same name for God on the lips of Abraham or used it in his account of God's revelation to Abraham.¹³ Hinson further notes that the storyteller who told Abraham's story did not realize that God had not revealed the name of Yahweh to Abraham, for it was a different storyteller who recorded this information in the book of Exodus.¹⁴ His position is that Exodus 6:3 reveals the Patriarchs as using the title El Shaddai , “God Almighty,” instead of “Yahweh,” which became the most sacred name an Israelite could use whenever he wanted to speak to God.¹⁵ Later it was only the high priest who could pronounce it in the Temple.¹⁶ Although the diversity of names reflected in Exodus 6:2-3 indicates that some characters of Yahweh had been manifested to the Patriarchs, He had not yet acted to the Patriarchs in ways that would exemplify the identity bound in His name Yahweh.¹⁷

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¹ W. O. Oesterly and Theordore Robinson, Hebrew Religion: Its Origin and Its Development (London: S.P.C.K., 1952), 271.

² John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Concept of the Hebrew Bible, 2nd ed . ( Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2018), 47.

³ Aron Chalmers, Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel ( Causton Street, London: SPCK, 2012), 39.

⁴ George Fohrer, History of Israel’s Religion , trans., David E. Green (London: S.P.C.K, 1968), 24.

⁵ Helmer Ringgren, Israelite Religion , trans., David E. Green( Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 1963), 66.

⁶ https://www.wordnik.com Accessed October, 2021.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Fohrer, 72.

⁹ https://www.biblewikia.org Accessed November, 2021.

¹⁰ John R. Hinnels, ed., A Handbook of Religions ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 231.

¹¹ Fohrer, 66.

¹² G. J. Wenham, “The Religion of the Patriarchs,” in Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives , A. R. Milliard and D. J. Wiseman, eds. (Winoka Lake, Indiana :Eisenbrauns, 1983), 163.

¹³ David F. Hinson, History of Israel 1:History of Israel, rev. ed .( Causton Street. London: SPCK, 1973), 37.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/n/Names_of_God_in_Judaism.htm Accessed November, 2021.

¹⁷ Ibid.