Polytheism
yPolytheistic Hidden Details
Introduction
In Israel, the center of monotheism, only one God has been worshipped. As I read sections of the Hebrew, I came across verses that contradicted the idea of monotheism and started agreeing with claims made that God, Yahweh, had a female consort. This claim, that Yahweh had a wife, is not new. It became more prominent when a documentary by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, “The Bibles Buried Secrets Did God Have a Wife”1 was televised on BBC. Although this claim may seem outrageous and far-fetched, there are numerous amounts of evidence that the Israelites worshipped different gods and goddesses, one of whom was named "Asherah." I claim that God had a wife, but the way I introduce this idea comes in many steps. I first demonstrate that the omniscient god which in the Bible is said to be gender-less does indeed have a gender, a male. I then illustrate how Yahweh is none other than El2, Chief God of a Canaanite religion3, proposing that even though Judaism is said to be monotheistic, it was derived from a polytheistic religion. I then finally come to my main point that Asherah is the consort of Yahweh. I believe that many of the beliefs of Judaism came from the Canaanites, but later were severely cut off from its roots. Even though the scribes tried their best to hide the fact that God had a wife, they left behind some clues. Many claim that the asherah pole represents the Goddess Asherah; I present a new angle to this Asherah by proposing that Lady Wisdom is cleverly disguised as Asherah in the Bible. The best way to discover these clues is to look at the Bible as literature and not as monotheistic, religious scripture. I also realized that scribes could have written the Bible and altered it to conceal these major truths I try to bring forth; therefore I also use archeological evidence to support my parts of my claim. Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s research plays a huge part in my paper by providing new ideas and interpretations of
Introduction
In Israel, the center of monotheism, only one God has been worshipped. As I read sections of the Hebrew, I came across verses that contradicted the idea of monotheism and started agreeing with claims made that God, Yahweh, had a female consort. This claim, that Yahweh had a wife, is not new. It became more prominent when a documentary by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, “The Bibles Buried Secrets Did God Have a Wife”1 was televised on BBC. Although this claim may seem outrageous and far-fetched, there are numerous amounts of evidence that the Israelites worshipped different gods and goddesses, one of whom was named "Asherah." I claim that God had a wife, but the way I introduce this idea comes in many steps. I first demonstrate that the omniscient god which in the Bible is said to be gender-less does indeed have a gender, a male. I then illustrate how Yahweh is none other than El2, Chief God of a Canaanite religion3, proposing that even though Judaism is said to be monotheistic, it was derived from a polytheistic religion. I then finally come to my main point that Asherah is the consort of Yahweh. I believe that many of the beliefs of Judaism came from the Canaanites, but later were severely cut off from its roots. Even though the scribes tried their best to hide the fact that God had a wife, they left behind some clues. Many claim that the asherah pole represents the Goddess Asherah; I present a new angle to this Asherah by proposing that Lady Wisdom is cleverly disguised as Asherah in the Bible. The best way to discover these clues is to look at the Bible as literature and not as monotheistic, religious scripture. I also realized that scribes could have written the Bible and altered it to conceal these major truths I try to bring forth; therefore I also use archeological evidence to support my parts of my claim. Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s research plays a huge part in my paper by providing new ideas and interpretations of