Monotheistic Declarations in the ANE

[Uncle Dale]

...

The ANE background to ancient Israelite religion and to the Bible does not, on close examination

in context, support the LDS claim to teach a theology that was once the revealed teaching of

ancient Israel but later corrupted when "plain and precious" truths were supposedly lost or

removed from the Bible.

I agree -- but it is difficult to pin down precisely what "the LDS claim."

The occasional Mormon polemicist may make sweeping statements about the

gods acknowledged among some of the ancient Israelites -- but then, when

you attempt to locate the supporting authoritative pronouncements from the

LDS General authorities, that precise support is lacking.

At another juncture I mentioned that proof-texting is a rather useless way

to study doctrinal/cultural development in the Hebrew Bible. But, for the

most part, the LDS response to monotheism seems directed at the proof-texting

of various amateur anti-Mormons. The critic will quote a few words out of

the Hebrew Bible and the LDS apologist will respond by saying that there is

scholarship documenting Israelite polytheism -- leaving the anti-Mormon

critic to choose between his own proof-texting literalism or the consensus

viewpoint of scholars regarding ancient Israelite religion. Generally this

sort of response halts the anti-Mormon critic, and no more need to be said.

But, when the matter is pursued more closely, the problem arises of there

being no example in the Hebrew Bible of a commonplace "el" progressing up

to the status of a god who "organizes worlds." In other words, the modern

Mormon can point to a plurality of gods in the ancient scriptures, but

cannot point to Joseph Smith's teachings (let alone Pres. Snow's couplet)

in the Bible.

The Mormon mind closes the gap, by extrapolating the biblical acknowledgment

of many els, into his/her own eventual godhood. Everything that is aimed

back at the anti-Mormon critic is done so from this preconceived theological

position. But Mormons are generally savvy enough not to put the entire thesis

into words.

To find that, you can best look to how LDS kids communicate to non-Mormons,

in conflict situations. As a child, my Mormon neighbors resorted to taunting

my family members, that they (the Mormon kids) would "get to be gods," while

the "Gentiles" could only be "ministering angels" and we (my family) apostates

would be consigned to the pit of fire and brimstone for having rejected Brigham

Young, ages ago.

It is a childish argument, and one not taken up by adult, educated Mormons,

of course -- but I think it is an unstated theological viewpoint behind much

of this "Old Testament" quasi-scholarship, in search of a plurality of gods

in the biblical religion.

Uncle Dale

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[Rob Bowman]

urroner,

Sorry, but your question has no relevance to this thread.

It isn't irrelevant. Other than your own interpretation of the Bible and the history taught in it, how do you know that your own interpretation is actually what is taught in the Bible AND what was practiced by those following God in the times of the OT? You stated that your faith is based of the absolute truth. I'm just asking is how do you know it's the absolute truth?

[urroner]

urroner,

Sorry, but your question has no relevance to this thread.

But it is extremetly relevant to the comment that you made which is part of the thread, which you stated as fact. Are you saying that what you say is also irrelevant?

[volgadon]

The OP was posted on the "Mormon Apologetic & Discussion Board," and so in context is utilizing the quotations from ANE sources to rebut monotheistic objections to LDS theology. As for why it matters, the fact is that biblical statements expressing the uniqueness of YHWH simply cannot be accommodated to the theologies of the surrounding ANE religions. Drawing comparisons between isolated statements in the Bible and isolated statements in ANE religious texts is a facile exercise.

The OP was posted on this board because this is one of the few moards I get round to posting in anymore. There are also many people here knowledgeable about and interested in this topic. Uncle Dale tried to make this about LDS theology, but that is not the intent of my OP. Your context is anything but.

Granted, these quotes do come in handy when rebutting certain prooftexts, but the main reason I posted this is because I find it interesting. It helps us see what things like the Shema are not.

Declarations like that of the Shema have been compared to similar declarations with similar functions. What is facile about that? If you want to argue biblical monotheism, go ahead, but you'll have to use different texts.

[Uncle Dale]

...

similar declarations with similar functions

...

Since I previously made a couple of references to this ancient text,

I might as well reproduce a modern English translation. The actual

hieroglyphic inscription is replete with symbols applicable to the

polytheism (outside of Amarna) of that period. While the Aten-ist

might look upon the writing without being too heavily influenced,

any common priest who could read and write would see the many gods

literally peeking out from behind the sanitized glyphs.

The monotheism thus commanded was short-lived. Whether it arose from

a king's madness, theological deduction, or Divine encounter is

subject to debate -- but the hymn reproduced below is striking in

its absoluteness.

There is not even room for Philo's later (much later) Logos:

"Thou art lifetime thy own self,

For one lives (only) through thee...."

and --

"O sole god, like whom there is no other!

Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,

Whilst thou wert alone..."

Of course Mormons can rationalize even this sort of expression

to mean that Heavenly Father is "like no other,' because he

is the father of our spirits, commands singular worship, etc.

But the Aten (still retaining the polytheistic "Re" name in some

spots) is the Universal God, of all the world. No need here to even

mention the gods of Syria, where the Aten also reigns supreme. There

is no competition for divinity. The Aten is the sole Creator, and

no mere "el" or "djinn" is comparable -- no other "organizer

of worlds" exists (nor fits into His unique category). I think

that rather self-evident here:

The Great Hymn to the Aten

Praise of Re Har-akhti, Rejoicing on the Horizon, in His Name as Shu Who Is in the Aton-disc, living forever and ever; the living great Aton who is in jubilee, lord of all that the Aton encircles, lord of heaven, lord of earth, lord of the House of Aton in Akhet-Aton; (and praise of) the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, who lives on truth, the Lord of the Two Lands: Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re; the Son of Re, who lives on truth, the Lord of Diadems: Akh-en-Aton, long in his lifetime; (and praise of) the Chief Wife of the King, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands: Nefer-neferu-Aton Nefert-iti, living, healthy, and youthful forever and ever; (by) the Fan-Bearer on the Right Hand of the King ... Eye.

He says: Thou appearest beautifully on the horizon of heaven,

Thou living Aton, the beginning of life!

When thou art risen on the eastern horizon,

Thou hast filled every land with thy beauty.

Thou art gracious, great, glistening, and high over every land;

Thy rays encompass the lands to the limit of all that thou hast made:

As thou art Re, thou reachest to the end of them;

(Thou) subduest them (for) thy beloved son.

Though thou art far away, thy rays are on earth;

Though thou art in their faces, no one knows thy going.

When thou settest in the western horizon,

The land is in darkness, in the manner of death.

They sleep in a room, with heads wrapped up,

Nor sees one eye the other.

All their goods which are under their heads might be stolen,

(But) they would not perceive (it).

Every lion is come forth from his den;

All creeping things, they sting.

Darkness is a shroud, and the earth is in stillness,

For he who made them rests in his horizon.

At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon,

When thou shinest as the Aton by day,

Thou drivest away the darkness and givest thy rays.

The Two Lands are in festivity every day,

Awake and standing upon (their) feet,

For thou hast raised them up.

Washing their bodies, taking (their) clothing,

Their arms are (raised) in praise at thy appearance.

All the world, they do their work.

All beasts are content with their pasturage;

Trees and plants are flourishing.

The birds which fly from their nests,

Their wings are (stretched out) in praise to thy ka.

All beasts spring upon (their) feeet.

Whatever flies and alights,

They live when thou hast risen (for) them.

The ships are sailing north and south as well,

For every way is open at thy appearance.

The fish in the river dart before thy face;

Thy rays are in the midst of the great green sea.

Creator of seed in women,

Thou who makest fluid into man,

Who maintainest the son in the womb of his mother,

Who soothest him with that which stills his weeping,

Thou nurse (even) in the womb,

Who givest breath to sustain all that he has made!

When he descends from the womb to breathe

On the day when he is born,

Thou openest his mouth completely,

Thou suppliest his necessities.

When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell,

Thou givest him breath within it to maintain him.

When thou hast made him his fulfillment within the egg, to break it,

He comes forth from the egg to speak at his completed (time);

He walks upon his legs when he comes forth from it.

How manifold it is, what thou hast made!

They are hidden from the face (of man).

O sole god, like whom there is no other!

Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,

Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,

Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,

And what is on high, flying with its wings.

The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt,

Thou settest every man in his place,

Thou suppliest their necessities:

Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned.

Their tongues are separate in speech,

And their natures as well;

Their skins are distinguished,

As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples.

Thou makest a Nile in the underworld,

Thou bringest forth as thou desirest

To maintain the people (of Egypt)

According as thou madest them for thyself,

The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them,

The lord of every land, rising for them,

The Aton of the day, great of majesty.

All distant foreign countries, thou makest their life (also),

For thou hast set a Nile in heaven,

That it may descend for them and make waves upon the mountains,

Like the great green sea,

To water their fields in their towns.

How effective they are, thy plans, O lord of eternity!

The Nile in heaven, it is for the foreign peoples

And for the beasts of every desert that go upon (their) feet;

(While the true) Nile comes from the underworld for Egypt.

Thy rays suckle every meadow.

When thou risest, they live, they grow for thee.

Thou makest the seasons in order to rear all that thou hast made,

The winter to cool them,

And the heat that they may taste thee.

Thou hast made the distant sky in order to rise therein,

In order to see all that thou dost make.

Whilst thou wert alone,

Rising in thy form as the living Aton,

Appearing, shining, withdrawing or aproaching,

Thou madest millions of forms of thyself alone.

Cities, towns, fields, road, and river --

Every eye beholds thee over against them,

For thou art the Aton of the day over the earth....

Thou are in my heart,

And there is no other that knows thee

Save thy son Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re,

For thou hast made him well-versed in thy plans and in thy strength.

The world came into being by thy hand,

According as thou hast made them.

When thou hast risen they live,

When thou settest they die.

Thou art lifetime thy own self,

For one lives (only) through thee.

Eyes are (fixed) on beauty until thou settest.

All work is laid aside when thou settest in the west.

(But) when (thou) risest (again),

[Everything is] made to flourish for the king,...

Since thou didst found the earth

And raise them up for thy son,

Who came forth from thy body: the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, ...

Ak-en-Aton, ... and the Chief Wife of the King ... Nefert-iti, living and youthful forever and ever.

Source: Pritchard, James B., ed., The Ancient Near East - Volume 1: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958, pp. 227-230.

UD

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[volgadon]

Did you see the other Egyptian hymn I posted? Equally strong language.

[Vance]

An irrelevant distinction, and therefore merely a distraction from the point I was making.

That is very funny!!

[Uncle Dale]

Did you see the other Egyptian hymn I posted? Equally strong language.

Yes. The problem being, the use of the term "Re" and other

concessions to the normative Egyptian polytheism.

There were various declarations and implicit suggestions of

a superior God in Egypt. Some heterodox priests may even have

recognized Ptah as a God above the Gods, or the Universal God,

in the sense of theophanic encounter. Hat-hor could at least

be depicted as the entire heavens -- a goddess without a consort,

who nevertheless gives birth to the sun, outside of the realm

of Egypt, etc. etc.

So, even where monotheism was broached in ancient Egypt, it

was in the context a the popular polytheism. Amenhotep IV

went a step beyond that. He evidently closed all of the

polytheistic temples in his domain -- which must have greatly

upset the Amun priesthood. He may have even destroyed idols

and temples. At any rate, his "Father Aten" has no idol --

despite some retention of the primitive name, his Aten is

not the Re of previous generations (and future Amun-Re).

Dropping even the Amun of his own name, I think that the king

also forbade any mention of any god other than the Aten --

and the only graphic representation being an open circle.

This anticipates later Islam, in which no graphic image of

Allah is possible/permitted.

So, if you're looking for an ANE example of radical monotheism,

the Amarna period is the place to look. And the Aten hymn did

not arise out of this air, of course. There were, no doubt, similar

hymns to Re, Amun, Amun-Re, Horus, etc., which parallel its

structure. I doubt, however, that any other non-Amarna text surpasses

its radical monotheism.

UD

[volgadon]

But did Akhenaten eliminate the deities completely, or did he exclude them from all aspects of life?

[Uncle Dale]

But did Akhenaten eliminate the deities completely, or did he exclude them from all aspects of life?

No way of going back in time and discovering all

the fine details. Since there were prior temples

(Luxor, Karnak, etc.) that continued on in the

post-Amarna period, it does not appear that all

(or even most) were destroyed. Perhaps sealed up.

Perhaps polytheistic inscriptions whitewashed over

on public buildings, etc.

Did the king believe that Osiris was "real," and

only exiled by royal decree? Or did he think Osiris

was a false god? A myth? An illusion? A devil?

Who knows. The period of enforced monotheism was very

short and its geographic extent was perhaps limited.

I'd guess that as an ancient traveler got out away

from Amarna, the traditional gods started popping up,

here and there, in private homes and secret locations.

The entire structure was preserved well enough to

bounce back into power during the short reign of King Tut.

If Amenhotep IV's profession came from Divine encounter,

then I suppose it falls into a different category, than

if it resulted from tyranny, egotism or mental illness.

Freud was fascinated by this stuff -- see his Moses book.

See also here:

http://sidneyrigdon.com/DRB/BEGIN/golden.htm

and here:

http://www.dhushara.com/book/bbint/bb/elohim.pdf

UD