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how many abrahamic gods are there???

outhouse

Atheistically
Sorry I have to ask, because the bible is very vague on how many.

It does contradict itself in this way plus it doesnt give a number at all on exactly how many "gods" exist.

Now we all know ancient hebrews worshipped more then one god in the beginning and sort of ditched all but one in favor of monotheism. None the less the one abrahamic god states there are more.


heres some biblical examples

Genesis 1:26 And God said, let us make man in our image.
Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, then man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.
Genesis 11:7 Let us go down, and there confound their language.
Exodus 12:12 And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.
Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?
Exodus 18:11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods.
Exodus 20:3, 5 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
Exodus 22:20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
Exodus 22:28 Thou shalt not revile the gods.
Exodus 23:13 Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
Exodus 23:24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
Exodus 23:32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Numbers 33:4 Upon their gods also theLORD executed judgments.
Deuteronomy 3:24 What God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works?
Deuteronomy 5:7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
Deuteronomy 6:14-15 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you)
Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords.
Deuteronomy 28:14 Thou shalt not ... go after other gods to serve them.
Joshua 24:2 They served other gods.
Joshua 24:14 Fear the Lord ... and put away the gods which your fathers served.
Judges 11:24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess?
1 Samuel 6:5 Ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods.
1 Samuel 28:13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
1 Chronicles 16:25 The Lord ... is to be feared above all gods.
Psalm 82:1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods.
Psalm 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods.
Psalm 86:8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord.
Psalm 96:4 For the Lord ... is to be feared above all gods.
Psalm 97:7 Worship him, all ye gods.
Psalm 135:5 Our Lord is above all gods.
Psalm 136:2 O give thanks unto the God of gods.
Jeremiah 1:16 I will utter my judgments against them ... who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods.
Jeremiah 10:11 The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
Jeremiah 25:6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jeremiah 46:25 I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods.
Zephaniah 2:11 The Lord will be terrible to them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth.
John 10:33-34 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
 

Poisonshady313

Well-Known Member
In the instances where God uses words like "we" or "us", he's conversing with the angels.

In many instances, consider that a word mistranslated as God or Lord might actually be referring to kings (or, less specifically, men of great power or importance.)

As for lines like "you shall have no other gods before me.", God is aware that people have a tendency to create their own gods. If you decided to worship the tree in your backyard, that doesn't mean your tree is a real god. Its a false god. In many of the verses you listed, you might understand them more rightly if you just add the word "false" before the word "gods".

Were I posting from a computer instead of from my phone, I would help you sort them out.

So, there is only one God.

And Jesus has nothing to do with it.
 

Levite

Higher and Higher
Sorry I have to ask, because the bible is very vague on how many.

It does contradict itself in this way plus it doesnt give a number at all on exactly how many "gods" exist.

Now we all know ancient hebrews worshipped more then one god in the beginning and sort of ditched all but one in favor of monotheism. None the less the one abrahamic god states there are more.

It is certainly true that the earliest Israelite religion was henotheistic, and not monotheistic. But generally speaking, when we speak of Abrahamic religion, and of Judaism in particular, that is not what we are referring to. Generally speaking, when one speaks of Judaism as Abrahamic religion, one speaks of Rabbinic Judaism, which is what is practiced. Or one speaks of the Israelite Judaism of the late Biblical and Second Temple periods, which is when the Torah and much of the rest of the Tanakh was redacted, and the final shape was given to monotheism as we now have it.

Therefore, we understand that when God's name appears in an apparent plural form, it is actually an emphatic. We understand that very often, when it speaks of other gods, it is implicit that those other gods are false-- an unwritten but understood set of quotation marks surrounding the term, as it were. And for the rest, when it speaks of the gods of other nations, we understand that what is meant is "the gods that they believe to exist."

Any Jew, any Muslim, and any Christian would tell you that there is only One God. There have never been more, nor will there ever be more.
 

outhouse

Atheistically
And on at least a couple of occasions, the word mistranslated as gods is the word for angels.


would you have anything at all to back this statement up besides opinion.

we all kmow ancient hebrews were not monotheistic and made up and worshipped different gods including a possible gods wife.
 

outhouse

Atheistically
I just thought I would commetn on this.

Have you ever heard of majestic plural?
It is quite common for kings and queens and the like to say we and us about them selves. Since God is supposed to be above even the kings it would make sense for him to use majestic plural.


yes i have and it doesnt apply.

again if you knew ancient hebrews culture you would know the bible started out with more then one god but was heavily edited out early on.

genesis is a patchwork before its final form
 

outhouse

Atheistically
It is certainly true that the earliest Israelite religion was henotheistic, and not monotheistic. But generally speaking, when we speak of Abrahamic religion, and of Judaism in particular, that is not what we are referring to. Generally speaking, when one speaks of Judaism as Abrahamic religion, one speaks of Rabbinic Judaism, which is what is practiced. Or one speaks of the Israelite Judaism of the late Biblical and Second Temple periods, which is when the Torah and much of the rest of the Tanakh was redacted, and the final shape was given to monotheism as we now have it

very good and accurate Levite :)


Therefore, we understand that when God's name appears in an apparent plural form, it is actually an emphatic. We understand that very often, when it speaks of other gods, it is implicit that those other gods are false-- an unwritten but understood set of quotation marks surrounding the term, as it were. And for the rest, when it speaks of the gods of other nations, we understand that what is meant is "the gods that they believe to exist."

I find that to be fairly accurate except for the posibility of Asherah, I also believe that is where god made man in "OUR" image comes from



Any Jew, any Muslim, and any Christian would tell you that there is only One God. There have never been more, nor will there ever be more

I find this personal opinion but beleive your right as previopus deitys may have been edited out early on.
 

outhouse

Atheistically
I guess I should have asked

we know ancient hebrews created and worshipped more then the abrahamic god. What names besides Asherah did some of these other gods go by???
 

Breathe

Hostis humani generis
we know ancient hebrews created and worshipped more then the abrahamic god. What names besides Asherah did some of these other gods go by???

Probably mostly Canaanite, with some Assyrian, Babylonian.
Possibly some Mesopotamian, and even Sumerian though - depending on influences, but I'd say about 80% would be Canaanite, with about 15% being Assyro-Babylonian.

Two that come immediately to my mind besides Asherah are Moloch and Dagon; I'd imagine a love deity too, like Qetesh, would be quite popular as well.

I'll defer to Caladan though. :)
 

outhouse

Atheistically
Probably mostly Canaanite, with some Assyrian, Babylonian.
Possibly some Mesopotamian, and even Sumerian though - depending on influences, but I'd say about 80% would be Canaanite, with about 15% being Assyro-Babylonian.

Two that come immediately to my mind besides Asherah are Moloch and Dagon; I'd imagine a love deity too, like Qetesh, would be quite popular as well.

I'll defer to Caladan though. :)

thank you

I should search I suppose, and it will come up.

theres really not even a 400 ish year period in which to draw from. This would be from the earliest hebrew writing to the switch to monotheism.

if one was to look before 1000 BC im not sure how accurate the info would be being ancient hebrews culture started roughly around 1250 BC ish and most info is all oral tradition. I think your very correct in a majority of canaanite ingluences with a hair more sumerian influences then egyptian.

I believe the early influences on more then one god would be directly tied to the previous cultures mostly using polytheism
 

Poisonshady313

Well-Known Member
would you have anything at all to back this statement up besides opinion.

we all kmow ancient hebrews were not monotheistic and made up and worshipped different gods including a possible gods wife.

Psalm 82:6, in the many various non Christian translations I've seen says "you are angelic". Or "like angels". It has something to do with a mixture of language and context.
 

fallingblood

Agnostic Theist
Just to comment on Asherah. There is little to no evidence that she was thought to be the wife of God. The problem is that there simply is not enough information. Some draw a lot of conclusions from this lack of evidence, and there are respected scholars who do it as well. But we really just don't have the information. To state that Asherah is the wife of God, or that she was meant when it was said that humans are made in our images, is pure conjecture, and not very well supported anyway.

Scholars want as much information about ideas as possible; however, there are many cases that they step over the lines of what evidence shows. More so, regular people who are not scholars tend to enjoy the controversy or mystery that may be out there, but again, it is usually based on pure conjecture, and little evidence.
 

outhouse

Atheistically
Just to comment on Asherah. There is little to no evidence that she was thought to be the wife of God. The problem is that there simply is not enough information. Some draw a lot of conclusions from this lack of evidence, and there are respected scholars who do it as well. But we really just don't have the information. To state that Asherah is the wife of God, or that she was meant when it was said that humans are made in our images, is pure conjecture, and not very well supported anyway.

Scholars want as much information about ideas as possible; however, there are many cases that they step over the lines of what evidence shows. More so, regular people who are not scholars tend to enjoy the controversy or mystery that may be out there, but again, it is usually based on pure conjecture, and little evidence.


thank you

thats why I listed it as possible and I believe.

you have to admit though it fits the ancient culture to a T and its not a stretch at all as it fits like a perfect piece to the puzzle. I understand this does not make it so, but we do know that Asherah as a import early deity with the sheer volume of artifacts found, she is directly tied in with Yahwey by artifacts.
 

outhouse

Atheistically
Psalm 82:6, in the many various non Christian translations I've seen says "you are angelic". Or "like angels". It has something to do with a mixture of language and context.

I think that script if anything proves its not angels, fuuny jesus used that same phrase in a tight spot in "john"

you may want to look at psalms 82:1 to put it in context

82:1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
 

Levite

Higher and Higher
I guess I should have asked
we know ancient hebrews created and worshipped more then the abrahamic god. What names besides Asherah did some of these other gods go by???

Asherah was not created by the ancient Hebrews: she was a Canaanite and Edomite goddess. Most of the false gods or idols listed in the Hebrew Scriptures are the names of Canaanite, Edomite, or occasionally Aramean, Babylonian, or Phoenician gods and goddesses.

For example, Judges mentions the Philistines worshipping a sea-god called Dagon. There are numerous injunctions in Torah and in other places against offering one's children to Molech, which was the Hebraicization of the Phoenician name Melqart. The Arameans and some Canaanites worshipped a local version of Ishtar/Astarte called Ashtoret, and this religion was sometimes picked up in idolatry by Israelites, and sometimes conflated with the cult of Asherah.

If I can think of any others, I'll try to point them out....
 

outhouse

Atheistically
I found this

Up until at least the time of the (sixth century BCE) Babylonian Exile, the ancient Hebrews worshipped many gods. Even in the time of the Exile, Isaiah (26:13-14) said in acknowledgement of Judah's polytheistic past:
'O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to vanish.'​



Having claimed that the old gods were dead and entirely forgotten, the author of the above passage then criticised those who still worshipped them.
Some of the Hebrew gods include (with limited references, because of space):
  • The moon god
Throughout the Middle East, from Egypt to Persia, the golden calf represented the moon god, so when the Israelites worshipped golden calves, we know this was the moon god. C. L. Woolley found several images of golden calves in his excavations of the royal graves at Ur. That these images are of the moon god can be seen a description found in a Sumero-Akkadian hymn to that god: 'Ferocious bull, whose horn is thick, whose legs are perfected, who is bearded in lapsis, and filled with luxury and abundance.' In Exodus, the Hebrews built a golden calf, which Moses is said to have destroyed. In 1 Kings chapter 12, we find that the King Jeroboam made two calves of gold, setting one up in Bethel and one in Dan. He made priests and ordained a national feast day to the god symbolised by these calves, and the people came to worship. From this it can be seen that, under Jeroboam, the moon god was the national god of Israel​
  • The sun god
In Exodus, Joshua is said to have fought against the Amaleks, while Moses held up his hand until the sun went down. Arguably, this passage is based on an early sun god myth. Verse 17:1 says that they had journeyed from the wilderness of Sin. Sin was the Semitic moon god, so the wilderness of Sin was night time - when the moon god was in control. Joshua could only prevail while Moses held up his hand and the sun was up - the sun god was in control. Note that verses 17:2-7, in which Moses tapped a rock to obtain water, seem to have been inserted out of order, thus breaking the link between the moon god and the battle. The Book of Ezekiel, verse 8:16 says: 'And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east'.​
  • Venus, known to the ancient Hebrews as Asherah.
There are frequent references to Asherah and to her groves, throughout the Bible The Second Book of Kings (23:5) tells us that priests at Jerusalem burnt incense to the sun and the moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven.​
  • The serpent god, Nehushtan
Judahites worshipped Nehushtan at least until the seventh century BCE, when King Hezekiah finally destroyed the idol.​
  • Regional gods

Other gods that the Hebrew people worshipped in the period up to the Exile include Ba'al, Moloch, Chemosh, Milcom, Chiun or Remphan, Gad and Meni. Ezekiel 8:14 describes women in the Temple 'weeping for Tammuz' - the Semitic god condemned to hell by the goddess Astarte after she was crucified and resurrect​
  • Lady Wisdom

    The spirit/goddess Lady Wisdom seems to be post-exilic, although the Bible says that she existed before the creation of the world. The Book of Proverbs is largely devoted to Lady Wisdom, as is much non-canonical Jewish writing from after the Babylonian Exile.

Read more: Answers.com - What gods did the Hebrews worship
 

outhouse

Atheistically
This is also a good read

Ancient Gods of the Bible



Nevertheless, in opposition to the popular monotheistic notion that Jews and Christians entertain today—of one almighty God of Israel always ruling everything—then and now—stands even more historical evidence that shows this notion originally emerged from an earlier age ruled by several gods.

Monotheism (a belief in only one God) sprang forth from polytheism (the worship of many gods) at a relatively recent time in human history, and it progressed slowly, and only began to flourish several centuries after the time of Christ. It developed from the later Hebrew worship of a sole God, Yahweh—as, in The Religious Teachings of the Old Testament, Albert C. Knudson, a professor in the Boston University School of Theology, so aptly pointed out:



"The sole godhead of Yahweh was a truth that was only gradually attained. The different steps in this development may be distinguished with a fair degree of clearness. We begin with the Mosaic age. It was to Moses, as we have seen, that the establishment of Yahweh-worship was due. Previous to his time the Israelites seem to have been polytheists. On one of the cuneiform tablets discovered by Winckler at Boghazkj and belonging to the pre-Mosaic age we read of “the gods” of the Habiri or Hebrews, and in Josh. 24.2, 14f. and Ezek. 20.7f., 24 we are told that both in Mesopotamia and Egypt the Israelites worshipped other gods. The very name “Yahweh” also points in the same direction. The manifest purpose of such a name was to distinguish the god of Israel from other gods. If the Hebrews had not believed in the existence of other deities, there would have been no need of giving a personal name to the Divine Being through whom they were delivered from Egypt. He would have been to them simply God.


"Then, too, it is a significant fact that the common Hebrew word for “God,” Elohim, is plural in form. This plural, it is often said, was not numerical, but simply enhancive of the idea of might, a plural majesty. And this was no doubt to a large extent true of later usage. But originally the plural form must have had a polytheistic background. People could have begun to use the plural “gods” to express the idea of divinity only at a time when they believed in the existence of a plurality of divine beings. This is illustrated by the Greek use of theoi and the Latin use of dei. The plural, Elohim, points, then, back to an earlier polytheistic stage of belief. And this stage we naturally locate in the pre-Mosaic period.



"What Moses did was to put monolatry in place of the earlier polytheism. He did not deny the existence of other gods, but proclaimed Yahweh as the sole god of Israel. He did not say that there was but one God, but insisted that it was Israel’s duty to have but one God. But while he thus did not teach monotheism [like the wayward do now], the monolatry he established was an important step in that direction."




In fact, The Emphasized Bible even goes so far as to translate Amos 5:26 thus: “But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images—the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves.” This is a more accurate translation than that in the King James Bible—wherein the Hebrew word used for “God” is actually elohim, which once again, should be translated “gods,” just as the Emphasized Bible translates it. Apparently its translators saw no great danger in rendering elohim as a divine plural in this particular instance. But, like the thousands of times in the King James Translation, and in other translations as well, the translators apparently thought it was safer and wiser if the naive flock would read just “God,” so that the greatest deception of two millennium—that is, that there is but one (Hebrew) God ruling this infinite universe—could be effectively propagated to future generations for perhaps another thousand years. It is time for religious shepherds to teach their naive flocks the truth for a change.

 

outhouse

Atheistically
Asherah was not created by the ancient Hebrews: she was a Canaanite and Edomite goddess. Most of the false gods or idols listed in the Hebrew Scriptures are the names of Canaanite, Edomite, or occasionally Aramean, Babylonian, or Phoenician gods and goddesses.

Holy Moly :)

Asherah opens the biggest can of worms on a search I have seen in a while.

one cannot deny though that Asherah was a import early hebrew deity

Asherah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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