The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (review)

The Jewish Quarterly Review, XCIl, Nos. 3-4 (January-April, 2002) 276-279 Mark S. Smith. The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.Pp. xviii + 325. Mark S. Smith is a gifted, prolific, and highly proficient scholar in the field of Hebrew Bible, and those qualities and qualifications are eminently visible in his most recent volumes, two of which appeared in the year 2001: Untold Stories: The Bible and Ugaritic Studies in the 20th Century and the study under review here: The Origins ofBiblical Monotheism. Smith is mainly concerned with the emergence of the distinctive religion of the Bible out of an environment in which polytheism in its various forms and adaptations was dominant. And while the exact definition and evaluation of the biblical phenomenon remain in dispute across a whole spectrum of topics—from the definition of terms to the analysis of features and the application of all the criteria—most would acknowledge that biblical religion in its canonical organization and order is different from that of its neighbors, while at the same time exhibiting numerous points of contact and significant similarity. Defining and determining these differences and the distinction are not easy tasks, and the use of the traditional language of the classical arguments may not only not clarify issues and point to solutions , it may also impede progress toward a resolution. Thus, accepting the dichotomy between monotheism and polytheism, with its overtones of prejudgment and prejudice, may not be valid for this inquiry. The word monotheism itself may not be the best to describe biblical religion at any stage of its history or development (that is, if "development" is even an appropriate term). Smith's book is divided into three parts, the first of which deals with Ugaritic (Canaanite) religion—its literature and cultic organization and operation . The treatment is exemplary. The author brings a great mass of relevant material into focus and order. We are given a masterly combination of linguistic and literary analyses on the one hand and philosophical or theological and historical synthesis on the other. The polytheism of Ugarit (and by extension Canaan = Syria-Palestine) with its hierarchical structure, its family order, and conciliar constitution is presented in persuasive fashion. When all the requisite scholarly qualifications and reservations are noted, we feel quite comfortable with Ugarit brought back to life, as though we are at home with the gods and goddesses of the old city that is typical of the ancient Near East, and, more specifically, of the Mediterranean setting. While doubtless different in numerous important details, the general picture Smith presents must have been operational across a wide territory. SMITH, ORIGINS OF BIBLICAL MONOTHEISM—EREEDMAN 277 The last part of the book deals with Israel and its religion in the framework of Canaanite culture and religion. It is not difficult to see the numerous similarities or points of contact between Israel and its neighbors in all directions; after all, the language of the Hebrew Bible is a form of Canaanite . The vocabulary used to describe religion is much the same. The difficulty lies chiefly in explaining the essential differences. If we agree that the faith of the Bible (biblical religion) emerges from the matrix of Canaanite religion, and that in its origins it existed as a form of that religion, how do we explain the very different end-product that is found in or expressed by the final version of biblical literature, which is a product of the period of the monarchy down to and through the Exile? In the beginning, there was El, the name of the God of the Patriarchs and reasonably to be identified with EI, the chief god of the Ugaritic (= Canaanite ) pantheon. There are enough statements, allusions, and hints that this god was not alone in his heavenly abode that even so conservative a scholar as Albright thought of a triad of patriarchal deities in the familiar familial pattern of Father, Mother, and Son. Then there is Yahweh, who doesn't figure in the Ugaritic pantheon at all, but claims a homeland in the southern desert. Who is he, and where does he come from...