Monotheistic Revolution I

Lecture Notes

On what exactly did the Hebrews base their beliefs in Yahweh? And, how is it that we know so much about the earliest development of Jewish monotheism so many thousands of years after the fact? The answer is pretty simple: Judaism is what is known as a "religion of the book". This means that they have one main historico-religious source, a book that according to them is actually, and literally, the word of God. The earliest set of books on which Judaism was based is the Old Testament. The Old Testament is thought to have been written between 1250 and 150 B.C.E. Notice that this means that the Old Testament was a continually growing text, made up of thirty-nine books written over about a thousand years. In these thirty-nine books we are given the story of Yahweh's creation of the world, as well as of Yahweh's interactions with mankind. Within the Old Testament we are also given the basic rules and regulations, the laws, of Judaism. Equally important, the Old Testament offers also offers the most comprehensive history of the people of Yahweh. This last point raises an important question: if the bible is both history and a theological/religious text, then how much of it can we take to be factual, to be true? To a certain degree, this is almost an irrelevant question, in that we have to look not so much at what actually happened as much as at what Jewish people believe happened. This might be a difficult concept, particularly for those of you not used to the study of history. Be reassured: there are some ways in which we can double check the historical accuracy of the bible. We can compare its stories to other surviving sources which record the history of the Jews. Still, I re-iterate, we have to look at the Old Testament as a history not so much of what happened, but as a history of what the Jews believed happened. In itself this will help us understand the way in which they thought about the world and about themselves, the core job of the historian. To finish up this slide, I want also to mention the fact that at the core of Judaism is the belief that there is a special link between Yahweh and his people, the Jews. This link is dependent on the laws and regulations of Yahweh, as well as on how well his people follow those rules and regulations. Since the relationship is dependent on the law, then the law held a special place in the history of the Jews.