Good to see you again, Pad.
The tangential issue you mention is dealt with in Bill Dever's "Did God Have A Wife." The existence of a generalized Canaanite religion in the area seems obvious ( to all but the most biblically benighted assholes...of which there are quite a few around here.) What Dever seems to be suggesting is that in the 7th century ( as Jerusalem became an actual city instead of a one-horse town ) there was an effort by the king and the priests located there to make their role central. The king had political considerations in that he needed the support of the people in the countryside and so did not always give the priests what they wanted..... a sure fire way to get on the wrong side of priests even today! Yahweh may well have been the king of the gods in Jerusalem at that time but he was not the "only" god. That line of shit grew out of the Persian occupation. Once exposed to the idea of a single creator god Yahweh got a promotion. See Philip R. Davies, In Search of Ancient Israel.
The tangential issue you mention is dealt with in Bill Dever's "Did God Have A Wife." The existence of a generalized Canaanite religion in the area seems obvious ( to all but the most biblically benighted assholes...of which there are quite a few around here.) What Dever seems to be suggesting is that in the 7th century ( as Jerusalem became an actual city instead of a one-horse town ) there was an effort by the king and the priests located there to make their role central. The king had political considerations in that he needed the support of the people in the countryside and so did not always give the priests what they wanted..... a sure fire way to get on the wrong side of priests even today! Yahweh may well have been the king of the gods in Jerusalem at that time but he was not the "only" god. That line of shit grew out of the Persian occupation. Once exposed to the idea of a single creator god Yahweh got a promotion. See Philip R. Davies, In Search of Ancient Israel.
