[Quranic Reflection] : "Joseph; he came to you before with the clear proofs".

[Bucky Ball]

No foreign god was with him= God was single and alone, that's a monotheistic admission.

It's a well-known historical fact that the Hebrews were polytheistic, "monolateralist or henotheistic) polytheism. Statues of Ashera have been found in Jerusalem, Dan, and Beth-el IN THREIR worship sires. "Asherah, along with Astarte and Anath, was one of the three great goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon. In Canaanite religions her primary role was that of mother goddess. Canaanites associated Asherah with sacred trees, an association also found in the Israelite tradition. Israel’s association of Asherah with sacred trees is repeated over thirty times in the Bible; many of these citations are stereotypically used by the biblical writers to describe sites of idolatrous worship, implying that the worship of Asherah was an apostate behavior in Israel and improper for followers of YHWH. Despite these and other references associating Asherah with apostasy, contemporary discoveries have further indicated that, at least in the opinion of some ancient Israelites, YHWH and Asherah were appropriately worshipped as a pair."

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ash...0tradition.

In fact the entire Book of Isaiah was the prophets who wrote it, telling the Hebrews that the reason the Jews were taken into Exile, was that King Hezekiah permitted the images and shrines of all kinds of other gods in his capitol. When the concept of "individualism" came from Greece, then, and only then, did they get told to embrace monotheism. Monotheism did not exist in Israel before that. It's the reason they wrote into their Exodus text the First Commandment. If they actually were monotheists, there would have been no need for that.

It's just amazing how little religionists actually know about their cults.

"Archaeological discoveries from the late 1970s and early 1980s have further indicated that, at least in the opinion of some ancient Israelites, YHWH and Asherah were appropriately worshipped as a pair. From the site of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, in the eastern Sinai, come three ninth- or eighth-century B.C.E. inscriptions that mention YHWH and “his Asherah” (meaning YHWH’s companion [consort?], the goddess Asherah) or “his asherah” (meaning YHWH’s sacred pole that represents the goddess Asherah and that sits in his temple or beside his altar). An eighth-century B.C.E. inscription from Khirbet el-Qom, about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem, contains similar language in 1 Kgs 15:13 and 2 Kgs 18:4, 21:7, and 23:6 (with parallels in 2 Chronicles) indicate that at least during certain points in the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries B.C.E., Asherah’s sacred pole was perceived as an appropriate icon to erect in Jerusalem, even in YHWH’s temple. Also, vessels in the temple were used to make sacrifices to Asherah (2 Kgs 23:4), and in a compound within the temple’s walls, women cult functionaries wove garments used to clothe Asherah’s cult statue (2 Kgs 23:7). Thus it appears that, although generally the biblical writers—especially certain prophets (Isa 17:8; 27:9; Jer 17:2; Mic 5:14) and the authors responsible for Deuteronomy, Judges, 1 and 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles—regarded Asherah worship as inappropriate, at least some and possibly many in ancient Israel incorporated the goddess’s cult imagery and ritual into the cult of YHWH".