There is one Ugaritic text which seems to indicate that among the inhabitants of Ugarit, Yahweh was viewed as another son of El. KTU 1.1 IV 14 says:

sm . bny . yw . ilt

“The name of the son of god, Yahweh.”

El was the chief god at Ugarit. Yet El is also the name of God used in many of the Psalms for Yahweh; or at least that has been the presupposition among pious Christians. Yet when one reads these Psalms and the Ugaritic texts one sees that the very attributes for which Yahweh is acclaimed are the same for which El is acclaimed. In fact, these Psalms were most likely originally Ugaritic or Canaanite hymns to El which were simply adopted by Israel, much like the American National Anthem was set to a beer hall tune by Francis Scott Key. El is called the “father of men”, “creator”, and “creator of the creation”. These attributes are also granted Yahweh by the Old Testament.

For instances, read KTU 1. 2 I 13-32 and compare it to many of the Psalms. Also, read Ps 82:1, 89:6-8mn!).

In 1 Kings 22:19-22 we read of Yahweh meeting with his heavenly council. This is the very description of heaven which one finds in the Ugaritic texts. For in those texts the “sons of god” are the sons of El.

Other deities worshipped at Ugarit were El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Berith. All of these names are applied to Yahweh by the writers of the Old Testament. What this means is that the Hebrew theologians adopted the titles of the Canaanite gods and attributed them to Yahweh in an effort to eliminate them. If Yahweh is all of these there is no need for the Canaanite gods to exist! This process is known as assimilation.

Besides the chief god at Ugarit there were also lesser gods, demons, and goddesses. The most important of these lesser gods were Baal (familiar to all readers of the Bible), Asherah (also familiar to readers of the Bible), Yam (the god of the sea) and Mot (the god of death). What is of great interest here is that Yam is the Hebrew word for sea and Mot is the Hebrew word for death! Is this because the Hebrews also adopted these Canaanite ideas as well? Most likely they did.

http://www.theology.edu/ugarbib.htm

In the Levantine pantheon, the Elohim are the 70 sons of El the Ancient of Days (Olam) assembled on the divine holy place, Mount Zephon (Jebel Aqra). This mountain, which lies in Syria, was regarded as a portal to its heavenly counterpart. The Elohim were originally ruled by El Elyon (God Most High), but He later hands His rule down to the god called Hadad who was known among the common people as "the master" ("Baal". Assembled on the holy mountain of heaven and ruled by one, the pantheon (Elohim) acts as one. The enemy of the Elohim is Yam ("the sea", a chaos monster slain by Baal. Each son was allocated to a specific people (e.g. Yahweh to Israel, Milcom to Moab etc.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim#Canaanite_religion

Israel inherited polytheism from late first-millennium Canaan, and Canaanite religion in turn had its roots in the religion of second-millennium Ugarit.  In the 2nd millennium, polytheism was expressed through the concepts of the divine council and the divine family, a single entity with four levels: the chief god and his wife (El and Asherah); the seventy divine children or "stars of El" (including Baal, Astarte, Anat, probably Resheph, as well as the sun-goddess Shapshu and the moon-god Yerak); the head helper of the divine household, Kothar wa-Hasis; and the servants of the divine household, including the messenger-gods who would later appear as the "angels" of the Hebrew bible.

In the earliest stage Yahweh was one of the seventy children of El, each of whom was the patron deity of one of the seventy nations. This is illustrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint texts of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, in which El, as the head of the divine assembly, gives each member of the divine family a nation of his own, "according to the number of the divine sons": Israel is the portion of Yahweh. The later Masoretic text, evidently uncomfortable with the polytheism expressed by the phrase, altered it to "according to the number of the children of Israel"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh#History_of_Yahweh-worship_in_ancient_Israel_and_Judah

Image123:

^YEYE upon YEYE.
Let me teach/remind you a song.

d d r m m r m (2times)
s f m r, m f f d r
f m r d, r m m t d.(solfa)

Jesus na you be Oga (2 times)
All other gods, na so so yeye
Ev'ry other god, na so so yeye.

The final editors of the Hebrew canon were fervent monotheists, but a remnant of the polytheistic basis of the pre-Mosaic religion can still be detected. Albrecht Alt has shown that divine titles such as 'El Bet' el (Gen. 31:13; 35:7); 'El 'Olam (Gen. 21:33); and 'El Ro'i (Gen. 16:13); 'El 'Elyon (Gen. 14:18); and 'El Saddai (Gen. 17:1); all later taken to be one God (Yahweh) after Moses, were all originally separate gods worshipped by the early Hebrews.3 The Catholic scholar Bruce Vawter concurs with Alt. According to Vawter, none of the available English translations does justice to the original Hebrew of Genesis 31:13, which quite simply reads "I am the god Bethel" ('El Bet'el), who was a member of the Canaanite pantheon along with the rest of the above.4 The original meaning is therefore quite different from the traditional understanding: this god at Bethel is not the universal Lord who appeared at Bethel but just one god among many – a local deity of a specific place.

In the mutual swearing of Jacob and Laban (Gen. 31:51f) it is clear that two distinct gods are referred to.5 The work of later editors is clearly evident in this passage. As Alt states: "Was it not plain paganism for the ancestor of Israel and one of his relations to swear by two different gods? This dangerous sentence had to be rendered harmless by an addition or alternation."6 In Judges 11:24 Jepthah recognizes the authority of the god Chemosh, at least for the Ammonites in their own land.

The popular notion that Moses was the original monotheist is a thesis that has very little support. As we shall soon see, Moses probably was not even a monotheist, but even if he was, there was monotheism in Egypt a generation before Moses, most likely under the heretic king Akhenaten of the 14th century B.C.E. In his insistence on the worship of Yahweh alone, Moses was a henotheist, i.e., he believed that Yahweh was the greatest among the gods, the king of gods.

The traditional belief that Yahweh revealed himself solely to Moses, and that no people except the Hebrews worshipped Yahweh, is also becoming more tenuous. Several scholars have pointed out evidence of Yahweh worship among several pre-Mosaic eastern cultures.7 For example, the controversial tablets at Ebla, dating back into the 3rd millennium B.C.E., speak of a god by the name of "Ya," who is linked to the Yahweh of Moses by some Ebla scholars.8

Contrary to popular understanding, the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me," does not deny the existence of other deities. In his commentary on Deuteronomy Anthony Phillips maintains that "there is here no thought of monotheism. The commandment does not seek to repudiate the existence of other gods, but to prevent Israel from having anything to do with them."9 The ontological status of other gods besides Yahweh can be explicitly seen in Deut. 32:8, where we find Yahweh setting the boundaries of nations according to the "number of the sons of God." The RSV follows the Septuagint text, which has been reinforced by the copy of Deuteronomy found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave 4 at Qumran. . . .

Image123:

^YEYE upon YEYE.
Let me teach/remind you a song.

d d r m m r m (2times)
s f m r, m f f d r
f m r d, r m m t d.(solfa)

Jesus na you be Oga (2 times)
All other gods, na so so yeye
Ev'ry other god, na so so yeye.

mazaje:


We know from the Ugaritic (Ras Shamra) tablets that the Canaanite god El fathered 70 gods; this background informs about Deuteronomy 32:8-9.

Then I came across the article Ugarit and the Bible on theology.edu.

This text seems to show that Yahweh was known at Ugarit, though not as the Lord but as one of the many sons of El.



It seems the ancient Jews got the idea of their God from previous civilizations, the Canaanites and others, no wonder to preserve do away with them, their God it was written told them to kill them all off and take all that belongs to them. . . . . .

Krayola:

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/henotheism.htm

Judges 11:23-24:
{Jephthah speaking to the king of the Ammonites}: 23 S[b]o now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has conquered the Amorites for the benefit of his people Israel.[/b] Do you intend to take their place? 24 Should you not possess what your god Chemosh gives you to possess? And should we not be the ones to possess everything that Yahweh our God has conquered for our benefit?

And I made this high place for Kemosh in Qarhar . . . because of the deliverance of Mesha, and because he has saved me from all the kings and because he caused me to see [my desire] upon all who hated me. Omri, king of Israel -- he oppressed Moab many days, because Chemosh was angry with his land.

Concerning Moab.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, 7 Surely, because you trusted in your strongholds and your treasures, you also shall be taken; Chemosh shall go out into exile, with his priests and his attendants.

Micah 4:1-5:
In days to come the mountain of Yahweh's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, 2 and many nations shall come and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. 3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; 4 but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken. 5 For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.

mazaje:

The text is somewhat confused, because Chemosh was actually the god of the Moabites, and Milcom was the god of the Ammonites (see 1 Kings 11:5, 33), but the point remains, and the belief that what transpired with the gods in heaven impacted earthly events was also believed by other ANE inhabitants, including the Moabites, as evidenced by the  Moabite Stone. . . . .


Compare the language used by Jeremiah in his oracle against Moab:

Jeremiah 48:1

From this verse of the bible its clear that Yahweh also believe in the existence of other Gods like him. . . . . . .



Its very clear even from the bible that Yahweh evolved into a superior God from amongst his fellow bro-Gods, even the bible has Yahweh acknowledging the existence of other Gods, but the only thing is that he claims t be the only true God while all the others are false Gods, the same claim will be made by the other Gods to their people. . . . . .The Jews were never really a monotheistic people, their monotheism itself evolved with time because they wanted to form an identity for themselves. . . . .

jackdaniel:

Deu 32 vs 8
The unrevised text would have read thus:


בְּהַנְחֵל עֶלְיוֹן גּוֹיִם          בְּהַפְרִידֹו בְּנֵי אָדָם

יַצֵּב גְּבֻלֹת עַמִּים            לְמִסְפַּר בְּנֵי שֹׁר־אֵל

וַיְהִי חֵלֶק יהוה עַמֹּו        יַעֲקֹב חֶבֶל נַחֲלָתֹו

When Elyon gave the nations an inheritance,

      when he divided humankind,

he set the bounds of the peoples

      according to the number of El’s children,

and Yahweh’s portion was his people,

      Jacob, the lot of his inheritance.

vedaxcool:


[b]i THINK i UNDERSTAND YOUR PROBLEM, You see in Islam, the Qur'an tells us that every single Nation was given guidance, that is, to every  ethnic or race group, Allah sent messengers to tell them about worshiping GOD. Now I can't say with certainty that all religions in the world are from ALLAH, But I can say that many religion in the World are from GOD. Having said that I will add that some Muslim scholars have through this verse and some other Hadith brought out a model(Degeneration Model) on why so many religions over time.
1. We Muslims maintain that every religion that come from GOD had the same consistent message Ie GOD is one and direct all worship to him alone.
2. According to a hadith ( unfortunately I cannot get my hand on it), The Prophet spoke about an ancient group of people whom GOD sent a Messenger, after some time the messenger was able to guide his people then he died. Hence they rose a group of pious individuals who carried on from that messenger, after they died their people built statures of them and made elaborate Graves for them. Then later generation began to worship this Idols thinking that was the reason they were built( Satn decieved them), hence with time the religion became pure Idolatry. As for the Bible--OT-- I think to a great the writers atimes engange in braging that atimes made it look as if there are other divity except GOD.

   From what I understand from your post you seem to be reading out what social?? evolutionist have to say about religion that is monotheism came from polytheism, which I think using their Logic of Evolution is wrong as Dwarmin said that Big(complex) came from small(Simple), in other words Polytheism actually came from Monotheism, as in most Polytheistic religion you will note subtlely that there is a big GOD who controls the smaller gods, even looking at catholism you will see that the Hadith I explained earlier fits like a glove that is when their saints? die they begin to worship him, even the same thing with other branches of Christianity you will notice how the prefer worshiping Jesus rather then the reaql Lord, looking closely at Trinity you will note that Father appears to send other gods?? on errand. again some Misguided Muslim involve themslves in the shameless Saint Worship, this is an indication that peole tend to make monotheistic religion Polytheistic with time. [/b]

Do you want me to start a topic about the evolution of Allah?. . . . . .I just hope you know that Allah was elevated to his present status by Mohamed and his cohorts. . . . . . . .

jackdaniel:

LWKMD, a thread of that nature might make some people declare FATWA on your head; one should not forget that mere cartoons made some kill others in the name of religious bru-ha-ha, I wonder what a rational religious/historical discuss would lead to? that is what i call a religion of PEACE(indeed, *sigh*), as wole soyinka put it in his brilliant work THE CLIMATE OF FEAR "before, it was I am right and you are wrong, but it is now I am right and you are dead", LWKMD

jackdaniel:

LWKMD,  a thread of that nature might make some people declare FATWA on your head; one should not forget that mere cartoons made some kill others in the name of religious bru-ha-ha, I wonder what a rational religious/historical discuss would lead to?  that is what i call a religion of PEACE(indeed, *sigh*),  as wole soyinka put it in his brilliant work THE CLIMATE OF FEAR "before, it was I am right and you are wrong,  but it is now I am right and you are dead", LWKMD 

mazaje:

Religion of peace indeed. . . . .

vedaxcool:


[b]i THINK i UNDERSTAND YOUR PROBLEM, You see in Islam, the Qur'an tells us that every single Nation was given guidance, that is, to every  ethnic or race group, Allah sent messengers to tell them about worshiping GOD. Now I can't say with certainty that all religions in the world are from ALLAH, But I can say that many religion in the World are from GOD. Having said that I will add that some Muslim scholars have through this verse and some other Hadith brought out a model(Degeneration Model) on why so many religions over time.
1. We Muslims maintain that every religion that come from GOD had the same consistent message Ie GOD is one and direct all worship to him alone.
2. According to a hadith ( unfortunately I cannot get my hand on it), The Prophet spoke about an ancient group of people whom GOD sent a Messenger, after some time the messenger was able to guide his people then he died. Hence they rose a group of pious individuals who carried on from that messenger, after they died their people built statures of them and made elaborate Graves for them. Then later generation began to worship this Idols thinking that was the reason they were built( Satn decieved them), hence with time the religion became pure Idolatry. As for the Bible--OT-- I think to a great the writers atimes engange in braging that atimes made it look as if there are other divity except GOD.

   From what I understand from your post you seem to be reading out what social?? evolutionist have to say about religion that is monotheism came from polytheism, which I think using their Logic of Evolution is wrong as Dwarmin said that Big(complex) came from small(Simple), in other words Polytheism actually came from Monotheism, as in most Polytheistic religion you will note subtlely that there is a big GOD who controls the smaller gods, even looking at catholism you will see that the Hadith I explained earlier fits like a glove that is when their saints? die they begin to worship him, even the same thing with other branches of Christianity you will notice how the prefer worshiping Jesus rather then the reaql Lord, looking closely at Trinity you will note that Father appears to send other gods?? on errand. again some Misguided Muslim involve themslves in the shameless Saint Worship, this is an indication that peole tend to make monotheistic religion Polytheistic with time. [/b]

Pastor AIO:

So how do you explain the fact that the arabs had many gods and now they only have one? -------> [size=15pt]If you have any iota of your Bible, let me ask the following questions who was the progenitor of the Arab, ans Ismael, what was his religion? ans common sense will tell you that he followed the path(religion) of his Father who was also a monotheist, then what religion would his people follow? ans Simply the religion of their Progenitor, like I said with time people devaited from the right part and started worshiping Idols.ALLAh sent the prophet to re correct their steps, hence the Prophet succeded with GOD's Help.
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How do you explain the Satanic verses of Muhammad?------> [size=15pt]This topic has been dealt with extensively in other thread and hardly has any connection to this thread, instead you aim  to disqualify what I wrote becoz it carries a huge Illumination of Proofs which not only indicate the Paganism of your religion but also the truthfulness of the Prophet's hadith.[/size]

You will need to bring historical evidence that at early stages of society or religion what was practiced was monotheism--------> [size=15pt]Looking at most religion of the world there is always a "BIG" GOD who controls the smaller gods, this is an indication there were probably Monotheistic initially before failing.[/size]

Rhino.3dm:

Maza! To yaya? Kana lafiya?

Pastor AIO:

Krayoooooo, so this guy, you still dey.  I miss you o!

mazaje:

Krayola ! Its very nice to have you back, how have you been doing?. . . . .

So how do you explain the fact that the arabs had many gods and now they only have one? -------> If you have any iota of your Bible, let me ask the following questions who was the progenitor of the Arab, ans Ismael, what was his religion? ans common sense will tell you that he followed the path(religion) of his Father who was also a monotheist, then what religion would his people follow? ans Simply the religion of their Progenitor, like I said with time people devaited from the right part and started worshiping Idols.ALLAh sent the prophet to re correct their steps, hence the Prophet succeded with GOD's Help.

How do you explain the Satanic verses of Muhammad?------> This topic has been dealt with extensively in other thread and hardly has any connection to this thread, instead you aim to disqualify what I wrote becoz it carries a huge Illumination of Proofs which not only indicate the Paganism of your religion but also the truthfulness of the Prophet's hadith.

You will need to bring historical evidence that at early stages of society or religion what was practiced was monotheism--------> Looking at most religion of the world there is always a "BIG" GOD who controls the smaller gods, this is an indication there were probably Monotheistic initially before failing.

who was the progenitor of the Arab, ans Ismael, what was his religion?

This topic has been dealt with extensively in other thread and hardly has any connection to this thread

Looking at most religion of the world there is always a "BIG" GOD who controls the smaller gods, this is an indication there were probably Monotheistic initially before failing.

Pastor AIO link=topic=501927.msg6648714#msg6648714 date=128289933t.

I don't know if you're actually following this thread. If you did then you'd know that we've already suggested that Abraham being canaanite was at least an henotheist. We also know that Abraham saw El and invited him to eat. It was only after entertaining him that he realized that he had just had an encounter with El. This does not fit in with the attributes of the Islamic Allah at all.----------------------> [size=15pt:
I do not accept all the claims of a book that claims a prophet slept with his own daughter, I accept fully the details of the Qur'an which says Abraham was a Mumin(believer in One GOD), who did not associate pathners with ALLAH, Imagine how shameless you are Calling the Father of Isaac (the Ancestor of Jesus) a henotheist, I shake my head at your reasoning.[/size]

All thought evolves. Science, religion, ideology, you name it. It all evolves. You have not demonstrated in any way or form that monotheism necessarily changes into polytheism. I suspect that you haven't fully grasped the intricacies of this subject that we're talking about.
Far from having nothing to do with this thread it shows that Allah was conceived as having 3 daughters previously, and that Muhammad removed them from arabic religion because he was trying to enforce monotheism. At times he succumbed to the pressure of the original tradition and that was how the satanic verses got into the quran, but he later reneged on his compromise. This also shows that the evolution of islam was as much influenced by political pressures as by muhammad's inspiration. -------------> [size=15pt]Yawn, Yawnm Yawn, I thought pastors where much intelligent, Your paganistic religion has clouded you ability to reason Normally, as you are only trying hard to change the Subject to a more palatable discuss, Your religion is Paganistic, How you ask? 1. Like African religion it depends on intermediaries for one to pray to GOD, ie you need the shango's and Ifa's of this world to get your prayer accepted just as you need to pray through Jesus to accept your prayer, Just as the catholics have patro saints for various occasion the same way T. religion have idols, dieties in charge of different Occasion, in most trad religion you have a situation were people believe GOD is too good to be appoached directly hence they go through a intermediaries
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You have done nothing to demonstrate why polytheism necessarily evolves out of monotheism and not vice versa. What is the mechanism? How does the process unfold? If you want to talk intelligently about this then you are required to demonstrate your assertions.------------> [size=15pt]the First example I gave is sufficient for the wise, but again look at the Origin Of Christianity, The supposed Diety of Jesus is based on the wrong assertion of him being part of godhood or god, but when we examine statements of Jesus we hear him say "I by myself cannot do anything", "None is good except GOD" " None knows the day of judgment except GOD", Jesus in fact took himself to be a servant of GOD, even he even told a man that if he wants to make it to heaven he should simply keep the Commandment not any crucifixion, But we come to see that worship of Christ stated due to the mixture of Roman paganism as Paul the pagan turned Christian brought most of Roman Pagan Belief into Christianity in fact PAul had a tough time Battling Jesus Family nd the early church due to paul's leaning to Paganism. [/size]


this is ridiculous. It indicates nothing of the sort. If you look at most religions that have a 'big god' ruling smaller gods you will also realize that the 'big God' is nothing like the monotheistic Allah of Islam.----------> [size=15pt]Yes that is what happen exactly in Christianity as even if you starle a christian the first thing he will say is Jesus not God or Lord, most of your praise songs are directed at jesus, we an conclude that whenever a monotheistic religion gets surplanted by Paganism the Almighty GOD becomes less worship than the real GOD.
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Take Yoruba religion for example, Eledumare, or Chineke in Igbo religion. This ultimate source does not receive ritualistic worship------------->[size=15pt]Just like GOD in Christianity is less often woshiped, you begining to understand the similarities between your religion and Trad religion.
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