American Academy of Religion

The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel by Mark S. Smith
Review by: W. Lee Humphreys
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Spring, 1993), pp. 157-160
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1465020 .
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BookReviews 157

there is no room to do so, and second, because they are indeed a dialogue. I
would be doing the book a disservice to expose what occurs through this
intriguingand creativeprocess of interrogationand discussion. So I will simply
say that Theology
at the Endof the Centuryis well worth reading,and in the spirit
of the postmodernwill allow its "end" to unfold in the process.
MaryI. Bockover
HumboldtState University

TheEarlyHistoryof God: Yahwehand the OtherDeitiesin AncientIsrael.

By MarkS. Smith. Harper& Row: 1990. 197 pages. $26.95.
Recent archaeologicalinvestigationhas complicated our understandingof
ancient Israel's origins, and with other lines of evidence has caused a funda-
mental shift in perspective. Views firmlyrooted in much biblical presentation
itself of a sharp distinction between Israeliteand Canaanitehave been called
into question. Today many suggestemergentIsraelsharedbasic elements with
Canaaniteculture and, in fact, was derived from it. "In short," Smith states,
"Israeliteculturewas largely Canaanitein nature . . .One cannot maintain a
radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I
period" (xxii). What then does this suggest for the development in Israel's
understandingsof Yahweh? How are we to understandthe emergence of a
monotheism that some scholars set earlyin Israel'sreligioushistoryand others
place in the exile or after?
In addressingthese issues Smith notes additionalshifts in perspectivethat
shape currenthistoricalstudy of Israel'sreligion. One growingout of the above
is that deities such as El, Baal, and Asherah were part of "Israel'sCanaanite
heritage"(xxiii), and the emergenceof Israelitemonolatrywas a breakwith its
own past and not an avoidance of alien Canaanitepractice or of syncretistic
mixing of distincttraditions. Changesin what Smithnicely terms "the shape of
this religiousspectrumin early Israel"(xxiii), which included these other dei-
ties, manifest two major trends that he calls "convergence"and "differentia-
tion." The formerentails the coalescence of characteristicsof deities, and even
the deities themselves, into the depiction of Yahweh. This process is most
apparentin the period of the judges and earlymonarchy,when El and Yahweh
were identified, Asherah ceased to be a distinct deity and her symbol became
part of the Yahweh cult, and qualities of both, along with Baal, were incorpo-
rated into featuresof Yahweh.
Differentiationis more characteristicof developmentsfrom the ninth cen-
tury into the exile, in which featuresof Israel'sCanaaniteheritageare rejected
and distinguishedfrom what then came to be viewed as the genuine Yahwistic
cult. Traditionsassociatedwith Baal, the asherah, solar worship, high places,
and practices pertainingto the dead stand as examples. Both royal and pro-
phetic forces played a part in a trajectorythat led through monolatrytoward
monotheism.

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158 Journal of the AmericanAcademyof Religion

A final change in perspective that informs Smith's study is a recent

increasedinterestin goddesses in Israelitereligion and in the role of gender in
presentationsof Yahweh and other Near Easterndeities. Here, perhaps, new
evidence, as well as changedways of viewing what has been before us for some
time, is most apparent.
Smith presents this frameworkof perspectivesin an introductorychapter
that concludes with a brief overviewof assumptionsthat shape historicalstudy
firmlygroundedin a historyof religions tradition. While some notice is taken
of the natureof biblical traditionsand issues involvedin their use in this type of
study, little is done to place scholarship of this sort in relationship to other
approachesto the biblical text, let alone to largercontexts and communitiesin
which the Bible is read today. For the range and depth of learningreflectedin
this study it remainsfirmlyset in a historyof religionscontext and does not set
that approachand the perspectivesthat inform it in relationto others. This is
certainly understandableand does not call into question Smith's substantial
contributionsto the questionsaddressed. Yet it can be noted that this studysets
out perspectivesthat challengeearlierwork on the historyof Yahwehand Israe-
lite religion that reinforced biblical presentations, which set Israelite over
againstCanaaniteas separateand distinctfrom the outset and in which contact
led to corruptionof the formerby the latterthroughsyncretism. One suspects
that for many this older perspectiveand over-valuationof biblical presentations
is groundedin the fact that even the most rigorousscholars often live in more
than one communityof readingand interpretationof the Bible. Attentionto the
interplaybetween these communities,and considerationof the challengeswork
done in one context poses for other modes of reading and scholarship, could
prove to be an inviting and engaging area of study.
Subsequentchapters review several dimensions of Israel's Canaaniteheri-
tage and trace, often in considerabledetail, the developmenttowardmonothe-
ism from the period of the judges to the exile. Chapter 1 centers on
convergenceof El, aspects of Baal, and assimilationof the cult and symbol of
Asherahinto Yahwism. The period is one in which there is movementfrom a
limited polytheism "withinan Israelitepantheon dominatedby a nationalgod"
(26) towarda monolatrycentered on Yahweh. The second chaptercenters on
Yahweh and Baal and the differentiationof the one from the other in the mon-
archy, especially in light of the policy of Ahab and Jezebel in the north that
possibly establishedBaal, ratherthan Yahweh,as patrongod of the monarchy,
provokingan earlypropheticreaction. An excursusconcludes that no evidence
exists suggestingthat Anat was a goddess in Israel.
A third chapter on Yahweh and Asherah suggests that the wooden repre-
sentation of a tree that symbolized her was a feature of Israelite religion not
subject to condemnationuntil the later monarchy,but that there is scant evi-
dence that the goddess herself was worshippedin any but possibly the earliest
period as consortof El. An excursustreatsgenderedlanguageand depictionsof
Yahweh. Smith recognizes that predominatelymasculine language is used in
speaking of and to Yahweh and furthermorestresses that such images as war-

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BookReviews 159

rior, king, and redeemer are more common in the tradition than parental
images. Yet he observesthat some materialspeaks of a maternaland nurturing
characterof Yahwehthat may be groundedin traditionslinked to Asherah. He
notes, in fact, that in Near Eastern tradition a god might be described with
female imagery,or a goddess with male imagery,without a basic reversalof
sexual identitiesor implicationsof bisexuality. Rather,he suggests,throughthe
use of masculineand feminine metaphorsa full rangeof qualitiesare expressed
and even categoriesof sexuality are transcended,especially for Yahweh.
Chapters4 and 5 take up additionalelements in Israel'sCanaaniteheritage,
including solar images and elements in Yahwism, the high places, practices
associatedwith the dead, and the mlk sacrifice. Solarimageryused in speaking
of Yahweh originatedin a broad ancient Near Easternheritagethat used solar
and storm images when speaking of a range of deities. It was furtherempha-
sized through the southern monarchy'suse of these images to speak of both
deity and king, suggesting here as elsewhere the interpenetrationof political
and religious emphases. High places, as well as practicessuch as feeding the
dead, necromancy,and mourningrites for the dead, were not perceivedas con-
flictingwith the cult of Yahwehuntil the latermonarchy. Child sacrificewas a
dimension of the religion of the high places, which were themselves only con-
demned in time.
Chapter 6 traces the "origins and development of monotheism" through
four stages: the period of the judges, the first and then the second half of the
monarchy, and the exile. Paths of both convergence and differentiationare
reviewed,leading to the suggestionthat Israelitedevelopmentof Yahwismwas
both evolutionaryand revolutionary.The formeris observed in the many ele-
ments of Israel'sCanaaniteheritagethat shaped and were retainedin emergent
Yahwist monotheism. The latter is apparent in the exclusion of Baal from
Israel'snational cult and in the developmentof a religiousapologeticmanifest
in the claims of religious difference that shape so much biblical tradition as
formed in the late monarchy, the exile, and later. Smith challenges here as
elsewherethe use made of distinctionsbetween official, royal,and popularreli-
gion as reflectingmore apologeticthan historicallydescriptiveinterests. A con-
cluding chapter centers on "processes leading to divine portraiturein Israel,"
and "the absence of some Canaanitedivine roles in the biblical record." This
allows Smith to sum up by stating that "Yahweh's qualities were often
expressedin terms largelyshaped by the characteristicsof other deities belong-
ing to ancient Israel'sheritagethat Israel rejectedin the course of time" (166).
This review does scant justice to Smith's extensive discussion of a wide
range of issues and his thoroughgroundingin primarymaterialsand the vast
secondary literatureon them. The notes are a treasuryof information and
resources for scholars. Yet the treatmentis one that an informed reader can
follow without extensive backgroundin historicalstudy of the developmentof
Israelite religion. Smith asks us to reconsider basic assumptions about the
development of Yahwistic monotheism and suggests what new patterns of
developmentemergewithin new perspectives. One is left with both respectfor

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160 Journalof the AmericanAcademyof Religion

Smith contributionand also a clear awarenessof how it cuts against the basic
grain of the biblical text itself.
W. Lee Humphreys
Universityof Tennessee

Acts of Compassion:Caringfor Othersand HelpingOurselves.By Robert

Wuthnow. Princeton University Press, 1991. 263 pages. $24.95.

RobertWuthnow begins his latest and most engagingbook by recounting

the story of Jane Addams' encounter with Tolstoy. In 1896, the world
renownedfounderof Hull Housejourneyedto Russiato meet the literarycolos-
sus whose work had inspiredher to devote her life to the poor. Addamsarrived
at Tolstoy'scountryestate as a disciple who had acceptedTolstoy'scall to serve
the destituteand afflicted. Her efforts in building America'ssettlement-house
movement had made her one of Tolstoy's most accomplishedfollowers.
ButTolstoywas unimpressedby her. He greetedAddamsin his dirtywork-
ing clothes, fresh from the hayfieldswhere he had been toiling with the peas-
ants. He glanced at her travelinggown and asked why she was dressed in such
finery. The sleeves alone containedenough cloth for a peasantgirl's dress. He
was disgustedby her appearanceand was revoltedto learn that she employeda
servant,that she was an absentee landlord of a farm, and that she didn't eat
porridge.
The meeting stunned and shamed Addams. She told herself that Tolstoy
was right. She caredfor the poor, but had not made herself equal to them. She
tried to help the poor, but did not identifywith them in their suffering. Tolstoy
baked his own bread and ate porridgeand workedwith the peasantsin the hot
sun while she worked in a parlor and had her meals brought to her. She
resolvedto change. She would share the condition of the poor, as Tolstoy did.
She would bake her own bread and live as the poor lived. Not long after she
returnedto Chicago,however, her vow seemed absurdto her. There were too
many demands on her time to live as Tolstoy lived. She was too busy to bake
bread. Living a compassionate life, she concluded, did not mean the same
thing in Americaas in Russia.
Butwhat does it mean in America?Workingwith a researchgrantfromthe
Lily Endowment, Wuthnow has conducted a national study based on inter-
views with 2,110 American adults that seeks an answer to this question. He
notes that Americansare widely perceived-even by themselves-to be selfish,
individualistic,and materialistic,yet nearlyhalf of the adult public does volun-
teer work. Though only one person in eight devotes more than five hours per
week, Americanscollectively give 20 billion hours of their time each year to
volunteer community service. Americans appear to be both self-preoccupied
and compassionate. Is this a credible reading? Does it make sense?
Wuthnow answers that, in America,it is credible and it does make sense.
He reportsthat here those who are most deeply involved in communityservice

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