Joan of Bark

Okay, so I'm reading this book in which Friedman (professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the U of California) translates and comments on the Torah on a verse by verse basis, and generally enjoying it -- sometimes agreeing with his speculations, sometimes not. Then I come across his comments on the First Commandment (Exodus 20): You shall not have other gods before my face.

His words: "Some argue that the wording of the first commandment is not properly monotheistic. They argue that the commandment only prohibits the worship of other deities but does not deny their reality. This appears to be a too-careful reading of these words. The fact is that it is difficult to word a command of monotheism without referring to other deities ... Those who hold the view that monotheism came late in Israel cannot built a case on the wording of the first commandment. The issue here is linguistic, not theological." (Emphasis mine).

He goes on to argue that the reference to a "jealous god" in the second commandment proves monotheism in the Torah, because "Jealousy is a profoundly monotheistic quality in a god"! (Has he never read the Greek myths?)

I believe his case is weak. I can think of several ways God could refer to himself as the only one without reference to other deities. And why bother with the part about "before my face" (Friedman's translation)? The commandment would have much more power and less ambiguity without it.

According to my count, God refers no less than twenty times to other gods in the Torah. None of these references ever imply that other gods do not exist, only that the Hebrews are not to worship them. The closest God comes to a statement of monotheism is in his final reference (KJV): "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me" (Deuteronomy 32:39)

Comments?

John Kesler

I agree with Friedman that Exodus 20's prohibition against having other gods "before" Yahweh does not in and of itself speak to the other gods' existence. If you look at Friedman's comments regarding Deuteronomy 32:8 (found on page 667 of my edition), you will see that Friedman allows for the possibility of henotheism (worshiping one god as supreme) in Israel's past belief system. And yes, the Bible, in some passages, assumes the existence of other gods.

Joan of Bark

Thanks for the reference. I checked it, and it seems as if Friedman is still trying to deny that Hebrews were polyandrous (believing in many gods but worshipping only one - a term I prefer). Is he an apologist for the Torah?

Diogenes the Cynic

A belief in many gods but devotion to one is called henotheism. "Polyandrous" (or polyandry) refers to women who have more than one husband (the reverse of polygamy).

Joan of Bark

Damn, you're right, Di. My anthropology prof would shoot me. *acute embarassment*. So, how about them Cubbies?

John Kesler

If you read the introduction to Commentary on the Torah, you will see that Friedman has a great love of the Torah and wanted this book to be a commentary in the same vein as Rashi's. Friedman already took the critical approach in Who Wrote The Bible?.

Joan of Bark

Since you've obviously read the whole book, John, what is your assessment of it? Do you have any major reservations about Friedman's general slant?

Jayhawker Soule

Alter's The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary translates the idiom ('upon my face') as 'besides Me' rather than 'before Me' which, in my opinion, is somewhat less suggestive of henotheism, i.e.,

• 'besides' suggests 'other than', while
• 'before' suggests 'ahead of'

Gsohierchaput

I think the best commentary on the commandments are by Emmet Fox in his short book "the ten commandments". He argues that when the bible refers to other gods, it is as symbols of attachment to things besides the monotheistic God. For example, the first commandment would mean something like: you cannot place something else than god (science, your friends, family, work, etc) before god in your priorities and still "have" him ("I am a jaleous god"). This basicaly means that you must order your mind around god, or else your faith is meaningless and hypocritical... Well at least it could clear the misunderstanding about polytheism.
(note: I am not jewish or christian; I don't really care either way. Its just that the bible is so absurd when taken litteraly that I think it is better to think of it as a collection of allegories in a "codified" language. This is Emmet Fox's position, and I reccomend his book on the commandments or on the sermon on the mount to get a very alternative (and heretical!) analysis of the scriptures.)

John Kesler

I think that this book is good for giving the conservative Jewish/Christian interpretation of the Torah and nicely compliments Friedman's other works like Who Wrote the Bible? and The Bible With Sources Revealed.