Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. – Psalm 86:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 9, 2019): Psalm 86

The gods in ancient literature are more connected than we sometimes realize. We read words like these of the Psalmist, and our first reaction is “of course there are no gods like the Lord of Israel. All the rest of the gods are fictitious, gods limited to the wood and stone of their creators.” Only one God is the Lord over all of the world. And his name is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the only God. The problem with that analysis is that the writers of the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible knew the interconnected stories of the gods. They knew of the competition that existed between the gods. And those stories included a God name “El.” And before the God of Israel was known as “Yahweh,” he was known as “El.” “El” simply means god, and the name can be applied to any of the gods on the pantheon, but “El” also stands on his own. So “El” is the root of some of our names for God such as “El-Shaddai” (God Almighty) and “El Elyon” (God Most High). But in the stories of the Near-east, “El” is connected with the other gods of the area.

The story of the god Dagon highlights this interconnection. Dagon is sometimes thought of as a half fish god, although this belief in Dagon’s appearance is often debated. Stories of the belief in Dagon begin about 2500 B.C.E. Dagon was thought to be the “Lord of the gods” and the “Lord of the Land.” In some stories, he is the father of the god Ba’al. But even more importantly, Dagon, in some accounts, is one of the seventy sons of “El” and his consort “Athirat.” This explains why on the Ugarit Pantheon, dating back to 1300 B.C.E., “Dagon” is listed between “El” and “Ba’al.” By the way, “Athirat” is better known to biblical readers by another name – “Asherah.” The interconnectedness of the stories might explain why the people of Israel felt it so easy to go from “El” to begin to worship “Asherah,” the consort of “El,” and “Ba’al,” essentially the grandson of “El.”

Of course, the biblical writers argue against these interconnected stories as heresy. God was God Alone. There were no other gods. And here the Psalmist asserts that even if there were other gods, the God of Israel is more powerful and more accomplished than all of the rest. Why, even if you buy into the interconnected stories of the culture, would you choose to worship a lesser god when you can worship “El,” and who Moses called “Yahweh.”

It is a good question. Why indeed.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 101