From Monolatry to Monotheism: The Changing Face of the Biblical Pantheon
August 2025 | Vol. 13.8
By Michael B. Hundley
This article is the fourth in a 4-part series of articles on the nature of God in the Near East and Hebrew Bible. Check out the first, second, and third articles if you missed them!
While biblical Israel’s pantheon likely resembled those of its neighbors more than we might expect, it also differed and developed in meaningful ways, especially because of its commitment to monolatry — the worship of one god, without denying the existence of others. Exclusivity lies at the heart of Israel’s covenant or contract with their god, setting them apart from their neighbors whose gods rarely make covenants with humans or demand exclusivity. Biblical monolatry resembles a monogamous marriage. While I recognize the existence of many other women, my marriage contract requires me to be exclusively committed to my wife. In his marriage-like relationship (Jer 3:14) as in my own, YHWH expresses commitment and care for his “spouse” – the people of Israel.
Return, O faithless children, says the Lord, for I am your spouse; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
While a marriage is preferably permanent, my infidelity would give my wife grounds for dissolving the relationship in divorce. Likewise, while the text acknowledges the existence of other gods, the divine contract requires that the Israelites worship their “jealous god” alone (Exod 20:5; Deut 4:24). In fact, their faithfulness determines their welfare as a people (Deut 28) and worshiping other gods leads to their eventual exile (2 Kgs 17; 21; 24-25).
Although it seems natural to those raised in Christian-dominated contexts, exclusive worship likely went against ancient Near Eastern (and Israelite) instincts. For most, it was natural to worship major gods like Baal and Asherah alongside YHWH, a practice well-attested in the Bible. For example, when the Assyrians settled foreigners in Samaria, they worshiped both the local god, YHWH, and their own native gods (2 Kgs 17:24-41). For the Bible, however, religion was a zero-sum game with no room for sharing. From the biblical perspective, one could either worship YHWH or other gods, not both. For monolatry to take hold among a largely unwilling populace, biblical authors had to demonstrate YHWH’s worth. Rather than deny the existence of other gods or invent new powers, they promoted monolatry in three primary ways: 1) arguing that YHWH was a one-stop-shop god who could meet all their needs; 2) accessing YHWH’s benefits meant choosing between him and all other gods; 3) attempting to remove potential competition from the Israelite marketplace. YHWH’s sales pitch resembles that of Amazon.com, the ultimate one-stop-shop that minimizes competition by offering the most expansive goods and services, not by denying the existence of other companies or inventing new products. While Amazon does not demand exclusive allegiance, if it did many of us would be tempted to choose it over the field.
The Rhetoric of Monolatry
The biblical goal of exclusive worship especially came under threat with the defeat of the nation and its exile at the hands of the Babylonians. In the face of apparent divine failure, exile, and the confrontation with the high god of another system that spanned the Middle East in Marduk, the Bible again had to up its game. In fact, it made such a compelling case that biblical religion is the only one from the ancient Near East that is still practiced today. Whereas other gods (including Marduk and Assur) fell into obscurity with the fall of their nations, YHWH worship survived and eventually expanded to form the basis for the world’s great monotheisms.
Lapis lazuli cylinder seal and modern impression with a depiction of the god Marduk. From Babylon, c. 854-819 BCE (reign of Marduk-zakir-shumi I). Vorderasiatisches Museum Bab 646. Photo: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Olaf M. Teßmer, CC By-NC-ND 4.0
In order to inspire continued exclusive worship, YHWH worshippers had to be convinced that he was superior to Marduk, that YHWH could still meet all their needs. In essence, YHWH’s power had to be inversely proportionate to that of his people. In order to be worthy of exclusive devotion with such competition, YHWH was recast as the universal high god with no cosmic rival, rather than just the high god of the Israelite system. The god of Israel then became the supreme god of everyone and everywhere (Isa 40-48).
YHWH thundered from heaven; the voice of Elyon resounded.
One way of elevating YHWH to high god status required absorbing the names and epithets of El, such that the readers (and authors) equated the two (e.g., Gen 14:22; 2 Sam 22:14; 47). Rather than El apportioning the gods to the people, YHWH himself does so in Deuteronomy 4:19. Rather than being his by lot, Israel becomes God’s chosen people. While YHWH likely assimilated the regional high god El in the minds of the biblical populace, he was in direct competition with other national, patron gods (the gods of Egypt in Exod 12:12; Num 33:4; Jer 32:12-3; 46:25; the Philistine Dagon in 1 Sam 4-6; and Baal in 1 Kgs 18). Again, rather than deny their existence, the goal was to push them out of the Israelite market by demonstrating YHWH’s superiority and the consequence of divided worship.
Monolatry and the Other Gods
In pursuit of monolatry, the Bible depopulated and depersonalized the major god category commonly made up of specialists, leaving a purposely nebulous group (perhaps the divine council, sons of God, the Adversary, the Destroyer, and Lady Wisdom). The dominant characteristics of these beings are that we do not know much about them — they do not appear often or with much detail — and that they are under YHWH’s authority and dependent on him. While seemingly major, they primarily serve at the divine behest, more closely resembling minor gods.
Detail from Moses’s Testament and Death by Lucas Signorelli (1481-82), in the Sistine Chapel. An anonymous angel leads Moses up Mt. Nebo to look at the Promised Land. Public Domain.
The minor god category remains comparatively full with angels as the dominant figures alongside the guardian cherubim and seraphim and perhaps the Destroyer. While angels make regular, significant appearances, they do not receive names, personalities, or families until the final stage of the Hebrew Bible. For the most part, they are simply described by their job title — messenger — essentially existing only as employees of YHWH. In other words, in pursuit of exclusive worship, the Bible pushes out all potential competitors and depersonalizes those that remain, leaving would-be worshipers no substance to latch on to. The text essentially removes minor gods from competition by denying them the dimensionality, personality, and independence that may be alluring to potential worshipers.
Whereas the wider ANE world viewed their pantheons as holistic orderings of the world with each god performing a necessary function, the Hebrew Bible consolidated the collective in an individual, YHWH the absolute monarch. YHWH performed functions normally allotted to major gods, such as controlling the rain, leaving the remaining gods without their expected roles. The other gods’ primary roles were to serve as a hype squad and to establish presence and distance. For example, rather than guarding YHWH, the seraphim hide their faces from him, instead serving as cheerleaders who sing his praise (Isa 6). Other texts call on the other gods to worship him (Deut 32:43; Psa 29:1-2; 95:3-5; 103:19-21; Dan 3:24). Angels in particular serve as intermediaries, establishing surrogate presence while allowing YHWH to maintain some distance. Many others — including angels, the Adversary, the Destroyer, the evil spirit, and the lying spirit — do some of YHWH’s dirty work.
On the periphery, the foreign gods dominated as the catch-all category for rejected gods. While diverse, their common characteristics are that they are not YHWH or welcome in his system. Monsters retain the potency they exhibit in the wider ANE, but they remain thoroughly under divine control as created pets (such as Leviathan, Behemoth, and the great sea monsters of creation) and defeated (Isa 51:9; Psa 74:14; 89:10; Job 26:12) or soon to be defeated foes (Isa 27:1). The serpent serves his purpose in the garden and disappears from the narrative.
Illustration of the Book of Job by William Blake (1826) depicting the monsters Leviathan and Behemoth. British Museum 1868,0822.3962. © The Trustees of the British Museum, CC By-NC-SA 4.0
Whereas the problem of evil is less pronounced in a polytheistic system where one god may be cast as a hero and another god or monster a villain, the Hebrew Bible has only one meaningful divine actor. YHWH retains absolute control with all other characters acting under his authority, such that all that is wrong in the world is ultimately his responsibility. The Bible spends tremendous energy to justify YHWH on moral grounds. Blame shifts primarily to people, whose free and flawed choices lead to negative outcomes and divine punishment. For example, whereas the high god Enlil in the Mesopotamian Atrahasis foolishly brings the flood because of human noise, YHWH justly brings the flood as punishment for the people’s wickedness (Gen 6:5-7, 11-13). Although his punishment is presented as just, it could still be perceived as harsh. Having his subordinates carry out the punishment elsewhere serves to deflect the blame, as does having the serpent tempt Adam and Eve, the Adversary test Job, the evil spirit torment Job, and the lying spirit mislead Ahab.
From Monolatry to Monotheism
At the end of the Hebrew Bible and into early Judaism and Christianity, the momentum of monolatry caused a further reshuffling of the cosmic deck. The disparate minor god category was given the name “angels,” even though most of its members were not messengers. Since they no longer posed a threat to Yahweh, angels began to gain individuality, leading to the explosion of interest in the angelic (and demonic) worlds in late Second Temple times. In its last stages the Hebrew Bible documents the beginning of the trend ascribing names to the angels Gabriel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21; cf. Luke 1:19, 26) and Michael (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; cf. Jude 1:9; Rev 12:7).
The move from monolatry to monotheism required one more step, dealing with the peripheral gods. Like the minor gods, they too were rebranded. Already treated pejoratively as inferior and immoral competition whose worship brought divine punishment (e.g., 2 Kings 23:13 calls them abominations and Psalm 82 demotes them and removes their immortality), they soon were literally demonized (1 Cor 10:20-21; Rev 9:20).
No, I imply that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Beginning with the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint or LXX), foreign gods receive the label “daimon,” a neutral term for deity, while angels were rendered angelos. In doing so, the ancient Jews effectively created two technical terms, which consolidated all divine beings in Yahweh’s employ into the angel category and all deities outside of his employ into the daimon category. This move gave a neutral Greek word negative connotations, paving the way for the modern “demon.” Through the process of elimination, interpreters labeled foreign gods either immaterial demons or nonexistent. With major and minor gods recast as angels and foreign gods demonized, the biblical writers essentially reduced the members of the god category to one, YHWH, who as the unique member of the species moved from god to God. In doggedly pursuing monolatry in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, the Israelites effectively backed into monotheism.
If not gods, who then were these demons and where did they come from? While their contours began to take shape in the New Testament, they became fully formed characters only later with the Early Church Fathers. With YHWH cast as sole, universal creator, interpreters reasoned that demons must have been created. Rather than being created evil, they were presented as rebels who were born good, using the philandering sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4 and the serpent in Genesis 3 as the prototypes. Since all superhuman beings in the acceptable pantheon fall into two categories, god and angels, theologians assumed the demons must be fallen angels.
The New Testament and the early church further consolidated and personified opposition to YHWH (and Jesus) in the person of the Adversary, now Satan and the devil, himself the original sinner (1 John 3:8) and father of lies (John 8:44) with fallen angels as evil spirits in his employ (e.g., evil spirts in Matt 12:45; Luke 7:21; 8:2; Acts 19:12-16; Satan’s angels in Matt 25:41; 2 Cor 12:7-9; Rev 12:7-9; and sinful angels in 1 Pet 3:18-22; 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6). Rather than compete with YHWH over the fate of the cosmos, Satan posed no threat to YHWH’s authority in heaven (Rev 12:7-9). Instead, he and his minions were threats to humanity who needed a divine rescue to escape his grasp.
Mosaic on the vault of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, depicting Satan and Hell. Coppo di Marcovaldo, ca. 1260 CE. Photo by Toscana y Liguria, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Although their behavior remained largely the same — testing, deception, and oppression — YHWH’s loyal servants who did seemingly unsavory deeds changed allegiance. By switching sides, the Adversary and the lying and evil spirits transferred negative qualities from YHWH and his angels to the rebels, making evil independent of YHWH. Whereas in the Hebrew Bible responsibility for sin fell to humanity and delegating softened the blows of his judgment, in the New Testament and especially beyond blame shifted fully from YHWH to humanity and demons. Rather than command the unsavory characters to do his bidding, YHWH permitted them to act freely, largely as a means of testing human commitment. In addition to (partially) exonerating YHWH, the presence of demons also shifted some of the blame away from humanity. Instead of being entirely of our own doing, sin has another source and continued human sin another cause, alleviating some of the guilt, shame, and responsibility.
Having reduced the number and influence of gods, the New Testament surprisingly adds to the god category, giving YHWH a son, who is presented as equal to and fully in-step with his father (e.g., John 1; 5:19; 10:30; Phil 2:6). To simultaneously preserve monotheism and distinguish Jesus and the Holy Spirit from YHWH, Christian theologians promoted the concept of the Trinity, a singular god consisting of three persons. Rather than divide the divine labor among deities, they divided the singular deity into three characters with distinct roles: YHWH as father and high god, Jesus as son and hero god, and the Holy Spirit as immaterial extension of the father sent to guide and empower believers.
Fresco depicting Jesus, the son of YHWH, from St. Anthony’s Monastery, Egypt. 13th century CE. Photo by LorisRomito, CC By-SA 3.0
With unequal dualism established, the Christian superhuman world had only one god and many angels, both good and evil. Those on Team YHWH came to personify all that was good, while those on Team Satan all that was evil. Christians thereby softened the edges of YHWH and his angels (e.g., recasting terrifying male or nongendered angels as winged, often feminine guardians and hybrid cherubim as baby-faced, innocent winged children) and hardened the image Satan and his angels (including casting him as the great monster [Rev 12, 20] and ascribing to him the goatlike features of the seirim).
Michael B. Hundley is Assistant Professor of Teaching in Religious Studies at the University of Memphis. He has published multiple books on the intersection of human and divine in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near East.
Read the first three articles in this series: What is a God in the Ancient Near East?, What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part I: The Divine Cast of Characters, and What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part 2: Characteristics and Hierarchy.
Further Reading:
Michael Hundley, Yahweh among the Gods: The Divine in Genesis, Exodus, and the Ancient Near East (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Michael Hundley, Ancient Gods and Monsters: The Bible, the Ancient Near East and Beyond (forthcoming).
Archie Wright, Satan and the Problem of Evil: From the Bible to the Early Church Fathers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2022).
How to cite this article:
Hundley, M. 2025. “From Monolatry to Monotheism: The Changing Face of the Biblical Pantheon” The Ancient Near East Today 13.8. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/monolatry-to-monotheism/.
Want to learn more?
Moses’ Other Names: A Clue to the Biblical Exodus During Egypt’s Civil War?
What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part 2: Characteristics and Hierarchy
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