Ancient Hebrew Myths. From Leviathan and the Goddess Asherah to the Broken Tablets and Job

What religion did the ancient Jews have before the appearance of the Bible? Most likely, they believed their Lord was one of many gods: the son of the supreme deity, a warrior and master of thunder, who defeats the serpent Leviathan. But why did this god become the only one—and demand from people not formal rituals, but justice and mercy?

The evolution of biblical religion is the process of transforming an ancient myth—overcoming it from within. Independent gods will disappear; their functions will pass to the One God. The symbolic place of Asherah—his divine spouse—will be taken by the idea of “God’s marriage” to the chosen people, Israel. Understanding the world will change; myth will give way to history and theophany. Yet the ancient images will appear again in monotheistic thought—but in altered form.

Why does God have so many names—and do they mean the same thing? Who are the keruvim and serafim (cherubim and seraphim), and what are their ancient counterparts? How is the biblical Lord reminiscent of the Canaanite Ba’al? What happened to God’s retinue—Justice, Truth, Mercy, Plague, and Wound? Who is “Gellel, son of Zari”? How are Moses’s shattered tablets connected to the cycle of agricultural festivals, and which ancient legends are reflected in the biblical narratives about expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, and the Tower of Babel?

In this book, the orientalist Mikhail Vohman offers an engaging and creative study of the formation of biblical religion—from its origins to the Revelation and the ethical questions raised in the Book of Job.

For whom is this study:

For those interested in the Bible and the religion of the ancient Jews.

For lovers of history and mythology.

For collectors of the series “Myths from A to Z.”