On Creationism

In the Canaanite polytheism, the head of the pantheon was El, with his consort Asherah. El had 70 sons, and each (or some?) was connected to a specific people. Yahweh was the god associated with the people of Israel and Judah. That connection was very much analogous to a marriage between the god and the nation (at least for the Hebrews), and it may be that Old Testament ideas about marriage were derived from he relationship between God and Israel/Judah, though it might just as easily be that the relationship derived from ideas about marriage. God was very much the husband, so he set the rules, and he was free to have more than one wife; Israel and Judah specifically. On the other hand, if the people of Israel or Judah started to worship other gods, this was analogous to adultery or even prostitution, and would make God very angry. Ezekeil sums this up nicely: Ezekiel 16:6 “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Li...

The concept of gods predates Judaism. Early man invented gods to explain the inexplicable - lightning, earthquakes, the passing of the seasons, even the more mundane things like plants growing. Just look at what Greek and Roman gods were like to see how the ancient people used gods to explain. Life was precarious, and it made sense to make an offering to the god of fertility to ensure your crops grows - it is better than leaving it up to chance. Yahweh was just one of those gods originally, and you can see signs of polytheism in the Bible still. The Canaanite Pantheon The head of the Canaanite religion was El, a name that is in the Bible, as later Yahweh fused with El to become the head. However, in these verses we can see that Yahweh (the Lord) is still subordinate to El (the Most High). Deuteronomy  32:8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children ...