6 - Israelite and Judean Religions

Summary

The religions of ancient Israel and Judah constitute the primary religious foundation for the development of the western monotheistic traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ancient Israelite and Judean religions emerge in the land of Canaan during the late-second millennium bce. They are known primarily through the writings of the Hebrew Bible, which form the Tanakh, the foundational sacred scriptures of Judaism, and the Old Testament, the first portion of the sacred scriptures of Christianity. Archaeological remains and texts from ancient Israel and Judah and the surrounding cultures also supply considerable information.

Israelite and Judean religious traditions focus on the worship of the deity, YHWH, and function especially as national or state religious traditions from the formation of the Israelite monarchy during the twelfth–tenth centuries bce through the subsequent history of the separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah (see Map 4). Although Israel and Judah share the same basic religious tradition based in the worship of YHWH, each appears to have distinctive conceptualizations of YHWH and the means by which YHWH should be represented and worshiped. Unfortunately, literary evidence concerning religion in northern Israel is limited, because most of the Hebrew Bible was written and transmitted by Judean writers and reflects distinctive Judean viewpoints. But the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian Empire in 722/1 bce, the destruction of the southern kingdom of Judah by the Babylonian Empire in 587/6 bce, and the reconstitution of Judah as a Persian province in the late-sixth through the late-fourth centuries bce prompted the development of Judaism as a monotheistic religion practiced by Jews in the land of Israel itself and throughout the Persian and Greco-Roman world.