Did Hebrews simply make up their version of God?

Question

I recently read an article by an academic who says that ancient Hebrews simply made up Yahweh (Jehova) in order to show that they were special, that God chose them over all others. What are your thoughts on that? It does seem odd that God would choose a bunch of desert dwelling nomads as his chosen ones.

I think most of you missed the point of the question. It is not designed to answer the general question: Do men make up gods? It is meant to ask whether the Hebrews made up their god, Yahweh.
The article I read implied, no stated unequivocally, that Judaism was merely created to honor itself, to shine brightly on Hebrews and later jews.

Answer 1

They did make it up, but they stole a lot of the things yahweh did from nearby mythologys. Like Zeus and the flood, the egyptian sun god Rah, etc...
And they completely ripped off the story of Mithra and replaced it with this jew called Jesus, and that started christianity.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if Hebrews invented Yahweh, but it's historical fact that back when they worshipped many gods, Yahweh was only one in the bunch. Yahweh ruled storms and lightning, but later was morphed into a more powerful deity, and eventually the Hebrew god. Moses, who had been a priest of the Egyptian god Aten, introduced the idea of monotheism to the Jews.

The OT is not so much a guide for living but rather a thesis on how to organize and homogenize a people into an army able to conquer other lands and seize property — which is obvious if you really open your eyes while reading it.

Answer 3

God never looked at the good quality of man based on our own standards whom He chooses for the mission He gave. He knows when a man could fulfill or not. Does David have the quality of a man fit to be a soldier or big enough to slew Goliath? Moses have difficulty of speech but He chose Him to convince Israelites to get out of Egypt.
Intelligent people like you may not qualify (this is not an insult) because you will have a tendency to ask so many questions before you follow and you will doubt what God will tell you to do because your logic will say it is impossible to achieve. In fact, you already have agreed that it was the Hebrew who made their own version of God based on what you think the smart (academic) people are saying. You judged them low because you thought nomads are less intelligent. All the histories and ancient wisdoms in every parts of the world started from words of mouth who saw what has had been carved out from the trees,caves and stones by their predecessors and it spread almost all over because of the nomads. They may not be as intelligent as you but their memories and their experiences wherever they went have been parts of the learnings you and I have known.

Answer 4

What you say is very likely true. The stories found in the TaNaKh (OT) make up "our" story of the relationship between God and His people, Israel. Christianity has "borrowed" our story to create their story, and then use our story to condemn us!

You won't learn about Judaism by reading only "the story." The story must be accompanied by its interpretation throughout the centuries. That can only be found in the Talmud and by learning from rabbis. Judaism is about the Law and the interpretation of the Law (Talmud).

Christianity is found in the New Testament and just as one must understand the Talmud in order to understand Judaism, one must read the New Testament to understand Christianity.

You judge for yourself. Are the Jews still the chosen people, or did God renege on His Covenants (testaments) with them and sign a "new" covenant with the Christians?

If the Jews were actually chosen, were they chosen for special rewards or for special obligations to God.

The God of Abraham condemns no man to eternal torment, so Jews were certainly not promised any special rewards in the afterlife, but they do have those pesky 613 commandments to fulfill...

So perhaps it really is the Christians who've been "chosen" when God finally had His fill of those evil Jews. So when He chose the Christians, He created a special place for His former children where He would condemn them to eternal punishment for not "believing" that Jesus was His son.

Draw your own conclusions!
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Answer 5

Every race has created their own gods; the Hebrews weren't unique. There is good evidence though that Hebrew though followed upon pre-existing thought. Study the Egyptian gods for a good indication of where Hebrew thought came from.

Even Jesus had an Egyptian prototype. Study Isis and Osiris.

Answer 6

He did not burn the pills (the two with fireplace or on a working laptop or computing gadget....) IF there have been any numbers, they could have been in Hebrew, or the kind of Hebrew Moses understood. the ten commandments have been written interior the language that the folk of the time understood. God became merely conversing with them at that factor and for this reason the entire episode became written down interior the language that they understood. Judaism isn't, and in no way has been, a faith that insists that all people has to maintain on with it or be damned. there is not something unique happening, different than on your innovations. the kind you get from there to Israel employing nuclear weapons is somewhat previous me, till you heavily have faith, completely mistakenly, that Jews (and not all Israelis, and not all Israeli contributors of the Knesset, are Jews) choose for to exterminate something of humanity. not something ought to be greater desirable from the certainty. we don't have an thought of 'heathen' interior the pejorative experience of damning all who do not shop on with our way. it truly is Christians and Muslims.

Answer 7

The point was this: if God chose a country full of great people, wonderful warriors, perfectly obedient...they why would they want God? God chose people who kept screwing up and making mistakes to show his mercy, his grace, and his unending love. If the Hebrews made up their version of God, then it's a little odd that the gentiles furthered the beliefs and knowledge of God and somehow nothing they said contradicted what the hebrews "made up"

Answer 8

If a lightening bolt came from out of the sky and struck the side of a mountain and caused part of the top of the mountain to break off two stone tablets with writings on them that didn't exist prior to the lightening bolt and a voice from the sky called it the ten commandments, with multitudes of witnesses, would you think God was made up?

Answer 9

Christianity believes that the Jews were the chosen people too, except they feel that at a certain point the Jews lost that privilege.

Answer 10

everyone believes they are special in the eyes of their respective god. The Jews at that time were in harsh times and needed something to lift their spirits up. I believe they deserve to have a god that cares so much about them.