[mamelukesabre]

this from wiki:

Both the archaeological evidence and the Biblical texts document tensions between groups comfortable with the worship of Yahweh alongside local deities such as Asherah and Baal and those insistent on worship of Yahweh alone during the monarchal period.[7] The Deuteronomistic source gives evidence of a strong monotheistic party during the reign of king Josiah during the late 7th century BCE, but the strength and prevalence of earlier monotheistic worship of Yahweh is widely debated based on interpretations of how much of the Deuteronomistic history is accurately based on earlier sources, and how much has been re-worked by Deuteronomistic redactors to bolster their theological views.[8] The archaeological record documents widespread polytheism in and around Israel during the period of the monarchy.[9]

[newguy357]

this from wiki: Both the archaeological evidence and the Biblical texts document tensions between groups comfortable with the worship of Yahweh alongside local deities such as Asherah and Baal and those insistent on worship of Yahweh alone during the monarchal period.[7] The Deuteronomistic source gives evidence of a strong monotheistic party during the reign of king Josiah during the late 7th century BCE, but the strength and prevalence of earlier monotheistic worship of Yahweh is widely debated based on interpretations of how much of the Deuteronomistic history is accurately based on earlier sources, and how much has been re-worked by Deuteronomistic redactors to bolster their theological views.[8] The archaeological record documents widespread polytheism in and around Israel during the period of the monarchy.[9]

Oh, well if WIKI says it, then that definitely takes precedence over Jewish beliefs of the last four millennia. What madness.

Widespread polytheism in and around Israel during the period of the monarchy!? Oh, how shocking! It disproves that the Jews were monotheistic!

What idiocy. The Bible itself talks about this polytheism. How is this new? Hint: it's what pissed God off. We know the people were polytheistic--they were punished for it. We also know they weren't supposed to be polytheistic.

There's a pretty important different between how people live and how their belief system tells them to live...sadly. That doesn't change anything about the nature of the belief system, however.