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Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths

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This is not so much a contrast of Canaanite and Israelite religion as it is, as I gathered from subtle hints, an attempt to 'prove the remarkable accuracy of Israelite tradition' [p. 263] by arguing for its antiquity wherever possible. The first chapter has nothing even to do with 'Yahweh and the gods of Canaan' (see '*' below) and everything to do with the diachronic development of Hebrew poetry/prose in the light of patterns of development from poetry to prose narrative in other examples from the ancient world. I do not venture to seriously criticize Albright in this area; it is beyond the enclosure of my knowledge in the main. I can only say that his defenses of the ancientness of some of the Hebrew poems he discusses seem contrived. In my view, he proposes too several conjectural emendations to the biblical text to prove what he seems to have already assumed. One should compare Albright's sweeping aside of the post-Mosaic mention of the Philistines in the 'Song of Moses' on p. 47. My suspicions were reinforced when I read this admission about the patriarchal stories: 'I suspect that the original poetic form was Patriarchal Hebrew antedating the period of strong Canaanite influence. But I cannot find satisfactory parallels.' [p. 51] This sounds to me as if he was fishing for evidence of presuppositions. I do not want to press this too strong; the book is generally very good and there are contrasts. (mainly in chapters 4 & 5)

A lot of the material overlaps, like the ancient features of Hebrew law in the second chapter similarly discussed in the 4th chapter. The topics discussed include the ancientness of the patriarchal traditions, the relation of the Hebrews to the 'Apiru, the ancientness of origins myths in the Hebrew bible and parallels (Creation, Flood, Tower of Babel, etc.), the ancientness of Mosaic traditions (Hebrew law, especially the Code of the Covenant and dietary/purity laws, the exodus, Moses' historicity, etc.), Canaanite and Phoenician religion and mythology and their impact on Israelite literary expression and belief (says Albright [p. 185]: 'It may confidently be stated that there is no true mythology anywhere in the Hebrew bible.'), Israelite 'depotentizing' and 'demythologizing' of what they borrowed directly from polytheistic religions, among other asides. Of course, Albright's view is that Yahwism was monotheistic from the beginning. I do not agree with this and neither do many contemporary scholars. But there is vast literature on this so you can decide the question for yourself. At the end of the book are a few addenda.


* The title of the book is taken from the name of the 4th chapter, and the content of the book is the published version of seven lectures delivered by Albright in 1965, so the principal concern is not necessarily contrasting.