Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Sep 2000 by Walton, John H

Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel. By Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger. Translated by Thomas H. Trapp. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998, 466 pp., $45.00.

Othmar Keel of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland has been involved in studying the contribution of glyptic art to the religious history of the southern Levant for 20 years. His contributions are many and are probably most well known through the influence of his 1978 book, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (recently republished by Eisenbrauns). This current book is a translation of the German Gottinnen, Cotter and Gottessymbole.

Keel and Uehlinger set about the task of reconstructing the religious history of Canaan and Israel using contemporary sources, as many are trying to do these days. What differentiates their approach from others is that instead of focusing on archaeological finds concerning which sites were occupied during what periods, and literary texts and inscriptions that are spotty in the information they provide, they focus on the extensive iconographic sources to identify trends that betray religious beliefs. They observe that prior studies consistently neglected the seal amulets, which can generally be dated with confidence and provide a broad data base (some 8,500 stamp seals in the collection of the University of Fribourg).

The particular questions they seek to resolve are whether preexilic Israel was polytheistic, and whether Yahweh had a partner. Along the way they explore the significance of male and female deities, the motifs and symbols connected to deities, and religious development through the various periods of Israelite history, stretching from Middle Bronze IIB (beginning about 1800 BC) until the end of Iron III in the mid-5th century. After a brief introduction to the use of symbols and the methodology used for interpreting iconography, they begin a six-chapter, period-by-period march through time.

Anyone familiar with Keel's other works will not be surprised to find the book copiously illustrated (about 500 hand-drawn sketches), with each illustration evaluated for the clues it has to offer. The book is enviably well organized with clear and convenient summaries at the end of each section and chapter, as well as at the end of the book. These conveniences not only allow the reader to trace the argument carefully, but also make it easy to go back and retrieve the information for lectures or research purposes. The 33-page bibliography is predictably thorough up to 1991, with only a couple of entries from 1992 and 1993. The English edition does not supply an updated bibliography, though the preface to the English edition lists a few important works that have appeared in the interim.

Keel and Uehlinger's findings can be summarized as follows. In Middle Bronze IIB (1800-1550) there is obvious Egyptian influence, and goddesses are featured prominently. The weather god and fertility symbols are also widely observed. Sacred trees and stones and erotic imagery lead the authors to suggest that the elements usually connected with Canaanite religion all come together here. During Late Bronze (15501250/1150) the goddess figure is less frequently an erotic fertility figure, but is represented stylistically by the sacred tree flanked by caprids or clothed with celestial or warfare symbols. Egyptian influence continues. Iron I (1250/1150-1000) turns its attention to warrior gods. A dominant motif is portraying prominent deities standing on the backs of animals or holding up animals in both hands. Bulls and lions represent the deity. Goddesses appear only rarely and in symbolic form (tree or nursing animal). In Iron IIA (1000-925) anthropomorphic deities are rare, as are goddess figures. Motifs that in prior periods represented the goddess are now identified by Keel and Uehlinger as representing the kingdom. The sacred tree is now flanked by humans rather than animals. Iron IIB (925-720/700) iconography contains guardian lions, but no ark (in the south) or bull-calf (in the north). The tree is now flanked by guardian creatures of griffin or cherub characteristics. The inscriptions from Kuntillet cAjrud and Khirbet el-Qom are seen by the authors as portraying Yahweh alone as "the ultimate source of blessing and protection. If there is additional mention of `his asherah,' this is probably not a reference to a personal deity, conceived anthropomorphically, but is rather a cultic symbol in the form of a stylized tree, an entity that serves him as an agent of blessing" (p. 401).

As the study proceeds, Keel and Uehlinger develop from their source the thesis that there was a dominant Yahwistic religion in Israel during the eighth century and that Yahweh had no consort (p. 207). Anthropomorphic male deities make a resurgence in the north. Keel and Uehlinger identify a solar motif as a new dominating element in this period in both the north and the south. The solar symbol is often accompanied by uraei. The authors identify this solar symbolism with Yahweh worship. This trend continues in Iron IIC (720/700-587) with an expansion into astral symbolism of various sorts, and decreasing Egyptian influence as Aramaic and Assyrian symbolism takes its place. The solar disk moves more to the background as the crescent moon, the Pleiades, and Venus become more prominent. Deities are more frequently portrayed in symbolic rather than anthropomorphic form. In the iconography from Judah in the last part of the 7th century, the time of Josiah's reform, the authors observe that pictures virtually disappear from the seals, which now feature just names. Finally, Iron III (587-450) shows a broad series of influences including the Persian royal hero, Egyptian Bes and Isis, Greek Heracles and Zeus, and Phoenician Baalshamem.