I just finished an interesting book recently, so I thought I would share a few points from it. The book is entitled “The Gods of the Nations” by Daniel Block, who teaches at Wheaton (I hope to write my PhD under him at some point). The subtitle gives the content of the book: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology.

Throughout the book he shows contrasts and similarities between the Israelite religion and the religion of the surrounding nations. One of the major contrasts is who the god connects with. While in Israel YHWH was primarily connected with his people, with the other nations the gods were primarily connected with the land and only secondarily with the people. This helps to explain many stories from the Bible. One of them is why Ezekiel and the other exilic prophets go to such great lengths to convince the people that YHWH is still their God even when they are not in the land: for other people, as soon as they leave the land, they change gods. It also helps to explain why a victor in a battle will worship the gods of the defeated nation: it is a sign of taking over the land. Hence, when Amaziah defeats the Edomites, he worships the Edomite gods in order to show his rulership over the land of Edom.

He finds the best model of people-god relationship to be the feudal system, where the people serve the leader and the leader cares for his people. To prove his points throughout the book, he uses extensive primary sources from both the Bible and other ANE cultures. I highly recommend the book for gaining an understanding of how the ancients viewed their gods.