There Are Two Yahweh's in the OT: Three Interpretations of the Evidence
Old Testament scholar Michael Heiser discussed the Biblical evidence for this in the fascinating video below. He argues against the rabbinic view that Yahweh appears in two modes, a younger one and an older one. He sees the evidence as supporting a Christological interpretation that the second Yahweh refers to Jesus. This, he claims, is why the early church could see no discrepancy in claiming Jesus was part of the Godhead. But there is a third interpretation. These people were polytheistic to the core for much of their history, my view. See what you think:
All deities in the Ancient Near East existed in pantheons or families of gods. We find God saying "Let us..." do this and "Let us..." do that. We read where Yahweh is the "God of gods," and there is archaeological evidence that Yahweh had a wife, Asherah. We have other names for the Hebrew deity, like Elohim (which is plural) and Adoni. We also have the problem of that these texts were edited by several different later authors. The last author tried to rid the final product of inconsistencies based on the latest theological conclusions about the deity the Hebrews came to believe. And we have the problem of the third member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. Where did he come from?
Now Dr. Heiser may not disagree with my interpretation, I don't know. He may affirm some sort of progressive revelation for all I know. It's just that such a notion seems to be better interpreted as the evolution of theistic thinking among ancient people through a thousand years or so. Unless Heiser can show that his progressive revelation notion better explains the evidence, then I have better reasons for thinking that such a notion of progressive revelation is merely the musings of ancient people that evolved just like all human thought does through the years. And even if he succeeds then he has a different problem: what took God so long?
HT: James McGrath
All deities in the Ancient Near East existed in pantheons or families of gods. We find God saying "Let us..." do this and "Let us..." do that. We read where Yahweh is the "God of gods," and there is archaeological evidence that Yahweh had a wife, Asherah. We have other names for the Hebrew deity, like Elohim (which is plural) and Adoni. We also have the problem of that these texts were edited by several different later authors. The last author tried to rid the final product of inconsistencies based on the latest theological conclusions about the deity the Hebrews came to believe. And we have the problem of the third member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. Where did he come from?
Now Dr. Heiser may not disagree with my interpretation, I don't know. He may affirm some sort of progressive revelation for all I know. It's just that such a notion seems to be better interpreted as the evolution of theistic thinking among ancient people through a thousand years or so. Unless Heiser can show that his progressive revelation notion better explains the evidence, then I have better reasons for thinking that such a notion of progressive revelation is merely the musings of ancient people that evolved just like all human thought does through the years. And even if he succeeds then he has a different problem: what took God so long?
HT: James McGrath