Monolatry

2023-12-28

Some have proposed that the Bible teaches that there is more than one God, just that only the God of the Bible, Jehovah, was or should be worshipped. However, the Bible teaches that there is only one real Creator God. Everything else called a “god” in the deity sense is some kind of impostor, either an idol (a lifeless statute) or a devil (a created angel that rebelled against God):

They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. (Deuteronomy 32:17).

For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. (1 Chronicles 16:26)

Some attempt counter examples. Jephthah is one such case, when he was addressing the king of Ammon. There was a dispute of land they acquired on the east side of the Jordan that ended up causing the nations to go to war. In part of his address, Jephthah said, “Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess” (Judges 11:24). God gave the people of Israel the lands of Sihon and Og; it was theirs.

But what did Chemosh “give” Ammon? Nothing. Jephthah was mocking them. Every Israelite would know the following: “And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession” (Deuteronomy 2:19). The LORD gave the land of Ammon to the Ammonites, not Chemosh.

Another such example is David when he was on the run from Saul. “Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods” (1 Samuel 26:19).

Just because David’s enemies say “Go, serve other gods” does not mean that those gods exist. The Bible accurately quotes people, but that does not mean the Bible endorses what they say. The quote above from 1 Chronicles 16:26 is from David, so we know that he did not believe that other gods were real. Moreover, we see that David lived in Ziklag and did not worship other gods in that foreign land. The other gods were created by each people group that serve them, but the LORD created all things, objectively spanning all cultures and nations. He is distinct from and not dependent on human beings and their worldviews.

Again, we read, “For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever” (Micah 4:5). Does this mean that Micah endorsed that other gods existed because the nations were walking in their names? It does not; rather anyone can walk in their own delusion. Moreover, we see that walking with the LORD is “for ever and ever.” You do not see the same with the pagan deities.

The Bible is strictly a monotheistic book, not a monolatrous book.