Jesus misinterpreting "the word of god?" (Egyptian, myths, bible)

[InsaneInDaMembrane]

NOTE: Point dealing with the topic will be made at the end of this post.
================================================== =======

Anyone who is an objective student of the Bible and knows the regional myths of the biblical world that helped to shape some of the stories and theology of the bible is aware that the early Hebrews/Israelites were henotheists (lots of gods exist but only one is worshiped) and later monolatrists (only one god deserves worship even though others may exist).

In early Israelite theology, borrowed from older surrounding cultures, it was believed that there was one supreme deity who had sons (70 to be exact). These 'sons' were known as the "sons of god" and were, in the early days, considered gods themselves. They in turn made up the heavenly-divine court/council of El (God).

These "lesser" gods governed the various ancient nations by order of the father god. Each nation paid homage to their respective gods and seems to have also had no problems paying similar homage to the gods of neighboring people. The early Israelite leader, Moses, as told by the storytellers*, appears to have been the first to push for a swearing off of all other gods in favor of one. This was an admission other gods existed, but he swore his people to the worship of one god, which in their case, was the desert god, YWH (Yahweh). Other people could worship their gods or as many as they wanted, but the early Israelites were to worship one god.

As theologies evolved amongst the populations of people, it was believed that when the kings and their nations went to war against other kings and their peoples, so did their gods. Naturally, victorious nations believed their gods were more powerful than the gods of those they defeated. We see this in the Bible as early as Exodus 15:11 where Moses sings a song declaring that Yahweh ("the LORD") is best and most powerful "amongst the gods" after it was believed Yahweh delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians and their gods.

Later we read where Solomon, in his prayer of dedication of the temple, declaring that Israel's god was unrivaled amongst the gods and a Psalm begins to show how this belief became core to Jewish theology and a stepping stone toward classic monotheism.

Psalm 82 reflects this change in theology, showing the ascent of Yahweh within the court of the gods. He is clearly shown as the presiding deity who condemns the other gods for not doing their jobs in properly governing their nations especially in regard to the oppressed and exploited. Their punishment was to lose the one thing that made them gods - their immortality.

In light of the CONTEXT of the pre-New Testament world's polytheistic theology, the subject of Psalm 82 is clearly about gods people believed lived in the heavens and ruled respective nations. However, after monotheism took root amongst the Jews after the Babylonian exile, the idea that Yahweh was just another god amongst other viable gods was no longer accepted in the Jewish community. As far as they were concerned, Yahweh, their god, was the ONLY god in existence and all others were the works of men's hand. This new theology no doubt is reflected in Jesus' interpretation (assuming he actually said anything) of the same passage where he points to the mere mortals around him claiming THEY were the gods Psalm 82 was speaking about. Modern theologians, in keeping with the monotheistic theme, claim the mention of gods in Psalm 82 refers to ancient mortal "judges" who supposedly represented "god" on earth. Why mortal men were condemned to "die like men" is beyond me considering the redundancy and the obvious.

Your thoughts?


* Some Jewish rabbis and scholars believe Moses never existed. The figure of Moses was supposedly a later symbolic invention who was needed to build the early elements of monotheism around.