The bets we place on the roulette wheel result in different patterns and outcomes. This occurs for individuals. The same happens for nations. The answer you choose to the question of one God, no god, or many gods, dramatically alters your destiny. Depending on your choice, the heroes become different. The goals change. The heroes of ancient Greece, Odysseus and Achilles, are unlike the heroes of Israel, Moses and David. The foundation story of Rome, through the founder Romulus, is very unlike the founder of Christianity, a carpenter named Jesus. The story that gives structure to your life or nation guides choices toward different ends.

Our selected worldview leads to various pathways because the decision tree steers us in different directions that we cannot revert from or modify easily, like a train switching tracks as it leaves the station. Once on the wrong track and moving, it’s not always easy to undo.

The belief in one God leads to very a different path for Israel than that of Babylon or Egypt. The Hebrews openly reject all other gods like Baal and Zeus and Marduk or Ra. They declare them all to be false gods. Likewise, they don’t believe that human emperors like Ramses or Caesar Augustus are actual deities. They don't believe in a pantheon of many gods. Their entire worldview centers around one creator God, and not on any sub-deities. In other words, they have not abandoned the first God. All of the surrounding cultures tell stories about how the first, primordial god or gods, was killed or rendered impotent. That is the main point of contention.

None of this is hidden from us. The mythologies of ancient cultures tell these stories of how the first God or gods died. Hesiod's Works and Days tells how Ouranos was replaced. Egyptian tales explain how Osiris was overthrown. They have abandoned the idea of one God. This is exactly why Israel is alone, different, set apart, and yes, chosen. In fact, they are the only ones that have chosen to return to the idea of the one true God.

Anyone that likes mythology already knows these stories. I’m not stumbling onto something secret or esoteric. In the myths, chaos is almost always the starting point, which is a condition that any parent, artist, office manager, or software architect is well aware of. We can all relate to the idea of a shapeless mess. There is this watery nothing, an emptiness, which is sometimes called a chasm, or a void, or disorder. You may think of it as something like the upside-down in the mind of Eleven in Stranger Things. Then out of the chaos comes a creation story, the family tree, and then follows the saga of the gods, with entire genealogies and top-notch treachery. There is rebellion among the children of the initial gods that explain the past and present state, right up to the current state of the world. When Israel is writing its story of salvation history, so are the Greeks and others, since writing has suddenly become possible. But what’s curious is that as they are writing this, the only people who don't have a hierarchy or genealogy of gods and goddesses is the Hebrew people. Every other group has plowed the initial God into the past, while the Bible declares him to be alive. They alone have held a candle for the one true God in the mind of humanity when all others have declared him snuffed out.

This is what makes the Hebrews so different. They are not like any other people. They do not and will not bow to these other gods. They won’t play nice just to get along. They reject the myths as mere stories. If there is only one God, all of these myths and stories are just that: stories without any real power.

Why would this matter? Who cares? Why can’t they just get along and pour out a little liquor for these other gods?

Because they can’t. To play along will blow out the candle. It makes an enormous difference in meaning about who and what God is, what the idea of God means, and how we are to interact or worship that God. Having only one God makes every other god into an idol, a false god, and reading the Bible you can see how that irritates and enrages the surrounding cultures.

Why?

Because the Hebrews won't bow or bend to any of these myths. Rest assured that no one, today or in the ancient world, enjoys mockery or belittlement of that which gives them purpose. I don't care what era you live in, or who you are, or how your sense of meaning comes about, but if someone or some group tries to tell you that the center of your life, the meaning of your life, is false, then anger will result. There is hardly a person alive today who can stand strong when their purpose or sense of meaning is mocked or called out as a joke. Hence, the chosen people, in choosing to follow the first God, the one God, are hated throughout history because they will not bend to the world around them and call these sub-gods equal to their God, because they can’t. The lesser gods are not worthy of worship.

This leads to a whole can of worms being opened, because if you read the Old Testament with this understanding, it shines a light on many stories. The hostile world that Abraham lives in begins to make sense when you see the conflict, when you see how deep and fundamental this division is between them and the surrounding cultures.

Why are the others so angry? Why are these events so weird and violent?

The Hebrews are living in a time when their tradition is the only odd one, the only one that cannot and will not adapt. To the rest of the world, they have chosen to go backwards. For polytheistic cultures, to offer prayer or sacrifice to another city's god, or to another group's deity, is not a problem, because their concept of "god" is small. If Athens can have a patron god and Corinth can have a different one, then the power of a god is limited. Visitors can go to either place and worship or sacrifice without betraying the home team. They can make offerings and pray for sweet deals. This is what is meant by, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.”

It’s easy to fit in with the local people if you don’t mock or belittle the hometown god or team. I’m sure there were cities like Philadelphia back then, where even if you didn’t mock the hometown Eagles, the drunk locals might still have beaten you up. However, in a world of many gods, it’s not the end of the world to change your allegiance. A timid Minnesota Vikings fan can survive in Philadelphia by faking his fandom and wearing an Eagles jersey for the day, without feeling like he had betrayed the Vikings franchise. The Vikings after all, will break his heart come December, so to deny them to save himself a black eye is ok. But denying his allegiance to the Minnesota Vikings franchise, a for-profit business in the entertainment industry, is not the same as denying the foundation that gives meaning to life.

So for Israel, this cannot be done. They cannot put on a Philadelphia Eagles jersey for the day. There can be no worship of any of these small gods, because it immediately disrespects and de-thrones the one God from the highest place. The stakes are much higher than Monday Night Football. The polytheists have already de-throned the one God, and they have no qualms inserting and dropping gods like rows in a database. Israel cannot do that, and thus the problem exists. As long as they maintain that there is only one God, they cannot worship any other god, because to do so destroys their entire worldview. In other words, how they derive meaning from existence is directly opposed to the surrounding world, which puts them always at odds with their neighbors. They have no choice but to call the Philadelphia Eagle what it is: an idol.

This makes the choice to worship the one God a demanding and difficult way of life. It’s not like being a Minnesota Vikings fan is challenging. I can buy a jersey and turn on the TV. By that ritual act alone I’m a member of the club. One thing I will say for Eagles fans is that they actually seem willing to die for the team, and not only through self-inflicted alcohol poisoning but by actual human sacrifice. Or maybe I’m still bitter over the 2018 beat-down the Vikings received from the Eagles in the NFC championship game. I was riding the high of the Minneapolis Miracle that happened the week before when that debacle happened. But I’m fair-weather fan anyway, and I personally think the sports obsession in America is a symptom that is preceding a major illness.

The Hebrews, however, make Eagles fans look like fair-weather fans. You can see this in many stories, where the Israelites will not bend a knee to the false gods. In Daniel, one of my favorites of the entire Bible is when King Nebuchadnezzar has built a giant gold statue and wants everyone to pay homage and worship it. He calls in all the nations and cultures for the day of dedication. Everyone falls in line. Everyone, of course, except for the Jewish representatives. Why? Why can't these three guys just toe the line? Why must they rock the boat of Nebuchadnezzar?

They don't worship his gold statue, because they can't. Or they could do it, but they won’t. If they do, they have rejected the one true God. If they do, then they have abandoned their faith. If they do, their lives lose all meaning, because they know that the one true God is the truth, thus there is nothing more precious and worthy than keeping faithful to the one true God. Not to mention, there is a good precedence in Exodus for why "golden" statues should not be worshiped, since the Golden Calf incident ended with a lot of corpses, and those involved had to literally drink the melted and powderized metal calf as punishment.

So King Nebuchadnezzar is told, "they will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up." The King is livid and orders the three men to be burned in a furnace, demanding that the furnace be stoked to the highest level of heat possible. He gives the three dissidents a chance to change their mind, but they refuse. They respond with one of the ultimate comebacks in execution history, as they tell the King (using my translation here), "Our God may save us. But just so you know, even if he doesn't, we don't really care. But we will never worship your stupid statue."

This is a badass tale, like most stories where people stand up for the truth. This is the stuff of legend. They are saying, "Go ahead and kill us. Your god is a fake. Yes, we may burn, but we won’t die as apostates."

Then Nebuchadnezzar grows even more angry and has them thrown into the furnace. But they do not burn. Something is shielding them from the fire. The book reads (not my translation here), "They walked about in the flames, singing to God and blessing the Lord." They are singing in a furnace like it was a warm shower. Something or someone has interceded so that "the fire in no way touched them or caused them pain or harm."

They sing a long song worshiping God, the one God. Then the best part of this story arrives. Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace, and sees these three men walking around in the fire, but there is another person. There is a fourth body. Something strange is happening. A fourth person or being is inside the furnace. The King says, “I see four men unbound and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.” We don't find out who the fourth person or angel or being was (but there is lots of speculation if you want to research it). The three men emerge unburnt and not even smelling of fire. This leads to a kind of conversion for Nebuchadnezzar, as he is shocked and amazed. He gives orders that everyone must now praise the "Most High God", the one God, going so far to add that anyone who disrespects the one God of these three Jews "...shall be cut to pieces and his house made into a refuse heap. For there is no other God who can rescue like this."

This example in Daniel shows what the chosen people are facing and how their declaration of faith enrages the world around them.

The chosen people are set apart because they are attempting to re-enthrone the one true God. The lesser gods are all false, so they can never defeat the real God in battle. The demons and lesser gods have only taken power over the minds of men, but they have no true power. This is why lesser gods and demons are said to attack humans; it is the only way they can gain power. They cannot defeat God, but they can corrupt what he loves, which is his creation. To say that a god is powerless will also enrage those who elevate lower, invented gods. This is like going into a diehard Green Bay Packers fan's basement where he has collected years of posters, ticket stubs, team souvenirs, and signed jerseys and then telling him, "The Packers suck!" It's going to sting. It's not how to win friends and influence people. Sticking with the one God, and telling people that whatever they elevate to give them meaning in life is a false god, is inviting conflict, hatred, and wrath.

This story in Daniel kind of sums up the problem with why the Jews face so many difficulties. They have chosen a path of difficulty, a tradition that has been left behind by other cultures. If you consider the story in Daniel in comparison to the story of Odysseus, the Greek hero, their way of interacting with the world could not be more different. Odysseus is a great character because he slips through tricky situations. He adapts and maneuvers to make his way home to Ithaca. Odysseus is like a chameleon who can say whatever is needed to survive, which is why we love him and haven't stopped talking about him for several thousand years. He's crafty, clever, slippery. He's cool. He's even kind of like the snake in the garden a bit. When faced with a difficult situation, he shifts. The open line of the Odyssey has various translations, but the Robert Fagles one I like the best: "

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turnsdriven time and again off course..."

He is a man that can change, quickly, to ride out the days of this crazy world. Like various successful salespeople I have interacted with, Odysseus sees a setback as an opportunity and the truth is always fuzzy and grey. I get the sense that Pontius Pilate had some attributes of Odysseus, because when beset with the trouble of Jesus' trial, he maneuvers to save himself, his image, his power. Better yet, when Pilate hears Jesus talking about the idea of "truth" he gives a telling answer, an answer that betrays his worldview.

So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?"

This to me is the root issue that the chosen people are constantly fighting, and it is that of sticking to the one God, because once you depart from the truth of one God, then you can begin to dabble around in declaring anything to be true. Odysseus isn't terribly concerned with what is true, unless it helps him get what he wants.

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