A Jealous God?

Exodus 20:1-5 sets forth the first two commandments according to the earliest account. It says: "And Elohim spoke all these words saying, I am YHVH, your Elohim, which have brought you out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other Elohim before my face. You shall not make yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for YHVH, your Elohim, am a jealous El, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."

YHVH tells us through the authors of the Torah that he is a jealous G-d 9 times. It is interesting that YHVH makes a point of telling us not to worship other g-ds, not because they do not exist, but because He is Jealous. One cannot be jealous without something to be jealous of. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that there are other Elohim. And yet, all of the Elohim are children of El, the Highest. When Moses gave the Torah, he believed in other G-ds. He believed in the G-ds of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and Cana'an and other people's g-ds. In fact, he did not claim that we should not believe in other gods. He merely said that we should not worship them. Deuteronomy 32:8-9 specifically admit that YHVH is the god of Jacob's people, and not any others.

The Pharisees claim that there is only one G-d. I do not disagree with them on that point. But, they claim that the only G-d is YHVH when neither he nor the Torah say that it is true. Rather, we are taught repeatedly that there are other G-ds and that the Highest G-d is El, his title being Elyon, the Highest. El is one. He is not five, seventy or any other number. But, he is not known either. Our only interface with him, according to Scripture, is YHVH in the form of Yeshua ha Meshiach. Is it wrong for people to worship other G-ds. The answer is no. If they are not the children of Jacob, they should worship their own g-ds and not YHVH. The one thing that is true from a scriptural point of view is that while YHVH is jealous, he does not deny the existence of other gods nor claim those who belong to other gods.

Yeshua was a xenophobe. He wanted to free Israel. He did not want to convert gentiles. Why? They had their own gods and he did not want to interfere with their worship. So where did we go wrong. How did we get to the place that there was only one Elohim and it was not El. Paul, as usual, did not understand Nasorean tradition or scriptural interpretation. He did not know that most Jews believed that there were other G-ds. He mistakenly thought that if one converted to Judaism, one affirmed not only that YHVH was your g-d but that there were no other g-ds. There is no evidence that Jews in the time of Yeshua ever thought such an idea.

Fortunately, the True G-d El is not jealous. He lets us believe in Allah, YHVH, Yeshua, Brahma, Vishnu, Krishna, Marduk, Isis, Horus, etc. without becoming alarmed. Why? One is not jealous of ones children, if they are they sane. El tries not to get involved in the interpersonal relationships of the Elohim. He appointed YHVH their King and expects that he will run the Universe well. Be not confused. El is G-d, there is no other. The others who call themselves G-ds are Elohim, the sons and daughters of El.