The man calls himself god, does not necessary mean he is actually the one and only true God.
If we accept Jacob saw YHWH, would you then say he is not the true God, because it is said no one can see the God face to face?
Sorry, I have no good reason to believe you.
In a way that is true, even Moses was called a god at one point. Doesn't mean the Israelites were not monotheists, they just understood that many thing are called gods, but still, there is only one true God.
Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God [Elohim] to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
Exod. 7:1
For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many “lords”; yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
1 Cor. 8:5-6
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Tim. 2:5
What are you talking about?
No one said the fellow was "The one True God" What kind of moving the goal-post fallacy is this ?! What was told you is that this entity is a God.. and at minimum an Angel = divine entity = not human = not a man.
And why would you quote the New Testement as if the perspective of Paul has anything to do with the perspective of Jacob - Isra-EL = one who struggles with God .. Not Man. Whether or not this God is "the one true God" is a completely separate question .. a question one can not even understand and/or consider from a mono-theistic Perspective. Wake up .. and hear what is being said to you -- this is not about Your Perspective .. not about my perspective .. nor about the Perspective of a reformed Jewish Christian in 60 AD. The question here is who Jacob thought the mystery guest was .. and Jacob believed this entity to be a God.
What part of
"The Israelites were not monotheist" are you having trouble understanding ? Lord YHWH tells them have no other Gods before me .. as does Lord Jealous . Not .. there are no other Gods .. the Israelites are not to worship other Gods ... and here I am guessing you don't understand what monotheism is .. and especially not in context of the Israelite beliefs.
Monotheism is Belief in Only One God .. this is different than worshiping only one God but believing in Many "Monolotry" or that one God is the Most High and there are other gods lower down the pecking order - "Henotheism" .
Now .. Listen to what you are being told .. so you don't have to make things up about what you were told (strawman fallacy) . The Israelites believed in the existence of other Gods .. as did Abraham. Abrahams idea was to worship only one of these God = Monolatry and/or Henotheism. This is not Monotheism.. KK !?
Now Listen further to what you are being gold ... not only were the Israelites never monotheist .. EVER .. do you understand ? .. normally they are raging polytheists ... as the Bible tells us . . and Biblical Archaeology .. and Biblical History.. You were NOT - challenged not to find a time when Israelites were monotheist .. You were challenged to find a time when they are not raging pagans ... a single instance from Moses on down .. all heretics - sans Moses himself - and even Moses is questionable but we will give him a pass for now.
Do you now understand the Question ? -- it is one not answered with quotes from Paul ?! - I will help you out to get started .. by showing you a time when the Israelites were worshiping other Gods .. .. even Moses own Brother Aaron joins in the Fun. Have you never heard of the Golden Calf ? .. of course you have .. when the Israelites break the covenant with YHWH .... the next Covenant and Commands .. different from the old tablets are given by Lord Jealous .. these the ones that go into the Ark ..as opposed to the tablets Moses Broke .. U understand ? these 10 commands are different than the previous 10... but we still consider this YHWH worship .. but as a Twin God .. like Zedek .. patron God of Jerusalem .. twin God righteousness ands justice.
So .. the Israelites - even after seeing Lord YHWH do all the miracles still believe in and worship other Gods. Full on belief in and worship of other Gods. Fast forward to Joshua.. at the end of his Life .. Every Israelite should be a YHWH worshiper given the Law says to slaughter any Israelite that worships other Gods .. If some in the town are found worshiping other Gods .. the whole town is to be slaughered .. men .. women children fetuses and babies. Yet .. that is not what happened .. because that is not actually the Law at the time .. it is a law written later by Priestly Scribes centuries after Israel is no more.
but .. when ever the law was introduced .. we know the Israelites did not follow it .. Joshua's farewell speech - Joshua 24
14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. ...
23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws
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Now .. you can't throw away foreign gods that you down own.. Just to be clear
So the people are obviously still worshiping other Gods .. and definitely not following the command to slaughter all those who do - which is a breach of covenant - heresy. Raging heritics the whole lot.
So these raging bunch of heritics agrees to affirm a new covenant through Joshua .. that they will worship only Lord Jealous "For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14).
But . But But - as we all know .. the Israelites did not keep this promise ... and in fact .. they never acted on their words at all .. just paying lip service to a dying War Hero. Joshua and the generation that saw the Miracles of YHWH then passes ---The next generation carries on as if it never even knew YHWH ... never mind worship only this God ..
Then what happens through the rest of the Israelite Biblical History ? Judges 2 ..
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres[
b] in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger
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YHWH is completely forgotten according to the Bible. The Israelites neither know YHWH .. or what he did for their ancestors. .. and that is right after .. "weeks" not years .. Joshua dies .. him being the last of his Generation at age 109 ... if not weeks away .. u understand ? The Children of that day were not taught about about YHWH .. and never observe the covenant made with -- forgetting all about this supposed book of the Law .. found by Hezekiah long after the Israelite Kingdom was dead and Gone ..
But .. what this passage says is not completely True .. as the Israelites do not completely forget about YHWH .. YHWH becomes the National God .. war God .. there ate the height of Empire .. the Great Temple built in his Name At Jerusalem by King Solomon. The problem is that while YHWH has followers .. YHWH is not the only God being worshiped by the Israelites .. who are worshiping many Gods .. throughout their entire history .. both Biblical history and Archaeological History .. they match up very well ...
And even those worshiping YHWH .. are worshiping YHWH along-side other Gods .. some of these Gods actually residing in the Temple with YHWH .. such as Asherah .. The Israelites believed God had a Consort . and a daughter known as Anat .. a Holy Trinity of Sorts ..Father - Mother - Daughter .. Such that even those worshiping YHWH were doing it in conjunction with the worship of other Gods.
This raging polytheistic festival only gets bigger and better with time for anyone who bothers to read the book .. by the time we get to Elijah .. he calls himself the only prophet left for the one true God .. . says there are 500 priests of Baal and 450 for Asherah ... and while this does not sound right (must have been more prophets for YHWH .. they were just not prophets of the One True Religion/God" .. its complicated but regardless .. what is clear is that there was not much YHWH worship going on .. never mind YHWH alone worship...
King Solomon builds YHWH a Nice temple but , also builds Nice temples for a host of Other Gods .. engaging in the occasional child sacrifice when a war need winning .. the practice not wide-spread .. but - Still .. This is how YHWH is being worshiped .. as per the command of YHWH ... sayeth the Bible.
Please tell me what a visit to the Temple of YHWH looks like around the Time of Solomon - which characters will we meet .. and what actions and rituals will be performed .. what are those special Trees all about .. and what are the male prostitutes for ? ... and tell me if this is the one time you found where the Israelites were Monotheist -- at the Height of Israelite Power ... Power via success of their National and War God YHWH.
What is going on at the Temple ? Tell me .. using the Bible or Biblical Archaeology .. or History .. help me to find some people that believe in the existance of only one God ..
