I am not sure what would be the best POD, so maybe you could suggest it in your reply. The Tanakh (which Christians call the Old Testament) was yet not fully written, so I refer to the religion as Proto-Judaism at this point. The religion was influenced by the Babylonian captivity. The story about the flood was taken from Gilgamesh, the story about Moses' childhood from the story about Sargon of Akkad's childhood and the idea about a Messiah from Persian religion. It has also been suggested that the whole story about the Egyptian captivity was invented and inspired by the Babylonian captivity. If so, is it possible that the religion could develop in quite a different direction?
Proto-Judaism without the Babylonian captivity
- Thread starter Eivind
- Start date
The POD might be either (A) Jehoiakim [18th king of Judeah and second son of Josiah] continuing to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezar II, (B) Pharaoh Necho II's army defeating the Babylonians at Carchemish, leading to prolonged Egyptian hegemony over the region, or (C) preventing the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire entirely
en.wikipedia.org
The religion would probably still have heavy Canaanite influence anyway. Several matters relating to Ba'al that were adopted and repurposed for YHWH for instance
Monolatry is probably retained for longer, as opposed to strict monotheism
I was considering that the cult of Asherah might be retained for a while longer, but her worship was suppressed heavily during the reign of Josiah, which happened before the captivity (of course, that depends on how far back the POD goes)
It might take longer for the whole Jewish canon to be compiled into a single written document
Babylonian captivity - Wikipedia
The religion would probably still have heavy Canaanite influence anyway. Several matters relating to Ba'al that were adopted and repurposed for YHWH for instance
Monolatry is probably retained for longer, as opposed to strict monotheism
I was considering that the cult of Asherah might be retained for a while longer, but her worship was suppressed heavily during the reign of Josiah, which happened before the captivity (of course, that depends on how far back the POD goes)
It might take longer for the whole Jewish canon to be compiled into a single written document