Archaeology · 13 · Ezra
At Elephantine, Yhwh had a wife
The Judeans of Elephantine worked on the Sabbath, ran a temple to 'Yahu,' gave offerings to other gods, and honored Anat-Yahu, apparently Yhwh's consort.
Practices the Bible forbids were once normal.
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Strikingly, leaders in Jerusalem and Samaria never condemned these practices. They even encouraged the community to rebuild its destroyed temple, contradicting the biblical rule of one sanctuary. This wasn't a lapse from orthodoxy; biblical norms weren't yet in force.
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 209–212
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