Highlighting this chapter is the law of religious tolerance- colloquially speaking (the best kind) people will only respect other religions when they think they can get something out of it. I find it a little coincidental that I'm typing an article about religious tolerance, or lack their of, in the midst of the rise of Islamophobia, and maybe that is something I will try to highlight. In fact, reading this chapter, I continuously found myself referencing modern day happenings, such as the takeover of America from the Native Americans to the modern day fight with Muslims. So if anything, we will learn that time does not change human nature.
First off, the definition of monolatry- it is the step between polytheism and monotheism, where the society believes not the a pantheon of multiple gods, but rather in one god for their culture; however, they do not believe in one universal god. Other cultures have their own gods as well.
Essentially, around the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, prophets began to teach xenophobic practices. This coincided with Israel being taken over by Assyria and other major power sources. Wright defines two possible reasons for the rise of monolatry- foreign policy and domestic power. As Israel's power shrank with Assyria's takeover, kings and their citizens got angry. They got nationalistic. They believed in the power of Israel. This nationalistic pride would reasonably be reflected in their unifying national religion of the time; claiming allegiance to Israel and Jerusalem is a way of showing national pride, and what better way than to claim allegiance to Jerusalem's god, Yahweh?
Similarly, this was reflected in domestic policies. As Israeli nationalism took root, worshipping foreign gods became totally passe. It was only the rich people that enjoyed being abroad and who had foreign objects because they were the only ones who could afford such nice things; thus, they were cosmopolitan and elitist. So it was a class system that was also xenophobic. Again, we can draw parallels between then and now. Today there is an overwhelming sense of patriotism that may have been present before 9/11, but now can be seen as a reaction to terrorism. Some areas of the country are proud to be 100% American and reject so-called "foreign" influences, such as Islam. Similarly, Israelis hated non-Israeli influences. Other gods in the traditional Israeli pantheon were eliminated for their "foreign" influence, leaving the capital city's god Yahweh as the one true god.
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