Yahwists vs Jews

 

     Modern Jews trace their lineage all the way back to Abraham, who chose to worship Yahweh and create the monotheism as we know it today. Judaism as a recognizable religion did not truly develop until the period of the Babylonian Exile. Until that point there were many varieties of worship of Yahweh, from including him within a Canaan pantheon of deities, to viewing him as a local god housed within the Temple of Jerusalem, to believing that he was an itinerant god of a nomadic people. The period of the Babylonian Exile created a separation between what we would call Judaism today, and the general worship centered on a God called Yahweh.

The Davidic kingdom of Israel widely accepted Yahweh as their god. Especially within Jerusalem, the Cult of Yahweh was exalted, even if it was rarely the only faith represented. Through successive kings, Israel and Judah were gradually weakened, and the worship of Yahweh ebbed and flowed among the people. When the people of Jerusalem, along with those from greater Judah and Israel were forced into exile after the Babylonian conquest, their god traveled with them. During this time the idea of who and what Yahweh could be developed. Yahweh was not a god who was tied to a place, nor were the people who worshipped him. As the belief in this style of worship of Yahweh, and the rules of separation from the rest of society became solidified, the dissimilarity of Jew as opposed to Israelite of Yahwist became distinct (Armstrong 86).

When the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile, they set about resettling Jerusalem and the surrounding lands, as well as began rebuilding the temple. When those Yahwists who had not been exiled heard of the actions of the returned Jews, they offered their services as “they wished to help with the rebuilding of Zion” (Armstrong 94). However, the returned Jews, known as the Golah, believed that they alone constituted the only real Israel as they were the ones commissioned by Cyrus to build the new temple. The Yahwists who had remained in Israel were no longer seen as fellow believers in Yahweh, equal to the Jews. Instead they were now the Am Ha-Aretz, and would be seen as enemies and outsiders. Eventually these Yahwists would become known Samaritans later mentioned in the bible. Outsiders, who had once believed in the same Yahweh as the Jews, but now enemies who had no hope of rejoining the belief system of which they had once been members.

Armstrong, K. (2005). Exile and Return. In Jerusalem: One City Three Faiths (pp. 79–102). essay, Ballantine Books.