Post by Zadkiel on Jan 12, 2016 22:07:57 GMT
It was not just for political reasons that Solomon's kingdom was divided between his son Reabeam and his cousin Jeroboam. Religious disagreements contributed at least as much; and those that authored and edited the Old Testament tried to smear Jeroboam's religious reform, by calling it "idolatry". But further studies reveal that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was closer to the faith that had been advocated by Moses and Aaron than what was the case with the one now practiced in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. When Jeroboam introduced his version of the Yahweh worship, he had gone back to the original Israelite religion, which was not influenced by impulses from Canaanite and Jebusite faith. But all associations to calves, bulls and serpents were not accepted by the Judahite Bible authors, because when they wrote their books several hundred years later, the descendants of the Southern Cult's priesthood by then had got rid of such "impure" elements.
