Does Deuteronomy 32:8-9 suggest that there are two Gods of Israel–El and YHWH?
Question;
I have two questions that are troubling me. It concerns the passage from Deuteronomy 32:8-9. Please, answer if you can. 1. The ‘sons of God’—who are they in this passage? Are they divine beings, or are they Israelites? 2. Some critics say that this passage indicates that God El (the Most High in this passage) gave Israel to Yahweh, suggesting that Yahweh and El are two different deities. Is that what this passage is saying?”
Answers:
Good questions!
On the first question, there is some doubt as to the original of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, as the Masoretic Text has “sons of Israel,” whereas the DSS and Septuagint have “sons of God.” A common-sense lower criticism approach would suggest that the more “surprising” or more “difficult” reading is likely to be the correct one. By this reasoning, it is more than 50% likely that the original was “sons of God,” as this is more surprising and more difficult to interpret than “sons of Israel.”
Having said that, and assuming that the Masoretic Text represents a purposeful change in the text, (which is an assumption, so remember that) this gives us good access to the correct interpretation of the passage. If “sons of Israel”, then the interpretation is crystal clear. If “sons of God” is the original, then the Masoretic represents how the Jews in ancient times interpreted the Hebrew. My conclusion is that the ones referred to here are not angels or some other sort of heavenly being. The ones referred to here are almost without a doubt the Israelite descendants of Jacob/Israel.
If this is true, and I am convinced it is, then your second question becomes a moot point. Besides, if there is one clear and obvious truth about the Jews, it is that they were avowedly monotheistic, and certainly their Scripture is vehemently monotheistic. So… even if we accept the extremely unlikely interpretation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, the idea that this would undermine monotheism by positing two different Gods–El and YHWH borders on preposterous.
Besides, simply looking at the passage itself in its context also demonstrates that the persons being discussed are Israel. There is parallelism here between v. 8 and v. 9. In v. 9, the “sons of God” are described as “his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.” In addition, the boundaries for his people (v. 8) is also clearly a reference to the Jewish people, not angelic beings.
You can safely put this question to rest. Those who try to find ditheism here are just trying to make trouble and are not unbiased players in interpreting this passage.
John Oakes
