"The student of Pagan religion as well as Christian missionaries were bent on discovering more striking and more startling coincidences, in order to use them in confirmation of their favorite theory that some rays of a primeval revelation, or some reflection of the Jewish religion, had reached the uttermost ends of the world."[107:1]
The result of all this is summed up by Prof. Müller as follows:
"It was the fate of all (these) pioneers, not only to be left behind in the assault which they had planned, but to find that many of their approaches were made in a false direction, and had to be abandoned."[107:2]
Before closing this chapter, we shall say a few words on the religion of Israel. It is supposed by many—in fact, we have heard it asserted by those who should know better—that the Israelites were always monotheists, that they worshiped One God only—Jehovah.[107:3] This is altogether erroneous; they were not different from their neighbors—the Heathen, so-called—in regard to their religion.
In the first place, we know that they revered and worshiped a Bull, called Apis,[107:4] just as the ancient Egyptians did. They worshiped the sun,[108:1] the moon,[108:2] the stars and all the host of heaven.[108:3]
They worshiped fire, and kept it burning on an altar, just as the Persians and other nations.[108:4] They worshiped stones,[108:5] revered an oak tree,[108:6] and "bowed down" to images.[108:7] They worshiped a "Queen of Heaven" called the goddess Astarte or Mylitta, and "burned incense" to her.[108:8] They worshiped Baal,[108:9] Moloch,[108:10] and Chemosh,[108:11] and offered up human sacrifices to them,[108:12] after which in some instances, they ate the victim.[108:13]
It was during the Captivity that idolatry ceased among the Israelites.[108:14] The Babylonian Captivity is clearly referred to in the book of Deuteronomy, as the close of Israel's idolatry.[108:15]
There is reason to believe that the real genius of the people was first called into full exercise, and put on its career of development at this time; that Babylon was a forcing nursery, not a prison cell; creating instead of stifling a nation. The astonishing outburst of intellectual and moral energy that accompanied the return from the Babylonish Captivity, attests the spiritual activity of that "mysterious and momentous" time. As Prof. Goldziher says: "The intellect of Babylon and Assyria exerted a more than passing influence on that of the Hebrews, not merely touching it, but entering deep into it, and leaving its own impression upon it."[108:16]
This impression we have already partly seen in the legends which they borrowed, and it may also be seen in the religious ideas which they imbibed.