He is God. The Hebrew is written with the definite article (literally, “He is the God,” not just “He is God” or “He is a God”). Grammatically, it excludes the possibility of saying the same thing about any other god as well. That is, it is a purely monotheistic statement. The sentence that follows it in v. 35 confirms this: “There is no other outside of Him.” The sentence that follows it in v. 39 does likewise: “There isn’t another.” And these sentences were written by the seventh century B.C.E. at the very latest. They weigh against the claim of some scholars that monotheism was a late
...more
