Go read this post of conuly's, as it contains both an interesting link and an interesting article (for which there is a link in the comments, but which apparently requires logging in to read).
Actually, that's another question I meant to include that I did not include, which is what did the other gods have to say about the whole killing off their creations thing. The reason I didn't include it is I'm not sure *who* the ending plural in Elohim refers to - just like Adonai means "our (plural) lord (singluar)", Elohim might be "Our/Their (plural) God (singular)". My first impression, given my (limited) knowledge of modern hebrew, is that it is indeed refering to multiple beings rather than a single being possessed by multiple people, but I didn't want to go on when there was the alternative possibility.
I suspect a large part of the reason this is confusing to us is back in the day it was just understood that, regardless of whether you personally worshiped a pantheon or a single family/tribal/city-based diety, everyone worshiped their own set. The idea that there is literally a single diety is relatively modern. Prosiletyzing, well as the concept of "finding" a diety, are also relatively modern.
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Date: 2005-03-15 09:08 pm (UTC)I suspect a large part of the reason this is confusing to us is back in the day it was just understood that, regardless of whether you personally worshiped a pantheon or a single family/tribal/city-based diety, everyone worshiped their own set. The idea that there is literally a single diety is relatively modern. Prosiletyzing, well as the concept of "finding" a diety, are also relatively modern.