{"id":7157,"date":"2023-02-03T13:41:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T18:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=7157"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:31:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:31:52","slug":"112-inventing-god-and-law-religious-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=7157","title":{"rendered":"112. Inventing God and Law: Religious Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"After<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s “monolatry.” It doesn’t mean tedium. Neither does it refer to a futuristic train, nor even to a platypus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a cool word, and if you can use it in a sentence three times today it can be yours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Constitutional Law<\/p>\n

Part 2: \u201cWhat Were They Thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n

Digression: \u201cA History of Government in 6 Revolutions: From the Paleolithic to Philadelphia\u201d<\/p>\n

112. Inventing God and Law: Religious Reform<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Title: Part F: Religious Reform<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 1: People are gathered at a well inside the city of Jerusalem. A barefoot woman carries a jug on one shoulder, a commoner man sits at the well, and an elite man dressed in layers of rich fabrics is posed in an attitude of dismissal and thought. Beyond them, crowds of people throng the city, a pack camel is being led, a person rides a donkey.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Jerusalem\u2019s elites knew that something<\/strong> would have to change.<\/p>\n

But what?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

WOMAN:<\/p>\n

Well, you could end corruption\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026give people justice\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

COMMON MAN:<\/p>\n

Stop the rich from oppressing the poor\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

ELITE MAN:<\/p>\n

No\u2026<\/p>\n

No\u2026<\/p>\n

No, it has to be something else. Let me think.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 2: An overhead view of the city of Jerusalem. It has grown since the last time it was pictured, now snaking like a long backwards S down its hillside, flanked by its surrounding hills. A J. J. Abrams-esque lens flare shines from the bright temple at the top.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Concluding that their old-time religion needed to get with the times, they embarked on a very unusual sort of cultic reform. What made it unusual was that, much as Yehudah was consolidating politically under a single king<\/strong> (King Hezekiah at the moment), they now consolidated their cult around a single god<\/strong>\u2014Yahweh.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE 1:<\/p>\n

It does make sense. After all, Yahweh just\u2026 is<\/strong>\u2026 all by himself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE 2:<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t<\/strong> call this \u201cmonotheism,\u201d because obviously all the other gods exist.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE 3:<\/p>\n

Worshipping only one of many is monolatry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE 4:<\/p>\n

Like any other ancient religion, our monolatry is<\/strong> very tolerant.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE 5:<\/p>\n

You want to worship other gods, too? Go ahead! Who cares?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE 6:<\/p>\n

But as for our official state<\/strong> cult, from now on Yehudah\u2019s civic religion will only<\/strong> worship the chief god: Yahweh.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 3: A small explosion marks the ground and raises a small cloud of dust.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

The next hundred years were filled with some truly gripping history, all of which we\u2019re going to skip right over.<\/p>\n

Until suddenly\u2014practically overnight\u2014the Neo-Assyrian Empire collapsed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

CLOUD OF DUST:<\/p>\n

POOF<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 4: A map showing Yehudah. It lies just east of the Dead Sea and the southern bit of the Jordan River, and it does not extend all the way to the sea. Jerusalem is marked by a star. A bit of northern territory is half-shaded to indicate disputed territory. The rest of the land all around is clear of any ruling empire.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

In the ensuing power vacuum, some sensed an opportunity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM VOICE:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our time to shine!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FOOTNOTE:<\/p>\n

That\u2019s \u201cmonolatry.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mean tedium. Neither does it refer to a futuristic train, nor even to a platypus.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a cool word, and if you can use it in a sentence three times today it can be yours!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>View Transcript<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s “monolatry.” It doesn’t mean tedium. Neither does it refer to a futuristic train, nor even to a platypus. It’s a cool word, and if you can use it in a sentence three times today it can be yours! \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,35,63,60,1,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-brief-history-of-government","category-constitutional-law","category-inventing-the-law","category-the-institution-revolution","category-uncategorized","category-what-were-they-thinking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t