It is clear to biblical scholars that Israel and Judah were polytheistic societies for most of history until the end of the Judean monarchy. The religious history of Israel reflects the struggle between exclusivistic worship of Yahweh and the polytheistic Syrian-Palestinian cultures.¹ In many verses, the Old Testament forbids competing gods. (Exod.20:2-4, Exod.34:17, Deut.6:14, Deut.32:39). Psalm 86:8 declares that:

"Among the gods there is none like you, Lord". '

King Josiah’s reforms changed Israel’s religion in 621 BCE (2. Kings.22-23). He implemented radical religious reforms that banned the older gods, such as the Canaanite Baal. He even tried to get rid of Yahweh's partner, Asherah. Only after the Babylonian exile (586 BCE) did some groups implement the specific changes that led to exclusivist Yahwism. When monotheism developed, the gods other than Yahweh were forbidden.

There are books in the Old Testament that are to be considered historical in essence. But they are by no means objective descriptions of what actually happened. The Deuteronomistic history, the books from Deuteronomy to 2. Kings, is an interpretation of the disasters of 722 and 586 BCE that made it possible to accept the loss of Israel without abandoning Yahweh. Israel's loss should not be taken as evidence that Yahweh was not the supreme God or that he had abandoned his people. Israel's loss meant the opposite - Yahweh was a universal God who could even use other nations to condemn his own people. His judgments were clear to all: Israel had been condemned, while Judah had taken a different path. Yahweh rewarded honoring the covenantal law with Judah’s continuation politically.

In Deuteronomistic history the kings of Judah and Israel are judged by how they lived according to the covenant law and whether they worshiped Yahweh in Jerusalem. This source reflects a strict moralism and a view of Israelite history in which the people continually violate the covenant and therefore deserve Yahweh’s punishment.

"The deuteronomistic history measures all the kings by their religious behaviour and their religious policy, the model for which is presented in Deuteronomy."⁶ Gerhard Erstenberger: Theologies in the Old Testament, 180.

According to this ideology Yahweh is the only God, and the covenant with his peole has been formed through the covenant law. Trust with Yahweh is given to a people that must resist apostasy and idolatry. The covenant demands exclusive trust with Yahweh and his law, from which his blessings are gained.

The books of Samuel and Kings tell of a powerful, cosmopolitan, and independent Jewish kingdom that flourished during the reigns of King David and King Solomon. It is clear that these stories are exaggerated. It was the later Omrid dynasty that made a name for itself. The Assyrian annals even started to refer to Israel as the ”House of Omri”. The problem was that the Omrids were polytheists. Therefore, the biblical writers appropriated their deeds and achievements. In the Bible, the Omrids are almost completely ignored.

The Deuteronomistic history is a theological retrospective history of Israel. It is an interpretation of history as God's will.