Judaism itself started off (as far as archeology and anthropology is concerned) as a strain of Israelite polytheism which elevated YHWH, a national God of Israel, and a storm/war God within the pantheon, to the status of a God above the other Gods ( like Zeus in Greek polytheism) and then over time the Ancient Israelites shed their beliefs in the other Gods of the Israelite Pantheon, and begin to believe in YHWH as an abstract God, in the monotheistic sense. It's very interesting. They even got rid of his consort Asherah. The Hera to his Zeus. Or the Rhea to his Cronos. However you wanna look at it.
Other ancient Semitic religions from Mesopotamia and the Levant had Asherah be the consort of similar Gods like Baal, El, Elkunirsa, Amarru, Anu, Amm, and Assur. So YHWH evolved from a polytheistic God, to a Henotheistic God, to a Monotheistic God, over the course of several political developments within the Ancient Israelite culture.
Judaism itself started off (as far as archeology and anthropology is concerned) as a strain of Israelite polytheism which elevated YHWH, a national God of Israel, and a storm/war God within the pantheon, to the status of a God above the other Gods ( like Zeus in Greek polytheism) and then over time the Ancient Israelites shed their beliefs in the other Gods of the Israelite Pantheon, and begin to believe in YHWH as an abstract God, in the monotheistic sense. It's very interesting. They even got rid of his consort Asherah. The Hera to his Zeus. Or the Rhea to his Cronos. However you wanna look at it.
Other ancient Semitic religions from Mesopotamia and the Levant had Asherah be the consort of similar Gods like Baal, El, Elkunirsa, Amarru, Anu, Amm, and Assur. So YHWH evolved from a polytheistic God, to a Henotheistic God, to a Monotheistic God, over the course of several political developments within the Ancient Israelite culture.
Similar developments occurred in Pre-Islamic Arabia.