http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ze'ev_Herzog
"the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert,
did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it
on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the
fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is
described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small
tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that
the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early
Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of
the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai".
"the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert,
did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it
on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the
fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is
described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small
tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that
the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early
Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of
the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai".