Israel’s Yahweh religion arises in the liberation process of an oppressed outsider group of Egyptian society; its world of religious symbols is therefore directly related to the process of historical and political liberation. From the start that gives it a historical and political orientation and a clear leaning towards the social, which was to remain a characteristic of the religion of Israel. In contrast to the state religions of the ancient Near East, which derive themselves from earliest mythical times, Yahweh religion has a historical foundation and did not from the beginning have the function of legitimating rule and stabilizing the existing social order. Rather, as the symbolic world of a social outsider group fighting for its right to life, it serves to provide internal solidarity for this group and to detach it from a integration which makes possible a freer and more equitable social life. This starting point explains the bias against domination, transcending present social circumstances, which was to become established time and again in the history of Israelite religion.
- Rainer Albertz, A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period: Volume I: From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy (Westminster John Knox Press, 1992), 47.
interesting analysis on Israel’ religion as liberation theology.