Did the ancient Hebrews really believe their god was the only god that existed? Or did they believe in other gods too, and that theirs was the best?

by DrButtsex_PHD

The reason I ask this is because while reading the Old Testament of the Bible I’ve noticed that the Hebrews usually say that their god is the most powerful/most deserving of worship, but very rarely do they explicitly take the position of their god being the only one that exists. Let’s use Baal for example. Did the Israelites believe that Baal was real, but easily vanquished by their god, Yahweh/Jehovah?

Apprentice57

You may be interested in this old thread on the ancient Hebrew polytheistic religion from /u/asrafael. This will only partially address your question, as it is about gods within the ancient Hebrew pantheon only. So hopefully there will be other answers!