Animism

In fact, it took even the Jews a long time to learn that there is only one God.  At one time, as in some parts of the world today, they thought that every clump of trees, and especially every evergreen tree, had a spirit in it which made it grow and kept it alive.  Of course, if it were an unusually big tree it must be the home of a very powerful spirit.  In the same way spirits were supposed to live in other things too, such as rivers or caves or large rocks.  They believed that the spirit owned, and was lord or Baal of, the district in which he happened to live.  So when a tribe settled down and built a village nearby they took him for their god.  After a time they would set up a stone pillar or wooden post for the god to live in instead of the rock or tree.  Later on they carved a face or body from the stone or wood and made an idol of it, like the idols we see if we go to a museum.

Each tribe, then, had its own special god who was supposed to look after his people in time of peace and fight against their enemies in time of war.

Polytheism

The Jews, like other peoples, also believed at one time that there were many gods, though they thought that the God of Israel was the most powerful of them all.  You may remember that when the Israelites escaped from Egypt across the Red Sea, Moses sang a song of thanksgiving to God which shows how he thought that the Lord God of Israel was the strongest among many gods.  “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendour, doing wonders?” (NRSV, Exodus 15:11).