Chemosh vs. YHWH

The similarities between the Mesha Inscription and the HB that began this essay have been confirmed by our MFT [Moral Foundations Theory] analysis: the religious practices of Moab were consonant in many respects with those of ancient Israel. Surely, this facilitated the ease with which Israelites adopted the worship of Chemosh and other foreign gods and initiated marriage and political relations with non-Yahwists in the Iron Age. The prevailing voice of the HB, though, harshly condemned these engagements with Israel’s neighbors (Neh 13:23–27; 2 Kgs 16; Isa 7). Although all six moral foundations appear in the Mesha Inscription and the HB, loyalty/ betrayal and sanctity/degradation are more important in the HB, and there are striking differences in the ways that the MI and HB employ the foundations.—M. Patrick Graham in Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH’s Ancient Look-Alikes, p. 136