A Notion To Ponder

The idea of a most high deity is very common in a lot of ancient societies but you slowly start to see a shift towards localisation of certain deities. The period of time after the end of what's called the Neolithic era is when we see the idea of a most high god become very distant, and there are these sort of lesser gods who then become the object of worship, magic and ritual. This is observable all over the world, so we shouldn't be surprised to find this even in the Indian texts.

Christian Scripture has an explanation of this. It does so in the Divine Council of God. The most known passage for this is in the book of Job but we also see this in the book of Daniel and in plenty psalms. The 70 or 72 nations that we see in the book of Genesis 10 with the table of nations then have their specific elohim over them which is referenced in Deuteronomy 32:8 and 4:19

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God. ~Deuteronomy 32:8

El's divine council is known in the ancient world attested by Ugaritic sources among others. We have the account of Baal's father appointed 70 sons of El to rule over 70 nations

And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ~Deuteronomy 4:19

What do the nations do? They worship these elohims. Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrifice to the territorial gods and they being fallen accept that worship.

In the New Testament, we see St. Paul saying that all the gods of the nations are demons this is what he is referring to.

Now you might hear this 70 or 72 nations and gods thing and be reminded of something in the gospels and you would be correct to think about that. Indeed this connects to Jesus sending out his disciples in Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven ~ Luke 10:17-20

If you want to know more about how this connects I'd recommend this podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/0stVc1QefJrdwUJwwqNS6D?si=ebb48810e6f04507 https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits/the_fiveish_falls_of_angels/ (same thing but it has the transcript incase you want to skim through it)

For a better treatment see the Divine Council chapter in [[Religion of the Apostles]] by [[Fr. Stephen DeYoung]]