There was polytheism before monotheism was introduced. And the inventor was not Israel but Egypt. Egypt had a pantheon of Gods before Akhenaten forced monotheism on all. It did not last. Even the Bible mentions the pantheon of the Gods otherwise referred to as assembly of the Gods. What is meant by the "assembly of the Gods"? It means the meeting or congregation of the Gods. That is exactly what it means. Do not let wordsmiths and spinners deceive you. Logic must tell us that there would be a leader at those assemblies. There is little or no doubt that history shows that the Hebrews either adopted the Canaanite ideas and/or they were chosen and forced to practice such ideas that ultimately led to their form of monotheism. The books of the Old Testament are sufficient to gather all the proof. The chief deity and leader of the council at Ugarit was called El. It will not hurt to restate here that though the chief God and leader of the pantheon was El, it should be understood that these Gods are in a constant jostle for power. The Hebrew texts make it clear that El is Israel's God (Gen. 33:20). Other references that Yahweh is El can be read in Deut. 7:9, 10:17; 2 Sam. 22:31; Ps. 85:8; Isa. 42:5; Jer. 32:18. Also, numerous epithets of the Ugaritic high god El are used for Yahweh in the Old Testament. The Gods were not hiding who they were. They already told us how they look and behave. They told us that we are in their image and likeness. They promoted themselves. In fact, let us look at Genesis 1:26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that crept upon the earth. The context above is very important. It used "us" and "our." It plainly describes the Gods-the intelligent beings. Let "us" simply connotes many-as in Elohim. Let "us" make man in "our" image also connotes that the Gods have many images and many likeness. It tells us that the Gods could be tall or short, black or light skinned, male or female, shapely or rotund, blue eyed or brown eyed. This text also explains the behavior of man. Man is greedy, warmongering, kind, wicked, jealous, etc. We are the image and likeness of the Gods. For a clearer picture of the number of the Gods and concept of the assembly of the Gods, a read of Deuteronomy 32:8 will be helpful. Psalm 82 is equally helpful. Christians say they are monotheists; but they believe in three divine beings. There must be tension here and it is obvious if you think about it. Polytheism is simply and without qualification the belief in more than one God. Thus, on the most common way of understanding polytheism, Christian belief will not be monotheism, but clearly polytheism. Read All The God We Cannot See for more.