Contrasting Israel's Understanding of God as Father with Similar Father God Motifs

John Miller wrote an interesting article titled "God as Father in the Bible and the Father Image in Several Contemporary Ancient Near Eastern Myths; A Comparison". Miller suggested that the nations around Israel were undergoing some kind of fathering crisis in the second millennium B.C. He pointed out that the myths from the Ancient Near East all contained father gods who were cruel, incompetent, and powerless. The problems that arose in each myth all had to be solved by a mother, a son, or a daughter. Miller points out that only what he calls the "biblical myth" contains a divine father who has a significant force for good in the world. He suggests that the biblical faith in God as father may have actually arisen on the wings of an emotional revolution in the culture. Miller spins off from three Ancient Near Eastern myths.

He notes that the primordial gods of Babylon were grouped into a family. The father god Apsu grew weary of the noise made by his divine children, so he decided to kill them all. The son Ea heard of this and killed Apsu instead. Apsu was replaced in rank by the sky god Anshar who proved to be a coward and the world was finally saved from destruction by Apsu's grandson Marduk, the son of Ea.

Miller notes that the Canaanite myths do not present a much better view of the father god. The great father god was El. Unfortunately, El was old, weak, and inapt. The real action in the myths centered around the young upstart Baal.
When Miller turned to Egyptian myths he found a father god who was very similar to the Canaanite god. The father god Osiris had been rather just, but naïve. He allowed his brother Seth to murder him, and Osiris ended up being the god of the underworld. Miller notes that the nations around Israel had myths about how the different gods related to each other. He claims that Israel substituted for these myths her own myths about how God had interacted with Israel early in their history. Miller concludes that of all the father god myths in antiquity, only Israel's Father God was alert, vigorous, just, kind, compassionate and generally in control of His own household.

This is very interesting in that the God of the Bible would distinguish Himself from the pagan gods of the Ancient Near East. This also flies in the face of all those who say that the God of Israel was just another Egyptian or Ancienct Near Eastern god. Though he believes all of them to be myths, Miller shows that Israel's God was distinctly different. He is set apart, an "alert, vigorous, just, kind, and compassionate" God.