Greetings kamau,

Well I tell the I this all very new for me to be thinking this way but my reading lately has led me here.
Abraham was not a Hebrew because there were no Hebrews yet. He was from the city of Ur in Babylon/mesopotamia, and probably a nomadic leader.
His people at this time worshiped many gods, and particular families even worshiped particular Mesopotamian gods. So when Abraham talks about the 'god of his fathers', that is literally what he meant.
YHWH was a Midian mountain god of storm and thunder. Moses introduced the Hebrews fleeing from Egypt to him at least 500 years later. In the Old Testament we can read for ourselves how the Hebrews resisted Yahweh, and even after the Babylonian captivity at least 700 years after Moses, they worshiped many gods besides YHWH. By the way, the only earthly language the ten commandments could have been written in is Egyptian.
Then I think the BIG thing to keep in mind is that the Old Testament was mostly written during/ after the Babylonian captivity 600BC. Moses was around 1300BC, Abraham maybe 1800BC or later. The writers leaned heavily on Babylonian stories-the Flood, Moses in the bullrushes from SargonI, and so on. It seems like during the Babylonian captivity the Jews saw the big advantages of a strong central state religion, and they set about creating one as soon as they got back to Judah. And it was only aroungd this time that the word JEW is first mentioned.
The Temple in Jerusalem was a small place, and similar to the many many temples dedicated to many gods throughout the whole region, same kinds of rituals, animal sacrifices, everything.
So that is what I am finding out so far.
But no worries.
The true heart of Rasta is so much more vast and beautiful than anybody's little religious ideas!

Rootsie