Jacob Neusner:

Monotheism is not a matter of arithmetic—one God against many gods. It is a completely different way of explaining the world. Monotheism posits one God, wholly other than humanity, transcendent over nature, in charge of all things, responsible for all reality. And monotheism as set forth by Judaism (and its offspring Christianity and Islam) insists that the one, all powerful God is good, merciful, and just. While a religion of numerous gods finds many solutions to one problem, a religion of only one God presents one to many. Life is seldom fair. Rules rarely work. To explain the reason why, polytheisms adduce multiple causes of chaos, a god per anomaly. Diverse gods do various things, so, it stands to reason, ordinarily outcomes conflict. Monotheism by nature explains many things in a single way. One God rules. Life is meant to be fair, and just rules are supposed to describe what is ordinary, all in the name of that one and only God. So in monotheism a simple logic governs to limit ways of making sense of things. But that logic contains its own dialectics. If one true God has done everything, then, since this God is allpowerful and omniscient, all things are credited to, and blamed on, him. In that case, God can be either good or bad, just or unjust—but not both. (Italics mine)

“Monotheism” in The Encyclopedia of Judaism, 3.1740.

B”H