I often wonder just how much ordinary people really bought into this stuff back then. Would they really believe any old Joe who said he spoke to God or an angel? Or does it have to be someone reputable, in a position of power?
People usually bring up, at this junction, that Jesus seemed like an ordinary sort of bloke when he claimed to be both Messiah and the Son of God. However, he was mocked, ridiculed and disbelieved, particularly by the religious establishment. Most of the significant voices of the Old Testament were patriarchs. They were the heads of tribes, large families, even entire kingdoms. They were much like the Pharoahs, who claimed to be gods themselves.
I do remember that archaeologists uncovered graffiti from Ancient Egyptian work sites that seemed to mock national religion. In particular, was some examples found to be mocking or seriously rebelling against the new state religion introduced by Akhenaten, who replaced Ra-Atum with Aten, and did away with polytheism. People didn't seem to unwaveringly accept this new paradigm, and after Akhenaten died, his religion faded away also. It was like people were humouring him, because that's what you do with leaders.
So it's just conjecture as I lack the historical and cultural understanding to be sure, but I do speculate that at least some aspects of the religion that seemed to exist purely to uphold the current status quo and prevailing power structures would have been met by tacit skepticism by hoi polloi.
