Was Yahweh always Yahweh? pt 2
Today we're looking more into Yahweh and whether he had a different name in Canaanite polytheism. We're also looking at the attributes given to Yahweh that were not originally associated with him.
Yahweh's referred to as Elohim around 2,500 times in the bible. Yahweh is used around 6,800 times. Elohim translates to "Mighty One" or "Strong leader" and is used as a title.
Centuries BEFORE the hebrew bible was written, Canaanite polytheists and Levanite polytheists both worshipped a deity named El. There exist well preserved clay tablets that showcase the religion of the area fairly well. In both areas, El was the "all father" or "supreme father" of their respective pantheons, and Elohim basically served as the descriptor for the family of deities within the pantheon(s) or the "council" of gods. Isra-el is translated to: Wrestles with El, or El rules.
It is common in some cultures that as one deity is favored more, the pantheon naturally shrinks and identities of some deities are merged. It is known that eventually, Yahweh absorbed the identity of El, and all of his attributes, including becoming the spouse of Asherah before Yahweh eventually became a monotheistic deity. Yahweh even inherited El's description for the most part; wise, bearded, somewhat old, a creator god sitting on a throne. Yahweh even absorbed El's titles of El Elyon and El Shaddai.
El is not the only victim of the Yahweh cult during its monolatry period and eventual path to monotheism. We see the entire disappearance of Asherah, the wife deity.
We see attributes of Ba'al given to Yahweh. We see stories associated with Ba'al, like subduing nasty chaotic force like the tehom (waters of the deep) recalling a battle with Yam and Mot are erased from Ba'al completely and given to Yahweh. Ba'al is described as "“Rider on the Clouds" which is also attributed to Yahweh, later on. Interestingly, in the epic of Ba'al, Ba’al fights against Yam, defeating him. Later in the Epic, we learn that Ba’al had previously fought and killed Ltn. If you read Psalm 74:13-14 you see a parallel. Yahweh ALSO fights and destroys both Yam and Ltn, the Leviathan.
Only, Psalms is written well after the epic of Ba'al. Psalms also shows us that Yahweh is given these same attributes. Psalm 104:7-18, 104:27-28 and Psalm 68:8-9. Yahweh is also praised for having the wind as his Messengers in Psalm 104:4.
There exists a text from the reign of Amenhotep III that mentions a potential etymological root and the attestation to the name would mean "he blows" making him a storm deity. Just like Ba'al.
The word Ba'al in early Yahweh worship translates to: Lord. Or Master. Or Husband, early Israelites used Ba'al or Baali when referring to Yahweh- example Hosea 2:16. Eventually, it was decided that the use of Ba'al as a descriptive, or a way to say "My lord" or "my king" was to be done away with due to Israelites still worshipping Ba'al, and so Ba'al eventually became a rejected descriptor due to "associations with canaanite gods"
There is ample enough evidence that Yahweh existed in both neighboring areas to the ancient Israelites, and that Yahweh more than likely came out of Edom, as a minor mountain or wilderness god. IT si more than likely that ancient Israelites also worshipped Yahweh due to proximity and shared culture.
So we see here that the cult of Yahweh chose to merge the identities of Canaanite and Levantine gods to shrink their pantheon, then did it again in order to make Yahweh their only deity left, giving him everything, and using the hebrew bible to rebuke the remnants by the time the Yahweh cult had solidified its power.