Yahweh

Ancient Levantine deity

This article is about the ancient Levantine deity. For the modern Judeo-Christian conception of Yahweh, see God in Judaism, God in Christianity, and God in Abrahamic religions. For the name "YHWH" and its vocalization, see Tetragrammaton. For other uses, see Yahweh (disambiguation).

A 4th-century BCE silver coin from the Persian province of Yehud Medinata, possibly representing Yahweh enthroned on a winged wheel.[1][2] This identification is disputed, however.[3] Deities of the ancient Near East

Ancient Egyptian

* Amun
* Anubis
* Apis
* Atum
* Buchis
* Geb
* Horus
* Isis
* Montu
* Nephthys
* Nut
* Osiris
* Ptah
* Qetesh
* Ra
* Set
* Shu
* Tefnut
* Thoth

Arabian

* Allah
* Aglibol
* Abgal
* al-Lat
* al-Qaum
* al-‘Uzzá
* Atarsamain
* ʿAṯtar
* Baalshamin
* Bēl
* Dhul Khalasa
* Dushara
* Gad
* Hubal
* Malakbel
* Manaf
* Manāt
* Nasr
* Nuha
* Orotalt
* Ruda
* Suwa'
* Theandrios
* Wadd
* Ya'uq
* Yaghūth
* Yarhibol
* Yatha

Eblaite

* Adamma
* Aštabil
* Dagan
* Hadabal
* Hadad
* Ḫalabatu
* Išḫara
* Kura
* Ninkarrak
* Saggar
* Shalash

Elamite

* Humban
* Inshushinak
* Ishmekarab
* Jabru
* Kiririsha
* Lagamar
* Manzat
* Nahhunte
* Narundi
* Napir
* Napirisha
* Pinikir
* Ruhurater
* Simut

Hurrian

* Allani
* Aštabi
* Hayya
* Ḫepat
* Hutena and Hutellura
* Išḫara
* Kubaba
* Kumarbi
* Kušuḫ
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* Mitanni dynastic deities (Indra, Mitra, Varuna)
* Nabarbi
* Ninatta and Kulitta
* Nupatik
* Pirengir
* Shalash
* Šarruma
* Šauška
* Šimige
* Šuwala
* Takitu
* Tašmišu
* Teshub
* Tilla

Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)

* Adonis
* Anat
* Arsay
* Asherah
* Ashima
* Astarte
* Atargatis
* ʿAṯtar
* Azizos
* Baʿal
* Baʿal Ḥammon
* Baʿal Marqod
* Baʿal Ṣapon
* Baʿalshamem
* Baʿalat Gebal
* Chemosh
* Dagan
* El
* Eshmun
* Haddu
* Kotharat
* Kothar-wa-Khasis
* Melqart
* Milcom
* Misor
* Mot
* Nikkal
* Qedesh
* Qos
* Resheph
* Sakkun
* Shadrafa
* Shahar
* Shalim
* Shapshu
* Sydyk
* Tanit
* Yam
* Yahweh
* Yarikh

Mesopotamian

* Adad/Ishkur
* Amurru
* An/Anu
* Asarluhi
* Ashur
* Aya
* Belet Nagar
* Dumuzi
* Enki/Ea
* Enlil
* Ereshkigal
* Gibil
* Inanna/Ishtar
* Ishtaran
* Manungal
* Marduk
* Nabu
* Nammu
* Nanaya
* Nisaba
* Shala
* Šumugan
* Nanna/Sin
* Nergal
* Ninazu
* Ninegal
* Ningal
* Ningishzida
* Ninhursag
* Ninisina
* Ninlil
* Ninshubur
* Pabilsag
* Papsukkal
* Sarpanit
* Sebitti
* Tishpak
* Utu/Shamash
* Wer
* Zababa

Religions of the ancient Near East

* v
* t
* e

Yahweh[a] was an ancient Levantine deity, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah,[4] and later the god of Judaism and its other descendant Abrahamic religions. Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's origins,[5] scholars generally contend that Yahweh is associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman,[6] and later with Canaan. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age, if not somewhat earlier.[7]

In the oldest biblical literature, he possesses attributes typically ascribed to weather and war deities, fructifying the land and leading the heavenly army against Israel's enemies.[8] The early Israelites were polytheistic and worshipped Yahweh alongside a variety of Canaanite gods and goddesses, including El, Asherah and Baal.[9]

In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated and El-linked epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone.[10] Some scholars believe El and Yahweh were always conflated.[11][12][13] Characteristics of other gods, such as Asherah and Baal, were also selectively "absorbed" in conceptions of Yahweh.[14][15][16]

Over time the existence of other gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and sole divinity to be worshipped. During the Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as taboo,[17] and Jews instead began to substitute other words, primarily adonai (אֲדֹנָי‬, "my Lord"). In Roman times, following the Siege of Jerusalem and destruction of its Temple, in 70 CE, the original pronunciation of the god's name was forgotten entirely.[18]

Yahweh is also invoked in Papyrus Amherst 63, and in Jewish or Jewish-influenced Greco-Egyptian magical texts from the 1st to 5th century CE.[19]

## Name

[edit]

The god's name was written in paleo-Hebrew as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (יהוה in block script), transliterated as YHWH; modern scholarship has reached consensus to transcribe this as "Yahweh".[20] The shortened forms Yeho-, Yahu\- and Yo\- appear in personal names and in phrases such as "Hallelujah!"[21] The sacrality of the name, as well as the Commandment against "taking the name 'in vain' ", led to increasingly strict prohibitions on speaking or writing the term. Rabbinic sources suggest that, by the Second Temple period, the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on the Day of Atonement.[22] After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the original pronunciation of the name was forgotten entirely.[18]

## History

[edit]

### Periods

[edit]

Philip King and Lawrence Stager place the history of Yahweh into the following periods:

* Late Bronze: 1550–1200 BCE
* Iron Age I: 1200–1000 BCE
* Iron Age II: 1000–586 BCE
* Neo-Babylonian: 586–539 BCE
* Persian: 539–332 BCE[23]

Other academic terms often used include First Temple period, from the construction of the Temple in 957 BCE to its destruction in 586 BCE, exilic for the period of the Exile from 586–539 BCE (identical with Neo-Babylonian above), post-Exilic for later periods and Second Temple period from the reconstruction of the Temple in 515 BCE until its destruction in 70 CE.

### Late Bronze Age origins (1550–1200 BCE)

[edit]

There is almost no agreement on Yahweh's origins.[5] His name is not attested other than among the Israelites, and there is no consensus on its etymology, with ehyeh ašer ehyeh ("I Am that I Am"), the explanation presented in Exodus 3:14,[24] appearing to be a late theological gloss invented at a time when the original meaning had been forgotten,[25] although some scholars dispute this.[26][27] Lewis connects the name to the Amorite element yahwi- (ia-wi), found in personal names in Mari texts,[28] meaning "brings to life/causes to exist" (e.g. yahwi-dagan = "Dagon causes to exist"), commonly denoted as the semantic equivalent of the Akkadian ibašši-DN;[29] though Frank Moore Cross emphasized that the Amorite verbal form is of interest only in attempting to reconstruct the verbal root of the name "Yahweh", and that attempts to take yahwi- as a divine epithet should be "vigorously" argued against.[30][31] In addition, J. Philip Hyatt believes it is more likely that yahwi- refers to a god creating and sustaining the life of a newborn child rather than the universe. This conception of God was more popular among ancient Near Easterners but eventually, the Israelites removed the association of yahwi- to any human ancestor and combined it with other elements (e.g. Yahweh ṣəḇāʾōṯ).[32][needs update] Hillel Ben-Sasson states there is insufficient evidence for Amorites using yahwi- for gods. But he argues that it mirrors other theophoric names and that yahwi-, or more accurately yawi, derives from the root hwy in pa'al, which means "he will be".[33]

One scholarly theory is that he originated in a shortened form of ˀel ḏū yahwī ṣabaˀôt, "El who creates the hosts",[34] which Cross considered to be one of the cultic names of El.[35] However, this phrase is nowhere attested either inside or outside the Bible, and the two gods are in any case quite dissimilar, with El being elderly and paternal and lacking Yahweh's association with the storm and battles.[36] Even if the above issues are resolved, Yahweh is generally agreed to have a non-causative etymology because otherwise, YHWH would be translated as YHYH.[11] It also raises the question of why the Israelites would want to shorten the epithet. One possible reason includes the co-existence of religious modernism and conservatism being the norm in all religions.[11]

The oldest plausible occurrence of his name is in the Egyptian demonym tꜣ šꜣsw Yhwꜣ, "YHWA (in) the Land of the Shasu" (Egyptian: 𓇌𓉔𓍯𓄿 Yhwꜣ) in an inscription from the time of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE),[37][38] the Shasu being nomads from Midian and Edom in northern Arabia.[39] Although it is still uncertain whether a relationship exists between the toponym yhwꜣ and theonym YHWH,[40] the dominant view is that Yahweh was from the southern region associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman.[6] There is considerable although not universal support for this view,[41] but it raises the question of how Yahweh made his way to the north.[42] An answer many scholars consider plausible is the Kenite hypothesis, which holds that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along the caravan routes between Egypt and Canaan.[43] This ties together various points of data, such as the absence of Yahweh from Canaan, his links with Edom and Midian in the biblical stories, and the Kenite or Midianite ties of Moses,[42] but its major weaknesses are that the majority of Israelites were firmly rooted in Palestine, while the historical role of Moses is problematic.[44] It follows that if the Kenite hypothesis is to be maintained, then it must be assumed that the Israelites encountered Yahweh (and the Midianites/Kenites) inside Israel and through their association with the earliest political leaders of Israel.[45] Christian Frevel argues that inscriptions allegedly suggesting Yahweh's southern origins (e.g. "YHWH of Teman") may simply denote his presence there at later times, and that Teman can refer to any southern territory, including Judah.[46]

Alternatively, some scholars argue that YHWH worship was rooted in the indigenous culture of the Kingdom of Israel and was promoted in the Kingdom of Judah by the Omrides.[46][47] Frevel suggests that Hazael's conquests in the Kingdom of Israel forced the two kingdoms to cooperate, which spread YHWH worship among Judean commoners. Previously, YHWH was viewed as the patron god of the Judean state.[46]

### Early Iron Age (1200–1000 BCE)

[edit]

Early Iron Age bull figurine from Bull Site at Dhahrat et-Tawileh (modern West Bank, ancient Ephraim), representing El, Baal or Yahweh[48][49]

In the Early Iron Age, the modern consensus is that there was no distinction in language or material culture between Canaanites and Israelites. Scholars accordingly define Israelite culture as a subset of Canaanite culture.[50] In this view, the Israelite religion consisted of Canaanite gods such as El, the ruler of the pantheon,[51] Asherah, his consort, and Baal.[52] But Israel Knohl argues that there is no evidence of any anthropomorphic figurines or cultic statues in Israel during this period, suggesting monotheistic practice.[53]

In the earliest Biblical literature, Yahweh has characteristics of a storm god typical of ancient Near Eastern myths, marching out from Edom or the Sinai desert with the heavenly host of stars and planets that make up his army to do battle with the enemies of his people Israel:[54]

> Yahweh, when you went out of Seir,
>  when you marched out of the field of Edom,
>  the earth trembled, the sky also dropped.
>  Yes, the clouds dropped water.
>  The mountains quaked at Yahweh's presence,
>  even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
>  ...
>  From the sky the stars fought.
>  From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

>  (Book of Judges 5:4–5, 20, WEB World English Bible, the Song of Deborah.)

Alternatively, parts of the storm god imagery could derive from Baal.[15][47]: 78

From the perspective of the Kenite hypothesis, it has also been suggested that the Edomite deity Qōs might have been one and the same as Yahweh, rather than a separate deity, with its name a title of the latter.[55] Aside from their common territorial origins, various common characteristics between the Yahwist cult and the Edomite cult of Qōs hint at a shared connection.[56] Doeg the Edomite, for example, is depicted as having no problem in worshiping Yahweh and is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries.[56]

Unlike the chief god of the Ammonites (Milcom) and the Moabites (Chemosh), the Tanakh refrains from explicitly naming the Edomite Qōs.[57][58] Some scholars have explained this notable omission by assuming that the level of similarity between Yahweh and Qōs would have made rejection of the latter difficult.[59] Other scholars hold that Yahweh and Qōs were different deities from their origins, and suggest that the tensions between Judeans and Edomites during the Second Temple period may lie behind the omission of Qōs in the Bible.[60]

### Late Iron Age (1000–586 BCE)

[edit]

Painting on a jar found at Kuntillet Ajrud, under the inscription "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" (c. 800 BCE)

It has been argued that Yahweh was originally described as one of the sons of El in Deuteronomy 32:8–9,[61] and that this was removed by a later emendation to the text:[62] Nonetheless, some scholars argue that El Elyon ("the Most High") and Yahweh are theonyms for the same deity in the text, based on contextual analysis.[63][64]

> When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
>  when he divided up humankind,
>  he set the boundaries of the peoples,
>  according to the number of the heavenly assembly.
>  For the Lord's allotment is his people,
>  Jacob is his special possession.

>  (Book of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, New English Translation, Song of Moses)

The late Iron Age saw the emergence of nation states associated with specific national gods:[65] Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, Milcom the god of the Ammonites, Qōs the god of the Edomites, and Yahweh the god of the Israelites.[66][67] In each kingdom the king was also the head of the national religion and thus the viceroy on Earth of the national god.[68] Yahweh filled the role of national god in the kingdom of Israel (Samaria), which emerged in the 10th century BCE; and also in Judah, which may have emerged a century later[69] (no "God of Judah" is mentioned anywhere in the Bible).[66][67]

During the reign of Ahab, and particularly following his marriage to Jezebel, Baal may have briefly replaced Yahweh as the national god of Israel (but not Judah).[70][71]

In the 9th century BCE, there are indications of rejection of Baal worship associated with the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The Yahweh-religion thus began to separate itself from its Canaanite heritage; this process continued over the period from 800 to 500 BCE with legal and prophetic condemnations of the asherim, sun worship and worship on the high places, along with practices pertaining to the dead and other aspects of the old religion.[72] Features of Baal, El, and Asherah were absorbed into Yahweh, and epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone.[73]

In this atmosphere a struggle emerged between those who believed that Yahweh alone should be worshipped, and those who worshipped him within a larger group of gods;[74] the Yahweh-alone party, the party of the prophets and Deuteronomists, ultimately triumphed, and their victory lies behind the biblical narrative of an Israel vacillating between periods of "following other gods" and periods of fidelity to Yahweh.[74]

Some scholars date the start of widespread monotheism to the 8th century BCE, and view it as a response to Neo-Assyrian aggression.[75][76] In an inscription discovered in Ein Gedi and dated around 700 BCE, Yahweh appears described as the lord of "the nations", while in other contemporary texts discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei (near Lachish) he is mentioned as the ruler of Jerusalem and probably also of Judah.[77]

### Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods (586–332 BCE)

[edit]

Main article: Second Temple Judaism

The Second Temple, as rebuilt by Herod c. 20–10 BCE (modern model, 1:50 scale)

In 587/6 BCE Jerusalem fell to the Neo-Babylonians, Solomon's Temple was destroyed, and the leadership of the community were deported.[78] The next 50 years, the Babylonian exile, were of pivotal importance to the history of Israelite religion. As the traditional sacrifices to Yahweh (see below) could not be performed outside Israel, other practices including sabbath observance and circumcision gained new significance.[79] In the writing of second Isaiah, Yahweh was no longer seen as exclusive to Israel, but as extending his promise to all who would keep the sabbath and observe his covenant.[80] In 539 BCE Babylon in turn fell to the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great, the exiles were given permission to return (although only a minority did so), and by about 500 BCE the Second Temple was built.[81]

Towards the end of the Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as taboo.[17] When reading from the scriptures, Jews began to substitute the divine name with the word adonai (אֲדֹנָי‬), meaning "my Lord".[18] The High Priest of Israel was permitted to speak the name once in the Temple during the Day of Atonement, but at no other time and in no other place.[18] During the Hellenistic period, the scriptures were translated into Greek by the Jews of the Egyptian diaspora.[82] Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures render both the tetragrammaton and adonai as kyrios (κύριος), meaning "Lord".[18]

The period of Persian rule saw the development of expectation in a future human king who would rule purified Israel as Yahweh's representative at the end of time—a messiah. The first to mention this were Haggai and Zechariah, both prophets of the early Persian period. They saw the messiah in Zerubbabel, a descendant of the House of David who seemed, briefly, to be about to re-establish the ancient royal line, or in Zerubbabel and the first High Priest, Joshua (Zechariah writes of two messiahs, one royal and the other priestly). These early hopes were dashed (Zerubabbel disappeared from the historical record, although the High Priests continued to be descended from Joshua), and thereafter there are merely general references to a Messiah of David (i.e. a descendant).[83][84] From these ideas, Second Temple Judaism would later emerge, whence Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Islam.

## Yahweh and the rise of monotheism

[edit]

Although the specific process by which the Israelites adopted monotheism is unknown, the transition was a gradual one and was not totally accomplished during the First Temple period.[85][page needed]

It is unclear when the worship of Yahweh alone began. The earliest known portrayals of Yahweh as the principal deity to whom "one owed the powers of blessing the land" appear in the teachings of the prophet Elijah in the 9th century BCE. This form of worship was likely well established by the time of the prophet Hosea in the 8th century BCE, in reference to disputes between Yahweh and Baal.[76] The early supporters of this faction are widely regarded as being monolatrists rather than true monotheists;[86][needs update] they did not believe Yahweh was the only god in existence, but instead believed that he was the only god which the people of Israel should worship.[87]

Finally, in the national crisis of the Babylonian exile, the followers of Yahweh went a step further and outright denied that the other deities aside from Yahweh even existed, thus marking the transition from monolatrism to true monotheism.[88] The notion that Yahweh is to be worshipped as the creator-god of all the earth is first elaborated by the Second Isaiah, a 6th-century BCE exilic work whose case for the theological doctrine rests on Yahweh's power over other gods,[89][needs update] and his incomparability and singleness relative to the gods of the Babylonian religion.[90][improper synthesis?]

Benjamin D. Sommer argues that the distinction between polytheism and monotheism has been greatly exaggerated.[91]

## Worship

[edit]

Main article: Yahwism

### Festivals and sacrifice

[edit]

See also: Feast of Wine

The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life: Passover with the birthing of lambs, Shavuot with the cereal harvest, and Sukkot with the fruit harvest.[92] These probably pre-dated the arrival of the Yahweh religion,[92] but they became linked to events in the national mythos of Israel: Passover with the exodus from Egypt, Shavuot with the law-giving at Mount Sinai, and Sukkot with the wilderness wanderings.[67] The festivals thus celebrated Yahweh's salvation of Israel and Israel's status as his holy people, although the earlier agricultural meaning was not entirely lost.[93] His worship presumably involved sacrifice, but many scholars have concluded that the rituals detailed in Leviticus 1–16, with their stress on purity and atonement, were introduced only after the Babylonian exile, and that in reality any head of a family was able to offer sacrifice as occasion demanded.[94] A number of scholars have also drawn the conclusion that infant sacrifice, whether to the underworld deity Molech or to Yahweh himself, was a part of Israelite/Judahite religion until the reforms of King Josiah in the late 7th century BCE.[95] Sacrifice was presumably complemented by the singing or recital of psalms, but again the details are scant.[96] Prayer played little role in official worship.[97]

### Temples

[edit]

Solomon dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem (painting by James Tissot or follower, c. 1896–1902).

The Hebrew Bible gives the impression that the Jerusalem temple was always meant to be the central or even sole temple of Yahweh, but this was not the case.[67] The earliest known Israelite place of worship is a 12th-century BCE open-air altar in the hills of Samaria featuring a bronze bull reminiscent of Canaanite Bull-El (El in the form of a bull) and the archaeological remains of further temples have been found at Dan on Israel's northern border, at Arad in the Negev and Beersheba, both in the territory of Judah.[98] Shiloh, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah and Dan were also major sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making of vows, private rituals, and the adjudication of legal disputes.[99]

### Portrayal

[edit]

Yahweh-worship was famously aniconic, meaning that the god was not depicted by a statue or other image. This is not to say that he was not represented in some symbolic form, and early Israelite worship probably focused on standing stones, but according to the Biblical texts the temple in Jerusalem featured Yahweh's throne in the form of two cherubim, their inner wings forming the seat and a box (the Ark of the Covenant) as a footstool, while the throne itself was empty.[100]

There is no universally accepted explanation for such aniconism, and a number of scholars have argued that Yahweh was in fact represented prior to the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah late in the monarchic period: to quote one study, "[a]n early aniconism, de facto or otherwise, is purely a projection of the post-exilic imagination".[101] Other scholars argue that there is no certain evidence of any anthropomorphic representation of Yahweh during the pre-exilic period.[102]

## Graeco-Roman syncretism

[edit]

Yahweh is frequently invoked in Graeco-Roman magical texts dating from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE, most notably in the Greek Magical Papyri,[103] under the names Iao, Adonai, Sabaoth, and Eloai.[19] In these texts, he is often mentioned alongside traditional Graeco-Roman deities and Egyptian deities.[19] The archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Ouriel and Jewish cultural heroes such as Abraham, Jacob, and Moses are also invoked frequently.[104] The frequent occurrence of Yahweh's name was likely due to Greek and Roman folk magicians seeking to make their spells more powerful through the invocation of a prestigious foreign deity.[19]

A coin issued by Pompey to celebrate his successful conquest of Judaea showed a kneeling, bearded figure grasping a branch (a common Roman symbol of submission) subtitled BACCHIVS IVDAEVS, which may be translated as either "The Jewish Bacchus" or "Bacchus the Judaean". The figure has been interpreted as depicting Yahweh as a local variety of Bacchus, that is, Dionysus.[105] However, as coins minted with such iconography ordinarily depicted subjected persons, and not the gods of a subjected people, some have assumed the coin simply depicts the surrender of a Judean who was called "Bacchius", sometimes identified as the Hasmonean king Aristobulus II, who was overthrown by Pompey's campaign.[106][107][108][109]

In any event, Tacitus, John the Lydian, Cornelius Labeo, and Marcus Terentius Varro similarly identify Yahweh with Bacchus–Dionysus.[110] Jews themselves frequently used symbols that were also associated with Dionysus such as kylixes, amphorae, leaves of ivy, and clusters of grapes, a similarity Plutarch used to argue that Jews worshipped a hypostasized form of Bacchus–Dionysus.[111] In his Quaestiones Convivales, Plutarch further notes that the Jews hail their god with cries of "Euoi" and "Sabi", phrases associated with the worship of Dionysus.[112][113][114] According to Sean M. McDonough, Greek speakers may have confused Aramaic words such as Sabbath, Alleluia, or even possibly some variant of the name Yahweh itself, for more familiar terms associated with Dionysus.[115]

Other Roman writers, such as Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus, identified Yahweh with the god Caelus.[116][117][118]

## See also

[edit]

* Jewish portal
* Judaism portal

* Ancient Semitic religion
* El
* God in Abrahamic religions
* God in Christianity
* God in Judaism
* Historicity of the Bible
* History of ancient Israel and Judah
* Jah, a short form of the name
* Jehovah
* Names of God in Judaism
* Sacred Name Movement
* Tetragrammaton
* Theophany
* Tutelary deity

## References

[edit]

### Notes

[edit]

1. ^ /ˈjɑːhweɪ/, or often /ˈjɑːweɪ/ in English; ‬𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 in Paleo-Hebrew; reconstructed in block script: *יַהְוֶה *Yahwe, [jahˈwe]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Edelman 1995, p. 190.
2. ^ Stavrakopoulou 2021, pp. 411–412, 742.
3. ^ Pyschny 2021, pp. 26–27.
4. ^ Miller & Hayes 1986, p. 110.
5. ^ a b Fleming 2020, p. 3.
6. ^ a b Smith 2017, p. 42.
7. ^ Miller 2000, p. 1.
8. ^ Hackett 2001, pp. 158–59.
9. ^ Smith 2002, p. 7.
10. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 8, 33–34.
11. ^ a b c Lewis 2020, p. 222.
12. ^ Cross 1973, pp. 96–97.
13. ^ Cornell 2021, p. 18.
14. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 8, 135.
15. ^ a b Smith 2017, p. 38.
16. ^ Cornell 2021, p. 20.
17. ^ a b Leech 2002, pp. 59–60.
18. ^ a b c d e Leech 2002, p. 60.
19. ^ a b c d Smith & Cohen 1996b, pp. 242–256.
20. ^ Alter 2018: "The strong consensus of biblical scholarship is that the original pronunciation of the name YHWH ... was Yahweh."
21. ^ Preuss 2008, p. 823.
22. ^ Elior 2006, p. 779: "... the pronunciation of the Ineffable Name was one of the climaxes of the Sacred Service: it was entrusted exclusively to the High Priest once a year on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies."
23. ^ King & Stager 2001, p. xxiii.
24. ^ Exodus 3:14
25. ^ Parke-Taylor 1975, p. 51.
26. ^ Lewis 2020, p. 214.
27. ^ Miller II 2021, p. 18.
28. ^ Kitz 2019, pp. 42, 57.
29. ^ Lewis 2020, pp. 211, 215.
30. ^ Cross 1973, pp. 61–63.
31. ^ Fleming 2020, p. 176: "There has been one key objection, by Michael Streck, who reevaluated Amorite personal names as a whole in 2000 and as part of this work published the separate conclusion (1999) that all the Ya-wi- and Ya-aḫ-wi- elements in these names must be understood to reflect the same root ḥwy, "to live"....If Streck is correct that these are all forms of the verb "to live", then the Amorite personal names must be set aside as useful to any interpretation of the name [Yahweh]." But see Fleming 2020b, p. 425: "While the identifcation of the verbal root in the Amorite names with and without the -ḫ\- remains impossible to prove with certainty, the parallels with contemporary Old Babylonian Ibašši-DN and the later second-millennium parallels from the verb kwn show the viability of a West Semitic root hwy, "to be, be evident", for at least some portion of these Amorite names."
32. ^ Hyatt, J. Philip (1967). "Was Yahweh Originally a Creator Deity?". Journal of Biblical Literature. 86 (4): 369–377. doi:10.2307/3262791. JSTOR 3262791 - via JSTOR.
33. ^ Ben-Sasson 2019, pp. 55–56.
34. ^ Miller 2000, p. 2.
35. ^ Cross 1973, p. 71.
36. ^ Day 2002, pp. 13–14.
37. ^ Shalomi Hen 2021.
38. ^ Anderson 2015, p. 100.
39. ^ Grabbe 2007, p. 151.
40. ^ Shalomi Hen 2021: "Unfortunately, albeit the interesting analogies, the learned discussions, and the broad perspective, the evidence is too scanty to allow any conclusions concerning the exact meaning of the term YHWA/YHA/YH as it appears in Ancient Egyptian records."
41. ^ Grabbe 2007, p. 153.
42. ^ a b Van der Toorn 1999, p. 912.
43. ^ Van der Toorn 1999, pp. 912–13.
44. ^ Van der Toorn 1995, pp. 247–248.
45. ^ Van der Toorn 1995, p. 248.
46. ^ a b c Frevel, Christian (2021). "When and from Where did YHWH Emerge? Some Reflections on Early Yahwism in Israel and Judah". Entangled Religions. 12 (2). doi:10.46586/er.12.2021.8776. hdl:2263/84039. ISSN 2363-6696.
47. ^ a b Stahl, Michael J. (2021). "God's Best 'Frenemy': A New Perspective on YHWH and Baal in Ancient Israel and Judah". Semitica. 63: 45–94. doi:10.2143/SE.63.0.3289896. ISSN 2466-6815.
48. ^ Smith 2002, p. 83.
49. ^ Stavrakopoulou 2021, p. 395.
50. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 7, 19–31.
51. ^ Golden 2009, p. 182.
52. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 19–31.
53. ^ Knohl 2017, pp. 171–172.
54. ^ Hackett 2001, pp. 158–160.
55. ^ Anderson 2015, p. 101.
56. ^ a b Manyanya, Lévi Ngangura (2009). La fraternité de Jacob et d'Esaü (Gn 25–36): quel frère aîné pour Jacob? (in French). Labor et Fides. p. 257\. ISBN 978-2-8309-1253-1.
57. ^ E. A. Knauf. (1999). Qos [in] Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst [eds.], Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, pp. 674–677. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: "This clan or family must have been of Edomite or Idumaean origin." (p. 677).
58. ^ Elie Assis, Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel, Penn State Press, 2016 ISBN 978-1-575-06418-5 p.10: At 1 Kgs 1–8 there is exceptionally no mention of any Edomite gods:'King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of the Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. ... For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the aboimination of the Ammonites. ... Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.'
59. ^ Dicou 1994, p. 177.
60. ^ Tebes 2023.
61. ^ Deuteronomy 32:8–9
62. ^ Anderson 2015, p. 77.
63. ^ Hess 2007, pp. 103–104.
64. ^ Smith 2008, p. 203.
65. ^ Schniedewind 2013, p. 93.
66. ^ a b Hackett 2001, p. 156.
67. ^ a b c d Davies 2010, p. 112.
68. ^ Miller 2000, p. 90.
69. ^ Geller 2012, p. unpaginated.
70. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 71–72.
71. ^ Campbell 2001, pp. 221–222.
72. ^ Smith 2002, p. 9.
73. ^ Smith 2002, pp. 8, 33–34, 135.
74. ^ a b Sperling 2017, p. 254.
75. ^ Smith 2016, p. 287.
76. ^ a b Albertz 1994, p. 61.
77. ^ Hess 2020, p. 247–248.
78. ^ Grabbe 2010, p. 2.
79. ^ Cogan 2001, p. 271.
80. ^ Cogan 2001, p. 274.
81. ^ Grabbe 2010, pp. 2–3.
82. ^ Coogan, Brettler & Newsom 2007, p. xxvi.
83. ^ Wanke 1984, pp. 182–183.
84. ^ Albertz 2003, p. 130.
85. ^ Taliaferro, Charles; Harrison, Victoria S.; Goetz, Stewart (2012). The Routledge Companion to Theism. Routledge.
86. ^ Eakin 1971, pp. 70, 263.
87. ^ McKenzie 1990, p. 1287.
88. ^ Betz 2000, p. 917.
89. ^ Rosenberg 1966, p. 297.
90. ^ Albani 2020, p. 226.
91. ^ Sommer 2009, p. 145.
92. ^ a b Albertz 1994, p. 89.
93. ^ Gorman 2000, p. 458.
94. ^ Davies & Rogerson 2005, pp. 151–152.
95. ^ Gnuse 1997, p. 118.
96. ^ Davies & Rogerson 2005, pp. 158–165.
97. ^ Cohen 1999, p. 302.
98. ^ Dever 2003a, p. 388.
99. ^ Bennett 2002, p. 83.
100. ^ Mettinger 2006, pp. 288–290.
101. ^ MacDonald 2007, pp. 21, 26–27.
102. ^ Lewis 2020, pp. 293–297.
103. ^ Betz 1996, p. [page needed].
104. ^ Arnold 1996, p. [page needed].
105. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 169–172.
106. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 11, 16, 80, 126.
107. ^ Levine, Lee I. (1998). Judaism and Hellenism in Antiquity: Conflict or Confluence?. University of Washington Press. pp. 38–60. ISBN 978-0-295-97682-2. JSTOR j.ctvcwnpvs.
108. ^ Lane, Eugene N. (November 1979). "Sabazius and the Jews in Valerius Maximus: a Re-examination". The Journal of Roman Studies. 69: 35–38. doi:10.2307/299057. ISSN 1753-528X. JSTOR 299057. S2CID 163401482.
109. ^ Harlan, Michael (1995). Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins, 63 B.C.–49 B.C. Seaby. pp. 115–118. ISBN 0-7134-7672-9.
110. ^ McDonough 1999, p. 88.
111. ^ Smith & Cohen 1996a, p. 233.
112. ^ Plutarch n.d., "Question VI".
113. ^ McDonough 1999, p. 89.
114. ^ Smith & Cohen 1996a, pp. 232–233.
115. ^ McDonough 1999, pp. 89–90.
116. ^ Juvenal, Satires 14.97; Peter Schäfer, Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World (Harvard University Press, 1997), pp. 41, 79–80.
117. ^ Petronius, frg. 37.2; Schäfer, Judeophobia, pp. 77–78.
118. ^ Florus, Epitome 1.40 (3.5.30): "The Jews tried to defend Jerusalem; but he [Pompeius Magnus] entered this city also and saw that grand Holy of Holies of an impious people exposed, Caelum under a golden vine" (Hierosolymam defendere temptavere Iudaei; verum haec quoque et intravit et vidit illud grande inpiae gentis arcanum patens, sub aurea vite Caelum). Finbarr Barry Flood, The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture (Brill, 2001), pp. 81 and 83 (note 118). The Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 252, entry on caelum, cites Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus as examples of Caelus or Caelum "with reference to Jehovah; also, to some symbolization of Jehovah."

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* Smith, Mark S. (2017). "Proposals for the Original Profile of YHWH". In Van Oorschot, Jürgen; Witte, Markus (eds.). The Origins of Yahwism. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110448221. ISBN 978-3-11-044711-8.
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* Smith, Morton; Cohen, Shaye J. D. (1996a). Studies in the Cult of Yahweh: Volume One: Studies in Historical Method, Ancient Israel, Ancient Judaism. Leiden, The Netherlands, New York, and Cologne: E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10477-8.
* Smith, Morton; Cohen, Shaye J. D. (1996b). Studies in the Cult of Yahweh: Volume Two: New Testament, Christianity, and Magic. Leiden, The Netherlands, New York, and Cologne: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10479-2.
* Sommer, Benjamin D. (2009). The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51872-7.
* Sommer, Benjamin D. (2011). "God, Names of". In Berlin, Adele; Grossman, Maxine L. (eds.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973004-9.
* Sperling, S. David (2017). Ve-Eileh Divrei David. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-34087-9.
* Stager, Lawrence (2001). "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel". In Coogan, Michael David (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513937-2.
* Stahl, Michael J. (2021). The "God of Israel" in History and Tradition. Vetus Testamentum, Supplements. Vol. 187\. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-44772-1.
* Stavrakopoulou, Francesca (2021). God: An Anatomy. Picador. ISBN 978-1-5098-6734-9.
* Stone, Robert E. II (2000). "I Am Who I Am". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2.
* Tebes, Juan Manuel (2023). "El extraño caso del dios Qos. ¿Por qué la deidad edomita/idumea no es mencionada en la Biblia?". Revista Bíblica (in Spanish). 85 (1–2): 55–70. doi:10.47182/rb.85.n1-2-2023349. ISSN 2683-7153.
* Van der Toorn, Karel (1995). "Ritual Resistance and Self-Assertion". In Platvoet, Jan. G.; Van der Toorn, Karel (eds.). Pluralism and Identity: Studies in Ritual Behaviour. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10373-3.
* Van der Toorn, Karel (1999). "Yahweh". In Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter Willem (eds.). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2491-2.
* Van der Toorn, Karel (1996). Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit and Israel: Continuity and Changes in the Forms of Religious Life. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10410-5.
* Vriezen, T. C.; van der Woude, Simon Adam (2005). Ancient Israelite And Early Jewish Literature. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12427-1.
* Wanke, Gunther (1984). "Prophecy and Psalms in the Persian Period". In Finkelstein, Louis (ed.). The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 1, Introduction, The Persian Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-21880-1.
* Wright, J. Edward (2002). The Early History of Heaven. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534849-1.
* Wyatt, Nicolas (2010). "Royal Religion in Ancient Judah". In Stavrakopoulou, Francesca; Barton, John (eds.). Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-567-03216-4.
* Zevit, Ziony (2001). The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-6339-5.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Amzallag, Nissim (June 2009). "Yahweh, the Canaanite God of Metallurgy?". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 33 (4): 387–404. doi:10.1177/0309089209105686. S2CID 171053999.
* Kelley, J. (2009). "Toward a new synthesis of the god of Edom and Yaheweh". Antiguo Oriente. 7. Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente. hdl:123456789/7231.

## External links

[edit]

* Tebes, J. M. (2022). "Yahweh's Desert Origins". Biblical Archaeology Review. hdl:123456789/15051.

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