Yahweh, of the Canaanite Pantheon

[Stygian]

I haven't done much research regarding the theology of the Canaanites. However, I was a little confused when someone told me this:

"Yawee was originally one of a pantheon of gods - but as he was a war god his priests controlled the army and were able to take over"

I did a bit of research, and I'm pretty sure he's referring to Yahweh as a part of the Canaanite pantheon of gods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh_(Canaanite_deity) Does anybody have any information regarding this? Was Yahweh adopted from their religion?

[Canuckster1127]

The link doesn't go to an active Wiki-page.

Yahweh is actually a form of the Hebrew Verb "to be" and takes on great significance in the OT where God reveals Himself in the form of "I am that I am." That takes on great significance as well as Jesus uses that formularly to identify Himself particularly in the Gospel of John.

By definition, Yahweh in the Hebrew context is most decidedly monotheistic and not part of a Pantheon of Gods. Culturally there can be a great amount of cross-over in terms of influence. Corelation in that manner however is not necessarily causation.

[Stygian]

Sorry about that! Fixed the link!

[Canuckster1127]

Why is the assumption that Yahweh arose as a compilation or modification of prior God's more reasonable than to assume that Yahweh Himself is self-existant and revealed Himself?

[Stygian]

This same person recommended me to a book by Karen Armstrong, entitled "A History of God." Not sure if anybody's read it? Knows anything about its contents? Or knows about the author?

Here are a few links I've found related to the subject:

El, god of Israel --Yahweh, god of Judah by Dr. L. M. Barré: http://www.biblicalheritage.org/God/el-goi.htm

Here's a topic on the Unexplained Mysteries forum, where the posters do put out some interesting links: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/fo ... pic=220319

Here's a couple posts I found interesting:
questionmark: "Not quite, Yahwe was a weather god , see Kittel in The New Schaff, Vol. XII, p. 472, of the proto-Bedouin tribes of the Sinai."

kmt_sesh: "In any case it's true that Judaism did not begin as a form of monotheism. In fact I would argue that the religion was first a henotheism, where one god is preferred but the worship of other gods is acknowledged as equally valid. By all accounts this is what was happening in the Early Iron Age in Judah, when the Hebrews were a nascent kingdom. William Dever (2005) presents the convincing case that the original Old Testament, when first written down in its earliest form, was a kind of "book religion" designed by the ruling elite of Jerusalem to codify, develop, and maintain their power base. To be sure, based on the material culture and the sum total of archaeological evidence from this early period, the average farmer living out in the sticks was venerating Yahweh but other deities, too. For example, it's likely that originally in the Hebrew culture Yahweh had a consort, the Canaanite goddess Asherah. Some early Hebraic vessels bear inscriptions stating "Yahweh and his Asherah."

Leonardo: "The name 'Yahweh' is not the actual name of the deity in question. 'Yahweh' is simply the anglicisation of the tetragrammaton YHVH (the Hebrew 'Vod', the third symbol, was Romanised to a 'W'). The tetragrammaton was a representation of the name of the Hebrew deity, but the actual name was not allowed to be uttered (or written).

As for the attributes assigned to that deity, here is a useful paper relating the relationships between Yahweh and various (many) preceding gods and goddesses." (he links here: http://www.bibleorigins.net/YahwehYawUgarit.html)

Throughout the post, there's also some videos on the subject, but I won't post them all, lol. In addition, there's a few links to more credible sources, like books or articles.

[PaulSacramento]

I think that Armstrong is speculating and voicing an opinion and doing so with an "air" of authority in a way that is passing off what is speculation at best as "fact".
See, it MAY be true that Judaisim started as a religion of "many gods", but we do NOT know that for sure, so at best one can speculate.
Its hard to see that the Hebrew bible was a book rleigion since it was passedon verbally before ever put to writing and that earliest stories do NOT have anything to do with legitmizing ANY worldly power at all of ANY ruling elite, far from that as a matter of fact.
IT can be argued that it was only after the exodus that ANY type of "ruling party" was established at all.

See, the issue is that monotheism doesn't HAVE to mean "ONE GOD ONLY" but was more correctly viewed as ONE SUPREME God above all.
That other gods are mentioned and viewed as "false" simply means that other gods existed BUT were not to be worshipped because in doing so, the people would be lead down a path of destruction, which is a constant theme in the OT.
These other gods were never denied and as a matter of fact, one can argue that their orgins were explained via the issue of the fallen ones and the nephilim.

It MAY will be that at first Yahweh was viewed as one of many Gods, the supreme one perhaps BUT what we do KNOW is that before Genesis was written, the view of one supreme creator God, higher and greater than any other being, had taken hold of the Hebrew people.

[Stygian]

So what exactly does this mean for Yahweh? Is he an adaptation of gods that came before? Does the Canaanite religion really predate the Jewish God?

In that topic linked above, the initial post shows two videos.
Atheism: A History of God (Part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnnWbkMlbg
Atheism: A History of God (Part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPfFx9JTQl8

Does anybody have any opinion on these pieces? The main idea is that there's evidence that the modern image of the Christian God didn't exist until 600 BC, and that other religions predated it. I think the main problem is they're making the assumption that most saying all Christians have a similar idea of the age of the earth, and that the Bible does have a definite answer that the Christian religion requires faith that the Earth is young.

[Stygian]

I've come across this critique of those videos: http://benstanhope.blogspot.com/2011/12 ... heism.html

[Stygian]

Another book I'm seeing pop up here and there: http://www.amazon.com/Yahweh-Goddesses- ... 9351160-20

And another: http://www.amazon.com/Early-History-God ... 9351160-20