This article is about the ancient Semitic deity of weather and war in the ancient Levant. For the ancient Semitic religion of ancient Israel and Judah, seeYahwism. For the modern Jewish and Christian conception of Yahweh, seeGod in Judaism andGod in Christianity. For the Hebrew theonym YHWH and its vocalization, seeTetragrammaton. For other uses, seeYahweh (disambiguation).
In the oldestbiblical texts, Yahweh possesses attributes that were typically ascribed to deities of weather and war, fructifying theLand of Israel and leading aheavenly army against the enemies of theIsraelites.[12] The early Israelites engaged in polytheistic practices that were common acrossancient Semitic religion,[13] because the Israelite religion was a derivative of theCanaanite religion and included a variety of deities from it, includingEl,Asherah, andBaal.[14] Initially a lesserdeity among the Canaanite pantheon,[4][15] Yahweh became conflated with El in later centuries, taking his place as the head of the pantheon in the Israelite religion. El's consort Asherah became associated with Yahweh, and El-linked epithets, such asʾĒl Šadday (אֵל שַׁדַּי), came to be applied to him alone.[16][17] Characteristics of other deities, such as Asherah and Baal, were also selectively absorbed in conceptions of Yahweh.[18][19][20]
Other academic terms often used include First Temple period, from the construction of theTemple in 957BCE to its destruction in 586BCE, exilic for the period of the Exile from 586 to 539BCE (identical with Neo-Babylonian above), post-Exilic for later periods and Second Temple period from the reconstruction of the Temple in 515BCE until its destruction in 70CE.
Late Bronze Age origins (1550–1200BCE)
There is almost no agreement on the deity's origins.[9]
Yahweh is not attested other than among the Israelites, and there is no consensus on its etymology, withehyeh ašer ehyeh ('I Am that I Am'), the explanation presented inExodus 3:14,[28] appearing to be a late theologicalgloss invented at a time when the original meaning had been forgotten,[29] although some scholars dispute this.[30][31] Lewis connects the name to theAmorite elementyahwi- (ia-wi), found in personal names inMari texts,[32] meaning 'brings to life' / 'causes to exist' (e.g.,yahwi-dagan = "Dagon causes to exist"), commonly denoted as the semantic equivalent of theAkkadianibašši-DN;[33] thoughFrank 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 takeyahwi- as a divine epithet should be "vigorously" argued against.[34][35] In addition, J. Philip Hyatt believes it is more likely thatyahwi- 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 ofyahwi- to any human ancestor and combined it with other elements (e.g.,Yahweh ṣəḇāʾōṯ).[36][needs update] Hillel Ben-Sasson states there is insufficient evidence for Amorites usingyahwi- for gods, but he argues that it mirrors other theophoric names and thatyahwi-, or more accuratelyyawi, derives from the roothwy inpa'al, which means "he will be".[37]
One scholarly theory is that "Yahweh" originated in a shortened form ofˀel ḏū yahwī ṣabaˀôt, 'El who creates the hosts',[38] which Cross considered to be one of the cultic names of El.[39] 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.[40] 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.[41] 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.[41]
ScholarGérard Nissim Amzallag, from theBen-Gurion University, has posited that Yahweh was originally portrayed as afire deity, associated with volcanic activity and metallurgy. Amzallag explains that Gods of metallurgy in the past (Bronze Age) were revered not only as the Gods of weapons but also Gods of creation.[42][43][44]
The oldest plausible occurrence of Yahweh's name is in theEgyptiandemonymtꜣ šꜣsw Yhwꜣ, 'YHWA [in] the Land of theShasu' (Egyptian:𓇌𓉔𓍯𓄿Yhwꜣ) in an inscription from the time ofAmenhotep III (1390–1352BCE),[45][46] theShasu being nomads fromMidian andEdom in northern Arabia.[47] Although it is still uncertain whether a relationship exists between the toponymyhwꜣ and theonymYHWH,[48] the dominant view is that Yahweh was from the southern region associated withSeir, Edom,Paran andTeman.[10] There is considerable although not universal support for this view,[49] but it raises the question of how Yahweh made his way to the north.[50] An answer many scholars consider plausible is theKenite hypothesis, which holds that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along thecaravan routes betweenEgypt andCanaan.[51] 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 theKenite or Midianite ties ofMoses,[50] but its major weaknesses are that the majority of Israelites were firmly rooted inPalestine, while the historical role of Moses is problematic.[52] 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.[53] 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.[54]
Alternatively, some scholars argue that YHWH worship was rooted in the indigenous culture of theKingdom of Israel and was promoted in theKingdom of Judah by theOmrides.[54][55] Frevel suggests thatHazael'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.[54]
Early Iron Age (1200–1000BCE)
Early Iron Age bull figurine fromBull Site at Dhahrat et-Tawileh (modernWest Bank, ancientEphraim), representing El, Baal or Yahweh[56][57]
In the Early Iron Age, the modern consensus is that there was no distinction in language ormaterial culture between Canaanites and Israelites. Scholars accordingly define Israelite culture as a subset of Canaanite culture.[58] In this view, the Israelite religion consisted of Canaanite gods such as El, the ruler of thepantheon,[59]Asherah, his consort, andBaal.[60]
In the earliest Biblical literature, Yahweh has characteristics of a storm god typical of ancient Near Eastern myths, marching out from Edom or theSinai desert with the heavenly host of stars and planets that make up his army to do battle with the enemies of his people Israel:[61]
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 againstSisera.
Alternatively, parts of the storm god imagery could derive from Baal.[19][55]: 78
From the perspective of the Kenite hypothesis, it has also been suggested that the Edomite deityQōs might have been one and the same as Yahweh, rather than a separate deity, with its name a title of the latter.[62] Aside from their common territorial origins, various common characteristics between theYahwist cult and the Edomite cult of Qōs hint at a shared connection.[63]Doeg the Edomite, for example, is depicted as having no problem in worshiping Yahweh and is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries.[63]
Unlike the chief god of theAmmonites (Milcom) and theMoabites (Chemosh), theTanakh refrains from explicitly naming the Edomite Qōs.[64][65] 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.[66] 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.[67]
The lateIron Age saw the emergence ofnation states associated with specificnational gods:[68] 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.[69][70] In each kingdom the king was also the head of the national religion and thus theviceroy on Earth of the national god.[71] Yahweh filled the role of national god in both the Kingdom of Israel, which emerged in the 10th century BCE, and in Kingdom of Judah, which may have emerged a century later[72] (no "God of Judah" is mentioned anywhere in the Bible).[69][70]
Accordingly, there have been different tiers of deities in the original pantheon: El and Asherah on top; followed bytheir children, the divine assembly; then followed by traders and craftsman deities; and finally minor deities or messenger gods.[73] It has been argued that Yahweh was originally described as one of the sons of El inDeuteronomy 32:8–9,[74][75] and that this was removed by a later emendation to the text:[76]
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.
However, at some point the second tier collapsed, whereupon Yahweh became conflated with El, even though El was the original head of the pantheon. The remaining deities then becameangels.[73][when?] During the reign ofAhab, and particularly following his marriage toJezebel, Baal may have briefly replaced Yahweh as the national god of Israel (but not Judah).[77][78]
In the 9th centuryBCE, there are indications of rejection of Baal worship associated with the prophetsElijah andElisha. The Yahweh-religion thus began to separate itself from its Canaanite heritage; this process continued over the period from 800 to 500BCE with legal and prophetic condemnations of theasherim,sun worship and worship on thehigh places, along with practices pertaining to the dead and other aspects of the old religion.[79] Features of Baal, El, and Asherah were absorbed into Yahweh, and epithets such asEl Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone.[80]
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;[81] the Yahweh-alone party, the party of theprophets andDeuteronomists, ultimately triumphed, and their victory lies behind the biblical narrative of an Israel vacillating between periods of "following other gods" and periods offidelity to Yahweh.[81]
Some scholars date the start of widespread monotheism to the8th century BCE, and view it as a response toNeo-Assyrian aggression.[82][83] In an inscription discovered inEin Gedi and dated around 700 BCE, Yahweh appears described as the lord of "the nations", while inother contemporary texts discovered inKhirbet Beit Lei (near Lachish) he is mentioned as the ruler of Jerusalem and probably also of Judah.[84]
Monolatrous movements (9th–1st centuriesBCE)
Early supporters of amonolatrist Yahwism faction appear in the 9th–8th centuriesBCE, during the time of Elijah andHosea.[83] By ascending to the role of the "Lord of the Land" (adon), he also absorbs the functions of earlier deities, such as Baal and El.[85] However, this depiction of Yahweh still had only marginal impact underJosiah, and did not become lasting until the exilic andpost-exilic period.[83][c] Only in the post-exilic andprophetic writings, and under influence ofZoroastrianism, Yahweh becomes a distant and more merciful supreme deity.[87] It is also only then thatElohim, a term previously referring to the Canaanite High God, becomes an alternative designation for Yahweh.[88] This reconsideration of the former pantheon derives from the monotheistic concept of Persian beliefs at the time,[89] as generally agreed upon by scholars.[90]
In the national crisis of theBabylonian exile, Yahweh is described as the sole deity and absorbs all attributes of previous gods and goddesses.[91] The notion of Yahweh as a supreme deity is described in the 6th-centuryBCESecond Isaiah.[92][93] The author's praise for Yahweh is motivated by restoring Israel's confidence into their own historical gods against the deities of their Babylonian enemies.[94] The claim for monotheism is directed against the deities ofNebuchadnezzar II, who founded his reign onMarduk andNabu.[94] The transition was a gradual one and was not totally accomplished during the First Temple period.[95][page needed] At least some Jews seem to have worshipped Yahweh andAnath as distinct from Asherah and El during the 5th centuryBCE.[96]
UnderHellenistic influence, Yahwistic beliefs became more exclusive.[97][98] These beliefs rejected the idea of lesser deities and emanations of deities in favor of Yahweh as an abstract single god.[99] During theHellenistic period, the scriptures were translated into Greek by the Jews of theEgyptian diaspora.[100] Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures render both the namesYahweh andadonai askyrios (κύριος), meaning 'Lord'.[21] Jewish tradition celebrated Yahweh's name at least once a year at the temple by the High Priests at the Day of Atonement.[101] However, after the destruction of the Second Temple, Yahweh's name ceased to be used.[101]
TheSecret Book of John reinterpreted the Genesis story under Hellenistic influence and proposes that Eve copulated withYaldabaoth and gave birth to two sons: Abel and Cain, identified withElohim and Yahweh respectively.[102] The former is said to be righteous and the latter injust. By murdering his brother, and corrupted by his father, he brings envy and death into the world.[103]
The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life:Passover with the birthing oflambs,Shavuot with thecereal harvest, andSukkot with the fruit harvest.[85] These probably pre-dated the arrival of the Yahweh religion,[85] but they became linked to events in thenational mythos of Israel: Passover withthe exodus from Egypt, Shavuot with the law-giving atMount Sinai, and Sukkot with thewilderness wanderings.[70] The festivals thus celebrated Yahweh'ssalvation of Israel and Israel's status as his holy people, although the earlier agricultural meaning was not entirely lost.[104] His worship presumably involved sacrifice, but many scholars have concluded that the rituals detailed inLeviticus 1–16, with their stress on purity andatonement, were introduced only after theBabylonian exile, and that in reality any head of a family was able to offer sacrifice as occasion demanded.[105] A number of scholars have also drawn the conclusion thatinfant sacrifice, whether to the underworld deityMolech or to Yahweh himself, was a part of Israelite/Judahite religion until the reforms ofKing Josiah in the late 7th century BCE.[106] Sacrifice was presumably complemented by the singing or recital ofpsalms, but again the details are scant.[107]Prayer played little role in official worship.[108]
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.[70] The earliest known Israelite place of worship is a 12th-century BCE open-air altar in the hills ofSamaria featuring a bronze bull reminiscent of CanaaniteBull-El (El in the form of a bull) and the archaeological remains of further temples have been found atDan on Israel's northern border, atArad in theNegev andBeersheba, both in the territory of Judah.[109]Shiloh,Bethel,Gilgal,Mizpah,Ramah and Dan were also major sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making ofvows, private rituals, and the adjudication of legal disputes.[110]
Portrayal
Prohibition of depictions of Yahweh are a late idea and entered around the age of the Deuteronomy texts.[111] There is no universally accepted explanation for suchaniconism, and a number of scholars have argued that Yahweh was in fact represented prior to the reforms ofHezekiah andJosiah 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".[112] Other scholars[who?] argue that there is no certain evidence of anyanthropomorphic representation of Yahweh during the pre-exilic period.[113]
A coin issued byPompey to celebrate his successfulconquest of Judaea showed a kneeling, bearded figure grasping a branch (a common Roman symbol of submission) subtitledBacchivs Ivdaevs, which may be translated as either "The JewishBacchus" or "Bacchus the Judaean". The figure has been interpreted as depicting Yahweh as a local variety of Bacchus, that is,Dionysus.[116] 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 kingAristobulus II, who was overthrown by Pompey's campaign.[117][118][119][120]
^Monolatrists believing Yahweh was the only god worthy of Israelite worship, as opposed to monotheists believing that Yahweh was the only god in existence—a noticeable departure from the traditional beliefs of the Israelites nonetheless.[86]
^Langdon 1931, pp. 43–44: "A coin from Gaza in Southern Philista, fourth century BC, the period of the Jewish subjection to the last of the Persian kings, has the only known representation of this Hebrew deity. The letters YHW are incised just above the hawk(?) which the god holds in his outstretched left hand, Fig. 23. He wears a himation, leaving the upper part of the body bare, and sits upon a winged wheel. The right arm is wrapped in his garment. At his feet is a mask. Because of the winged chariot and mask it has been suggested that Yaw had been identified with Dionysus on account of a somewhat similar drawing of the Greek deity on a vase where he rides in a chariot drawn by a satyr. The coin was certainly minted under Greek influence, and consequently others have compared Yaw on his winged chariot to Triptolemos of Syria, who is represented on a wagon drawn by two dragons. It is more likely that Yaw of Gaza really represents the Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic Sun-god, El, Elohim, whom the monotheistic tendencies of the Hebrews had long since identified with Yaw...Sanchounyathon...based his history upon Yerombalos, a priest of Yeuo, undoubtedly the god Yaw, who is thus proved to have been worshipped at Gebal as early as 1000 BC".
^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."
^Toy, Crawford Howell; Blau, Ludwig."Tetragrammaton".Jewish Encyclopedia. Archived fromthe original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved29 October 2025.
^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 theYa-wi- andYa-aḫ-wi- elements in these names must be understood to reflect the same rootḥwy, "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 seeFleming 2020b, p. 425: "While the identification 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 verbkwn show the viability of a West Semitic roothwy, "to be, be evident", for at least some portion of these Amorite names."
^Hyatt, J. Philip (1967). "Was Yahweh Originally a Creator Deity?".Journal of Biblical Literature.86 (4):369–377.doi:10.2307/3262791.JSTOR3262791.
^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."
^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. p. 677. "This clan or family must have been of Edomite or Idumaean origin."
^Elie Assis,Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel,Penn State Press, 2016ISBN978-1-575-06418-5 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.'"
^Levine, Lee I. (1998).Judaism and Hellenism in Antiquity: Conflict or Confluence?. University of Washington Press. pp. 38–60.ISBN978-0-295-97682-2.JSTORj.ctvcwnpvs.
^Juvenal,Satires 14.97; Peter Schäfer,Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World (Harvard University Press, 1997), pp. 41, 79–80.
^Petronius, frg. 37.2; Schäfer,Judeophobia, pp. 77–78.
^Florus,Epitome 1.40 (3.5.30): "The Jews tried to defendJerusalem; 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, 83 (note 118). TheOxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 252, entry oncaelum, cites Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus as examples ofCaelus orCaelum "with reference toJehovah; also, to some symbolization of Jehovah."
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