Yahweh

For other uses, see Yahweh (disambiguation).

"God of Israel" redirects here. For contemporary theological discussion, see God in Judaism.

See also: Tetragrammaton and Jehovah

Yahweh (/ˈjɑːweɪ/ or /ˈjɑːhweɪ/; Hebrew: יהוה) is the name of the biblical god. Aside from the mention in Moabite on King Mesha's stele referring to Israel's god, "Yahweh" occurs once either as a place name or a deity in a 15th century BCE Egyptian record of the land of the Shasu. Friedrich Delitzsch (1903) proposed that the name was related to the name ending -yahu found in some Ugaritic personal names, though no further evidence has been found.

The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew יהוה, transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the actual pronunciation is disputed. The most likely meaning of the name may be “He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists", but there are many theories and none is regarded as conclusive.

The Bible describes Yahweh as the god who delivered Israel from Egypt and gave the Ten Commandments and says that Yahweh revealed himself to Israel as a god who would not permit his people to make idols or worship other gods "I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, or My praise to idols."

The history of the emergence of Israelite monotheism and Yahweh worship has been the subject of scholarly study since at least the 19th century and Julius Wellhausen'’s Prolegomena to the History of Israel; in the 20th century a formative work was William F. Albright's Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan – An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths (1968), which insisted on the essential otherness of Yahweh from the Canaanite gods from the very beginning of Israel's history. However, scholars of the Ancient Near East have since seen Yahweh worship as emerging from a West Semitic and Canaanite background. Theophoric names, names of local gods similar to Yahweh, and archaeological evidence are used along with the Biblical source texts to describe pre-Israel origins of Yahweh worship, the relationship of Yahweh with local gods, and the manner in which Yahweh worship evolved into Jewish monotheism.

Worship of Yahweh alone is a central idea of historical Judaism. Much of Christianity views Jesus as the human incarnation of Yahweh. The importance of the divine name and the character of the “one true god” revealed as Yahweh are often contrasted with the significantly different character of rival deities known by different names in the traditional polytheistic religions. Some scholars, including William G. Dever, have asserted that the Asherah was worshipped as a consort of Yahweh, until the 6th century BCE, when strict monolatry of Yahweh became prevalent in the wake of the destruction of the temple. However, the consort hypothesis has been subject to debate with numerous scholars publishing disagreement.

Name

Main article: Tetragrammaton

The archaeological evidence suggests that the greater part of the population of Israel was of Canaanite origin; given this, one would expect the Israelites to worship a Canaanite god, but in the West Semitic world Yahweh was not worshiped outside Israel. (West Semitic is the family of languages to which Hebrew belongs, along with Phoenician, Edomite, Moabite and a few others; they were similar enough to be mutually intelligible).

Vocalisation

Biblical Hebrew was written with consonants only, meaning that the name of God is written YHWH. The original pronunciation of this word was lost many centuries ago, but in the 19th century the eminent Hebrew scholar Wilhelm Gesenius (1786–1842) suggested "Yahweh" as the most probable vocalization, based on his study of early Greek transcriptions, theophoric names, and the reported pronunciation of the name in the Samaritan tradition. This has become the conventional usage in Biblical scholarship.

Etymology

Most scholars accept that YHWH is made up of Y, meaning "he", plus a form of HWY, the root of a group of words connected with "being" and "becoming". Frank Moore Cross has advanced the hypothesis that the name Yahweh is an abbreviation, in which the theophoric element el has been dropped, thus giving yhwh-'l or "El-Yahweh", which would parallel "El-Shaddai" and "El-Elyon". El was the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon, and El-YHWH is still attested as an epithet, 'El, who shows himself' in a few places in the Old Testament (in psalm 50:1, for example). It would have originated as a description of El's appearance and blessing: "El who shows himself". The author of Exodus 3:13–15 gives a similar explanation: God, asked by Moses for his name, provides three names: "I Am That I Am", followed by "I Am," and finally "YHWH":

... יהוה אלהי אבתיכם... זה־שמי לעלם... אהיה אשר אהיה ויאמר כה תאמר לבני ישראל אהיה שלחני אליכם׃

"I AM THAT I AM [...] Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you [...] YHWH God of your fathers, [...] this is my name for ever"Exod. 3:14–15

As the origins of Yahweh seem to lie to the southeast of Israel, in Edom and Midian or even further south, an alternative explanation looks for its etymology in South Semitic languages like Arabic rather than in Hebrew, which is West Semitic. One of the meanings of HWY in Arabic is connected with falling or causing to fall, leading to an interpretation of Yahweh as a storm god whose name means "He who causes to fall" (meaning rain, lightening, and his enemies) or "He blows". This also helps explain Yahweh's attributes as a storm god (he comes to rescue Israel surrounded by darkness and thick clouds, and the earth trembles, the clouds drop water, and the mountains quake at his appearance), and the way he appropriates attributes from the rival storm god Baal.

Divine names, however, are often much older than the religions using them, and ideas about gods change over time; despite Exodus 14 it is fairly improbable that the authors of the bible were aware of the meaning of the name Yahweh, and even an accurate knowledge of the origins of the name will not help understand the significance Yahweh held for them.

Yahweh in the Hebrew bible

The overwhelming majority of our knowledge of the god Yahweh comes from the Hebrew bible (more or less identical with the Protestant Old Testament). This consists of 24 books ranging in subject matter from history to poetry to philosophical meditation, and in time from perhaps the 10th century to the 2nd century BCE. Almost every book of the bible mentions Yahweh. Other names for God are also used, notably Elohim, but in every case these are simply alternatives for Yahweh.

In the Torah

According to the Book of Genesis, Yahweh said to Abraham: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s home to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, bless you and make great your name, that it may be a blessing.’” This abrupt introduction of Yahweh to Abraham signals the beginning of an integral history that extends gradually to a family, then to a people, and later still to a nation. Yahweh then grants Abraham a covenant-treaty codifying these promises. In the Genesis narrative, the next step of this history begins with the birth of a promised son to Abraham and his wife Sarah: “Yahweh treated Sarah as he had said, and he did what he had promised her. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age.” When this son, Isaac, is grown, Abraham’s servant credits Yahweh with orchestrating events to lead him to Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife. Rebekah’s father and brother agree: “This matter stems from Yahweh … Rebekah is at your call; take her with you and let her be a wife to your master’s son, as Yahweh has spoken.” When Jacob (Isaac and Rebekah’s son) flees from his twin brother Esau, Yahweh appears to Jacob, saying, “I, Yahweh, am the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The ground on which you are lying I shall give to you and your descendants.” After Jacob’s son, Joseph, is sold as a slave in Egypt, his master notices that “Yahweh was with Joseph” and takes him into his household, with the result that “Yahweh blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph’s sake; indeed, Yahweh’s blessing was on everything he owned.”

In Exodus, Yahweh initiates a covenant with Israel. His right to be Israel’s God is based in his redeeming them from slavery in Egypt. The people of Israel agree to the covenant terms Yahweh gives, including the Ten Commandments:

I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

— Exodus 20:1–6 (WEB)

In Leviticus, Yahweh indicates that these laws have an overarching purpose: to distinguish the nation of Israel and to highlight the unique identity of Yahweh. “For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth. For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus can be described as “the book of the holiness of Yahweh” whose fundamental requirement is, “You shall be holy to me.”

In Numbers, the priests are instructed to bless the nation of Israel as follows: “‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’ “So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”

In Deuteronomy, Moses reviews the terms of the covenant before Israel continues on to the promised land under the leadership of Joshua. Yahweh intends his commands to reveal his unique wisdom and identity to the other nations of the earth. Moses writes,

Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

— Deuteronomy 4:5–8 (WEB)

The detailed religious requirements of the covenant should not detract from the love between Israel and their redeemer, “Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one: and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."

Account of the burning bush

According to Exodus, Yahweh appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.Exodus 3 Yahweh said to Moses, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Throughout the discussion between Yahweh and Moses, Moses seems reluctant to attempt to lead Israel out of Egypt. At one point, he said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?” God replied, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Yahweh also said to Moses:

You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt; and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."

— Exodus 3:14–17 (WEB)

This introduction to “Yahweh” as the personal name of God associates the divine name with the Hebrew verb “hayah” meaning “to be”. “I will be what I will be” indicates “[m]y nature will become evident from my actions.” Later in Exodus, God frequently declares that from his actions (such as the ten plagues) Israel and Egypt “shall know that I am Yahweh.” Thus, as God, Yahweh is revealed by both his personal name and his mighty deeds in history rather than a list of characteristics.

In the Nevi’im (Prophets)

The Nevi’im draw clear distinctions between the worship of Yahweh as God and the worship of other gods which they regard as false. Faithfulness to Yahweh brings blessings of rain, health, peace, and victory over one’s enemies. Worship of false gods brings drought, plague, foreign invasion, captivity, and destruction.

Contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal regarding the name of God

Yahweh sends fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s sacrifice.

According to the book of Kings, the prophet Elijah announced a period of drought as a consequence for Israel's worship of false gods during the reign of Ahab. After 42 months of drought, Elijah proposed a contest between Yahweh and the prophets of Baal, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.”

All the people agreed to the contest, and the prophets of Baal arranged a bull for sacrifice on a pile of wood and called on the name of their god from morning to noon without result. They cried aloud, cut themselves with lances, and prophesied well into the afternoon, but no answer came. Elijah then repaired the altar of Yahweh, put the wood in order, and cut the bull and placed the pieces upon the wood. After having a large quantity of water poured over the sacrifice and the wood three times, Elijah prayed, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”

After this, the narrative describes that the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. All the people saw it, fell on their faces and said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”

In the Book of Isaiah

A main theme in the Book of Isaiah is Yahweh’s holiness as the essence of his divine being, which causes men to tremble before him as they worship him. This holy God has associated himself in a special way with Israel. According to Isaiah, Yahweh expected Israel to rely on him rather than neighboring nations for support and protection.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh! Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.

— Isaiah 31:1–3 (WEB)

Isaiah emphasizes that Yahweh is the Lord of the whole earth. Yahweh directs the history of Israel and of the other nations too. Israel is to be a light to the gentiles revealing that the salvation of the nations of the earth lies in serving Yahweh. Isaiah also portrays Yahweh as the God who created the heavens and the earth, and as jealous when the praise due him is given to idols.

Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it. “I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations; to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison. I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images."

— Isaiah 42:5–8 (WEB)

In the Book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah portrays Yahweh as a God who will hold his people accountable for their actions. God appointed Jeremiah to confront Judah and Jerusalem for the worship of idols and other violations of the covenant described in Deuteronomy. According to Jeremiah, Yahweh declared that the covenant was broken and that God would bring upon Israel and Judah the curses of the covenant. Jeremiah explained the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity): “And when they say, 'Why did Yahweh our God do all this to us?' you shall answer them, 'As you forsook me and served alien gods in your own land, so must you serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'”

Yet, Jeremiah also portrays Yahweh as a God who is willing to answer the cries of the upright heart and bring restoration to the penitent.

Thus says Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it; Yahweh is his name:

Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don’t know. For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against the sword; while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city: "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me. This city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it."

— Jeremiah 33:2–9 (WEB)

In the Book of Zechariah

The prophet Zechariah portrays Yahweh as bringing past misfortunes to Israel because of sins, but goes on to describe the means by which Yahweh will restore his people to their country. Yahweh will give his people strength to resist and overcome their oppressors and gather them from the remotest regions. Zechariah portrays Yahweh as the giver of the rain and contrasts the source of life-giving rain with the deception of idols that brings oppression.

Ask of Yahweh rain in the spring time, Yahweh who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field. For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

— Zecharaiah 10:1–2 (WEB)

Zechariah asserts that Yahweh will answer those who call on him by name, “They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”

In the Kethuvim (writings)

Psalms

The Psalms re-iterate the eternal nature and unique supremacy of Yahweh: “May they know that You alone – whose name is Yahweh – are the Most High over all the earth.” For example, Psalm 115 contrasts the omnipotence of Yahweh with the ineffectiveness of heathen gods of wood and stone and warns that those who worship inanimate objects become unseeing, unhearing and unfeeling themselves. In addition, several other characteristics are developed in the Psalms.

Yahweh is portrayed as the creator, whose word is intimately connected with the event. Seven times Psalm 29 refers to the voice or the word of Yahweh causing natural phenomena. He is portrayed as continuing to care for his creation. The psalmist David wrote, “Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Other psalms speak of the initiation and continued care of creation together: “… the faithful love of Yahweh fills the earth. By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, by the breath of his mouth all their array.” “For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods …The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land … Let's kneel before Yahweh, our Maker, for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care.”

According to Psalms, Yahweh is a warrior. “O Yahweh, strive with my adversaries, give battle to my foes, take up shield and buckler, and come to my defense; ready the spear and javelin against my pursuers; tell me, ‘I am your deliverance.’” In battle, Yahweh’s help is preferred to help from conventional sources: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.” Psalms portrays Yahweh as responsive to people who call on his name, whether in battle or in times of personal distress: “Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions. In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me.” Psalm 107 describes people in circumstances of wandering, oppression, punishment for their own misdeeds, and physical danger. After each scenario, the refrain is repeated, “They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight.” Many Psalms include a call to praise Yahweh by name: “Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds – His name is Yahweh – and rejoice before Him.” A subcollection of Psalms begin and/or end with the liturgical call to worship, “hallelujah,” a transliteration of the Hebrew meaning “give praise to Yahweh.”

Other

Proverbs identifies the creator, the source of wisdom, with Yahweh, the God of Israel: “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline.” Yahweh is portrayed as knowing a person better than the person knows himself: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but Yahweh weighs the motives.” Each of these characteristics is also mentioned in Psalms.

The book of Job depicts its namesake praising Yahweh in the midst of tragedy in what some scholars have termed an unforgettable expression of faith: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return again. Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken back. Blessed be the name of Yahweh!” Job 38-42:6 is a first-person narrative in which Yahweh interrogates Job about the structure and maintenance of the world: “Then Yahweh answered Job … ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?’” Job realizes that his concept of God was too small; the questions and accusations he had directed toward Yahweh are satisfied, though not answered outright.

The Book of Ruth credits Yahweh with restoring the widowed Naomi’s family line as well as her social standing by allowing the marriage of her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth, and Boaz to produce a child. “And so, Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife, and he had intercourse with her and Yahweh made her conceive and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be Yahweh who this day has not let there cease to be a redeemer for you.'”

Lamentations represents the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Israelites as decisions of Yahweh and a direct result of Judah’s sins and not an accident of history, “Yahweh has resolved to destroy the walls of the daughter of Zion.” “Yahweh has done that which he purposed; he has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old.” Yet, hope is expressed that relief will come based on Yahweh’s mercy as well as his faithfulness to his covenant with Israel. This is not a passing phase but an enduring part of his nature (his hesed, “steadfast love”): “Surely Yahweh’s mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted … Yahweh is good to those who trust him, to all who search for him.”

History of Yahweh-worship

Origin of Yahweh and the Kenite hypothesis

"Israel" is a term with many meanings, but in this section it means the ethnic group who emerged in the Palestinian hill country in the Iron Age I period (1200-1000 BCE). The bible tells a story in which Israel escaped from Egypt, met Yahweh on a mountain-top in the wilderness, agreed to become his chosen people, and conquered Canaan with his help. The view of modern scholarship is quite different: overwhelmingly, the archaeological evidence points to an Israelite community arising peacefully and internally in the highlands of Canaan.

Given, as seems probable, that Yahweh was not a Canaanite god, this raises the question of where he originated and how he became the national god of Israel and Judah in Iron Age II (1000-586). The first probable record of his name is in two Egyptian inscriptions from the 14th and 13th centuries, as a place-name in the region of Edom associated with Shoshu-Bedouins". According to a widely accepted theory (the "Kenite hypothesis"), this god could have been brought north to the Palestinian hill country and the early Israelites by migratory Edomite desert tribes, of whom the Kenites were one.

Yahweh as national god of Israel

According to a theory advanced by Karel van der Toorn, the creation of a unified kingdom early in Iron Age II was the crucial act that led to Yahweh becoming the god of Israel. In Iron Age I the religious life of ordinary Israelites, like that of other peoples throughout the Ancient Near East, was organised around the family-based cult of the ancestors and devotion to a local god, the "god of the fathers." According to the bible the first king, Saul, was a Gibeonite, a tribe with its roots in Edom, and in order to unify the new kingdom and cement his own authority Saul promoted his own god, Yahweh, as god of the kingdom; previously, each extended family or clan was the "people" of a particular god, but now the entire Israelite community became the "people of Yahweh."

Yahweh was the State god of the northern kingdom of Israel by at least the early 9th century, and this is confirmed by an inscription from Kuntillet Ajrud which refers to Yahweh of Samaria, probably meaning the kingdom rather than the city.

More than forty inscriptions mentioning Yahweh, Yahu or Yah have been discovered, all tending to reinforce the centrality of Yahweh to Israelite religion. The inscriptions include blessings, oaths, salutations, votive offerings, seals and prayers. No other gods or goddesses are unambiguously recorded except for contentious references to Asherah, who might be a goddess and Yahweh's consort, or possibly some kind of cult object. A fragment from Kuntillet Ajrud (9th/8th centuries) mentions Baal in association with Yahweh, but in this case the word might simply mean "Lord" (the literal meaning of "baal").

A 10th century cult stand from Taanach (a town in Northern Israel, near Megiddo) shows, among other images, two winged sphinxes with an empty space between them, possibly meant to represent Yahweh between the cherubim. A horse or bull figure on the same stand, topped by a solar disk, may represent either Yahweh or Baal, and a stylised tree and female figures are testimony to the presence of goddesses (possibly Asherah) in the pantheon.

History of Yahwism

Archaeologists and historical scholars use a variety of ways to organize and interpret the available iconographic and textual information. William G. Dever contrasts "official religion/state religion/book religion" of the elite with “folk religion” of the masses. Rainer Albertz contrasts "official religion" with "family religion", "personal piety", and "internal religious pluralism". Jacques Berlinerblau analyzes the evidence in terms of "official religion" and "popular religion" in ancient Israel.

Tension between monotheism and polytheism among the Israelites

Tension between monotheism and polytheism among the Israelites is documented as early as the account of Exodus. Aaron's statement "These are your gods," in the plural, when only one golden calf was molded, looks forward to the two golden calves of Jereboam.

Both the archaeological evidence and the Biblical texts document tensions between groups comfortable with the worship of Yahweh alongside local deities such as Asherah and Baal and those insistent on worship of Yahweh alone during the monarchal period (1 Kings 18, Jeremiah 2) The Deuteronomistic source gives evidence of a strong monotheistic party during the reign of king Josiah during the late 7th century BCE, but the strength and prevalence of earlier monotheistic worship of Yahweh is widely debated based on interpretations of how much of the Deuteronomistic history is accurately based on earlier sources, and how much has been re-worked by Deuteronomistic redactors to bolster their theological views. The archaeological record documents widespread polytheism in and around Israel during the period of the monarchy.

Patrick D. Miller's schema: orthodox, heterodox and syncretistic Yahwism

Patrick D. Miller has distinguished three broad categories of Yahwism, orthodox, heterodox, and syncretistic. Orthodox Yahwism demanded the exclusive worship of Yahweh (although without denying the existence of other gods). The powers of blessing (health, wealth, continuity, fertility) and salvation (forgiveness, victory, deliverance from oppression and threat) resided fully in Yahweh, and his will was communicated via oracle and prophetic vision or audition. Divination, soothsaying, and necromancy were prohibited. The individual or community could cry out to Yahweh and would receive a divine response, mediated by priestly or prophetic figures.

Sanctuaries were erected in various places and were used to express devotion to Yahweh by means of sacrifice, festival meals and celebrations, prayer, and praise. Toward the end of the seventh century (BCE) in Judah, worship of Yahweh was restricted to the temple in Jerusalem, while the major sanctuaries in the northern kingdom were at Bethel (near the southern border) and Dan (in the north). Certain times were set for the gathering of the people to celebrate the gifts of Yahweh and the deity’s acts of deliverance and redemption.

Everything in the moral realm was understood as a part of relation to Yahweh as a manifestation of holiness. Family relationships and the welfare of the weaker members of society were protected by divine law, and purity of conduct, dress, food, etc. were regulated. Religious leadership resided in priests who were associated with sanctuaries, and also in prophets, who were bearers of divine oracles. In the political sphere the king was understood as the appointee and agent of Yahweh.

Heterodox Yahwism is described by Miller as a mixture of elements of orthodox Yahwism with particular practices that conflicted with orthodox Yahwism or were not customarily a part of it. For example, heterodox Yahwism included the presence of cult objects rejected in by orthodox expressions, such as the asherah, figurines of various sorts (females, horses and riders, animals and birds, and the calves or bulls of the Northern Kingdom. The "high places" as centers of worship seems to have moved from an acceptable place within Yahwism to an increasingly condemned status in official and orthodox circles. Efforts to know the future or the will of the deity could also be understood as heterodox if they went outside the boundaries of orthodox Yahwism, and even commonly accepted revelatory mechanism such as dreams could be condemned if the resulting message was perceived as false. Consulting mediums, wizards, and diviners was often employed by heterodox Yahwists.

Syncretism covers the worship of Baal, the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, and stars), the "Queen of Heaven" and other deities as well as practices such as child sacrifice: "Other gods were invoked and serviced in time of need or blessing and provision for life when the worship of Yahweh seemed inadequate for those purposes."

Ancient Israel and Judah

It has traditionally been believed that monotheism was part of Israel's original covenant with Yahweh on Mount Sinai, and the idolatry criticized by the prophets was due to Israel's backsliding. But during the 20th century it became increasingly recognised that the Bible's presentation raises a number of questions: Why do the Ten Commandments declare that there should be no other gods "before Me" (Yahweh), if there are no other gods at all? Why do the Israelites sing at the crossing of the Red Sea that "there is no god like you, O Yahweh",Ex 15:11 implying that other gods exist? These observations eventually overthrew the belief that Israel had always worshipped no other god but Yahweh.

Possible evidence of Israelite worship of Canaanite gods appears both in the Bible and the archaeological record. Respectful references to the goddess Asherah or her symbol, for example, as part of the worship of Yahweh, are found in the eighth century inscriptions from Kuntillet 'Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom, and references to the Canaanite gods Resheph and Deber appear without criticism in the original Jewish text of Habakkuk 3:5. While traditionally these words have been understood to be either Jewish words whose meaning has been derived from characteristics of these Canaanite deities or references to demons, some interpret these as evidence of Israelite recognition of these gods as part of the military retinue of Yahweh. The "host of heaven" is also mentioned without criticism in 1_Kings 22:19 and Zephaniah 1:5. Though the "host of heaven" has traditionally been interpreted as either the stars/heavenly bodies or the host of angels/heavenly spirits depending on the context, some again have interpreted this term to refer to a pantheon of Israelite gods. The god El is also continually identified with Yahweh.

Israel inherited polytheism from late first-millennium Canaan, and Canaanite religion in turn had its roots in the religion of second-millennium Ugarit. In the 2nd millennium, polytheism was expressed through the concepts of the divine council and the divine family, a single entity with four levels: the chief god and his wife (El and Asherah); the seventy divine children or "stars of El" (including Baal, Astarte, Anat, probably Resheph, as well as the sun-goddess Shapshu and the moon-god Yerak); the head helper of the divine household, Kothar wa-Hasis; and the servants of the divine household, including the messenger-gods who would later appear as the "angels" of the Hebrew bible.

In the earliest stage Yahweh was one of the seventy children of El, each of whom was the patron deity of one of the seventy nations. This is illustrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint texts of Deuteronomy 32:8–9, in which El, as the head of the divine assembly, gives each member of the divine family a nation of his own, "according to the number of the divine sons": Israel is the portion of Yahweh. The later Masoretic text, evidently uncomfortable with the polytheism expressed by the phrase, altered it to "according to the number of the children of Israel"

Between the eighth to the sixth centuries El became identified with Yahweh, Yahweh-El became the husband of the goddess Asherah, and the other gods and the divine messengers gradually became mere expressions of Yahweh's power. Yahweh is cast in the role of the Divine King ruling over all the other deities, as in Psalm 29:2, where the "sons of God" are called upon to worship Yahweh; and as Ezekiel 8-10 suggests, the Temple itself became Yahweh's palace, populated by those in his retinue.

It is in this period that the earliest clear monotheistic statements appear in the Bible, for example in the apparently seventh-century Deuteronomy 4:35, 39, 1 Samuel 2:2, 2 Samuel 7:22, 2 Kings 19:15, 19 (= Isaiah 37:16, 20), and Jeremiah 16:19, 20 and the sixth-century portion of Isaiah 43:10–11, 44:6, 8, 45:5–7, 14, 18, 21, and 46:9. Because many of the passages involved appear in works associated with either Deuteronomy, the Deuteronomistic History (Joshua through Kings) or in Jeremiah, most recent scholarly treatments have suggested that a Deuteronomistic movement of this period developed the idea of monotheism as a response to the religious issues of the time.

The first factor behind this development involves changes in Israel's social structure. At Ugarit, social identity was strongest at the level of the family: legal documents, for example, were often made between the sons of one family and the sons of another. Ugarit's religion, with its divine family headed by El and Asherah, mirrored this human reality. The same was true in ancient Israel through most of the monarchy – for example, the story of Achan in Joshua 8 suggests an extended family as the major social unit. However, the family lineages went through traumatic changes beginning in the eighth century due to major social stratification, followed by Assyrian incursions. In the seventh and sixth centuries, we begin to see expressions of individual identity (Deuteronomy 26:16; Jeremiah 31:29–30; Ezekiel 18). A culture with a diminished lineage system, deteriorating over a long period from the ninth or eighth century onward, less embedded in traditional family patrimonies, might be more predisposed both to hold the individual accountable for his behavior, and to see an individual deity accountable for the cosmos. In short, the rise of the individual as the basic social unit led to the rise of a single god replacing a divine family.

The second major factor was the rise of the neo-Assyrian and neo-Babylonian empires. As long as Israel was, from its own perspective, part of a community of similar small nations, it made sense to see the Israelite pantheon on par with the other nations, each one with its own patron god – the picture described with Deuteronomy 32:8–9. The assumption behind this worldview was that each nation was as powerful as its patron god. However, the neo-Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom in ca. 722 challenged this, for if the neo-Assyrian empire were so powerful, so must be its god; and conversely, if Israel could be conquered (and later Judah, c. 586), it implied that Yahweh in turn was a minor divinity. The crisis was met by separating the heavenly power and earthly kingdoms. Even though Assyria and Babylon were so powerful, the new monotheistic thinking in Israel reasoned, this did not mean that the god of Israel and Judah was weak. Assyria had not succeeded because of the power of its god Marduk; it was Yahweh who was using Assyria to punish and purify the one nation which Yahweh had chosen.

By the post-Exilic period, full monotheism had emerged: Yahweh was the sole God, not just of Israel, but of the whole world. If the nations were tools of Yahweh, then the new king who would come to redeem Israel might not be a Judean as taught in older literature (e.g. Psalm 2). Now, even a foreigner such as Cyrus the Persian could serve as the Lord's anointed (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1). One god stood behind all the world's history.

Use of "Yahweh" in contemporary religion

Modern Judaism

In modern Judaism, the Tetragrammaton is conventionally substituted by Adonai ("my Lord") when reading the text of the Bible. Jews ceased to pronounce the name in the intertestamental period, replacing it with the common noun Elohim, “god”, to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel's God over all others. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered, and was replaced in spoken ritual by the word Adonai (“My Lord”), or with haShem (“the Name”) in everyday speech, see Names of God in Judaism for details.

Roman Catholic church

Traditionally in both Latin and vernacular worship "Lord" was used, following the Greek New Testament and and Septuagint. Although the rendering of the Tetragrammaton as "Yahweh" is found in the Old Testament of versions such as the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible (1985), the liturgical use of Yahweh in English-speaking worship was suspended by the Vatican in 2008. The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments direction that the word "Lord" be used instead of Yahweh in English-language worship, was based on the understanding that Jews at the time of Christ and also early Christians substituted other words rather than pronounce the name.

Protestantism

When transcribing the Tetragrammaton, the vocalization Jehovah has been popular in particular in Protestantism from the time of the Reformation.

Bible scholar and author Charles Ryrie, author of the Ryrie Study Bible, says the name “Yahweh” appears 6,823 times in the Old Testament, and also many times in the New Testament when it directly quotes or paraphrases passages from the Old Testament containing God’s name. He writes that the name "Yahweh" is particularly associated with God's holiness,Lev 11:44,45 his hatred of sin Gen 6:3–7 and his provision of redemption.Isa 53:1,5,6,10 It may be that the contemporary translations of the Bible do not use "Yahweh" out of respect for the traditional Jewish reverence for this name.

The King James Bible, the New American Standard Bible, and the New International Version substitute the titles “LORD” and “GOD” with all the letters capitalized where the Name “Yahweh” actually belongs. The name "Yahweh" does not appear in the text of most popular English Bible translations on the market today. Jewish Bible scholars introduced this tradition in the mid-2nd century B.C., and it has continued since that time. In 1611, the inaugural edition of the King James Bible editors did not include the name ”Yahweh,” not being aware of the rendering, though Jehovah does appear several times.

There are some contemporary instances where the spelling Yahweh has come into religious use. The Sacred Name Movement is a small Christian movement, active since the 1930s, which propagates the use of the name Yahweh in Bible translations and in liturgy. "Sacred Name Bibles" are Bibles which render the Tetragrammaton by transliteration (or iconographically by inserting Hebrew script in the translation). An early such Bible was Rotherham's Emphasized Bible of 1902.

See also

• Ancient Semitic religion
• Canaanite religion
• Names of God in Judaism
• Tetragrammaton

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Bibliography

• Albertz, Rainer (1994) [Vanderhoek & Ruprecht 1992]. A History of Israelite Religion, Volume I: From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy. Westminster John Knox Press.

• Albertz, Rainer (1994) [Vanderhoek & Ruprecht 1992]. A History of Israelite Religion, Volume II: From the Exile to the Maccabees. Westminster John Knox Press.

• Albertz, Rainer (2003a). Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. Society of Biblical Literature.

• Albertz, Rainer; Becking, Bob, eds. (2003b). Yahwism After the Exile: Perspectives on Israelite Religion in the Persian Era. Koninklijke Van Gorcum. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Becking, Bob. "Law as Expression of Religion (Ezra 7–10)". {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Barton, John (2010). "Postscript: Reflection on religious diversity". In Francesca Stavrakopoulou, John Barton (ed.). Religious diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah. Continuum International Publishing Group.

• Dever, William G (2003). "religion and cult in the levant: the archaeological data". In Suzanne Richard (ed.). Near Eastern archaeology: a reader. Eisenbrauns.

• Gnuse, Robert Karl (1997). No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel. Sheffield Academic Press.

• Grabbe, Lester (2010). "'Many nations will be joined to YHWH in that day': The question of YHWH outside Judah". In Francesca Stavrakopoulou, John Barton (ed.). Religious diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah. Continuum International Publishing Group.

• Miller, Patrick D (2000). The religion of ancient Israel. Westminster John Knox Press.

• Paas, Stefan (2003). Creation and judgement: creation texts in some eighth century prophets. Brill.

• Rendsberg, Gary (2003). "Semitic languages (with special reference to the Levant)". In Suzanne Richard (ed.). Near Eastern archaeology: a reader. Eisenbrauns.

• Van der Toorn, Karel (1996). Family religion in Babylonia, Syria, and Israel. Brill.

• Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999). Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible DDD. Eerdmans.

External links

• "Yahweh." Encyclopædia Britannica Online.