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Antecedents For Yahweh

steve_bank

Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
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I have not looked at this before. A cursory search.



While some scholars and texts explore the possibility of Yahweh being associated with solar imagery or even worshipped as a sun god in some contexts, the dominant view is that Yahweh is a storm god and not a sun god.
Here's a more detailed explanation:

Yahweh as a Storm God:
Historically, Yahweh is often depicted as a storm god, aligning with the characteristics of Ancient Near Eastern storm-warrior deities.

The bible god caused it to rain enough to flood the Earth.


A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of one feature of a storm, they will be called after that attribute, such as a rain god or a lightning/thunder god. This singular attribute might then be emphasized more than the generic, all-encompassing term "storm god", though with thunder/lightning gods, the two terms seem interchangeable. They feature commonly in polytheistic religions, especially in Proto-Indo-European ones

In the Bible, the name Yahweh (YHWH), representing the God of the Israelites, is often associated with powerful displays of nature, including lightning, which can symbolize God's wrath, majesty, or judgment.




Yahweh[a] was an ancient Levantine deity worshiped in Israel and Judah as the primary deity and the head of the pantheon of the polytheistic religion of Yahwism.[4][5][6] Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's origins,[7] scholars generally hold that the deity is associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman,[8] and later with Canaan. The deity's worship reaches back to at least the Early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age, if not somewhat earlier.[9]

In the oldest examples of Biblical literature, Yahweh possesses attributes that were typically ascribed to deities of weather and war, fructifying the Land of Israel and leading a heavenly army against the nation's enemies.[10] The early Israelites engaged in polytheistic practices that were common across ancient Semitic religion,[6] as their worship included a variety of Canaanite gods and goddesses, such as El, Asherah, and Baal.[11]

In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated, and El-linked epithets, such as ʾĒl Šadday (אֵל שַׁדַּי‎), came to be applied to Yahweh alone.[12] Characteristics of other deities, such as Asherah and Baal, were also selectively "absorbed" in conceptions of Yahweh.[13][14][15]

In monotheistic Judaism the existence of other deities was denied outright, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and the sole deity to be worthy of worship. During the Second Temple period, Judaism began to substitute other Hebrew words, primarily ăḏōnāy (אֲדֹנָי‬‎, lit. 'My Lords'). By the time of the Jewish–Roman wars—namely following the Roman siege of Jerusalem and the concomitant destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE—the original pronunciation of Yahweh's name was forgotten entirely.[16]
 
For who in the skies compares to Yahweh, who can be likened to Yahweh among the sons of gods. Psalm 89:6

Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: "Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Because your heart is proud and you have said: "I am el, in the seat of elohm (God or gods), I am enthroned in the middle of the seas." Yet you are man and not el even though you have made your heart like the heart of elohim ('God' or 'gods').'" Ezekiel 28.2

elohm ('God') stands in the council of el he judges among the gods (elohim). Psalm 82.1

"When Elyon gave the nations as an inheritance, when he separated the sons of man,he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
For Yahweh's portion was his people; Jacob was the lot of his inheritance". Deuteronomy 32.8-9.

God ['elohim] has taken his place in the divine council ['adat 'el] in the midst of the gods ['elohim] he holds judgement. Ps. 82.1 (NRSV)
 
This isn't particularly controversial seeing this is a period of polytheism being stuffed into monotheism. Certainly, there are several moments in the Tanakh where something much greater than monotheism is alluded to. Regarding the flood, the narrative can be found across the globe as civilizations came about along the banks of rivers... which flooded, sometimes dreadfully so.
 
Just inconvenient for fundamentalist Christians who believe in Divine inspiration rather than the evolution of theology, thought and belief.
If they are fundamentalists, I doubt they would find it "inconvenient" to dismiss scholarly speculation in favor of divinely revealed Truths. They love doing that sort of thing as a rule.
 
Paslm 104, allegedly written by King David himself (and reproduced on the left below), shares themes with The Great Hymn to Aten, allegedly written by Akhenaten himself (and reproduced on the right below). Could Judaism have borrowed ideas from this short-lived Egyptian monotheism?

Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
He makes winds his messengers,[a]
flames of fire his servants.
He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.
He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.
How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
Thou appearest beautifully on the horizon of heaven, Thou living Aton, the beginning of life!
When thou art risen on the eastern horizon, Thou hast filled every land with thy beauty.
Thou art gracious, great, glistening, and high over every land; Thy rays encompass the lands to the limit of all that thou hast made:
As thou art Re, thou reachest to the end of them; (Thou) subduest them (for) thy beloved son.
Though thou art far away, thy rays are on earth; Though thou art in their faces, no one knows thy going.

When thou settest in the western horizon, The land is in darkness, in the manner of death.
They sleep in a room, with heads wrapped up, Nor sees one eye the other.
All their goods which are under their heads might be stolen (But) they would not perceive (it) Every lion is come forth from his den;
All creeping things, they sting. Darkness is a shroud, and the earth is in stillness. For he who made them rests in his horizon.

At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon, When thou shinest as the Aton by day,
Thou drivest away the darkness and givest thy rays. The Two Lands are in festivity every day,
Awake and standing upon (their) feet, For thou hast raised them up.
Washing their bodies, taking (their) clothing, Their arms are (raised) in praise at thy appearance. All the world, they do their work.

All beasts are content with their pasturage; Trees and plants are flourishing.
The birds which fly from their nests, Their wings are (stretched out) in praise to thy ka.
All beasts spring upon (their) feeet. Whatever flies and alights,
They live when thou hast risen (for) them. The ships are sailing north and south as well,
For every way is open at thy appearance. The fish in the river dart before thy face; Thy rays are in the midst of the great green sea.

Creator of seed in women, Thou who makest fluid into man,
Who maintainest the son in the womb of his mother, Who soothest him with that which stills his weeping,
Thou nurse (even) in the womb, Who givest breath to sustain all that he has made!
When he descends from the womb to breathe On the day when he is born,
Thou openest his mouth completely, Thou suppliest his necessities.
When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell, Thou givest him breath within it to maintain him.
When thou hast made him his fulfillment within the egg, to break it, He comes forth from the egg to speak at his completed (time); He walks upon his legs when he comes forth from it.

How manifold it is, what thou hast made! They are hidden from the face (of man).
O sole god, like whom there is no other! Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,
Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts, Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet, And what is on high, flying with its wings.

The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt, Thou settest every man in his place,
Thou suppliest their necessities: Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned.
Their tongues are separate in speech, And their natures as well;
Their skins are distinguished, As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples.
Thou makest a Nile in the underworld, Thou bringest forth as thou desirest
To maintain the people (of Egypt) According as thou madest them for thyself,
The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them, The lord of every land, rising for them, The Aton of the day, great of majesty.

All distant foreign countries, thou makest their life (also), For thou hast set a Nile in heaven,
That it may descend for them and make waves upon the mountains, Like the great green sea,
To water their fields in their towns. How effective they are, thy plans, O lord of eternity!
The Nile in heaven, it is for the foreign peoples And for the beasts of every desert that go upon (their) feet; (While the true) Nile comes from the underworld for Egypt.

Thy rays suckle every meadow. When thou risest, they live, they grow for thee.
Thou makest the seasons in order to rear all that thou hast made, The winter to cool them,
And the heat that they may taste thee. Thou hast made the distant sky in order to rise therein,
In order to see all that thou dost make. Whilst thou wert alone,
Rising in thy form as the living Aton, Appearing, shining, withdrawing or aproaching,
Thou madest millions of forms of thyself alone. Cities, towns, fields, road, and river --
Every eye beholds thee over against them, For thou art the Aton of the day over the earth....

Thou are in my heart, And there is no other that knows thee
Save thy son Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re, For thou hast made him well-versed in thy plans and in thy strength.

The world came into being by thy hand, According as thou hast made them.
When thou hast risen they live, When thou settest they die.
Thou art lifetime thy own self, For one lives (only) through thee.
Eyes are (fixed) on beauty until thou settest. All work is laid aside when thou settest in the west.
(But) when (thou) risest (again), [Everything is] made to flourish for the king,...
Since thou didst found the earth And raise them up for thy son,
Who came forth from thy body: the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, ... Ak-en-Aton,
... and the Chief Wife of the King ... Nefert-iti, living and youthful forever and ever.
 
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