Editing El (deity) (section)

== Historical development ==
[[File:Gebel el-Arak Knife back side.jpg|thumb|[[Gebel al-Arak knife]] Possible depiction of El with two lions, B.C. 3450<ref>{{cite magazine |last=du Mesnil du Buisson |first=Robert |author-link=Robert du Mesnil du Buisson |year=1969 |title=Le décor asiatique du couteau de Gebel el-Arak |trans-title=The Asian decor of the Gebel el-Arak knife |url=http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bifao/Bifao068_art_07.pdf |url-status=dead |magazine=[[BIFAO]] |publisher=[[Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale]] |pages=63–83 |volume=68 |issn=0255-0962 |archive-date=21 Feb 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221231829/http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bifao/Bifao068_art_07.pdf |lang=fr |access-date=30 Oct 2014}}</ref>]]
There is evidence that the [[Canaan]]ite/[[Phoenicia]]n and [[Arameans|Aramaic]] conception of El is essentially the same as the [[Amorites|Amorite]] conception of El, which was popularized in the 18th century&nbsp;BCE but has origins in the pre-[[Sargonic dynasty|Sargonic period]]. Any "changes" in El's status can be explained by the randomness of available data. Tribal organizations in West Semitic culture also influenced El's portrayal as a "treaty partner" in covenants, where the clan is seen as the "kin" of the deity.

Eventually, El's cult became central to the ethnogenesis of Iron Age [[Israelites]] but so far, scholars are unable to determine how much of the population were El worshippers. It is more likely that different locales held different views of El.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Theodore J. |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/37440/chapter/331574551?login=true#331574754 |title=The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-007254-4 |pages=73–118}}</ref>