Editing El (deity) (section)

== Hebrew Bible ==
One scholarly position is that the identification of Yahweh with El is a later interpretation. Earlier Yahweh was thought of as one of many gods, separate from El. Theological interpretations of the Hebrew Bible consider El as an alternative name for Yahweh. This is in contrast to the [[Elohist]] and Priestly traditions in which El is considered to be an earlier deity than Yahweh.<ref>Hendel, R. S. (1992). Genesis, Book of. In D. N. Freedman (ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 2, p. 938). New York: Doubleday.</ref>
Mark Smith has argued that Yahweh and El were originally separate, but were considered synonymous from very early on.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=32–34}} The name Yahweh is used in {{bibleverse||Genesis|2:4|HE}}, while {{bibleverse||Genesis|4:26|HE}} says that at that time, people began to "call upon the name of the {{LORD}}". El's title of "[[El Shaddai]]", which envisions him as the "god of the steppe", may also derive from the cultural beliefs of Upper Mesopotamian (i.e. [[Amorites|Amurru]]) immigrants, who were ancestors of the Israelites.<ref name=":1" />

In [[Deuteronomy 32]], as preserved in the [[Septuagint]] and the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], Yahweh was described as a son of El.<ref>{{cite book |first=James S. |last=Anderson |title=Monotheism and Yahweh's Appropriation of Baal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vr7NCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |date=27 August 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-567-66396-2 |page=77}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Margaret |last=Barker |title=The Mother of the Lord: Volume 1: The Lady in the Temple |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1smp_frb6cC&pg=PA124 |date=29 November 2012 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-52815-5 |page=124}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Samuel E. |editor-last=Balentine |first=Lester L. |last=Grabbe |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ritual and Worship in the Hebrew Bible |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UvH6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 |year=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-022211-6 |page=100}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Day |title=Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2xadCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |date=15 June 2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-567-53783-6 |page=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Shawn W. |last=Flynn |title=A Story of YHWH: Cultural Translation and Subversive Reception in Israelite History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbutDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81 |date=6 September 2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-24713-5 |page=81}}</ref>
{{Poem quote|text=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.

([[Book of Deuteronomy]]  32:8–9, [[New English Translation]], [[Song of Moses]])}}In {{bibleverse||Genesis|14:18–20|HE}} [[Abraham]] accepted the blessing of El, when [[Melchizedek]], the king of [[Salem (Bible)|Salem]] and high priest of its deity [[El Elyon]] blessed him.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Michael David |author-link=Michael Coogan |year=2009 |title=A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |page=74 |isbn=978-0-19-533272-8 |oclc=243545942 |lccn=2008034190}}</ref>

According to ''The Oxford Companion to World Mythology'',
<blockquote>It seems almost certain that the God of the Jews evolved gradually from the Canaanite El, who was in all likelihood the "God of Abraham" ... If El was the high God of Abraham—Elohim, the prototype of Yahveh—Asherah was his wife, and there are archaeological indications that she was perceived as such before she was in effect "divorced" in the context of emerging Judaism of the 7th century&nbsp;BCE. (See {{bibleverse|2|Kings|23:15|HE}}.){{sfn|Leeming|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000leem/page/118 118]}}</blockquote>

In some instances, such as in {{bibleverse||Psalm|29|HE}}, Yahweh is envisioned as a [[storm god]],{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=80}} something not true for El.<ref name="Roberts2002">{{cite book |first=Jimmy Jack |last=McBee Roberts |date=2002 |title=The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected essays |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-066-8 |page=321 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5IXecSZOcS8C&pg=PA321}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |entry=Dan |first1=Chad |last1=Brand |first2=Eric |last2=Mitchell |display-authors=etal |date=November 2015 |dictionary=Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary |publisher=B&H |isbn=978-0-8054-9935-3 |page=384 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgxCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA384}}</ref> It is Yahweh who is prophesied to one day battle [[Leviathan]] the serpent, and slay the dragon in the sea in {{bibleverse||Isaiah|27:1|HE}}.<ref name="Ballentine2015">{{cite book |first=Debra |last=Scoggins Ballentine |date=May 2015 |title=The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-937026-9 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLq6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130}}</ref> The slaying of the serpent in myth is a deed attributed to both Ba'al Hadad and '[[Anat]] in the Ugaritic texts, but not to El.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Mark |title=The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU/CAT 1.3–1.4 |last2=Pitard |first2=Wayne |date=24 December 2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-474-4232-5 |volume=II |pages=52–53 |chapter=El's Relationship to Baal's Enemies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VO55DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52}}</ref>

Such mythological motifs are variously seen as late survivals from a period when Yahweh held a place in theology comparable to that of Hadad at Ugarit; or as late [[henotheistic]] and monotheistic applications to Yahweh of deeds more commonly attributed to Hadad; or simply as examples of eclectic application of the same motifs and imagery to various different gods. Similarly, it is argued inconclusively whether Ēl Shaddāi, Ēl 'Ôlām, Ēl 'Elyôn, and so forth, were originally understood as separate divinities. [[Albrecht Alt]] presented his theories on the original differences of such gods in ''Der Gott der Väter'' in 1929.<ref>{{cite book |last=Alt |first=Albrecht |author-link=Albrecht Alt |year=1929 |title=Der Gott der Väter; ein Beitrag zur Vorgeschichte der israelitischen Religion |trans-title=The God of the Patriarchs; a contribution to (the study of) the (pre)history of Israelite religion |language=de |place=Stuttgart |publisher=[[Kohlhammer Verlag]] |oclc=45355375 |lccn=49037141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4BtVAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

But others have argued that from patriarchal times, these different names were generally understood to refer to the same single great god, El. This is the position of [[Frank Moore Cross]] (1973).{{sfn|Cross|1973}} What is certain is that the form 'El does appear in Israelite names from every period including the name {{tlit|he|Yiśrā'ēl}} ("Israel"), meaning 'El strives'. There are verses where El and Yahweh are unambiguously conflated ({{Bibleverse|Numbers|23:8}}) but some scholars believe this is an attempt to portray El as a warrior god, as Israelite society grew and evolved into a nation-state.<ref name=":1" />

=== Jewish interpretation ===
[[File:Destruction of Leviathan.png|thumb|''The Destruction of Leviathan'' by [[Gustave Doré]] (1865)]]
The Hebrew form {{lang|he|אל}} appears in Latin letters in [[Standard Hebrew]] transcription as El and in [[Tiberian Hebrew]] transcription as ʾĒl. {{tlit|he|ʾel}} is a generic word for ''god'' that could be used for any god, including [[Hadad]], [[Moloch]], or [[Yahweh]].

In the [[Tanakh]], ''[[Elohim]]'' ({{tlit|he|ʾ<sup>e</sup>lōhîm}}) is the normal word for a god or the great God (or gods, given that the {{tlit|he|im}} suffix makes a word plural in Hebrew). But the form {{tlit|he|ʾEl}} also appears, mostly in poetic passages and in the patriarchal narratives attributed to the [[Priestly source]] of the [[documentary hypothesis]]. It occurs 217 times in the [[Masoretic Text]]: 73 times in the [[Psalms]] and 55 times in the [[Book of Job]], and otherwise mostly in poetic passages or passages written in elevated prose. It occasionally appears with the definite article as {{tlit|he|hā'Ēl}} 'the god' (for example in {{bibleverse|2|Samuel|22:31, 33–48|HE}}).

The theological position of the Tanakh is that the names {{tlit|he|ʼĒl}} and {{tlit|he|`Ĕlōhîm}}, when used in the singular to mean the supreme god, refer to Yahweh, while the plural is interpreted to refer to other unspecified heavenly beings, such [[angel]]s.<ref>Reinhard Gregor Kratz, Hermann Spieckermann: Götterbilder, Gottesbilder, Weltbilder: Griechenland und Rom, Judentum, Christentum und Islam. Mohr Siebeck, 2006, ISBN 978-3-16-148807-8 (German)</ref>