Editing Yahweh (section)

===Late Iron Age (1000–586{{nbsp}}BCE)===
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 | image1 =LMLK, Ezekiah seals.jpg
 | caption1 = Seal of [[Hezekiah]], 727 to 698. The [[winged disk]] is thought to represent Yahweh.<ref name="SeeversKorhonen">{{Cite journal |last1=Seevers |first1=Boyd V. |last2=Korhonen |first2=Rachel |date=2016 |title=Seals in Ancient Israel and the Near East: Their Manufacture, Use, and Apparent Paradox of Pagan Symbolism |url=https://www.academia.edu/31049725 |journal=Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin |issue=61 |pages=1–17}}</ref>
 | image2 = Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e12 486-1.jpg
 | caption2 = [[Winged disk]] seal reproduced in the [[Jewish Encyclopedia]], 1906
}}

[[File:Ajrud.jpg|thumb|alt=A reconstructed two-handled jar, with many missing fragments. In the centre, two bull-headed figures look towards us. There are other figures and the scene is hard to make out.|Painting on a [[Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions|jar found at Kuntillet Ajrud]], under the inscription "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" (c.{{nbsp}}800{{nbsp}}BCE)]]

The late [[Iron Age]] saw the emergence of [[nation state]]s associated with specific [[national god]]s:{{sfn|Schniedewind|2013|p=93}} 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.{{sfn|Hackett|2001|p=156}}{{sfn|Davies|2010|p=112}} In each kingdom the king was also the head of the national religion and thus the [[viceroy]] on Earth of the national god.{{sfn|Miller|2000|p=90}} 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{{sfn|Geller|2012|p=unpaginated}} (no "God of Judah" is mentioned anywhere in the Bible).{{sfn|Hackett|2001|p=156}}{{sfn|Davies|2010|p=112}}

Accordingly, there have been different tiers of deities in the original pantheon: El and Asherah on top; followed by [[Sons of God#Ugaritic text|their children]], the divine assembly; then followed by traders and craftsman deities; and finally minor deities or messenger gods.{{sfn|Hess|2007|pp=103–104}} It has been argued that Yahweh was originally described as one of the sons of El in [[Song of Moses|Deuteronomy 32:8–9]],{{sfn|Smith|2002|pages=32–33}}{{sfn|Miller|Hayes|1986|p=111}} and that this was removed by a later emendation to the text:{{sfn|Anderson|2015|p=77}}

{{Poem quote|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]]}}

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 became [[angel]]s.{{sfn|Hess|2007|pp=103–104}}{{When|date=May 2025|reason=When did this conflation happen? When did these deities become angels?}} During the reign of [[Ahab]], and particularly following his marriage to [[Jezebel]], Baal may have briefly replaced Yahweh as the national god of Israel (but not Judah).{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=71–72}}{{sfn|Campbell|2001|pp=221–222}}

In the 9th century{{nbsp}}BCE, there are indications of rejection of Baal worship associated with the prophets [[Elijah]] and [[Elisha]]. The Yahweh-religion thus began to separate itself from its Canaanite heritage; this process continued over the period from 800 to 500{{nbsp}}BCE with legal and prophetic condemnations of the [[asherim]], [[sun worship]] and worship on the [[high place]]s, along with practices pertaining to the dead and other aspects of the old religion.{{sfn|Smith|2002|page=9}} Features of Baal, El, and Asherah were absorbed into Yahweh, and epithets such as [[El Shaddai]] came to be applied to Yahweh alone.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=8, 33–34, 135}}

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;{{sfn|Sperling|2017|p=254}} the Yahweh-alone party, the party of the [[prophet]]s and [[Deuteronomist]]s, ultimately triumphed, and their victory lies behind the biblical narrative of an Israel vacillating between periods of "following other gods" and periods of [[fidelity]] to Yahweh.{{sfn|Sperling|2017|p=254}}

Some scholars date the start of widespread monotheism to the [[8th century BCE]], and view it as a response to [[Neo-Assyrian]] aggression.{{sfn|Smith|2016|p=287}}{{sfn|Albertz|1994|p=61}} In an inscription discovered in [[Ein Gedi]] and dated around 700 BCE, Yahweh appears described as the lord of "the nations", while in [[Khirbet Beit Lei graffiti|other contemporary texts]] discovered in [[Khirbet Beit Lei]] (near Lachish) he is mentioned as the ruler of Jerusalem and probably also of Judah.{{sfn|Hess|2020|p=247–248}}