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Yahweh [a] was an ancient Levantine deity worshiped in Israel and Judah as the primary deity of the polytheistic religion of Yahwism. [4] [5] Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's origins, [6] scholars generally contend that he is associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman, [7] and later with Canaan.
Worship of Baal and Yahweh coexisted in the early period of Israel's history, but they were considered irreconcilable after the 9th century BCE, following the efforts of King Ahab and his queen Jezebel to elevate Baal to the status of national god, [41] although the cult of Baal did continue for some time. [42]
The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities in Ancient Israel [1] is a book on the history of ancient Israelite religion by Mark S. Smith, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University. The revised 2002 edition contains revisions to the original 1990 edition in light of intervening archaeological ...
The name "Israel" first appears in the Merneptah Stele c. 1208 BCE: "Israel is laid waste and his seed is no more." [25] This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity, well enough established for the Egyptians to perceive it as a possible challenge, but an ethnic group rather than an organized state. [26]
The main text of medieval Kabbalah, the Zohar, describes the first verse of the Shema ("Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One") as the "Upper level Unity", and the second line ("Blessed be the Name of the Glory of His Kingdom forever") as the limited "Lower level Unity". Schneur Zalman gives the Chabad explanation of this.
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite god Yahweh. [16]Judaism, the oldest Abrahamic religion, is based on a strict, exclusive monotheism, [4] [17] finding its origins in the sole veneration of Yahweh, [4] [18] [19] [20] the predecessor to the Abrahamic conception of God.
Two different models of the process of creation existed in ancient Israel. [15] In the "logos" (speech) model, God speaks and shapes unresisting dormant matter into effective existence and order (Psalm 33: "By the word of YHWH the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts; he gathers up the waters like a mound, stores the Deep in vaults"); in the second, or "agon ...
Instead of seeing the god of Israel as just one national god, these writings describe Yahweh as the one god of the universe. The prophetic writings condemned Hebrew participation in nature worship, and did not completely identify the divine with natural forces.