Facts about Yahweh
Yahweh himself was sometimes worshiped in a way that later generations would consider idolatrous.
The Bible seems to indicate that even though the Israelites were forbidden to worship other deities, Yahweh was not considered as the only god who actually existed.
Long after the Israelite settlement in Canaan, this region continued to be regarded as the abode of Yahweh (Judg.
The four consonants of the Hebrew spelling of Yahweh are referred to as the Tetragrammaton (Greek: ??????????????; "word with four letters").
Yahweh-centered monotheism eventually became the normative Jewish religion, and this in turn was inherited by both Christianity and Islam.
The association of Yahweh with storm and fire is frequent in the Hebrew Bible.
Several Biblical scholars have suggested that Yahweh originated with a group known as the Shasu, Canaanite nomads from southern Transjordan.
A relation between Yahweh with Ea, also called Enki, one of the great Babylonian gods, has also been mentioned occasionally.
Biblical archaeologist Amihai Mazar finds that the association of Yahweh with the desert may be the product of his origins in the dry lands to the south of Israel.
Bull calves were associated with the worship of El, and bulls were routinely offered to Yahweh on horned altars.
The Bible presents several stories regarding the revelation of God's true name, Yahweh.
A great deal of discussion has been devoted to the relationship of Yahweh to the other deities of the region.
Scholars have also noted that many of these primitive characteristics of Yahweh are seen in hymns and inscriptions devoted to Baal of the Canaanites.
The Bible indicates that the early Israelites identified Yahweh with the older god El, who was widely worshipped in Canaan.
When Moses led the Israelites to the mountain after their deliverance from Egypt, Jethro came to meet him, extolling Yahweh as greater than all other gods.
The ancient epithet Yahweh tseva'ot, usually translated "Lord of hosts," would thus originally mean "He who creates the armies of heaven."
The revelation of the name to Moses was made at Sinai/Horeb, a mountain sacred to Yahweh, south of Canaan in a region where the forefathers of the Israelites were never reported to have roamed.
The thunder is the voice of Yahweh, the lightning his arrows, the rainbow his bow.
In Christian Bibles, Yahweh is usually translated as "the LORD," a rough equivalent to the Hebrew "Adonai."
The Bible is clear that the Queen of Heaven was worshiped by families who also honored Yahweh in Jeremiah's day (Jer.
The Exodus story tells us that the Israelites had not been worshipers of Yahweh—at least by that name—before the time of Moses.
So too was the goddess Ashera disowned, while the chief deities of other ethnic groups were treated as having nothing in common with Yahweh.
Many modern scholars believe that eventually, some of the characteristics of Yahweh, El, and Baal merged into Yahweh/Elohim.
Her son then hires a Levite who serves as priest at the family's altar, successfully inquiring there of Yahweh on behalf of passing travelers from the tribe of Dan.
Scholars have also noted that many of these primitive characteristics of Yahweh are seen in hymns and inscriptions devoted to Baal of the Canaanites.
Sections of the Bible thought to be among the earliest, however, also portray Yahweh in a more primitive way.
One Biblically-derived theory somewhat consistent with the above scenario holds that Yahweh was originally a deity of the Midianites and other desert tribes.