3'1'2 The God of the Fathers

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 3.1 Names of God in the O.T.

2
3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 1. The EL Names in the Patriarchal Narratives
• 1.1 El in names of persons and places
• We recognize it easily in such names as Beth-El
  (Gen 28.19, Peni-El (32.30), Ishama-El (16.11),
  Isra-El (32.28), and Bethu-El (24.15). We also
  know that this El element is sometimes left out
  of such names (cf. Jephtah-El Josh 19.14, 27
  and Jephtah, Judg 11.1). There are good reasons
  to believe that the patriarchal names Isaac and
  Jacob are abbreviated El names of this sort
  (originally Isaac-El and Jacob-El). . . . the
  divine name El plays an important part in the
  patriarchal narratives." Mettinger

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El in Names of Places
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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 2. El in the Canaanite Texts
• 2.1 The god called El was a different character
  from Baal. El was old and wise, a mild and
  merciful god. El was call both father of
  humankind and creator of all created beings.
  El is the one who gives a child to the childless
  king Keret. El is sometimes referred to as
  king, but if we wish to describe his
  peculiarities accurately, we can justifiably
  characterize him as the patriarch among the gods
  of Canaan. El emerges from the texts as an aged
  father figure with an air of mild and generous
  wisdom." Mettinger

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• El is connected with the heavenly council
• Had the titles Bull, Ancient One, Hero, King,
  and Creator.
• Called compassionate, holy and possesses majesty
• Lives both "at the source of river, in the midst
  of the bed of both streams," and on the mountain
  in the north with other gods Preuss

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• "One cannot describe El as a sky-god like Anu, a
  storm-god like Enlil or Zeus, a chthonic-god like
  Nergal, or a grain-god like Dagon. The one image
  of El that seems to tie all his myths together is
  that of the patriarch. He is the primordial
  father of god and men, sometimes stern, often
  compassionate, always wise in judgment." Cross

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• "While he has taken on royal prerogatives and
  epithets, he stands closer to the patriarchal
  judge ruling over the council of the gods. He is
  at once father of the family of gods and ruler,
  functions brought together in the human sphere
  only in those societies which are organized in
  tribal leagues or in kingdoms where kinship
  survives as an organizing power in the society.
  He is a tent dweller in most of his myths. His
  tent on the mount of assembly in the far north is
  the place of cosmic decisions. There are myths of
  monumental carousals where he appears to live in
  a palace (hekhal) and live like a king. Such
  uneven layers of tradition in oral poetry should
  not be surprising." Cross

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• "El is creator, the ancient one, whose
  extraordinary procreative powers have populated
  heaven and earth, and there is little evidence
  that his vigor flagged. . . . His old wife, the
  mother of the gods, is occupied with intrigues in
  the family. El appears affectionate toward her,
  but the hieros gamos texts we have reveal that he
  often turns to younger wives. His three major
  consorts are his sisters, 'Anat, Asherah (the
  chief wife), and Astart. Ba'al also takes 'Anat
  as consort, and El shows particular favor to
  Astarte, the divine courtesan." Cross

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• "In Akkadian and Amorite religion, as also in
  Canaanite, he frequently plays the role of "god
  of the father," the "social" deity who governs
  the tribe or league, leading it in its
  migrations, directing its wars, establishing its
  justice, often bound to league or king with
  kinship or covenant bonds." Cross

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• "His characteristic mode of manifestation appears
  to be the vision or audition, often in dreams in
  contrast to the theophany of the storm-god, whose
  voice is the thunder and who goes out to battle
  riding the clouds, shaking the mountains with the
  blasts of his nostrils and his fiery bolts."
  Cross

Canaanite Temple Layout
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Canaanite Baal
12
Canaanite Baal
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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

•  2.2 Canaanite El as origins for the El names of
  God
•  2.2.1 Gen 33.20 The altar at Shechem was to be
  called El is the God of Israel
  ????????????????????????
•  2.2.2 Gen 46.3 In the nocturnal revelation to
  Jacob in Beer-Sheba we are told, I am El, the
  God of your father. Here the word ???? bears the
  definite article.
•  2.2.3 Gen 49.25 In Jacob's blessing to Joseph we
  find the words, by the El of your father.

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 3. El as Semitic marker of deity
• 3.1 la Gen 33.20 Jacob built an altar to
  El-Elohe-Israel.
•  3.1.1 These El names were originally
  pre-Israelite in their meaning. With the
  exception of El Shaddai, they generally appear in
  connection with particular Canaanite shrines and
  reflect ancient Semitic religion. When the
  Israelites came into Canaan, they took over these
  shrines, together with the religious traditions
  associated with them to the worship of Yahweh.
  Anderson, "God, Names of," IDB

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

•  3.1.2 Admittedly it is true that the word ????
  is not only used as ?????the proper name of a
  deity, that is El with a capital E. The word is
  also the common Semitic word for deity. In the
  biblical tradition the word ???? in the El names
  has gradually acquired this reduced content to
  Israelites in later times names such as El
  Elyon and El Olam meant God the Most High
  and God the Eternal. Mettinger

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 4. El-Elyon (God Most High) Gen 14.22
• 4.1 "The Hebrew word elyon is an adjective
  meaning "higher, upper," . . . . it can be used
  as a divine name meaning "the Most High" (e.g.,
  Deut. 328 Isa. 1414 Ps. 93) or in
  parallelism with YHWH (e.g., Ps. 18 14 218
  83 19), El (Num. 24 16 Ps. 10711), and
  Shaddai (Ps. 911)." EJ

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 4.2 "In the Tell el-Amarna Letters of the
  15th14th centuries B.C.E., the Canaanites called
  El Elyon "the lord of the gods." According to
  Genesis 14 1820, Melchizedek, king of Salem,
  was "a priest of God Most High El Elyon," and
  he blessed Abraham by "God Most High, Creator of
  heaven and earth." EJ

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• "I am inclined to believe that ??????? in Genesis
  14 serves as a proper epithet of ??? and is not
  an intrusive element in the formula." Cross
• "Whereas for the pagans the term referred to the
  god who was supreme over the other gods, in
  Israel it referred to the transcendent nature of
  the one true God. EJ

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 5. El-????? (Everlasting God) Gen 21.33
  everlasting time, time whose boundaries are
  hidden from view. Ps 90.1-2 93.2 Isa 26.4
• 5.1 "In the case of ???????????, " the god of
  eternity" or "the ancient god" the evidence, in
  our view, is overwhelming to identify the epithet
  as an epithet of ???. This is the source of
  Yahweh's epithets "the ancient one" or "the
  ancient of days," as well as the biblical and
  Ugaritic epithet ????????????." Cross

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 5.2 According to Genesis 2133, "Abraham planted
  a tamarisk at Beer-Sheba, and invoked there the
  name of YHWH, the everlasting God." . . . .
  Perhaps it was the title of El as worshiped at
  the local shrine of Beer-Sheba. Then Abraham
  would have accepted this Canaanite term as
  descriptive of his true God." EJ

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 5.3 See also Isa 40.28 "the Everlasting God
  elohei olam, the Creator of the ends of the
  earth" Jer. 1010, melekh olam, "the everlasting
  King" Isa. 264, zur olamim, "an everlasting
  Rock" Deut 3327, "the ancient God" (elohei
  qedem) parallels "the everlasting arms" (zeroot
  olam).

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 7. El Roi Gen 16.13 God who sees me
• 7.1 The divine name El Roi occurs in Genesis
  1613. . . Hagar . . . at a certain spring or
  well she had a vision of God, "and she called
  YHWH who spoke to her, 'You are El Roi.'" . . . .
  By itself it can be either a noun, "appearance"
  (I Sam. 1612), "spectacle, gazingstock" (Nah.
  36), or a participle with a suffix of the first
  person singular, "seeing me," i.e., who sees me
  (Job 78). Therefore, El Roi could mean either
  "the God of Vision" (who showed Himself to me) or
  "the God who sees me."EJ

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 8. El Berith Judg 9.46 (alternate of
  Baal-berith in Judg 8.33 9.4). Note the
  covenantal idea of Josh 24
• 8.1 "In a Hurrian hymn to ??? two interesting
  epithets have been discovered ?il brt and ?il
  dn. Cross translates these as expected "god of
  the covenant" and "?El the Judge." Cross further
  implicitly relates these epithets "The exercise
  of authority by ?El over his council suggests
  that his role is more that of a patriarch, or
  that of the judge in the council of a league of
  tribes, than the role of a divine king." Cross

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3.1.2 The God of the Fathers EL

• 8.2 "Traditions concerning the cultic site of
  Shechem illustrate the cultural process lying
  behind the Yahwistic inclusion of old titles of
  El, or stated differently, the Yahwistic
  assimilation to old cultic sites of El. In the
  city of Shechem the local god was ????????????,
  "El of the covenant" (Judg 946 cf. 833 94).
  This word ?????? appears as a Late Bronze Age
  title for El in KTU 1.128.14-15. In the
  patriarchal narratives, the god of Shechem, ????,
  is called ?????????????????????, the god of
  Israel," and is presumed to be Yahweh. In this
  case, a process or reinterpretation appears to be
  at work. In the early history of Israel, when the
  cult of Shechem became Yahwistic, it inherited
  and continued the El traditions of that site.
  Hence Yahweh received the title ?????????????,
  the old title of El." Smith

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 1. How old is this divine name?
• 1.1 48X - ". . . quite a number appear in late
  literature, such as Ezekiel (2X) and Job (32X)."
• 1.2 Antiquity of other passages "Jacobs
  patriarchal blessing (Gen 49.25), the Baalam text
  (Num 24.4, 16), and an ancient list of names (Num
  1.5-16) in which Shaddai is the theophoric
  element in several personal names Shede-ur,
  Zuri-shaddai, and Ammi-shaddai (vv. 5, 6, 12)."

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 1.3 "There is also a single extra-biblical
  attestation. An Egyptian figurine bears the
  legend Shaddai-ammi. Thus it contains the same
  elements as the previously mentioned biblical
  Ammi-shaddai. The figurine in question is
  datable to ca. 1300 BCE. Mettinger

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 2. Old Testament References
• 2.1The divine name (El) Shaddai occurs 48 times
  in the Old Testament
• The Pentateuch 9 times. Three occurrences are in
  ancient tribal blessings, like the blessing of
  Jacob (Gen 49.25) and Balaams blessing (Numb
  24.4, 16) the other six occurrence are usually
  assigned to the so-called Priestly tradition in
  the Pentateuch Gen 17.1 28.3 35.11 43.14ff.,
  48.3 Exo 6.3.
• The book of Ruth 2 times (Ruth 1.20-21)?
• The Prophets 4 times (Isa 13.6 Joel 1.15 Ezk
  1.24 10.5)?

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• The Psalter 2 times (Ps 68.14 15 91.1)?
• Job 31 times
• 2.2 ". . . In addition to these attestations, the
  name Shaddai is component in the personal names
  Shede-ur, Zuri-shaddai, and Ammi-shaddai (Num
  1.5, 6, 12). This map of the distribution of
  name in the texts raises the question of its
  age. Mettinger

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 3. Theories on Derivation and Significance
• 3.1 A common Greek rendering of El Shaddai is
  ????????????, the ruler of all (16 times in LXX
  Job). It is clear, however, that this does not
  represent an actual attempt to translate the
  divine name. Rather, it is a conventional
  rendering and not an effort at a linguistic
  interpretation of El Shaddai. What we usually
  find in modern biblical translations of the name
  El Shaddai are reflections of this convention.
  As a result, the expression the Almighty in the
  biblical translations provides no key to the
  understanding of El Shaddai. Mettinger

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 3.2 Early Judaism understood the contents of the
  name as he who is sufficient (derived from Heb.
  ??? ???). This interpretation underlies the
  translation ??????? (he who is sufficient),
  which we find in certain Greek translations.
  Today, however, this is not held to be a
  convincing alternative. Mettinger
• 3.3 An early interpretation associated El
  Shaddai with a Hebrew root signifying violence
  and destruction - ????. This view is expressed
  already in the expression as destruction of a
  ?????, violence, destruction, which comes from
  Shaddai (cf. Isa 13.6 Joel 1.15). But this is
  probably a pun, not a linguistic-historical
  derivation. Mettinger

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 3.4 The derivation that has won broadest
  acceptance does not associate the name with any
  Hebrew word, but with an Akkadian one found in
  Babylonian texts - ?????? - the usual Akkadian
  word for mountain. On this theory the name El
  Shaddai would then signify something like El,
  the One of the mountain. Mettinger
• 3.5 The Amorites dwelt in northern Mesopotamia,
  at the upper course of the Euphrates they were a
  nomadic people whom scholars have designated
  proto-Arameans, and they have been held to have
  been related to the tribal groups that eventually
  made up the people of Israel. These Amorites
  worshipped a god called Amurru. In some texts,
  it develops that this deity was characterized as
  ???????????, the lord of the mountain.
  Mettinger

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 4. Possible Associations
• 4.1 A number of scholars have felt that it was a
  notion of God as protector and refuge. Similar
  thoughts are presumably expressed when the god of
  Israel is characterized as the rock of his
  people (cf., e.g., Deut 32.4, 15, 18, 30, 31 2
  Sam 23.3 Ps 18.46). Another possibility is the
  notion that the name El Shaddai designates God as
  the One of the mount of the divine council (cf.
  Isa 14.13). In this event El Shaddai would be a
  name that characterized the God of the fathers as
  the chief of the heavenly council. The use of the
  name (El) Shaddai in close association with (El)
  Elyon, God the Most High (Num 24.16 and Ps
  91.1), provides a degree of support of this
  conjecture, as does the occurrence of the name in
  the Deir Alla inscriptions. Mettinger

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3.1.3 EL SHADDAI

• 4.2 . . . El Shaddai frequently appears in
  contexts which deal with a divine blessing one
  has only to think of the blessings of Jacob and
  Baalam (Gen 49.25 Num 24.4, 16 respectively).
  Most occurrences in the patriarchal narratives
  appear in similar contexts. Thus El Shaddai
  reveals himself to Abraham and promises him
  innumerable offspring (Gen 17.1) in the name El
  Shaddai, Isaac blesses Jacob and communicates to
  him the assurance of numerous progeny and the
  blessing of Abraham (Gen 28.3-4). The same motif
  recurs in Gen 35.11 in the words, I am El
  Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. Mettinger

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3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 1. General Usage
• 1.1 "The word eloha "God" and its plural, elohim,
  is apparently a lengthened form of El (cf.
  Aramaic elah, Arabic ilah). The singular eloha is
  of relatively rare occurrence in the Bible
  outside of Job, where it is found about forty
  times. It is very seldom used in reference to a
  pagan god and then only in a late period (Dan.
  11 37ff. II Chron. 3215). In all other cases
  it refers to the God of Israel (e.g., Deut.
  3215 Ps. 5022 139 19 Prov. 305 Job 34,
  23). The plural form elohim is used not only of
  pagan "gods" (e.g., Ex. 1212 18 11 20 3),
  but also of an individual pagan "god" (Judg.
  1124 II Kings 12ff.) and even of a "goddess"
  (I Kings 115)." EJ

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3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 2. When Describing the God of Israel
• 2.1 "In reference to Israel's "God" it is used
  extremely oftenmore than 2,000 timesand often
  with the article, ha-elohim, "the true God."
  Occasionally, the plural form elohim, even when
  used of the God of Israel, is construed with a
  plural verb or adjective (e.g., Gen. 20 13
  357 Ex. 324, 8 II Sam. 723 Ps. 58 12),
  especially in the expression elohim hayyim, "the
  living God." In the vast majority of cases,
  however, the plural form is treated as if it were
  a noun in the singular. The odd fact that Hebrew
  uses a plural noun to designate the sole God of
  Israel has been explained in various ways. It is
  not to be understood as a remnant of the
  polytheism of Abraham's ancestors, or hardly as a
  "plural of majesty"if there is such a thing in
  Hebrew. Some scholars take it as a plural that
  expresses an abstract idea (e.g., zekunim, "old
  age" neurim, "time of youth"), so that Elohim
  would really mean "the Divinity."

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3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 1. General Usage
• "The OT uses three different words for "God,"
  viz., 'el, eloah, and 'elohim. In general these
  words are interchangeable . . . . No clear rule
  for the use of these words can be recognized in
  the OT, but 'el occurs mainly in poetic and
  archaic or archaizing texts." Ringgren
• "The form 'elohim occurs 2570 times in all, with
  both ("gods") and the singular ("a god," "God")
  meaning. . . . Why the plural form for "God" is
  used has not yet been explained satisfactorily.
  Perhaps the plural also or even originally
  designated not a plurality, but an
  intensification then 'elohim would mean the
  "great," "highest," and finally "only" God, i.e.,
  God in general." Ringgren

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3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 2.2 ". . . it came from Canaanite usage the
  early Israelites would have taken over elohim as
  a singular noun just as they made their own the
  rest of the Canaanite language. In the
  Tell-el-Amarna Letters Pharaoh is often addressed
  as "my gods ilaniya the sun-god." In the
  ancient Near East of the second half of the
  second millennium B.C.E. there was a certain
  trend toward quasi-monotheism, and any god could
  be given the attributes of any other god, so that
  an individual god could be addressed as elohai,
  "my gods" or adonai, "my lords." The early
  Israelites felt no inconsistency in referring to
  their sole God in these terms. The word elohim is
  employed also to describe someone or something as
  godlike, preternatural, or extraordinarily great,
  e.g., the ghost of Samuel (I Sam. 2813 cf. Isa.
  819 "spirits"), the house of David (Zech. 128),
  the mountain of Bashan (Ps. 6816), and Rachel's
  contest with her sister (Gen. 308). EJ

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3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 3. Cassutos Differentiation between Elohim and
  Yahweh
• 3.1 The designation, yhla was originally a
  common noun, an appellative, that was applied
  both to the One God of Israel and to the heathen
  gods (so, too, was the name la). Cassuto, The
  Documentary Hypothesis
• 3.2 . . . the name hwhy is a proper noun, the
  specific name of Israels God, the God whom the
  Israelites acknowledged as the Sovereign of the
  universe and as the Divinity who chose them as
  His people. Cassuto

39
3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 3.3 "It selected the name YHWH when the text
  reflects the Israelite concept of God, which is
  embodied in the portrayal of YHWH and finds
  expression in the attributes traditionally
  ascribed to Him by Israel, particularly in His
  ethical character it preferred the name Elohim
  when the passage implies the abstract idea of the
  Deity prevalent in the international circles of
  "wise men"- God conceived as the Creator of the
  physical universe, as the Ruler of nature, as the
  Source of life." Cassuto

40
3.1.4 ELOHIM

• "The Tetragrammaton is used, when the expression
  is given to the direct, intuitive notion of God,
  which characterizes the faith of the multitude or
  the ardor of the prophetic spirit the name
  Elohim, when the concept of thinkers who meditate
  on the lofty problems connected with the
  existence of the world and humanity is to be
  conveyed."
• "The name YHWH occurs when the context depicts
  the Divine attributes in relatively lucid and, as
  it were palpable terms, a clear picture being
  conveyed Elohim, when the portrayal is more
  general, superficial and hazy, leaving an
  impression of obscurity."

41
3.1.4 ELOHIM

• The Tetragrammaton is found when the Torah seeks
  to arouse in the soul of the reader or the
  listener the feeling of the sublimity of the
  Divine Presence in all its majesty and glory the
  name Elohim, when it wishes to mention God in an
  ordinary manner, or when the expression or
  thought may not, out of reverence, be associated
  directly with the Holiest Name."
• "The YHWH is employed when God is presented to us
  in His personal character and in direct
  relationship to people or nature and Elohim,
  when the Deity is alluded to as a Transcendental
  Being who exists completely outside and above the
  physical universe."

42
3.1.4 ELOHIM

• "The Tetragrammaton appears when the reference is
  to the God of Israel relative to His people or to
  their ancestors Elohim, when He is spoken of in
  relation to one who is not a member of the Chosen
  People."
• "YHWH is mentioned when the name concerns
  Israel's tradition and Elohim, when the
  subject-matter appertains to the universal
  tradition. Cassuto

43
3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 4. Problems with the Name of God criterion for
  Source Critical Divisions
• 4.1 Can not be applied consistently i.e.,
  supposed E text of Gen 22.11 uses YHWH in Gen
  2-4 it is usually YHWH Elohim in J.
• 4.2 Editorial rationale is weak in spite of the
  Ex 6.2c-3 and 3.13-15.
• 4.3 Easy solution of name interchange, i.e.,
  "YHWH is the covenant name of God, which
  emphasizes his special relationship to Israel.
  Elohim speaks of God's universality as God of all
  earth. To put it simply, Elohim is what God is
  and YHWH is who he is." Garret, Rethinking
  Genesis

44
3.1.4 ELOHIM

• 4.4 The idea that J thought the patriarchs knew
  YHWH, while E and P did not is not true. Note
  the problem of Gen 4.26 (J) Ex 3.13-15 (E) Ex
  6.2-8 (P).
• 4.5 Using the divine name as a source criterion
  is contrary to all ancient Near eastern
  analogies.

45
3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 1. General
• 1.1 "When it stands alone, and with prefixed
  prepositions or the conjunction ??-, and, the
  name is always written with the four Hebrew
  letters ???, ??, ???, ??-, and is for that reason
  called the Tetragrammaton. In this form the name
  appears more than 6,000 times in the OT. Shorter
  forms of the divine name occur in personal names.
  At the beginning of names the form is ??????- or
  the contracted form ???- at the end of names,
  -?????? or -????." Thompson, Yahweh, ABD
  (6,828X)?

46
3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 2. Pronunciation
• 2.1 "The pronunciation of ???? as Yahweh is a
  scholarly guess. Hebrew biblical mss were
  principally consonantal in spelling until well
  the current era. The pronunciation of words was
  transmitted in a separate oral tradition. The
  Tetragrammaton was not pronounced at all, the
  word ?????????, my Lord, being pronounced in
  its place ?????????, God, was substituted in
  cases of combination ?????????????? (305 times
  e.g., Gen 15.2). (This sort of reading in MT is
  called a ??????????????.) Though the consonants
  remained, the original pronunciation was
  eventually lost. When the Jewish scholars (called
  Masoretes) added vowel signs to biblical mss some
  time before the 10th century AD, the
  Tetragrammaton was punctuated with the vowels of
  the word Adonai or Elohim to indicate that
  that the reader should read Lord or God
  instead of accidentally pronouncing the sacred
  name (TDOT, 5, 501-02)."

47
3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 2.2 "The form Jehovah results from reading the
  consonants of the Tetragrammaton with the vowels
  of the surrogate word Adonai. The dissemination
  of this form is usually traced to Petrus
  Galatinus, confessor to Pope Leo X, who in 1518
  AD transliterated the four Hebrew letters with
  the Latin letters ???? together with the vowels
  of Adonai, producing the artificial form
  Jehovah. (This confused usage may, however,
  have begun as early as 1100 AD. . . . While the
  hybrid form Jehovah has met much resistance, and
  is universally regarded as an ungrammatical
  aberration, it nonetheless passed from Latin into
  English and other European languages and has been
  the hallowed by usage in hymns and the ASV. . . ."

48
3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 2.3 "The generally acknowledged vocalization
  Yahweh is a reconstruction that draws on
  several lines of evidence. The longer of the two
  reduced suffixing forms of the divine, ???? and
  ??????, indicates that the name probably had the
  phonetic shape /????-/ with a final vowel. The
  vowel is supplied on the basis of the observation
  that the name final vowel /??/ this inference is
  confirmed by the element ?????? occurring in the
  names in the Amorite language. In the Aramaic
  letters from Elephantine in Egypt (ca. 404 BC
  ANET, 491-92), the divine name occurs in the
  spelling yhw, probably with the vocalization
  /?????/ (TDOT 5505). Instances of the divine
  name written in Greek letters, such as ???
  (equivalent to Yaho), ???? (known to the
  Samaritans, Theodoret 4th century AD, and
  Epiphanius), ?????, ?????? (Clement of Alexandria
  3d century), and ??? also favor the form
  Yahweh (NWDB, 453).

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3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 2.4 Mettinger also notes
• 2.4.1 . . . the name which is above every name.
  (Phil 2.9) which is influenced by Lev 24.10-16
• 2.4.2 N.B. Pss 42-83 (the Elohist Psalms)?
• 2.4.3 Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls use an archaic
  lettering for the Tetragrammaton

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3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 3. Meaning
• 3.1 "The meaning of the name is unknown.
  Arguments favoring particular meaning have been
  for the most part grammatical. The name has long
  been thought to be a form of the verb ???????, an
  older form of the Hebrew verb -???????, to be.
  The reconstructed from ??????? is parsed as
  either a third-person Qal imperfect of this verb
  or as the corresponding form of the causative
  stem. This analysis is encouraged by theological
  notions of God as one who is, or who exists, or
  who causes existence. Thus the explanation of
  Yahweh in Exod 3.14, I am who I am, is a folk
  etymology based on the verb. The analysis of the
  name as a causative falters on the grammatical
  point observed by Barr that the causative of
  this verb does not occur in Hebrew elsewhere.
  However, the name could be a unique or singular
  use of the causative stem."

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3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 3.2 Possible Meanings According to Mettinger
• 3.2.1 As a "vocative" ya and huwa (He) "He!"
  (Isa 43.10, 13 Deut 32.39)?
• 3.2.2 Arabic hwy meaning "to fall" or "scatter"
  therefore the meaning "the one who sows seeds"

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3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 4. Theological Significance
• 4.1 Exodus 6.2-3
• The Context of 6.2-9
• Functions as the greatest guarantee of the
  promise.
• 4.2 Exodus 3.13-15
• The Context of a "call narrative"
• Functions as an proof of the "call" and
  "commission"
• 4.3 Other Texts of Interest Deut 33.2-3 Judg
  5.4-5 (Ps 68.7-8, 17-18) Hab 3.3ff.

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3.1.5 hwhy YAHWEH

• 4.4 Egyptian Sources (Amenophis III 1400BCE
  Ramses II 1250BCE)?
• Shasu bedouins
• Yhw in the land of the Shasu bedouins
• Seir in the land of the Shasu bedouins
• 4.5 Relations to the verb "to be" in Exodus
  3.13-14.
• 4.6 G-Stem (Qal) - He is! I am
• 4.7 H-Stem (Hiphil) "Creator"
• 4.8 He is here and now helping God's active
  presence to help.

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Yahweh Asherah

• Inscription in a tomb at Khirbet el-Qom (750
  BCE)
• Uriah, the rich (man), wrote it. Blessed is
  Uriah by YHWH from his enemies he delivered him
  by his asherah. By Oniah. And by his asherah, his
  asherah. . . .

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Yahweh Asherah

• Inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud (9th-8th BCE)
• . . . And in the way of El . . . Blessed (is)
  Baal on the day of . . . The name of El on the
  day of . . . .
• Belonging to Obadyaw, the son of Adna. He is
  blessed by YHWH.
• Said E . . . the . . . Say to Y . . . And
  Yoasah and to X and Y I have blessed you by
  YHWH of Samaria and by his asherah!
• Amaryaw said Say to my lord, Is it well? I bless
  you by YHWH of Teman and by his asherah. May he
  bless you and may he keep you and may he be with
  my lord . . .

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Qudsh in Egypt
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Yahweh Asherah

• "The ancient versions failed to recognize that OT
  Asherah was the name of a goddess, and it was
  only with the discovery of the Ugaritic texts
  that scholars as a whole were convinced that this
  was one of the basic meanings of the word in the
  OT. The places where the name Asherah seems to
  denote the goddess rather than her cult object
  are 1 Kgs 1513 1819 2 Kgs 217 234, in
  addition to Judg 37, where the plural form
  Asheroth appears." Day

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Yahweh Asherah

• "It is quite clear, however, from a number of OT
  references that the Asherim were man-made
  objects verbs used in connection with them
  include make (1 Kgs 1415 1633 2 Kgs 1716
  213, 7 2 Chr 333), build (1 Kgs 1423), and
  erect (2 Kgs 1710), which are inappropriate
  for living trees. It should also be noted that
  Jer 172 speaks of their Asherim beside every
  luxuriant tree, which would be odd if the
  Asherim were themselves actual trees. This makes
  it impossible to suppose that the Asherim were
  living trees." Day

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Yahweh Asherah
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Yahweh Asherah