Are El Elyon & Yah Different Gods?

Introduction

Are El Elyon and Yah (YHWH) two different gods in the Bible?

In recent years this has become a somewhat popular belief amongst some scholars as well as Biblical critics, atheists and conspiracy theorists alike.

The terms “El”, “Elyon”, “Elyown”, and “YHWH” have been used to speak of God throughout the scriptures of the Tanakh (Old Testament). “El” meaning; “god”, “Elyon/Elyown” meaning; “most high”, and “YHWH” or “Yah” being the Divine Name of the God of Israel, meaning; “He is the being who becomes what he becomes” or “He was, he is, and will be”.

Some, however, have attempted to claim that the oldest Biblical texts “distinguish” Yah and El as two different deities, and that El was seen as the “true highest God”, whilst Yah was merely “one of his sons”, a lesser deity or angel who had control of Israel.

This also has played into the views of some secular atheistic critical scholars who would claim the god of Israel was in actuality just one of the many gods of the Canaanite pantheon, who happened to be alongside another god named “El” or “Baal”, who was then merely later “rebranded” by the Hebrews into a monotheistic figure who was one and the same with YHWH.

But is this claim true? Is YHWH a lesser god, or a representative agent of another higher god, in the manner of the Sheliah link between the Father and Son?

Basis of the Claims

These bold claims are made on the basis of the rendition of but one scripture in the Tanakh, in conjunction with some surrounding cultural evidences found in archaeological Canaan and Israel.

We will be examining both of these views, and will begin with scripture.

Scriptural Examination

The scripture in question lies at Deuteronomy 32:8-9:

• “When the Most High (Elyon) divided the nations, when the sons of Adam, He moved apart, He set the borders for all of the nations by the numbers of the messengers (or angelic sons) of God. Jacob (His people), became YHWH’s portion; Israel was what He’d inherit“.

The assertion made by some of this verse, is that YHWH is one of the angelic sons of the Most High, who has been “given” Israel as an inheritance from his Father, in a manner similar to that of Yeshua gaining an inheritance from his Father Yah.

However, rather than completely focusing on just one small part of the passage, we should do well to examine the entire passage to gain a larger context:

• “…Moses spoke the words of this song, teaching it to the whole gathering:
  
  ‘Listen, O heavens, and I’ll speak, may even the ground hear the words from my mouth. May the things that I say be looked for like rain, And may my words fall like dew, like a shower on the plants and snow on the grass.
  
  For, I’ve called on the Name of YHWH, and I’ve spoken of the greatness of God. His works are true, and His ways are all just! He isn’t unrighteous, but faithful! YHWH is holy and fair.
  
  Against Him, they’ve all sinned, For they’re children with spots, a generation of the pushy and perverted. Is this how they pay back YHWH? Are these people all foolish and stupid? Didn’t He become their own Father? Didn’t He purchase them back? Didn’t He form them and make them?
  
  Remember the days of long ago, think of the years of past ages. Ask your fathers and they’ll remind you. Ask your elders and they’ll explain. When the Most High (Elyon) divided the nations, when the sons of Adam, He moved apart, He set the borders for all of the nations by the numbers of the messengers (or angelic sons) of God. Jacob (His people), became YHWH’s portion; Israel was what He’d inherit.
  
  So He kept them alive in land that was dry, and in the desert, [He sated] their thirst. Thereafter, He led them and taught them, and He kept them as the apple of His eye. As an eagle that watches over his brood, and as one that yearns for his young; they were chosen by Him. So [for them], He spread out His wings and He lifted them onto His back. It was only YHWH who led them, when no other gods had they known. He raised them on the strength of the land, and fed them with the fruit of the fields. So, out of rocks, they sucked honey, and out of boulders, sucked oil. With the butter of cows and the milk of their sheep, with the fat of their lambs and their rams, calves, and kids, with the fat of kidneys and wheat. They also drank wine… The ‘blood’ of the grape. So, Jacob ate and was filled.
  
  Then this loved one kicked and grew fat. He soon became thick and broad. And from the God who made him, he turned, from the God who’d saved him, he strayed. With strange gods, they enraged Me, and with loathsome things, made Me mad. To demons, to gods unknown they then sacrificed, and not to God. Then they turned to things that were new, [things] of which their fathers knew not, and they left the God who gave them birth, they forgot the God who provided their food!
  
  YHWH was jealous when He saw this! By His sons and daughters, He was enraged! So He said:
  
  ‘From them, I’ll now turn My face, and I’ll show them what the last days will bring. For, they’re a perverted generation, and they’re unfaithful sons. They’ve made Me angry and jealous, With gods that are nothing at all, and they also disturbed Me with idols. So I’ll make them angry and jealous over others that are not [of your] nation! I’ll enrage them with people whom they never knew! For a fire has been started by My rage, which will burn to the place of the dead down below. It’ll devour their land and its fruitage, and burn to the bottoms of their hills. Evil things, I’ll now bring upon them! I’ll fight them with all of My weapons!
  
  With hunger, they’ll be consumed, and their [bodies] will be eaten by birds! Their destruction won’t be repaired. I’ll send against them the teeth of wild beasts, and the rage of things that crawl on the ground! Their children will be taken from them without swords! And in their beds, they’ll know terror! Young men will be killed with the virgins, as well as the newborn and those who’ve grown old! For I told them that they’d be scattered, as their memory is erased among men! Were it not for their enemies’ rage, they’d have lived a long time. But their enemies will have gathered to attack them. Yet, may their enemies never be able to say: ‘I did this with my own mighty arm’. For, it’s YHWH that will do all these things. They’re a nation that has lost its direction, and there’s no understanding among them. They have no sense, so they won’t understand, that after they’ve made such a choice, this is what will happen to them.’
  
  How can one man chase a thousand, or two men route tens of thousands, unless they’d been sold by their God? If YHWH hadn’t handed them over? Since their [new] gods are not like our God, our enemies won’t understand. For, their vine is like that of Sodom, and the branch of their vines are Gomorrah. All their grapes are like gall, and all their clusters are bitter. Like the rage of snakes is their wine, like the deadly anger of asps.
  
  ‘Look! Weren’t they all assembled by Me? Weren’t they sealed with My treasures? So, in the time of My vengeance, I’ll pay them back, and their feet will be tripped in that day when their destruction has arrived, and My decisions have fallen upon them.’
  
  For, YHWH will judge all His people, and take comfort [in the fall of] His servants. Because He saw they were failing and weak; In a hostile invasion, they’ll [fall].
  
  ‘So, where are these gods in whom you’ve put trust? Where is the fat that they ate? And the wine that you offered, which they drank? Let them arise and come to your aid! Let them become your protectors! ‘Look! Look I exist, there are no gods other than Me! I alone can kill or make it alive! Only I can strike down or heal… They can’t wrest this power from My hands! So I’ll lift My hand to the heavens and swear; Yes, by My right hand, I can say: I am alive throughout the ages! Then, I’ll grab hold of My sword, and make it like lightning, there in My hand. I’ll grab My enemies and judge them in justice, and pay back all those who hate Me. My weapons will then be drunk on their blood, and My sword will devour much flesh! With the blood of the wounded and captured, and the heads of My enemies who ruled them.’
  
  So, rejoice with Him, O you heavens, and may God’s messengers (or angelic sons) all bow low before Him. Rejoice with His people, you nations, and may all of God’s sons be strengthened by Him. For, He will avenge the blood of His sons, and on His enemies, bring vengeance and justice. He’ll bring what’s due to all those who hate Him, when they’re purged from the land of His people.
  
  This was the song that Moses wrote on that day, and which he then taught to the children of Israel”. – Deuteronomy 31:29, 32:1-44

When we read the full song that Moses had written, of which the passage in question is contained, we see a few details we should pay attention to.

We first see that the main focus of the song, is on the God Yah, of Israel. And of him, we are given lofty descriptors of the things he’s said and done.

Former & Adopter of Israel

We are told that it was he who:

• Formed and made Israel
• Chose Israel

These are important details, because if the Most High was indeed a different God from Yah who merely “allotted” Israel to him, then can we really say Yah “made”, “formed” or even “chose” Israel?

If of course, it was true that the “Most High” was different from Yah, then in regard to formation, we might try to understand that “after” YHWH was given Israel from the “Most High”, he then “formed and made them” into the nation they became… However, being “given” something by someone else is the opposite of one taking up their own will to “choose” someone or something, which is one of the major points Moses makes in this passage and throughout the book.

We see that in the passage where the Most High assigned the nations to different sons of God, we’re not given any details that it was something each son had a say in. We are not told he gathered them and said; “which nations do you all want to oversee?”. This would have to be an inferred detail if this was so.

However, the focus of Moses, is that Yah “wanted” Israel for himself. Which is quite a different intent of narrative from then trying to suddenly say Yah was “handed Israel” by the Most High as a job, as it was with all the other sons.

Thus, if the Most High was a different God from Yah, then it might be somewhat difficult to reconcile the idea of the point Moses tries to emphasise, of Yah choosing Israel for himself as a special possession, in contrast to all the other nations who are ruled by “very different gods”.

However, if Yah and the Most High are in fact one in the same individual as is commonly understood, then such difficulty of textual “reconcilation” isn’t even an issue in the first place, but would merely be of the creation of those asserting a false interpretation of the text.

The Only God Israel “knew“

We also see that we’re told by Moses, that they have “known no god but YHWH”. This would seemingly be a strange thing to say right after telling the Israelites to “ask their elders and fathers” about the “time the Most High divided nations”, if the Most High himself was not Yah.

For if they knew no other gods in their life time, how is that they would then have intimate knowledge of another god above YHWH? Would he also not be “their god”, and a god they surely should have “known” or “served”? As “the true God” and “father” of “their god”? Who had given the authority of rulership to their god?

It is clear of course, that the Israelites knew “of” other gods, such as the gods of Cannaan and Egypt, and this is not the same as the phrase “knowing” God, of which implies a sense of intimacy or familiarity…

However, a question we must ask is; would it truly make sense that the previous generation of Israelites could have known of the intimate details of the Most High handing over and dividing the nations, or even the authority and trustworthiness of this anonymous “Most High” god, without having “known” him, in the same manner they did not “know” of any of the other gods of the nations?

The only way this would be possible is if Yah of Israel had said to his people at the beginning of the Exodus or prior, to Abraham; “I have been sent by the Most High, divider of nations, who has given you to me because I wanted you”. But we’re not ever told this in scripture.

In fact the only reference we have to the dividing of nations outside of this verse is the account of Babel from Genesis 11:8–9, which tells us it was Yah who was in fact responsible:

• “So, YHWH scattered them from there over the entire face of the earth, and they stopped building the city and its tower. That is why [the city] is named ‘Confusion,’ because, that’s where YHWH confused all the languages of the earth and scattered them from there over all the face of the earth“.

Thus the only reference we, ‘and’ the Israelites of this time appear to have of any god dividing up the nations, would be YHWH himself. Which again is another line of evidence that the Most High and Yah are in fact the same individual within the context of this passage.

The Uniqueness of Yah

Within this passage we also see how much Moses insists on the uniqueness and power of Yah, in comparison to every single other god of the nations around them.

We are told:

• None of the surrounding gods are like Yah
• Yah is the “God of gods”
• That there are no other gods than Yah
• That Yah is superior to all the other gods
• That only Yah can grant or take away life
• That he lives and will always live forever
• All of the angelic sons of God bow down to him

All of these claims are very high and lofty, it’s being made clear here that Yah is no mere “god” or “angelic son” like the gods of the other nations, but that he is completely superior to the others and can do things they cannot. In fact, it even goes as far to call all those other gods “demons”, whereas Yah amongst them all is not labelled as such.

We are told all of the other sons of God are to bow down or worship Yah, which is something placing Yah above all of these other gods as opposed to merely being his brothers. And this is a description which matches the authority of the Most High in this very passage, as well as others passages in connection to this subject throughout scripture.

For example, in the song of Asaph, we see references of what it means to be God of gods:

• “God stands in the gathering of gods, and among them, He’s passing judgment. So, how long will You judge their injustice And put up with the presence of sinners? Please defend the orphans and the poor, to the afflicted and oppressed, please bring justice! Rescue the weak and the needy, from the hands of sinners, please save them! Yet, the [sinners] don’t know, nor do they perceive (Because they travel in darkness), that the earth will be shaken to its foundations. I said to them: ‘You are gods, you are sons of the Most High (Elyon)! But, like men, you’ll perish too, and like their rulers, you’ll fall.’ So arise, O God, and judge the whole earth, for, You’ll inherit the nations!”. – Psalm 82

We see a clear connection here between this Psalm and what was said of both the Most High and Yah in Deuteronomy 32. Both of them dominate the other gods, and they are both depicted as judges enacting vegence and justice against their enemies, and have control over the nations of the whole earth.

We are also given a confidence that Yah is eternal, and that his etenity is in fact so reliable, that Yah is able to swear upon his own everlasting existence as a declaration of security and confirmation of his promises over Israel. This is an extremly confident statement to make, and perhaps a foolish one, if he in fact was not the most powerful God in all of existence, for a superior God, as we are informed in scripture several times, as we see above in the Psalm, can punish, dominate or even kill lesser gods “as if they were men”.

Yah also tells us here, that there are “no other gods”. This statement of course should be understood in context of the passage, that he is declaring himself to be the “ultimate God”, or “one true God”, in comparison to all of the lesser ones of the other nations mentioned throughout the verses.

If Yah was being haughty and presumptuous in saying these things, then it would make little sense for the “true Most High” to give him so much power which none of the other evil sons of God have, over the nation which we are told in scripture, even in the book of Deuteronomy 32, is the most important nation for God’s promises for mankind. Nor would it make sense for Moses to write about Yah in such a positive light saying these things, whilst knowingly and openly declaring that there was a “higher god” above him at the same time.

Of course, one might suppose that, these lofty titles, positions and powers, were merely “granted” to Yah by the “Most High”, in a similar manner what we see Yah, who is called “king of kings and lord of lords” grant other lesser beings such titles:

• It’s a fact that your God is the God of gods, Lord of lords, and King of kings“. – Daniel 2:47
• “Arthasastha (the king of kings) to the Priest Ezra, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven“. – Ezra 7:12
• “And YHWH said this; O Tyre; I’ll bring Nebuchadnezzar out of the north (Yes, this king of kings) – Ezekiel 26:7
• Then they’ll go and fight against the Lamb. But because he’s the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb and those who are with him (the called, elected, and faithful) will conquer them”. – Revelation 17:14

However, if we are to assert that Yah is not “truly” the God of gods, but that this is merely a contextual title granted to him by the Most High above him, then we would have to seek out clarification or proof of Yah actually serving or worshipping a different god above him, and this is not something we see… unless taking into consideration of the “two powers of Heaven” or “two YHWHs” theology, which in itself an entire topic of its own and deserves an article all of itself to fully cover.

But to explain in short, the “two YHWHs” is an ancient Jewish theology, which understood there to be a “true YHWH” and “lesser YHWH” who’s name was given to him because of being his agent or “sheliah”, and is often associated with the Sonship of Yeshua, the Only-Begotten by those of us who are Christian.

“…the “original model” for the two powers idea was the role of the vice-regent of the divine council. The paradigm of a high sovereign God (El) who rules heaven and earth through the agency of a second, appointed god (Baal) became part of Israelite religion… For the orthodox Israelite, Yahweh was both sovereign and vice regent… The ancient Israelite knew two Yahwehs—one invisible, a spirit, the other visible, often in human form… During the Second Temple period, Jewish theologians and writers speculated on an identity for the second Yahweh. Guesses ranged from divinized humans from the stories of the Hebrew Bible to exalted angels. These speculations were not considered unorthodox. That acceptance changed when certain Jews, the early Christians, connected Jesus with this orthodox Jewish idea“. – Michael Heiser, Two Powers in Heaven

We see certain scriptures of this concept in action, especially in the book of Isaiah, where it appears that Yah is speaking to Yah, but one is depicted as God, the other as a servant of God who is lesser than him in both knowledge and power…

• “And then YHWH said… YHWH gave me a tongue to instruct and a knowledge of when to speak the right words…” – Isaiah 50:1, 4

But it is only a concept we see appear in scripture when the passage makes it very clear that another being is acting on behalf of Yah, and is often called a “messenger” or a “son” of Yah.

What is also important to consider is that this “two YHWHs” concept, uses ‘Yah’ as the focal point for the reference of the superiority of the agency relationship. In other words, if Yah was merely being granted titles in a sense that he was being the “lesser agent” of the true God, then it would be more likely that we’d see Yah being “named after” the true “Most High” God, but we never ever see Yah in scripture being attributed another god’s name, as opposed to Yah’s own servants often having the name of Yah attributed to them, or embedded within their own birth names.

We see this with Yeshua, in that at times he’s given attribution of his Father’s name, and that his own name actually means “YHWH is salvation”.

We also see many confirmations that Yah’s servants and representatives are just that – servants. Scripture makes it clear that even when attributed with his name or lofty titles in agency, they have ‘recieved’ such things, or have been ‘directed’ by Yah in this. They are often depicted as “less”, and reliant upon the true Yah above them.

However, when it comes to Yah the God of Israel, we see it is him, and his name above all, who is constantly given the title “God of gods”, and is portrayed constantly throughout scripture to be more powerful than and in charge of all the other gods, as independant. And we are never told that the individual who is this true highest Yah and God of Israel, answers to anyone else, and all accounts of “two powers”, always have beings who are called “Yah” answering to “Yah”, but never is Yah answering to someone who is “not Yah”.

“Yah” we see, is the “finality” of what a being can be called when it comes to power and authority. And for good reason, in that the Divine Name means he his the “being who becomes” and “is, was, will be”. There is no grander statement or meaning that can be expressed by a name.

We even see this at Deuteronomy 6:4–9, which recites the famous Shema of Israel;

• “Hear, O Israel: YHWH IS our God, YHWH is One”.

If then, it were true that the Yah of Deuteronomy 32 ‘was’ a lesser god answering to another who was the “true Most High”, that being also would have been called Yah, who in turn would have been making the other being below him his direct representative, including powers, names and authorities. And such a relationship would have had to have been ‘very’ special indeed, for him to be given all these things, whilst calling all the other sons of God ruling the other nations, lesser demons in the proccess.

Such a description if it truly being the case that the Yah of the passage does answer to a God above him, in my mind can match no other than what we know to be the Word; Yeshua, the Only-Begotten Son of God… However, it would seem to me personally based on the internal evidence and style of the passage so far which focuses on Yah being this ultimate god of all, that Yah and the “Most High” are simply the same being, and that it is not describing Yah as being appointed by another god.

Yah is called the Most High (Elyon)

To put a final scriptural seal on the confirmation that Yah is in fact one in the same with the Most High, we also should pay attention to the fact that Yah is plainly called the “Most High” throughout the scriptures, by both Israelites, and non-Israelites who were from before Israel existed.

When looking further into scripture for references to the Most High, we see consistantly that it is infact, Yah himself who is called this “Most High” (Elyon) being:

• “…Melchizedek (the king of Salem)…. was also the Priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abram there, saying: ‘May Abram of the Most High God who made the heavens and the earth, be blessed! …Abram said to the king of Sodom: ‘I swear by YHWH/THE LORD (MT/LXX) the Most High God who made the heavens and the earth…”. – Genesis 14:18, 22
• “May this be considered the worst of my crimes, for I’ve lied to the Most High YHWH.” – Job 31:28
• “YHWH thundered from out of the sky, and the Most High spoke with His voice”. – Psalm 18:13
• “Fear YHWH, for He’s the Most High; Yes, He’s the King of the earth!” – Psalm 47:2
• “O God, to whom can You be compared? O God, don’t remain silent. For, Look! Your enemies have shouted their battle cries, and those who hate you have now raised their heads. Against Your people, they’ve planned treachery! Yes, against Your holy ones, they’ve gathered. They’re saying: ‘Come, let us destroy them, So they’re no longer a nation, may Israel’s name be forgotten!’ …Let them know that Your Name is YHWH, and that You alone are God the Most High!” – Psalm 83:18
• “Those who live in the care of the Most High and lodge under the God of heaven’s protection will say: ‘You’re my refuge and shield. You’re my God, and You’re the One whom I trust…. ’O YHWH, You’re the One whom I trust… If you’ll make the Most High your refuge, nothing bad will approach you and the whip won’t enter your tent. For, to His messengers (or Angels), He will give orders. He’ll tell them to keep an eye on your ways”. – Psalm 91:1-2, 9-11
• “It’s good to praise You, O Most High YHWH, and to strum to Your Name…” – Psalm 92:1
• “…Thus says the Most High God in the heights, The One who rests in His Most Holy Place, that place where He dwells throughout the ages, In His Most–Holy of Holies. YHWH is His Name. He’s the One who is patient with the meek And gives life to those who have broken hearts:” – Isaiah 57:15

We see here, Yah, the very same God of Israel, the one who oversees them and has them as his possession, is recognised as ‘the’ Most High, one and the same quite explictly.

We see nothing in scripture of Yah being “given the title” of Most High, as it is with other agents, or representatives of God. Rather only do we ever see Yah himself ‘giving out’ titles to others.

A Recap

Going over all the details we’ve discussed so far of what we can attain from scripture. We have seen that:

• Yah is the highest name in scripture
• Lesser beings are always named ‘after’ Yah, never vice versa
• Yah is the the only one to be called “God of gods”
• Yah, God of Israel, is directly called “Most High” by Israelites and non-Israelites
• All of the angelic sons of God bow down or worship to him
• Yah is superior to all the other gods
• None of the surrounding gods are like Yah
• There are no other truer gods than Yah
• Only Yah can grant or take away life
• That Yah lives and will always live forever
• Yah personally chose Israel
• Yah was the one who divided the nations
• Yah was the only God Israel “knew”
• Israel insisted on the Shema, that Yah was “one” God, not a lesser god with a true God above him

Thus, we have extremly rock solid Biblical evidence, that the Most High of Deuteronomy, is the exact same being who is also called Yah.

Was the Bible Edited to Become Monotheistic?

Some would claim, that all the evidence pertaining to Yah being called the Most High, was a result of later edits, to make YHWH conform with the “later monotheisitic beliefs”, and that they simply “missed one verse” which is what we see in Deuteronomy.

This idea is a popular accusation imposed upon the Bible by some critics, and is commonly known as the “Documentary Hypothosis” or “JEPD Hypothosis” (something in itself I shall devote an article to in time).

However, if it was a case that the later Jewish scribes merely “became monotheistic”, and tried to rebrand or disguise Yah as being one in the same with the “Most High”, then they’ve done a pretty poor job by missing out one of the most important key scriptures for thousands of years of meticulous hand-written scribal copying and daily reading, which would seemingly call Yah one of the sons of God, if was such the linguistic meaning of the passage or textual construct.

Even to this day, this passage is read by both Jews and Christians, and it doesn’t seem to have bothered any believers in the slightest. Only those “reading into” the text appear to begin seeing things that initially most people don’t even see was there.

However, there have been no attempts to try and alter what this text says or how it presents it, with exception to some modern translations changing the “sons of God” to “sons of Israel”, but we don’t see this in the scrolls themselves, and such a change in rendition, does not remove the descriptors of the Most High and YHWH, of which is the main highlight of those claiming there is a difference in identity between the two.

The burden of proof lies with those claiming that Yah was not always known as the Almighty Most High God of Israel to the Hebrews in scripture, and not with those of us who simply read what scripture is evidently providing us and has been providing us with for thousands of years, and no ancient historical text says otherwise concerning the Hebrews.

Meanwhile, most readers understand that there is no evidence of Yah being portrayed as a lesser god at all, but it simply says the Most High, who is Yah, divided the nations in accordance to the Genesis story, and allowed them to be ruled over by his sons, who had become false gods, meanwhile, he himself took care of Israel for his special purposes, to fulfill his promises to Abraham, and this reading fits perfectly with the subsequent passages of Yah’s almightiness, which continues to flow through the Deuteronomy narrative, and with the rest of the Bible.

Is Yah the Canaanite god Baal or El?

But as formentioned, scripture is not the only thing people use to try and assert the idea that Yah was actually a lesser god subject to another or part of some pagan pantheon.

“El” & “Baal”

Some misinformed “scholars” would assert YHWH is a “pagan desert god” named “El” or “Baal”, which the Israelites adopted from their neighbouring Canaanites into their own collection of gods they worshipped, before progressing into monotheism.

This assertion in part comes from a terrible misunderstanding of the language and culture of the time.

As explained in my article on “gods and angels“, these phrases were not the names of gods, but rather, were general terms of the day used to refer to any deity, just as it is today when different religions say they believe in “God”. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, all use the phrase “God” in their worship, but this does not mean we all worship the same God because we share the same phrase.

• When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty (El Shaddai); walk before me faithfully and be blameless”. – Genesis 17:1

In Hebrew, “El” means “god”, “Shaddai” means “almighty”. Therefore, El-Shaddai is “god almighty”, it is not YHWH being attributed the name of a pagan deity, or some kind of merger of two seperate gods. Rather it is just a shared generic term of the time and culture, no different to how we speak and share terms today.

Likewise with Baal, it simply means “Lord” in the general sense. In the New Testament Yeshua is accused of being in league with “Beelzebul” at Matthew 12:27, which comes from Hebrew “Baal-Zebub”, meaning “Lord Zebub”, a deity of the Philistines (2 Kings 1:16).

Again likewise, the term “Elyon” just means “most high”, and is a ‘title’ NOT a name.

Therefore, the idea that Yah is a false Canaanite god merely based on the term “El”, is ludicrous, and is based upon a terrible misunderstanding of language.

A Pagan Desert or Thunder God?

Another assersion made by some, is that Yah is a “pagan god of the desert, simply because he is described in scripture to be “riding the desert”, and such descriptions also found in other neighbouring cultures and their texts regarding their own gods.

However, this again, as with languages, is just a expression of the culture of the times. When God is described to “ride the clouds” or “deserts”, in Psalms 68:4, this is merely a generic description of his power, and his authority over the land, which is nothing out of the ordinary, as we see throughout scripture that he is the God of the sea, of the heavens, and of the stars. Yes, he’s described as a God of many elements, because he’s said to be the creator of them all.

Likewise, God was also known “God of the land of Israel”, thus the idea of him being a “pagan desert god”, likewise is a likely misunderstanding of a phrase which was used in ancient times, to refer to God as the “God of the people of Israel”, or the “desert plains of Israel”. All the ancient gods, as described in scripture, were “gods of their lands” or territories, but the God of Israel was on a quest to take back the nations from these lesser gods (Psalm 82).

Pantheons Containing Yah in Israel and Canaan Did Exist

It is of course true, that the God of Israel would have been known amongst the people of Canaan as archeology has made a point of, as even scripture itself says he was famous and well known amongst the nations. So it would be no surprise if we found Yah worshipped by other people, who wished to add him to their own personal pantheons of their gods in their own culture.

For example, we are told that God had “waited until the sin of the Amorites was full” (Genesis 15:16), which implies that he must have had some kind of relationship with them in order to wait on them change their ways, otherwise it’s not much of a warning.

We even see in ancient Rome, where some would evoke the name of YHWH in their magical rituals, hoping it would give them power, because he was known as such a famous poweful god of the Near East.

Similarly, some ancient Canaanite and Ugaritic artifacts contain inscriptions claiming Yah was one of their gods who had a female consort or fertility goddess wife named “Asherah”, and likewise, this appears to be mentioned in scripture as a practice and belief the God of Israel was opposed to and forbade in his law, by mention of the “cutting down of the Asherah poles” (Deuteronomy 16:21).

We also know from scripture, that Israel often slipped into idol worship, and worship of false gods, which they had to be corrected for (Ezekiel 14:6, 2 Kings 18:4), which would explain why Israel is sometime littered with pagan idols in archelogical finds.

But this is not to say that Yah “originated” as a mere lesser god in some pagan pantheon who was changed or altered in scripture over time. It simply means people recognised YHWH, and included him within their pantheons, even if without his approval, as in the early days the “people did what they wanted” (Judges 21:25).

Though the Bible teaches us that Israel were to be a monotheistic nation, it’s actually likely that Hebrews started out as a idol users or even polytheists in their early days just as some historians would tell us… But not because the narratives of the scriptures are false, but because before they had come to know YHWH, they were surrounded by pagan culture, and hence had to be ‘taught’ God’s ways and laws, just as the Bible tells us, beginning with Abraham (Joshua 24:1-3, Exodus 32, Deuteronomy 32:46).

Hence, such historical and archaeological finds do not contradict scripture, but only confirms what scripture has told us the whole time. The Bible does not try to hide that people tried to mix false and true worship together, it’s rather explict that they did.

Conclusion

When looking to the actual evidence that mounts up from scripture overall, and the general historical linguistic evidence of how simple words were used and understood, it rather easily shoots down the notion of the sceptics who would advocate the notion of “Canaanite Yahwism” being the “origin of the Israelite God”, and the notion of Yah being some kind of lesser god subservient to a “higher god name El or Elyon” in Israelite or Biblical textual history.

It is nothing more than an inflated conspiracy theory, born of atrocious lack of reading comprehesion and understanding of ancient languages and culture, which has been unduely promoted by antitheisitic Bible critics and antisemites.

But in reality, actually doesn’t have all that much if anything going for it at all.

So in conclusion, are El Elyon and Yah two different gods in the Bible? Is Yah a Canaanite god of origin? Was El a part of an early Israelite pantheon and scriptural tradition that was later merged into the figure of Yah via ingeniously spliced and diced Bible texts? No. I don’t think so.