, 8th c. BCE, "Blessed is/be Uriyahu by Yahweh"
Periods Philip King and
Lawrence Stager place the history of Yahweh into the following periods: • Late Bronze: 1550–1200BCE • Iron Age I: 1200–1000BCE • Iron Age II: 1000–586BCE • Neo-Babylonian: 586–539BCE • Persian: 539–332BCE Other academic terms often used include First Temple period, from the construction of the
Temple in 957BCE to its destruction in 586BCE, exilic for the period of the Exile from 586 to 539BCE (identical with Neo-Babylonian above), post-Exilic for later periods and Second Temple period from the reconstruction of the Temple in 515BCE until its destruction in 70CE.
Late Bronze Age origins (1550–1200BCE) There is almost no agreement on the deity's origins. Yahweh is not attested other than among the Israelites, and there is no consensus on its etymology, with ('
I Am that I Am'), the explanation presented in
Exodus 3:14, appearing to be a late theological
gloss invented at a time when the original meaning had been forgotten, although some scholars dispute this. Theodor Lewis connects the name to the
Amorite element (
ia-wi), found in personal names in
Mari texts, meaning 'brings to life''causes to exist' (e.g.,
yahwi-dagan = "
Dagon causes to exist"), commonly denoted as the semantic equivalent of the
Akkadian ; though
Frank Moore Cross emphasized that the Amorite verbal form is of interest only in attempting to reconstruct the verbal root of the name "Yahweh", and that attempts to take
yahwi- as a divine epithet should be "vigorously" argued against. In addition, J. Philip Hyatt believes it is more likely that refers to a god creating and sustaining the life of a newborn child rather than the universe. This conception of God was more popular among ancient Near Easterners but eventually, the Israelites removed the association of to any human ancestor and combined it with other elements (e.g., ). Hillel Ben-Sasson states there is insufficient evidence for Amorites using
yahwi- for gods, but he argues that it mirrors other theophoric names and that
yahwi-, or more accurately
yawi, derives from the root
hwy in ''pa'al,'' which means "he will be". One scholarly theory is that "Yahweh" originated in a shortened form of , '
El who creates the hosts', which Cross considered to be one of the cultic names of El. However, this phrase is nowhere attested either inside or outside the Bible, and the two gods are in any case quite dissimilar, with El being elderly and paternal and lacking Yahweh's association with the storm and battles. Even if the above issues are resolved, Yahweh is generally agreed to have a non-causative etymology because otherwise, YHWH would be translated as YHYH. It also raises the question of why the Israelites would want to shorten the epithet. One possible reason includes the co-existence of religious modernism and conservatism being the norm in all religions. Scholar
Gérard Nissim Amzallag, from the
Ben-Gurion University, has posited that Yahweh was originally portrayed as a
fire deity, associated with volcanic activity and metallurgy. Amzallag explains that Gods of metallurgy in the past (
Bronze Age) were revered not only as the Gods of weapons but also Gods of creation. The oldest plausible occurrence of Yahweh's name is in the
Egyptian demonym , 'YHWA [in] the Land of the
Shasu' (
Egyptian: ) in an inscription at
Soleb from the time of
Amenhotep III (1390–1352BCE), the
Shasu being nomads from
Midian and
Edom in northern Arabia. Although it is still uncertain whether a relationship exists between the toponym
yhwꜣ and theonym
YHWH, the dominant view is that Yahweh was from the southern region associated with
Seir, Edom,
Paran and
Teman. There is considerable although not universal support for this view, but it raises the question of how Yahweh made his way to the north. An answer many scholars consider plausible is the
Kenite hypothesis, which holds that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along the
caravan routes between
Egypt and
Canaan. This ties together various points of data, such as the absence of Yahweh from Canaan, his links with Edom and Midian in the biblical stories, and the
Kenite or Midianite ties of
Moses, but its major weaknesses are that the majority of Israelites were firmly rooted in
Palestine, while the historical role of Moses is problematic. It follows that if the Kenite hypothesis is to be maintained, then it must be assumed that the Israelites encountered Yahweh (and the Midianites/Kenites) inside Israel and through their association with the earliest political leaders of Israel. Christian Frevel argues that inscriptions allegedly suggesting Yahweh's southern origins (e.g., "YHWH of Teman") may simply denote his presence there at later times, and that Teman can refer to any southern territory, including Judah. Frevel suggests that
Hazael's conquests in the Kingdom of Israel forced the two kingdoms to cooperate, which spread YHWH worship among Judean commoners. Previously, YHWH was viewed as the patron god of the Judean state.
Doeg the Edomite, for example, is depicted as having no problem in worshiping Yahweh and is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries. Some scholars have explained this notable omission by assuming that the level of similarity between Yahweh and Qōs would have made rejection of the latter difficult. Other scholars hold that Yahweh and Qōs were different deities from their origins, and suggest that the tensions between Judeans and Edomites during the Second Temple period may lie behind the omission of Qōs in the Bible.
Late Iron Age (1000–586BCE) Michael D. Coogan wrote "Many biblical writers frequently used polytheistic concepts, depicting Yahweh as the head of a large pantheon whose members advised him and celebrated his accomplishments. This pantheon functioned, as in Mesopotamian and Greek religion, as a kind of divine council or assembly, under the rule of the high god." , under the inscription "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" (c.800BCE) The late
Iron Age saw the emergence of
nation states associated with specific
national gods: 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. In each kingdom the king was also the head of the national religion and thus the
viceroy on Earth of the national god. 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 (no "God of Judah" is mentioned anywhere in the Bible). Accordingly, there have been different tiers of deities in the original pantheon: El and Asherah on top; followed by
their children, the divine assembly; then followed by traders and craftsman deities; and finally minor deities or messenger gods. It has been argued that Yahweh was originally described as one of the sons of El in
Deuteronomy 32:8–9, and that this was removed by a later emendation to the text: {{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. 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
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). In the 9th centuryBCE, 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 500BCE with legal and prophetic condemnations of the
asherim,
sun worship and worship on the
high places, along with practices pertaining to the dead and other aspects of the old religion. Features of Baal, El, and Asherah were absorbed into Yahweh, and epithets such as
El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone. 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; the Yahweh-alone party, the party of the
prophets and
Deuteronomists, 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. Some scholars date the start of widespread monotheism to the
8th century BCE, and view it as a response to
Neo-Assyrian aggression. In an inscription discovered in
Ein Gedi and dated around 700 BCE, Yahweh appears described as the lord of "the nations", while in
other contemporary texts discovered in
Khirbet Beit Lei (near Lachish) he is mentioned as the ruler of Jerusalem and probably also of Judah.
Monolatrous movements (9th–1st centuriesBCE) Early supporters of a
monolatrist Yahwism faction appear in the 9th–8th centuriesBCE, during the time of Elijah and
Hosea. By ascending to the role of the "Lord of the Land" (), he also absorbs the functions of earlier deities, such as Baal and El. However, this depiction of Yahweh still had only marginal impact under
Josiah, and did not become lasting until the exilic and
post-exilic period. Only in the post-exilic and
prophetic writings, and under influence of
Zoroastrianism, Yahweh becomes a distant and more merciful supreme deity. It is also only then that
Elohim, a term previously referring to the Canaanite High God, becomes an alternative designation for Yahweh. This reconsideration of the former pantheon derives from the monotheistic concept of Persian beliefs at the time, as generally agreed upon by scholars. In the national crisis of the
Babylonian exile, Yahweh is described as the sole deity and absorbs all attributes of previous gods and goddesses. The notion of Yahweh as a supreme deity is described in the 6th-centuryBCE
Second Isaiah. The author's praise for Yahweh is motivated by restoring Israel's confidence into their own historical gods against the deities of their Babylonian enemies. The claim for monotheism is directed against the deities of
Nebuchadnezzar II, who founded his reign on
Marduk and
Nabu. The transition was a gradual one and was not totally accomplished during the First Temple period. At Elephantine, some Jews appear to have worshipped Yahweh and Anath as distinct from Asherah and El during the 5th centuryBCE. Under
Hellenistic influence, Yahwistic beliefs became more exclusive. These beliefs rejected the idea of lesser deities and emanations of deities in favor of Yahweh as an abstract single god. During the
Hellenistic period, the scriptures were translated into Greek by the Jews of the
Egyptian diaspora. Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures render both the names
Yahweh and as (), meaning 'Lord'. Jewish tradition celebrated Yahweh's name at least once a year at the temple by the High Priests at the Day of Atonement. However, after the destruction of the Second Temple, Yahweh's name ceased to be used. The
Secret Book of John reinterpreted the Genesis story under Hellenistic influence and proposes that Eve copulated with
Yaldabaoth and gave birth to two sons: Abel and Cain, identified with
Elohim and Yahweh respectively. The former is said to be righteous and the latter injust. By murdering his brother, and corrupted by his father, he brings envy and death into the world. ==Worship==