Not Your Teacher's Podcast-Hebrew Names of God

The origin and meaning of the names of God, such as Elohim and Yahweh, have been debated by scholars. The name El is believed to have been the chief pagan god in the region of Israel. Elohim is a plural noun, while El is singular. Yahweh, the most common form of God's name, has a difficult origin to determine. It is associated with the covenant between God and Israel. There is evidence that suggests Yahweh may not have been the only god worshipped in Israel, with references to Baal and Asherah. The exact origins and etymology of these names remain uncertain due to a lack of sources and varying archaeological evidence. The Hebrew Bible also mentions the worship of other gods by the Israelites. Scholars have differing views on the structure and sources of the Hebrew Bible. Further exploration of these topics can be found in books by Moira Byrne, Jonathan M. Golden, Richard Elliott Freedman, and Joel S. Baden. When you typically think about the name of God, you imagine a picture of an old man with a white beard striking down his foes. While this may be the image we often portray of God, where does the name come from? The term God is synonymous with the deity of the Abrahamic faith, typically. Yet, the word God originates within possibly Germanic gut, which means that which is invoked, or the Greek prefix, guttu, to pour. Guttu is also in correlation with kind to create poured earth through gutta gaia. It is very well possible that the Germanic form could have originally derived from the Greek. While we may have been able to establish the possible origin of the English version of the name God, what about a more traditional, and by that I mean biblical, approach to the name God? Typically, people aren't very aware that there is more than one name for God, especially within the Hebrew Bible. For one example, let's look at Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This is one of the most famous and well-known verses of the Bible. However, what if we looked at the actual Hebrew form of this verse? Bereshit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim et ha-eretz. If someone doesn't know Hebrew, this line would be clearly very confusing. So let's break it down really quickly. Bereshit, in beginning, bara Elohim, God. Elohim equals God within Genesis 1.1. But what was its origin, and how did it continue to change throughout the Bible to other phrases, such as eventually Adonai and Yahweh? First, let's start with the name El. The name El has received much attention recently due to the discovery of the Ugaritic text, which infers that the use of the name El is more of a term of a personal god, rather than just a generic name for God. El, throughout the Hebrew Bible, has typically been combined with Yahweh. And throughout the scripture, the name El is usually accompanied with epithets, such as the Great El, or the El Doing Wonders. The theologian-scholar Richard Elia Friedman, within his text Who Wrote the Bible, mentions El was initially the chief pagan god of the region of Israel. Unlike the other god of the region, Hadu the Storm God, El was not recognized within a certain element. The term El is more often referred to as a singular form, while Elohim is a plural noun. Yet this leads to a question when reading Bible verses, such as Genesis 1.1. The phrase, God created the heavens and the earth, clearly appears singular. As mentioned by Moira Byrne, there is no clear etymological explanation for the names of God. Scholars have debated over the exact origins of these names. Jonathan M. Golden exhibits the idea Elohim derives from El, as Elohim add, all gods were subsumed by the One. This ties into the possible correlation development of the name of Elohim. Now let's move on to another name, Yahweh. The term Yahweh has a difficult origin to exactly pin down. Yahweh, also referenced as the Tetragrammaton, appears as the most common form of God's name within the Hebrew Bible, with it being mentioned over 6,000 times. The original pronunciation has actually been lost to time, with the modern era incorporating it as pronounced Yahweh, adding in the vowels. There have been attempts to use Exodus 3.13-14 as reference to the actual meaning of the name Yahweh. Yet this passage provides difficulty as God speaks to Moses in the first person. I am who I am. Or in the Hebrew, Esher, Asher, Esher. Joel Baden states this Hebrew phrase is seen as possibly a pun for Yahweh. In 1909, Paul Hopf was the first to recognize Yahweh was possibly read in the first person. From the perspective of William Albright, Yahweh means he causes to be. Yahweh has also been recognized as the name in relation to the covenant between God and Israel, as Elohim typically falls prior to the creation of the covenant within the Hebrew Bible. This is stated best by Amora Byrne in The Names of God in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She states, As evident, the name Yahweh denotes a singular being, a more personal God with the people of Israel. Yet there is evidence that suggests Yahweh was possibly not the only God within Israel. As referenced in passages of Hebrew Bible, there is Baal and not an El, as mentioned in Exodus 3.13-14. Recent archaeological discoveries have suggested that Yahweh may have had a consort named Asherah, which as late as the 7th century B.C. was alive within the minds of Israelites. Jonathan Golden mentions Asherah was not the only Canaanite deity to stand out from the rest. Within the northern part of Israel, there was Depthism, where both Yahweh and Baal were interchangeable. This fact that other gods were acknowledged and possibly even worshipped does raise questions about the origin of Yahweh. As previously mentioned, Yahweh was not the only God within Israel. As previously stated, the exact origin and etymological sources of the Hebrew name of God vary due to a lack of sources and deferring archaeological evidence. It does have to be mentioned that there are some problems lying due to the deferring control of religious practices in the lands of Israel throughout antiquity, as well as their being dependent on different sources. In regards to the possibility of Yahweh having a wife, some scholars disagree due to the possible grammar of sources, and fearing Asherah may have been a specific object. Yet, throughout the Hebrew Bible, there are references to the Israelites worshipping other gods, inferring the possibility of worship in relation to Asherah, Baal, or other Canaanites. Furthermore, there are deferring views on the actual structure of the Hebrew Bible in relation to sources, especially in regards to such hypotheses as the Fragmentary and the Documentary Hypothesis. If you are interested in further exploring the deferring names of Gods, the names of God in Judaism, Christian, and Islam, a basis for interfaith dialogue by Moira Byrne is an excellent source to further explore the names of God, as well as Ancient Canaan in Israel, an introduction by Jonathan M. Golden. If you are also interested in exploring the difference between the Hebrew Bible and the Documentary Hypothesis, Richard Elliott Freedman, who wrote the Bible, and Joel S. Baden's The Composition of the Pentateuch, renewing the Documentary Hypothesis, can further shed light on the deferring opinions on the sources in regards to the Torah. Thank you for watching!