Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

In response to Lloyd Barre, let me summarise some points which I have 
basically already made to him, mostly off-list.

I think that Lloyd is confusing two different issues here:

1. Can at least some of the acts attributed to deities (whether El, 
Yahweh or others) be attributed to a real and active divine agency?

2. Were El and Yahweh originally different deities?

Question 1 is ultimately a matter of faith. But it is not a question 
which can be divorced from study of the Hebrew Bible, because some 
scholars (whose thinking tends to be atheist or pantheist) seem to 
rule out a priori any explanation of the text which requires real 
supernatural agency. Thus they reject records of God speaking and of 
miracles as myths, and insist on dating fulfilled prophecy after the 
date of the fulfilment.

Question 2 is a historical one, and is still open. I would accept that 
perhaps at some ancient time El and Yahweh were worshipped by 
different groups and seen as different deities, and that at a later 
stage, by a process of "syncretism", they became identified. I do not 
accept Lloyd's reconstruction of the process, as it conflicts with the 
only evidence which is the record of Genesis and other biblical texts.

Answers of "yes" to questions 1 and 2 lead to a third question: how do 
El and Yahweh relate to the real divine agency? One option might be to 
identify them with separate divine, or at least spiritual and/or 
demonic agencies. Another would be to relate one to a divine agency 
but to understand acts attributed to the other in mythical terms - in 
such a way as (Deutero-)Isaiah saw Yahweh as a real divine agent but 
non-Israelite gods as unable to act. A third option, which I would 
choose, would be to identify both El and Yahweh (also `Elyon and 
perhaps some other non-Israelite deities) with one single divine 
agency; or equivalently to take El and Yahweh as different names of 
the one true God. This option allows both El and Yahweh to act in 
history (though not of course in opposition to one another!) without 
polytheism.

Peter Kirk