Biblical Hebrew Forum

[barre AT freedsl.com]

However we can not expect El (or if you prefer "The bull El") being
the
same with the biblical bull of El. The second ought be identified
rather
with Baal.

I would disagree.  If we allow for syncretism, I see no reason why El
is not always El whether worshipped by the Canaanites, the
Israelites, or the Arameans.  El is El.

There was clearly a very close association between Baal and El/Yahweh
for
the early Israelites, since laters bull (golden calve) images
decorated not
Baal, but El temples.

Yes, Yahweh is closer to Baal than El, but he was neither originally
as he hailed from the deserts of southern Palestine.



Probably was El as a not representational god just imagined as riding
standing on bulls back- so the golden calf (Baal) acted just as a
kind of
Qibla and secondary statist god, inside the El/Yahweh temple. The
believers
knew were inside the temple to direct their prayers to El.

Best regards,

Michael Bányai



LMB




L.M. Barre, Ph.D.
Angelfire.com/ca2/AncientIsrael
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