Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Patrina" <patrina AT bestmail.us>]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:59:48 -0500, "Karl Randolph"
<kwrandolph AT email.com> said:

> Another issue: the religious practices mentioned in Genesis are not the
> same as in Exodus through Deuteronomy; God put a different set of
> religious practices on the nation of Israel than on individuals apart
> from Israel, which included the Patriarchs.

Well, as an interesting comparison, look at the Levitical offerings and
compare them with offerings in the Temple of Baal (Inscription of
Marseilles), and note how similar Levitical practices were to the
"pagan" Canaanitic ones, including expiatory sacrifices for atonement,
thank offerings, and  sacrifices/offerings of "holy first-fruits",
offerings of cakes, oil, oblations etc.  The thinking is the same, and
the practices are the same, yet anathema to YHWH?  One has to conclude
there is polemic in the biblical texts about the issue of Yahwists not
being like any others.

> Finally, )L El is a title, not a name.

Karl, I don't think it's that simple.  El and Baal are found both in the
context of Personal Names as well as Titles, but I won't speculate here
as to whether one form evolved from the other or not.

Patrina Nuske Small
Adelaide, South Australia
-- 
  Patrina
  patrina AT bestmail.us