El
El[a] is a Northwest Semitic word meaning 'god' or 'deity', or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, 'ila, represents the predicate form in the Old Akkadian and Amorite languages.
In Northwest Semitic use, ʼel was a generic word for any god as well as the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being "the god".[13] El is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, El played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both.
For the Canaanites and the ancient Levantine region as a whole, ʼĒl or ʼIl was the supreme god, the father of mankind and all creatures.[33] He also fathered many gods, most importantly Baal, Yam, and Mot, each sharing similar attributes to the Greco-Roman gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades respectively.
As recorded on the clay tablets of Ugarit, El is the husband of the goddess Asherah.
El had a variety of epithets and forms. He is repeatedly referred to as ṯr il ('Bull El' or 'the bull god') and ʾil milk ('El the King').[35] He is bny bnwt ('Creator of creatures'),[36] 'abū banī 'ili ('father of the gods'),[37] and ʾab ʾadm ('father of man').[36] The appellations of "eternal", "creator" and "eternal" or "ancient creator" are "characteristic designations of 'El in Canaanite myths and liturgies".[35] He is ḥātikuka ('your patriarch'). El is the grey-bearded ancient one, full of wisdom, malku ('King'), ʾab šnm ('Father of years'),[36] ʾEl gibbōr ('El the warrior').[37] He is also called lṭpn ʾil d pʾid ('the Gracious One, the Benevolent God') and lṭpn wqdš ('the Gracious and Holy One').
"El" (Father of Heaven / Saturn) and his major son: "Hadad" (Father of Earth / Jupiter), are symbolized both by the bull, and both wear bull horns on their headdresses.
Yahweh
Francesca Stavrakopoulou has argued that Yahweh was originally a storm‑warrior deity operating under the authority of the patriarch-god El, and traces how, through a process she terms “pantheon reduction,” Yahweh gradually assumed El’s status and characteristics within Israelite religion, rather than immediately replacing him in a sudden shift to monotheism.[21] Drawing on extensive Near Eastern archaeological and textual parallels, Stavrakopoulou shows that the biblical Yahweh was originally depicted in early texts with a fully anthropomorphic, sexualised, and even bull-horned body—including feet, limbs, torso, face, and genitals—before later Greek‑Platonic influence recast the deity as immaterial and disembodied.[22] She further highlights inscriptions referencing “Yahweh and his Asherah”, indicating a former divine consort akin to El’s spouse—an element later removed during proto‑monotheistic reforms.[21]
One scholarly position is that the identification of Yahweh with El is a later interpretation. Earlier Yahweh was thought of as one of many gods, separate from El. Theological interpretations of the Hebrew Bible consider El as an alternative name for Yahweh. This is in contrast to the Elohist and Priestly traditions in which El is considered to be an earlier deity than Yahweh.[50] Mark Smith has argued that Yahweh and El were originally separate, but were considered synonymous from very early on.[51] The name Yahweh is used in Genesis 2:4, while Genesis 4:26 says that at that time, people began to "call upon the name of the LORD". El's title of "El Shaddai", which envisions him as the "god of the steppe", may also derive from the cultural beliefs of Upper Mesopotamian (i.e. Amurru) immigrants, who were ancestors of the Israelites.
In Genesis 14:18–20 Abraham accepted the blessing of El, when Melchizedek, the king of Salem and high priest of its deity El Elyon blessed him.
It seems almost certain that the God of the Jews evolved gradually from the Canaanite El, who was in all likelihood the "God of Abraham" ... If El was the high God of Abraham—Elohim, the prototype of Yahveh—Asherah was his wife, and there are archaeological indications that she was perceived as such before she was in effect "divorced" in the context of emerging Judaism of the 7th century BCE. (See 2 Kings 23:15) - The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
In some instances, such as in Psalm 29, Yahweh is envisioned as a storm god[58] something not true for El.[59][60] It is Yahweh who is prophesied to one day battle Leviathan the serpent, and slay the dragon in the sea in Isaiah 27:1
Asherah
a goddess in ancient Semitic religions
The Mesha Stele, dated to 840 BCE, mentions the Israelite god Yahweh.[37] Roughly contemporary pottery sherds and plaster inscriptions found at Kuntillet Ajrud mention "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" and "Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah"
Some scholars hold that Asherah was also venerated as Yahweh's consort in ancient Israel (Samaria) and Judah, while other scholars oppose this.
Her name is sometimes ’lt "Elat",[19] the feminine equivalent of El. Her titles often include qdš "holy" and baʽlat, or rbt "lady",[19][20] and qnyt ỉlm, "progenitress of the gods.