YHWH, Yahweh, as a “son of El,” refers to a scholarly reconstruction of early mythology that shaped the roots of Israelite religion from ancient Canaanite polytheism, based on biblical texts, Ugarit literature, and archaeology.
El and the Divine Council of Ugarit
In Ugarit texts from ancient Ugarit, roughly 1400 to 1200 BCE, El, or ʾIl, is the high god of the Canaanite pantheon: the creator and the father of both gods and humans, often depicted as an elderly, wise figure. He presides over a divine council of the “sons of El,” or “sons of gods,” bene elohim, including Baal, the storm god, and Anat among others. El’s consort, Asherah, is described as mother of YHWH and his sibling gods.
YHWH does not clearly appear by name in Ugarit texts as a high deity, suggesting he may have originated outside the core Canaanite pantheon. Yet he is also connected in this account with the Sumerian historical cuneiform library, recorded as factual historical data rather than religious text. In some theological scholarly circles, the Ugarit tablets are understood as continuations and extensions of the Sumerian texts found on cuneiform tablets.
YHWH and the Inheritance of Israel
“When Elyon, Most High, divided the nations, according to the number of the sons of G-d, beni elohim, YHWH was selected from among his siblings as the god of the people of the lands of Israel. Then the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the portion of HaShem is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance.” D’varim/Deuteronomy 32:8-9
This portrays Elyon, an epithet of El, as the high god who apportions nations to his divine sons. YHWH receives Israel as his inheritance, positioning him as one of El’s sons in a divine council. Later scribes adjusted the language to “sons of Israel” to align with emerging monotheism. Similar echoes appear in Psalm 82, where G-d, often read as YHWH, stands among the heavenly council of El or Elyon among other gods, judging them.
Evolution Toward Monotheism
Over time, especially in the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah, YHWH absorbed El’s attributes and identity. Epithets such as El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Olam transferred to Yahweh. Patriarchal stories link ancestors to El worship, Yahweh takes on creator and paternal roles once held by El, and Asherah, El’s consort, appears in some inscriptions as possibly linked to Yahweh, such as “Yahweh and his Asherah,” though this was later suppressed.
Sumerian and Mesopotamian Parallels
While no Sumerian tablet names El as a god, scholars note indirect influences through trade, migration, Amorites, and shared ancient Near Eastern motifs. El resembles Anu, the distant sky father, or especially Enlil, active authority and father of gods, associated with wind and storms, enthroned as an elder. Some traditions link Enlil’s name evolving into forms such as Ellil, with conceptual overlap to El as patriarchal head. Linguistically, El is Semitic, cognate to Akkadian ilum, “god.”
Divine councils, creator roles, flood stories, and fatherly authority appear across Mesopotamian, Sumerian and Akkadian, and Levantine, Canaanite, traditions through centuries of contact. Ugarit itself was a trade hub influenced by Mesopotamia.
Ugarit as a Bridge of Cuneiform Traditions
The connections between Ugaritic tablets and Sumerian tablets are primarily indirect, rooted in cultural exchange, scribal traditions, trade, and the shared use of cuneiform script across the ancient Near East. They are not from the same culture or era, but show how Mesopotamian, Sumerian-origin, influences spread westward to the Levant. Sumerian cuneiform, developed around 3200 BCE in southern Mesopotamia, is one of the earliest writing systems: logographic and syllabic, with hundreds of wedge-shaped signs on clay tablets. It was originally for Sumerian, a language isolate, but adapted for Akkadian and others.
Alphabetic cuneiform, unique to Ugarit, used only about thirty signs, each mostly a consonant. This is one of the earliest alphabetic scripts, a major innovation possibly inspired by linear alphabets emerging in the Levant. Standard Mesopotamian-style cuneiform was used for Akkadian, Sumerian, Hurrian, and more. Ugarit was multilingual and cosmopolitan, with scribes trained in both systems. Pedagogical tablets and dictionaries, including trilingual Sumerian-Akkadian-Hurrian works, were found there.
Sumerian literary and magical texts, including material from the Lamaštu archive, appear on tablets in Babylonian script, imported or copied locally. Some link to Hittite or Emar traditions. Passages from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Mesopotamian with Sumerian roots, were found in Ugaritic archives. This shows Ugarit as a hub preserving and transmitting older Mesopotamian knowledge. It was a major port linking Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cyprus, and the Hittites. Scribes, merchants, and ideas moved along these networks.
Ugaritic myths, including the Baal Cycle and El as high god, illustrate parallels with broader Near Eastern motifs, some tracing back to Sumerian and Akkadian traditions: creation, divine councils, and floods. Wisdom literature in Ugaritic epics echoes Mesopotamian structures. Amorite migrations in the early second millennium BCE helped bridge Mesopotamian and Levantine cultures. Ugaritic tablets represent a creative adaptation and localization of Mesopotamian scribal culture. Ugarit acted as a bridge, preserving Sumerian-influenced texts while innovating its own alphabetic system, contributing to the eventual development of the alphabet we use today. This is the pattern of regional exchange behind El and broader Canaanite-Mesopotamian records.
Torah, Translation, and the Tetragrammaton
After compilation of Torah by the Ivrim, Hebrews, while exiled in ancient Babylon, 587 to 538 BCE, drawing on Babylonian gods, one major later change was the Hellenization of Torah by the Greek King Ptolemy of Egypt. This was an attempt to assimilate otherwise separatist Ivrim into Hellenistic society around 250 BCE. Few remnants of the original compiled Torah, prior to Ptolemy, have yet been found textually or archaeologically.
Interestingly, nowhere in Ethiopian sacred text is the name YHWH ever mentioned, secondarily confirming the premise of this teaching. In Ge’ez, the language of the ancient liturgical texts of Ethiopia, “Egzi Abeher,” literally meaning “Lord of the Universe,” is employed where sacred texts outside the region use the phrases L-rd and G-d, text revised by man rather than the G-d of the Universe.
The name YHWH is written in Hebrew as יהוה, composed of four letters: Yod, He, Vav, He, read from right to left. This four-letter name is known as the Tetragrammaton, meaning “four letters” in Greek. It is the most frequent and sacred designation of the G-d in the Hebrew Bible, appearing over 6,800 times.
When each letter of יהוה is read individually, each letter also represents a word or conveys a startling understanding: Yod, י, means hand. He, ה, means look or behold. Vav, ו, means nail. He, ה, again, means look or behold. Read as a complete thought, YHWH, יהוה, is understood as “Hand, behold nail, behold.”
Pastor Mark