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Yam (god)

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Ancient Mideastern deities
Levantine Semitic gods>deities
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Yam is the name of the Ugaritic god of Rivers and Sea, and in some myths he is one of the 'ilhm (Elohim) or sons of El, the name given to the Levantine pantheon. Despite linguistic overlap, theologically this god is not a part of the subregional monotheistic theology, but rather is part of a broader and archaic Levantine polytheism. The name Yam means "sea" and he is also called Nahar meaning "river". In the Epic of Ba'al he is also called Yaw in one verse.

Yam is the deity of the primordial chaos and represents the power of the sea untamed and raging; he is seen as ruling tempests and the disasters they wreak. Yam shares many characteristics with Greco-Roman Ophion, the serpentine Titan of the sea whom Kronos cast out of the heavenly Mt. Olympus. Likewise, the gods cast out Yam from the heavenly mountain Sappan (modern Jebel Aqra; "Sappan" is cognate to Tsephon (Tsion). The seven-headed dragon Lotan is associated closely with him and the serpent is frequently used to describe him.

Of all the gods, Yam holds special enmity with Hadad, THE LORD over the divine assembly. Yam is a deity of the sea and his palace is in the abyss associated with the depths, or Biblical tehwom, of the oceans. (This is not to be confused with the abode of Mot, the ruler of the netherworlds.) In Ugaritic texts, Yam's special enemy Hadad is also known as the "king of heaven" and the "first born son" of El, whom ancient Greeks identified with their god Kronos. Yaw wished to become the Lord god in his place. In turns the two beings kill each other, yet Hadad is resurrected and Yam also returns.

Since Yam wishes to raise himself to the lofty heights of the gods whom he hates, and since he is the lord of chaos and destruction, the nearest equivalent to Yam in modern religions is the Christian Satan. Moreover, a comparison with the evil Jörmungandr (Norse world-serpent and deity of the sea) is accurate, given his description. Like Yam and Hadad, he and Thor slay each other at the end of the world (Ragnarök or Twilight of the Gods). There are also many similarities with the Egyptian chaos serpent, Apep. A relevant passage in the Christian book of Revelation reads: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." (Revelations 12:9, KJV)

Contents

In the Epic of Ba'al

In the Epic of Ba'al (Hadad the Most High), El the Ancient of Days adopts Yaw, the deity of the primordial chaos, and changes his name to Yam. KTU 1.2 iv reads:

`El appoints as deputy his son.
The Bull proclaims as Master Yaw.
And Kindly `El the Beneficent speaks:
"I do not call my son by the name of Yaw, O goddess `Elat,
but Yam shall be his name!"
And he pronounces the name Yam...
"I, myself, Kindly `El the Beneficent, have taken you upon my hands.
I proclaim your name.
Yam is your name,
Your name is Beloved of `El, Yam."
El then urges Yam, to fight Hadad the king of heaven:

"[Go against] the hand of the Mighty Lord Most High (´Aliyan Ba´al ) —
Because he spoke ill to me —
[And] drive him from the throne of his kingship,
From the resting place,
the cushion on the seat of his dominion.
But if then you do not drive him from his throne of kingship,
from the seat of his dominion,
He will beat you like...
He slaughters oxen and sheep.
He fells bulls and fatted rams, yearling calves,
sheep by the flock, he sacrifices kids."
Ba'al Hadad warns Yam that the gods will not allow him to usurp the throne of heaven. In KTU 1.2 iii, the Lord warns:

"From your throne of kingship you shall be driven,
from the seat of your dominion cast out!
On your head be Ayamari (Driver) O Yam,
Between your shoulders Yagarish (Chaser), O Judge Nahar
May Horon split open, O Yam,
may Horon smash your head,
´Athtart-Name-of-the-Lord thy skull!
After a great war in heaven involving many of the gods, Yam is roundly defeated:

And the weapon springs from the hand of the Lord,
Like a raptor from between his fingers.
It strikes the skull of Prince Yam,
between the eyes of Judge Nahar.
Yahm collapses, he falls to the earth;
His joints quiver, and his spine shakes.
Thereupon the Lord drags out Yam and would rend him to pieces;
he would make an end of Judge Nahar.
However, Athtart pleads for Yahm, who acknowledges the Lord as king of heaven:

Then up speaks Yam: "Lo, I am as good as dead! Surely, the Lord now reigns as king!"
Hadad holds a great feast, but not long afterwards he battles Mot (death) and through his mouth he descends to his realm below the earth. Yet like Yam, Death too is defeated and in h. I AB iii the Lord arises from the dead:

For alive is the Mighty Lord,
Revived is the Prince, Master of Earth."
'El calls to the Virgin Anat:
"Hearken, O maiden Anat!"[#endnote_biti]

Yam/Yaw and the rise of Yahweh

Research in comparative mythology shows a linguistic correlation between Levantine Yaw and monotheistic Yahweh, suggesting that the god may in some manner be the predecessor in the sense of an evolving religion of Yahweh.

The first historical mention of Yahu/Yah/Yaw is associated with the Ebla (Tel Mardikh) archive of 20,000 tablets, dating back to the destruction of that Syrian city by Naram-Sin in about 2250 BC. In his "Archaeology of the Bible Lands" Magnus Magnusson states:

"All names like Ishmael, Michael and Israel are theophoric in form - that is to say, the suffix element (-ilu or -el) represents a divine name, in this case the paramount god El. But during the reign of Ebrum, Dr Pettinato noted a change in the theophoric element, from -el to -ya(w), so that Mi-ka-ilu became Mi-ka-ya(w) and so on. It is quite clear that both of the endings are divine names, either names of gods or words simply meaning 'god'; so it looks as if Ebrum made some major alteration in the religion of Ebla at this time. Whether -ya(w) is related to the Biblical Yahweh, the one God of Israel whose name replace the earlier form of El, is a matter for debate..."
The research involves identifying Yaw as an etymological cognate to Yahweh.[#endnote_lxx]  Since the 1950's, religious scholars have identified Yahweh with Yaw by etymology; this important theory is not without debate.  However, scholars such as Johannes De Moor believe it firmly established that Yaw and Yahweh are in fact derivatives of the same Semitic appellation.[#endnote_demoor]
Jean Bottero goes further to suggest that Eblaite Yah is in fact the same divinity as Akkadian Ea, whose worship as God of water (the Abzu) was spread north and westward by the armies of Sargon and Naram Sin of Akkad. If this is the case, the rivalry between Yaw/Yamm and Baal Hadad resembles the fraternal rivalry between Ea/Enki and Ellil/Enlil in the Sumerian and Babylonian pantheons.

The relationship may help evaluate the goals of textual redaction of the Masoretic Old Testament. The redaction theory involves the differences between the putative E narrative and the J text,[#endnote_larue] and it is gaining majority support. Linguistics, textual criticism and archæology are together useful tools in understanding how Yahwism developed in a region with a long and ancient history of polytheism.

Findings in documents and archæological sites illustrate the research: "Texts from the Persian period mention Baal and link Yehouah with Asherah and a letter from Elephantine in Egypt refers to him. Surprisingly, for a hidden, faceless and ineffable god, coins of the Persian period were minted with the image of Yehouah and his symbols. A god, Yeho, was worshipped in the eastern Mediterranean at least until the end of the Hellenistic period."[#endnote_MikeMagee1] Further, Porphyry writes about Sanchuniathon learning about the Jews from "Hierombalus the priest of Yeuō (Ιευω)", and this may refer to some Jerubbaal, priest of YHWH (quoted by Eusebius in Preparation for the Gospel, Book 1, Chapter IX).

Although the theological differences between the polytheism of the larger Levantine culture and the evolving monotheism of the Old Testament are noteworthy, the concept of Yaw helps explain some obscure passages. For example, a fragment in Deuteronomy 32.8-9 as it reads in the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls,[#endnote_heiser] provides a special status to the cognate deity Yahweh.[#endnote_smith]

When the Most High (`Elyon) allotted peoples for inheritance,
When He divided up the sons of man,
He fixed the boundaries for peoples,
According to the number of the sons of El[#endnote_angels]
But Yahweh’s portion is his people,
Jacob His own inheritance.[#endnote_JimLinford]
The newer Masoretic manuscripts read "sons of Israel" in place of "sons of El," to conform to later Judaic theology. These manuscripts predate the oldest Masoretic texts by about 700 years.[#endnote_date] The older reading implicates an original polytheist context at the birth of Judaism. Within this framework, humanity was divided into seventy peoples, each with its own patron god.[#endnote_BryanT.Huie] Yahweh takes Jacob as his, shedding additional light on the textual meaning of the chosen people. This older text of the passage is now used in the most current Biblical translations, including those based on the textual project led by Bruce Metzger.

The passage as it reads here and in the Septuagint clearly indicates that Yahweh was one deity among many and was lower in status than El the Most High, suggesting that his rise to supremacy was a later innovation. This is similarly suggested by the theophory in the story of Deborah (Judges 4.4-5.15), in which Jael kills Jabin's commander (Sisera) — Jael (usually translated as Yahweh is God) can be translated as Yahweh the god whereas Jabin (usually translated as son of Yahweh) can be translated as Yahweh the son. Thus the fight between Jael and Jabin's commander may represent a war between one faction that regarded Yahweh and El as different deities and another faction that worshipped Yahweh who has assumed the attributions of El. Similarly, if the story of Samuel superseding Eli is a theistic allegory, then Eli may represent El, (to whom Hannah prayed and so forth), and Samuel, which by tradition is translated name of God, representing Yahweh, since one of his sons is named Abiah, meaning Yahweh is my father. Moreover, Gnostic commentary likewise identifies Samuel with Yahweh but defines the name as the blind god.

Another passage, Psalm 82, confirms Yahweh's status as exceptional within a pantheon as an accuser of the divine brethren. In LXX, v. 1 reads: "God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods;" the NRSV also reflects this older reading. Mark S. Smith of New York University writes, "Psalm 82 also presents the god El presiding in a divine assembly at which Yahweh stands up and makes his accusation against the other gods. Here the text shows the older religious worldview which the passage is denouncing."[#endnote_smith]

Other hard data support the linguistic identification of Yahweh with Yaw, the ophidian deity of the sea. Jewish archaeologist Richard Freund notes that a Judean patera (liturgical incense shovel) discovered by Yigal Yadin in the Cave of Letters depicts the Greek goddess Thetis (Levantine Asherah, Yaw's consort), the mother of the oceanic nereids, as does the seven-headed Menorah that is depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome.[#endnote_RichardFreund] On the arch, the Menorah's base has six panels, one displays two cherubim with eagle's wings facing each other over the cover (arc) of the covenant, and others display each a sea-dragon, sea-horses or fish (minus the spines which cause the dragon to choke).[#endnote_menorah]

Thus, Ugaritic texts, linguistics and archaeology are useful in understanding of the origins of Biblical monotheism, particularly for their treatment of the god Yaw. Some scholars see the changing religious view as originating in the monotheism of Zoroastrianism in the Persian Empire which conquered the Levant and colonized it with Mede, Persian and Babylonian settlers.[#endnote_MikeMagee2] As Persia conquered, she exalted local deities to the status of supreme deity as local equivalents to the one Ahura Mazda. Thus, each district in the empire would worship the imperial high god of the Persian Empire while retaining some local religious traditions.[#endnote_magee3] Others, however, believe local monotheism to be a more independent development.

In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent god. This is an issue that has troubled many religions.

In the pantheon of Ugarit and Ebla, enmity to the benevolent gods is represented by the deities Mot and Yam. Mot, the god of death, was defeated definitively, but Yaw lived on. Since in some texts they are both sons of El, they are therefore brothers of Hadad, the lord of Heaven. This is much like Zoroastrian belief that the Evil Spirit (Angra Mainyu) was something of a brother of God the creator (Ahura Mazda). Ugaritic Yaw may also help explain Gnostic denouncements of Yahweh.

Moreover, Christian imagery depicts the sea as the bed of evil spirits. In the Gospels after healing the centurion's palsied servant at Capernaum, Christ and his Disciples are beset by a violent tempest on the sea and when making land, Christ casts out the devils which possessed two men into a herd of swine, which immediately runs down into the sea, apparently the devils' home. Revelation further develops this theme. Chapter 13 begins:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (13.1-2)
This imagery makes an unmistakable allusion to the dragon (also called "the serpent" in 12.15), Yaw, and to his seven-headed beast, Lotan (also "Leviathan"). This suggests that Christianity retained much of the symbolism of evil common to the Levant and that mythology surrounding Yaw is relevant to contemporary culture of the West. Since mythology of both Europe and the ancient Persian Empire describe the cosmological earth surrounded by a cosmic sea, the image of the sea as a bed of evil suggests that evil is alien to the world of mankind, but surrounds and besets it with tempests and spirits.

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Lilinah biti-´Anat, [The Myth of Baal], "Baal Battles Yahm" (1997). (Accessed 2006.2.15). This site has an unusually complete online text based on several scholarly versions cited.
  2. ↑ The Septuagint, written in Greek, does not contain the Tetragrammaton. Since the original Hebrew texts from which it was translated have long since disappeared, it is not known in which passages YHWH may have been written.
  3. ↑ Johannes C. De Moor, The Rise of Yahwism: The Roots of Israelite Monotheism, (Peeters Publishers, 2001).
  4. ↑ Gerald A. Larue, [Old Testament Life and Literature (1968).] (Accessed 2005.12.4)
  5. ↑ Mike Magee, ["The Truth about the Jewish Scriptures I".] (Accessed 2005.12.26)
  6. ↑ Michael S. Heiser, [Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God.] (Accessed 2005.12.4)
  7. ↑ Mark S. Smith, [The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts.] (Accessed 2005.12.4)
  8. ↑ "Sons of El" is from the Qumran text, LXX has "angels of God".
  9. ↑ Jim Linford, [Monotheism,] (July 17, 2005). (Accessed 2005.12.4)
  10. ↑ Joel Kalvemaski, [The Septuagint Online,] (October 15, 2005). (Accessed 2006.2.15)
  11. ↑ Bryan T. Huie, [The Heavenly Divine Council,] (September 28, 2002). (Accessed 2005.12.4)
  12. ↑ Smith.
  13. ↑ Richard Freund, interviewed by Gary Hochman and Matthew Collins, [NOVA. "Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land".] (Accessed 2005.12.26)
  14. ↑ Alan Fuller, ["Re: A question about the introducing beasts",] Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:02:20 -0000 (Accessed 2005.12.26), and Jean Philippe Fontanille, [Menorah Coin Project "H426",] (bottom of page). (Accessed 2005.12.26)
  15. ↑ Mike Magee, ["The Truth about the Jewish Scriptures II".] (Accessed 2005.12.26)
  16. ↑ _____, ["Jewish Mythology; How Persia Created Judaism"]. (Accessed 2006.1.16)

Bibliography

See also

External links

 

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