Information about EL AND ELOHIM THAT I WAS SPEAKING ABOUT IN STUDY ON THURSDAY AND IN SHABAT CLASS. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GODS BY MICHAEL JORDAN PAGE 74. EL. Origin western Semitic regions and Israel (northern Hebrew tribes) Syria, Lebanon and Israel} creator god. MODELED ON THE CREATOR GOD OF THE CANAANITES, IL represented by the bull and revered by the Hebrew Tribes who settled northern Palestine. According to some Ugaritic (Ras Samra) texts, not the original creator but the offspring of an older principal, El’eb (god of the father). In biblical texts the world El comes to be used in a descriptive sense as a qualifying epithet meaning lord. Possibly El came to represent the sum of all the creator spirits of the northern tribes. Israel was unwilling to part with the name against pressure from the southern state of Judah. But the name fell into disuse after suppression of Israel by Tiglathpilser II (Assryia). The Hebrew term Elohim may denote an upper tier of great gods while elim applies to lower order of deities. NOTE: Biblical traditions were carried by the southern state of Judah. The impression is given that El is a distant, Vaguely defined figure perceived in human form –“ he” is able to see, hear, walk and touch – though no images in human form seem to have been created. El was apparently symbolized in Israel from cica 922 BCE again by the bull calf (I kings 12), probably emulating the Canaanite precedent. As with the attributes of the Canaanite god BAAL, the voice of EL is said to be like thunder, the clouds are his chariot and the waters the mountain from heaven. ELOHIM PAGE 75 Collective term for gods. Judaic found in the Vetus testamentum and distinguishing the higher order of the great gods from the minor deities.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 03:03:03 +0000