Origins of Yahweh

[Asherah]

I've been reading up on this topic and, it seems that the Isrealites took the attributes of El and blended that with their god, Yahweh. So, the two some how became one. I don't really understand it. And, the Hebrew Bible tends to use El and Yahweh to refer to the same god. So, god (a.k.a. Yahweh and El) spawned Jesus.

[Too Few Lions]

Interesting. I'll look into it a bit deeper. The next question would be, if El is the "most high" and Yahweh is the almost "most High", then who spawned Jesus?

I'd say Yahweh, as the polytheistic Israelites had become monotheistic Jews by then, and their previous worship of El, Baal or Asherah was something in their distant past. Many of the attributes of Yahweh derive from El, but quite a few also may derive from Baal, who was probably the god most similar to Yahweh (hence the Yahwistic writers of the Hebrew Bible appear to detest Baal more than any other deity), and maybe some from Asherah too, his possible one-time consort

[Gawen]

But there is a problem. Well at least I think so. The Bible says that El was the big cheese. And like FTL said, the lesser gods were sent by El to the various 'nations', one of which is Yahweh. The biggest problem is that theists have deluded themselves into thinking El and Yahweh are the same god. I noticed this over the weekend while researching the El/Yahweh/Asherah/Baal thing on the internet. (BTW, there is very little on this subject not written by Christian apologists) Another problem minor as it is, the Bible states God does not change. I think you get my meaning here.

The only way I can break it down is:
El is the most high creator god. Rather deistic in nature.
Yahweh is a minor god, an inferior of El and sent by El.
The Jews supplanted El with Yahweh. Why? Why is the Creator God forgotten or simply pushed aside or no longer worshiped in favour of the minor god the Creator god sent? Where the break is in the Bible, I haven't a clue. However, we know Yahweh is a vain and jealous god. By taking the thrown away from El, does this not make Yahweh worse than Lucifer/Satan...in that Yahweh actually succeeded?


Now, I can't remember what exactly is written (but I'm with your opinions); which god spawned Jesus. At any rate, it doesn't matter which god did the deed because it would nevertheless equate Jesus on the order of Achilles - a hero.
As far as I know, none of the heroes of the Greek, Mesopotamian, and Roman pantheons were gods, although many had some sort of superhuman attribute/s...is that right?

[Too Few Lions]

I wouldn't necessarily say El was deistic in nature, he was more the chief god who mirrored the king on Earth. El and Yahweh are definitely two distinct deities, although i can see how Christian apologists might try and fudge the issue by claiming they're one and the same god.

The evidence suggests Yahweh started off as a warrior / storm god, very similar to Baal, but he was adopted by some of the kings of Israel and Judah as the national god and patron deity of the royal family. In the 7th Century BCE a few of the kings were devout Yahwists and persecuted the followers of the other Israelite gods, and tried to promote Yahweh to being the only god Israel should worship. A lot of the Bible was written by these Yahwists, they're the kings the Book of Kings raves about. The Bible also slags off all the tolerant kings who allowed religious plurality as evil idolators. I think the jealous and intolerant Yahweh in the Bible just a reflection of the fanatics who wrote it. Although quite when Yahweh fully replaced El and assimilated his traits is a good question, sometime around the 8th-9th centuries BCE I'd guess, under the auspices of the  monarchies.

Some of the Greek and Roman heroes / sons of gods were worshipped as gods and saviours, just like Jesus. If you'd have talked to your average Roman 2000 years ago about 'God' and the 'Son of God', chances are they'd have envisaged you were talking about Zeus and Heracles, not Yahweh and Jesus.