EL​ - THE ORIGINAL HIGH GOD OF THE SEMITES
 

El is one of the oldest known high gods of the ancient Near East, worshipped by West Semitic peoples long before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam emerged. His name is especially significant because El is both the proper name of an ancient deity, and synonymously meaning "god".

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In the religious traditions of ancient Canaan, El was associated with supreme authority, fatherhood, wisdom, and the creation or ordering of the world. He was often portrayed as the patriarch of the gods—the elder deity whose authority stood above the other divine beings.

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El was the supreme deity in several ancient West Semitic religious traditions, particularly those of Canaan and Ugarit, a Bronze Age city near present-day Ras Shamra in Syria.

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In Ugaritic and Levantine mythology, El presided over a council of gods and fathered major deities like Baal, Yam, and Mot. He was depicted as wise and kingly, yet occasionally vulnerable, complementing Baal's role as a sustaining warrior. Archaeological texts show El's association with eternity, creation, and divine authority, often with a consort similar to Asherah.

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Name            Meaning

El                   God; also the name of the ancient Canaanite High God

Elohim           Gods under the kingship of El

El Elyon         El The Most High

El Shaddai     El The Almighty

El Olam          El The Eternal

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When the war-mongering Israelites gained power, they stole the title of El, took the identity of El, and incorporated El into the Yahweh persona, in order to gain more support from the Caananite community.

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In the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh is the God of Israel. Yet archaeological discoveries indicate that religious practices in ancient Israel and Judah were not always identical to the exclusive monotheism later emphasized in Jewish tradition.

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Some inscriptions from the eighth century BCE refer to “Yahweh and his Asherah.” These inscriptions have become central to the debate over whether Asherah was worshipped as Yahweh's consort in some Israelite communities, and that the identity of El had been stolen.

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