Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Before Yahweh, there was El.
Most people assume the God of the Bible has always been the God of the Bible. One God, one name, one identity stretching back to the beginning. But the archaeological evidence from ancient Ugarit, the textual evidence within the Hebrew Bible itself, and decades of critical scholarship tell a very different story.
El was the supreme deity of the Canaanite pantheon. He was the father of the gods, the creator, the ancient one who sat at the head of the divine council. He had a wife, Asherah. He had sons, including Baal. And he had a title that survives in the Bible to this day: El Elyon, God Most High. El Shaddai, God of the Mountain. Elohim, the gods. His name is embedded in Israel itself: Isra-El, the one who wrestles with El.
Yahweh, by contrast, appears to have originated as a separate deity, possibly from the region south of Judah, in Edom or Midian. At some point, the Israelites merged Yahweh with El, combining two different gods into one and then rewriting their history to make it look like it had always been that way. The Hebrew Bible preserves the seams of that merger if you know where to look. Genesis uses El traditions. Exodus introduces Yahweh as if he's revealing his name for the first time, because in the earlier tradition, he was a different god.
Jacob Berman (History Valley) joins Derek Lambert (MythVision Podcast) for a deep dive into the god El: who he was in the Canaanite world, what the Ugaritic texts tell us about his character and mythology, how and why Israel absorbed him into their own religious identity, what traces of the original El survive in the biblical text, and why understanding El changes everything about how we read the Old Testament.
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Sign up for Dr. James Tabor’s Course, "Creating Jesus: Why Mark’s Gospel Was Forgotten?" - -
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Before Yahweh, there was El.
Most people assume the God of the Bible has always been the God of the Bible. One God, one name, one identity stretching back to the beginning. But the archaeological evidence from ancient Ugarit, the textual evidence within the Hebrew Bible itself, and decades of critical scholarship tell a very different story.
El was the supreme deity of the Canaanite pantheon. He was the father of the gods, the creator, the ancient one who sat at the head of the divine council. He had a wife, Asherah. He had sons, including Baal. And he had a title that survives in the Bible to this day: El Elyon, God Most High. El Shaddai, God of the Mountain. Elohim, the gods. His name is embedded in Israel itself: Isra-El, the one who wrestles with El.
Yahweh, by contrast, appears to have originated as a separate deity, possibly from the region south of Judah, in Edom or Midian. At some point, the Israelites merged Yahweh with El, combining two different gods into one and then rewriting their history to make it look like it had always been that way. The Hebrew Bible preserves the seams of that merger if you know where to look. Genesis uses El traditions. Exodus introduces Yahweh as if he's revealing his name for the first time, because in the earlier tradition, he was a different god.
Jacob Berman (History Valley) joins Derek Lambert (MythVision Podcast) for a deep dive into the god El: who he was in the Canaanite world, what the Ugaritic texts tell us about his character and mythology, how and why Israel absorbed him into their own religious identity, what traces of the original El survive in the biblical text, and why understanding El changes everything about how we read the Old Testament.
============================
FIND ALL LINKS HERE 👉 https://linktr.ee/mythvision
============================
RECOMMENDED ONLINE COURSES HERE
👉👉 Checkout MVP Courses to find new and upcoming online courses:
mvp-courses.com
Sign up for Dr. James Tabor’s Course, “The Quest for the Historical Paul: Apostle or Apostate?” - -
https://mythvisionpodcast.com/histori...
Sign up for Dr. Kara Cooney’s Course, “Ancient Egyptian Cosmogony and Cosmology” - -
https://mythvisionpodcast.com/egyptia...
Sign up for Dr. Robyn Faith Walsh’s Course, “The Gospel Masterclass” - -
mythvisionpodcast.com/gospels
Sign up for Dr. James Tabor’s Course, “Jesus and The Dead Sea Scrolls” - -
mythvisionpodcast.com/dss
Sign up for Dr. Robyn Faith Walsh’s Course, “Unforgettable Footprints of the Pauline Legacy” - -
https://mythvisionpodcast.com/paulsle...
Sign up for Dr. Dennis MacDonald’s Course, “Reading the Gospels with One Eye on Greek Poetry” - -
https://mythvisionpodcast.com/homeric...
Sign up for Dr. James Tabor’s Course, "Creating Jesus: Why Mark’s Gospel Was Forgotten?" - -
https://www.mythvisionpodcast.com/fir...
Sign up for Dr. Dale C. Allison Jr's Course, “The Quest for The Historical Jesus” - -
https://www.mythvisionpodcast.com/jes...
============================
GET RECOMMENDED BOOKS HERE: 👉 amzn.to/35FqNYf
============================
Please consider supporting MythVision's work by joining our Patreon or contributing a one-time donation:
Patreon: 👉 / mythvision
Paypal: 👉 paypal.me/dereklambert7 - - @dereklambert7
Cashapp: 👉 $rewiredaddiction
Venmo: 👉 venmo.com/Derek-Lambert-9 - - @Derek-Lambert-9
Facebook Stars: fb.com/stars
============================
CONTACT ME
Website: 👉 mythvisionpodcast.com
Email MythVision: 👉 mythvisionpodcast@gmail.com
Facebook Page: 👉 / mythvision
Facebook Group: 👉 / thewaterboyzradio
Twitter X: 👉 https://x.com/DerekPodcast - - @DerekPodcast
TikTok: 👉 / mythvision
Instagram: 👉 / dereklambert_7
Discord: 👉 / discord
===========================
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE:
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gf3XMe...
🎧 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
🎧 Castbox: https://castbox.fm/vh/6551369
🎧 Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/61670kid
🎧 iHeartRadio: iheart.com/podcast/271777389
