Yahweh



Yahweh (/ˈjɑːhweɪ/, or often /ˈjɑːweɪ/ in English; Hebrew : יהוה‎) was the national god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, although probably never worshiped exclusively by the early Israelites. His name may have begun as an epithet of El, head of the Bronze Age Canaanite pantheon, but the earliest plausible references to it place him among the nomads of the southern Transjordan. In the oldest biblical literature he is a typical ancient Near Eastern "divine warrior" who leads the heavenly army against Israel's enemies;he later became the main god of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and of Judah, and over time the royal court and temple promoted Yahweh as the god of the entire cosmos, possessing all the positive qualities previously attributed to the other gods and goddesses. By the end of the Babylonian exile (6th century BC), the very existence of foreign gods was denied, and Yahweh was proclaimed as the creator of the cosmos and the true god of all the world.