What were the names of the Gods in Israel?

Answer 1

A:Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God: In Ancient Israel) describe thousands of artefacts found in Palestine from the Middle Bronze Age down to the time of the Babylonian Exile. Most of these consist of scarabs and other smaller items with images of gods and goddesses, but without the actual name of the deity inscribed thereon. The Middle Bronze Age predates the Israelite period but, since there is a continuity, as well as evolution, of belief, the earlier artefacts can often be used to identify the deity on Israelite finds. In many cases, archaeologists may never be able to establish with certainty the names of gods that the Israelites and Judahites depicted on coins, scarabs and seals.

Clearly, Yahweh (Jehovah) was the dominant God for the Israelites, whom scholars regard as the early Israelite weather god or storm god. The dominant goddess was Asherah, who was apparently the consort of Yahweh. The next most important god in Israel was Baal. Excavations at the city of Samaria produced over a hundred ostraca (inked notes on sherds) dating probably from the first part of Jeroboam II's reign (roughly 770 BCE). The notations on each contain all or part of a range of information: a date referring to the king's reign, a place of origin, one or more personal names associated with a product, and the nature of the product (wine or oil). These are mundane records, but the personal names of Samarian residents is of great interest. The majority are Yahweh-compound names, but a large minority of them are compounded from the divine name Baal.

The Bible refers to other gods worshipped in Israel and Judah but, being written much later by adherents of the Yahweh-only party, usually attribute their worship to foreign influence. There are biblical references that suggest the Israelite worship of the sun god and moon god. Ezekiel 8:14 describes women in the Jerusalem Temple 'weeping for Tammuz', the shepherd-god and lover of the goddess Astarte or Inanna.

Keel and Uehlinger cite Lang, translated from German: "In the four and a half centuries during which there were one or two Israelite monarchies (ca. 1020-586 B.C.), there was a dominant, polytheistic religion that was indistinguishable from that of neighboring peoples. Insofar as there were differences between the Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Tyrian, etc. versions of religion, these beliefs stayed within the framework of Near Eastern polytheism, and each should be interpreted as a local variant of the same basic pattern. The Israelites . . . venerated their own protector god who was there to provide for health and family. But they venerated Yahweh [God] as well, the regional and national god, whose special domain dealt with war and peace issues."

Even in post-Exilic times, there are clear references to Wisdom, who was seen as a spirit to be venerated, if not as a goddess (eg Proverbs 1:20ff: "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, ..."). Some scholars believe that Wisdom was the pre-Exilic goddess of wisdom.