What was the nature of Yahweh and the Covenant?

Answer 1

A:Scholars such as Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel), Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God), Lawrence E. Stager (The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel) and others, say that Yahweh (biblical Heb: YHWH) originated as the Midianite storm God late in the second millennium BCE.

Yahweh gradually supplanted 'El, the Canaanite father of the gods, as the national God of Judah and then of Israel, eventually becoming syncretised with him. Beginning as a storm God, like his Midianite precedents, he evolved into the moon God in Israel, but this view seems not to have taken hold in Judah, where he was seen as the sun God.

Keel and Uehlinger describe hundreds of artefacts found in Palestine during the periods of the Judges and monarchy, demonstrating that while Yahweh was the national God, he was not the only god worshipped by the early Hebrews. There is some archaeological evidence that the goddess Asherah was at one stage Yahweh's partner, but this does not yet have complete consensus among scholars.

From around the seventh century, the archaeological record ceases to show images of any gods, including Yahweh. All the evidence shows that Judah had adopted monolatry, at least as its official religion, and may have banned the representation of God in any form.

Each nation in the ancient Near East had one national god, who made a covenant with the nation. Yahweh was the national God in both Israel and Judah, and made a covenant to protect them and look after their national interests.