YHWH and El

It has been discussed in the course of the study of the Hebrew Bible whether YHWH and El were always identified with one another in ancient Israel, or whether initially YHWH was but one member of El’s heavenly court. Many New Testament scholars will only be aware of this if they have read the attempt by Margaret Barker to relate this question to New Testament Christology. But even if one finds unpersuasive Barker’s suggestion that the New Testament preserves an ancient viewpoint that the authors and editors of the Jewish Scriptures sought to obliterate or at least obscure, the question of what the Hebrew Bible indicates about this matter in earlier times is a separate issue.

For those looking for a blogged treatment of this subject, Daniel O McClellan has now provided one in his post “Decoupling YHWH and El.”