TYPE: Creator god
ORIGIN: Middle Eastern - Judaic
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 1200 BCE until present
SYNONYMS: Yahweh; Jehovah
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Hebron, Jerusalem until 587 BCE but subsequently throughout the Christian world.
LITERARY SOURCES: Vetus Testamentum; Qum' Ran Manuscripts.
INFORMATION:
The creator god of the southern tribes of Israel headed by Levi and Benjamin. Possibly a copy of the Egyptian deity Atum (Aten), introduced by the pharaoh Amenhotep IV in the fifteenth century BCE. The object of monolatrous but not necessarily monotheistic worship by the Hebrew settlers in Palestine. Arguably the first surviving concept of a truly universal deity. Yhwh is the god who, according to tradition, was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb) and who provided the Covenant, the ten tablets of law. Said to sit in judgment between to facing cherubim on the Mercy Seat that rested above the focal point of Israelite worship, the Ark of Covenant (VT: Exodus 25). Yhwh eventually superseded the northern god El, to become supreme deity of Israel. During Hellenic occupation, the sanctuary of Yhwh on Mount Gerizim in Samaria (northern kingdom) was rededicated to Zeus. THe name Yhwh survived into Christian religion though, in English translation, it is now generally replaced by the term "Lord". "Jehovah" is a corruption introduced circa 1200-1300 CE.