TYPE: Creator God
ORIGIN: Western Semitic [Syria, Lebanon and Israel]
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: circa 2500BCE to 700 BCE
SYNONYMS:et elyon (most high god); et sadday (god of the mountain); et olam (everlasting god); et betel (god of storms); Il [Southern Arabian]; El Shaddai, , Adon ilim, Toru El, Abu Bani El, Batniu Binwati, Abu Adami, Qaniyunu Olam, Hatikuta, El Gibbor
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Tirzah, Samaria, Bethel, Dan and many local hill shrines.
ART REFERENCES: Non extant other and tfrom later artists
LITERARY SOURCES: Vetus Testamentum; Qum' Ran texts.
SYMBOL: bull
REGION: Canaan, Levant, and Anatolia.
CONSORT:Ashera/Athirat, other wives
CHILDREN: Anat, Ashtar, Baal, Mot, Shahar, Shalim, Shapash, Yam, Athtart, Dagon, Hadad, 70 sons in total.
EQUIVALENTS: Cronos, Zeus (Greek); Anu or Enlil (Mesopotamian)
INFORMATION: Modeled on the creator god of the Canaanites, Il, represented by the bull and revered by the Hebrew tribes who settled northern Palestine. According to some Ugaritic (Ras Samra) texts, not the original creator but the offspring of an older principlal, El-Eb (God of the father). In biblical texts the word el comes to be used in a descriptive sense as a qualifying epithet meaning "lord". Possibly El came to represent the sum of all the creator spirits of the northern tribes. Israel was unwilling to part with the name against pressure from the southern state of Judah (see YHVH), but hte name fell into disuse after suppression of Israel by Tiglathpileser II (Assyria). The Hebrew term Elohim may denote an "upper tier" of great gods while Elim applies to a lower order of deities.
NOTE: Biblical traditions were carried by the southern state of Judah. The impression is given the EL is a distan, vaguely defined figure perceived in human form—"He" is able to see, hear, walk and touch—though no images in human form seem to have been created. El was apparently symbolizes in Israel from circa 922 BCE again by the bull calf (I Kings 12), probably emulating the Canaanite precendent. The voice of el is said to be like thunder, the clouds are his chariot, and he waters the mountains from heaven.