Editing Yahweh (section)

===Early Iron Age (1200–1000{{nbsp}}BCE)===
[[File:Bull site statuette.png|thumb|alt=A bronze bull|Early Iron Age bull figurine from [[Bull Site]] at Dhahrat et-Tawileh (modern [[West Bank]], ancient [[Mount Ephraim|Ephraim]]), representing El, Baal or Yahweh{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=83}}{{sfn|Stavrakopoulou|2021|p=395}}]]
In the Early Iron Age, the modern consensus is that there was no distinction in language or [[material culture]] between Canaanites and Israelites. Scholars accordingly define Israelite culture as a subset of Canaanite culture.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=7, 19–31}} In this view, the Israelite religion consisted of Canaanite gods such as El, the ruler of the [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]],{{sfn|Golden|2009|p=182}} [[Asherah]], his consort, and [[Baal]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=19–31}}

In the earliest Biblical literature, Yahweh has characteristics of a storm god typical of ancient Near Eastern myths, marching out from Edom or the [[Sinai desert]] with the heavenly host of stars and planets that make up his army to do battle with the enemies of his people Israel:{{sfn|Hackett|2001|pp=158–160}}

{{poemquote|Yahweh, when you went out of Seir,
    when you marched out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled, the sky also dropped.
    Yes, the clouds dropped water.
The mountains quaked at Yahweh's presence,
    even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
...
From the sky the stars fought.
    From their courses, they fought against [[Sisera]].
|[[Book of Judges]] 5:4–5, 20, ''WEB'' [[World English Bible]], the [[Song of Deborah]]}}

Alternatively, parts of the storm god imagery could derive from Baal.{{sfn|Smith|2017|p=38}}<ref name=":3" />{{rp|78}}

From the perspective of the Kenite hypothesis, it has also been suggested that the Edomite deity [[Qōs]] might have been one and the same as Yahweh, rather than a separate deity, with its name a title of the latter.{{sfn|Anderson|2015|p=101}} Aside from their common territorial origins, various common characteristics between the [[Yahwism|Yahwist cult]] and the Edomite cult of Qōs hint at a shared connection.<ref name="Manyanya">{{Cite book |last=Manyanya |first=Lévi Ngangura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kiR_xkWUFS4C&pg=PA258 |title=La fraternité de Jacob et d'Esaü (Gn 25–36): quel frère aîné pour Jacob? |date=2009 |publisher=Labor et Fides |isbn=978-2-8309-1253-1 |page=257 |language=fr}}</ref> [[Doeg the Edomite]], for example, is depicted as having no problem in worshiping Yahweh and is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries.<ref name="Manyanya" />

Unlike the chief god of the [[Ammon]]ites ([[Milcom]]) and the [[Moabites]] ([[Chemosh]]), the [[Tanakh]] refrains from explicitly naming the Edomite Qōs.<ref>E. A. Knauf. (1999). Qos [in] Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst [eds.], [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA677 ''Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible''], pp. 674–677. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 677. "This clan or family must have been of Edomite or Idumaean origin."</ref><ref>Elie Assis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_jQLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 ''Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel''], [[Penn State Press]], 2016 {{isbn|978-1-575-06418-5}} p.10: "At 1 Kgs 1–8 there is exceptionally no mention of any Edomite gods: 'King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of the Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. ... For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the aboimination of the Ammonites. ... Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.{{'"}}</ref> Some scholars have explained this notable omission by assuming that the level of similarity between Yahweh and Qōs would have made rejection of the latter difficult.{{sfn|Dicou|1994|p=177}} Other scholars hold that Yahweh and Qōs were different deities from their origins, and suggest that the tensions between Judeans and Edomites during the Second Temple period may lie behind the omission of Qōs in the Bible.{{sfn|Tebes|2023}}