Canaanite Theology Smashed

An analysis of the surrounding religious beliefs of the early Canaanite tribes at the time of the Exodus indicates that the one true God chose to reveal Himself in language which clearly alluded to the surrounding theological ideas. It has been shown that ‘El’ was the name of the most powerful Canaanite god in the plurality of deities which the Canaanites worshipped1. The characteristics of Yahweh God of Israel are almost identical to the language of the day used to describe the Canaanite deity ‘El’2. For example, ‘El’ married the prostitute Asarte, as Yahweh married the prostitute Israel (Hosea 3:1); and most noteworthy of all ‘El’ sacrificed his own son3. Significantly, ‘El’ is one of the titles which God uses for Himself in His word. Arthur Gibson points out that the name ‘Yahweh’ has similarities with the Amorite god Ya-Wi, and the Ugarit god Yahaninu4. So here is clear evidence that God reveals Himself in the language of the day in order to demonstrate, by the very fact of His evident superiority, that these other deities to whom He alludes did not exist; Yahweh was the true ‘El’. Those gods with similar names were nothing compared to the true Yahweh El.

Martin Buber, one of academic Judaism’s finest minds, coined the term “Yahweh’s demonism”5. He perceived in, e.g., the record of the angel meeting Moses at night, seeking to slay him and then ‘letting him go’, all the language which was typically applied to demons—meeting and seeking to slay a man of God (Exodus 4:24). But the point is, it is not a demon who did this, but a righteous angel of God, to the extent that it was possible for the record to state that it was Yahweh who sought to slay Moses, and yet changed His purpose because of Moses’ repentance and the intercession of a woman. Buber’s point was that the text is an allusion to the local beliefs about demons, but the Biblical record deconstructs these beliefs by showing that it is Yahweh and His Angels responsible for those situations which pagans would otherwise attribute to supposed ‘demons’. Other examples include how the bull cherubim were understood in the surrounding cultures as the abode or throne of a demon; but it is Yahweh who is enthroned upon the bull cherubim; or how the record of Balaam would’ve lead the contemporary hearers to expect him to receive inspiration from a demon—but instead the inspiration comes from Yahweh, and is against those who believed in demons and pagan gods. Paul Volz took the idea further when he observed that in the early Old Testament passages where Yahweh is portrayed as doing the things expected of demons, He has “absorbed everything demonic… so that no demons were required any more in Israel”6. And so there are no further associations of Yahweh with demons/idols but rather an overt mocking of their existence in the later Old Testament. Something similar happens in the New Testament. Initially, the Lord Jesus is presented as dealing with and overcoming real demons; but His miracles are so powerful that it becomes evident that they effectively don’t exist, and the later New Testament exalts in the supremacy of God over the demons/idols which in fact are non-existent.

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Author: Duncan Heaster

Keywords: Satanology, Demonology, Lucifer, Canaanites

Bible reference(s): 2 Kings 2:19, Isaiah 14:12

Source: “The Real Devil A Biblical Exploration.”

Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.