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I don't want to completely refute this because I'm also an amateur and there are a lot of instabilities of consensus, but Baal was at least also the son of El i

I don't want to completely refute this because I'm also an amateur and there are a lot of instabilities of consensus, but Baal was at least also the son of El in Canaanite religion which predated an Israeli kingdom. My understanding is more that Yahvists had more nomadic origins and populated (/conquered, possibly the Levites[1]) a Canaanite cultural context and then there was religious syncreticism and interest in merging them. Depending on the specific passage's history there's either a ret-coning of "all one god" or at least the interpretation that way (including how your links translate those passages). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Exodus-Richard-Elliott-Friedman/dp/0062565249 https://www.amazon.com/Exodus-Richard-Elliott-Friedman/dp/00...

thaumasiotes 1y ago
> Baal was at least also the son of El in Canaanite religion which predated an Israeli kingdom Where are you getting this from?
- ThalesX 1y ago
  Have you tried googling "baal son of el"? I have no idea on who Baal is, or El, but the discussion sparked my curiosity and that's all I needed to do in order to answer for myself the question "where are you getting this from?".
- smithkl42 1y ago
  The Wikipedia article is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal Like all matters concerning the gods in the ancient near east, it's complex, and every answer has to be qualified. So apparently in some traditions, Baal was the son of Dagan (another fertility god), and in some the son of El (the head of the Canaanite pantheon, often identified with Yahweh even by orthodox Yahwists).
  - thaumasiotes 1y ago
    > often identified with Yahweh even by orthodox Yahwists This seems totally unsurprising, given that the Old Testament freely uses both terms while insisting there is only one god. What else are orthodox Yahwists supposed to think?

thaumasiotes 1y ago

> Baal was at least also the son of El in Canaanite religion which predated an Israeli kingdom Where are you getting this from?

ThalesX 1y ago
Have you tried googling "baal son of el"? I have no idea on who Baal is, or El, but the discussion sparked my curiosity and that's all I needed to do in order to answer for myself the question "where are you getting this from?".
smithkl42 1y ago
The Wikipedia article is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal Like all matters concerning the gods in the ancient near east, it's complex, and every answer has to be qualified. So apparently in some traditions, Baal was the son of Dagan (another fertility god), and in some the son of El (the head of the Canaanite pantheon, often identified with Yahweh even by orthodox Yahwists).
- thaumasiotes 1y ago
  > often identified with Yahweh even by orthodox Yahwists This seems totally unsurprising, given that the Old Testament freely uses both terms while insisting there is only one god. What else are orthodox Yahwists supposed to think?