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[link to multiverse.wespenre.com]
Reports from the Multiverse :: Yahweh's Secret Identity
Alan Alford
Having dated the catastrophes at Crete and Mohenjo-daro to c. 1450 BC, the timing of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, in 1433 BC (see Appendix A), now takes on a new significance. Can a proper historical context of the Gods help us to understand why one God, named Yahweh, went to the assistance of the Hebrews?
The meaning of the name Yahweh (sometimes pronounced Jehovah) has puzzled theologians for thousands of years - so much so that the Jewish Publication Society now leaves the name untranslated, with the footnote “meaning of the Hebrew uncertain”. This is not a true statement, however, because the meaning of the Hebrew “ehyeh ashar ehyeh” is actually quite clear - it literally means “I am who I am”.
As Karen Armstrong has suggested, in common parlance it equates to mind your own business! Why was Yahweh so evasive about his identity, and what were his motives in leading the Israelites out of captivity into the Sinai desert! A review of Near East politics at 1433 BC can answer both of these questions. Shortly after the destruction of Crete, severe over-crowding afflicted the Levant coast, following the immigration of Phoenicians and Philistines. Archaeological excavations at Byblos have confirmed a massive destruction of that city c. 1450 BC (NC), followed by severe over-population.
The Byblos experience was repeated all along the coast, and was to prompt the movement into Egypt of the mysterious “Hyksos” people, who would rule northern Egypt for two hundred years. The Israelites were about to become embroiled in an all-out war for the Nile delta. Yahweh therefore acted to urgently move the Israelites into the only available safe haven - the Sinai desert an area which was generally considered off-limits, due to the lingering fear of radioactive contamination.
Was this evacuation part of the earlier covenant with Abraham - a payback for his espionage activities - or was there more to it?
Yahweh’s plan certainly went far beyond saving the Israelites. It is possible to deduce, from his emphasis of the ten commandments and the detailed new laws set out in Exodus 20-23, that he was disaffected with mankind. In particular, it would seem that Yahweh was disgusted at the worship of idols and the widespread use of divination. His actions suggest a desire to return to the traditional values, from the earliest days of Sumer. But times had changed.
The earliest Sumerians had been quite innocent and trusting in the Gods who had always protected them. Now, after one thousand years of chaos and warfare, the people were confused, uncertain and superstitious. The only way forward for Yahweh was to create a new covenant of trust and a loyalty to one God alone. It was for that reason that he took the Israelites into a forty year isolation in the Sinai desert.
Only in that way could he bring forth a new generation that was untainted by the polytheism of the Egyptians. Only through monotheism could men recapture their long-lost golden age. Now let us return to the name Yahweh, with all its evasive connotations. A close reading of the Book of Exodus indicates that Yahweh was following a carefully executed plan, which had three further objectives beyond the simple release of the Israelites. The first of these objectives was to weaken Egypt so fundamentally as a world power that it could not rise up and challenge the new monotheistic kingdom.
The second objective, by Yahweh’s own admission, was to build a reputation that would frighten Israel’s enemies. And the third objective was to win the sympathy and/or fear of the Egyptian people, in order to acquire silver and gold. These precious metals were required to build the Ark and the Tabernacle, the essential means by which Yahweh would communicate to his chosen people. In order to achieve all of these objectives, it was necessary to gradually escalate the scale of the “plagues” on Egypt. And in order to play this psychological game successfully, it was essential that the Egyptian pharaoh did not recognize the name, and hence the reputation, of the God who opposed him.
Pharaoh’s ignorance of the divine name Yahweh caused him to dismiss the threats of the Israelites. If he had recognized his true enemy, the game would not have been played out to its conclusion. As it was, Pharaoh persistently ignored the increasing desolation that was being inflicted upon his country. By the time this psychological game was over, Egypt had lost most of its livestock, most of its crops and fruit trees and even most of its first-born children.
The Egyptians were then so incensed that they chased after the fleeing Israelites and lost six hundred of their finest chariots, which were swept away by the sea. There was another powerful reason why Yahweh did not disclose his real name. Let us suppose that Yahweh was indeed a major God, well-known in the Near East.
If that God wanted to make a fresh start by reintroducing traditional values via a monotheistic kingdom, then the worst thing he could do would be to retain his old name, especially if he was already worshipped under that name by the neighbouring people. Imagine the reaction of the Israelites, upon entering Canaan, to find their special God being worshipped by their enemies, as one of many Gods!
And which of those enemies would fear the Israelites, if the Hebrew God was one of their own Gods! What was the name of the most commonly worshipped deity in the region of Canaan. Although Inanna was worshipped there as Astarte, and an unknown God was worshipped as Dagon, the most prominent God was certainly Hadad, who many believe to be identical with Baal.
The popularity of Hadad is evident from the common usage of his name by various kings - for example, Ben-Hadad of the Aramaeans, Hadad the Edomite and Hadadezer, the enemy of David, to name but a few. In addition, the main deity of the Hurrians, who held prominent positions in the Levant, was Hadad under the name Teshub. And finally, the Hittites, who had a strong presence in Canaan, were also big devotees of Teshub. The most powerful deity in the Israelites’ promised land was definitely the Storm God.
Now let us follow the clues as to the real identity of Yahweh.
Our first port of call is Exodus 6, which states:
God also said to Moses. “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them."
The above passage is confirmed by the Bible’s account of the earlier meeting with Abraham:
When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared before him and said: I am El Shaddai, walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.
These passages leave no doubt that the name Yahweh was first used during the Exodus. There is no basis whatsoever for religious claims that the name Yahweh existed at the time of the covenant with Abraham, the Flood, Adam and Eve, or even at the creation of heaven and Earth. These represent a rather predictable attempt at retrospective monotheistic editing. What is the meaning of Yahweh’s earlier name of El Shaddai?
The word shaddai is stated in the plural and is usually translated as “omnipotent” in the sense of a divine level of excellence, befitting of the plural Elohim. In recent years, however it has become apparent that its root is the Akkadian word shadu, which means mountains. Therefore El Shaddai should not be translated as God Almighty, but more accurately (and indeed literally) as “God of the Mountains”.
Does this provide a clue to Yahweh’s real identity?
There was indeed a God in the Sumerian pantheon who was known as a God of mountains. His name was ISH.KURI the youngest son of Enlil, and his name literally meant “He of the Far Mountain Lands." As we discussed in chapter 14, Ishkur was also known by the name Adad, or Hadad in Hebrew.
Since Hadad/Teshub was the pre-eminent God in Canaan, a new monotheistic religion under the name Ishkur or Adad would have been a non-starter. Ishkur is thus a perfect match for the mountain God El Shaddai, who by necessity became the anonymous God Yahweh. In the previous chapter, we identified Ishkur’s mountain lands as the Taurus and later the Andes Mountains, and noted that he returned from Tiwanaku to the Near East c. 2200 BC.
He was thus in the right place at the right time to appear as El Shaddai at Sodom and Gomorrah in 2024 BC. At that time, his elder brother Nannar/Sin was the God ruling over the Third Dynasty of Ur.
Does the Biblical character of Yahweh match that of Ishkur?
First, as an Enlilite God, Ishkur fits the bill for the Biblical God, who was anti-Babylon, anti-Egypt and anti-Marduk. Ishkur was, under his various names, consistently represented as the Storm God, with his famous symbol of the thunderbolt, trident or forked lightning. This symbolism is remarkably consistent with the manner in which Yahweh caused Egypt to release the Israelites:
“When Moses stretched out his staff towards the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground.”
This was no ordinary storm, but the worst ever experienced in Egypt, pre-arranged to strike at an exact time. A similarly phenomenon was used to enable Samuel to defeat the Philistines:
“But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.”
Secondly, both Ishkur and Yahweh were emotional Gods with a violent streak. Ishkur was identified in chapter 14 as the Weeping God of Tiwanaku. Yahweh was also a highly emotional God, a jealous God by his own admission, who quickly lost his temper.
During the Exodus, Yahweh often threatened to destroy his own people:
“But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
Both Yahweh and Ishkur were occasionally prone to violence. On some occasions, Yahweh ordered disobedient followers to be put to death, whilst on other occasions he sent fire or a plague to consume the grumbling Israelites. Ishkur could similarly be incited to violence. His cult symbol was the bull, which was feared throughout South America as a sign of death and destruction.
Certain South American legends describe a day when terror came from the skies, when “wild animals” overran mankind - an incident which I will later connect with Ishkur. In summary, we have a perfect match between Ishkur and Yahweh. We also have an understanding (after several thousand years of waiting), of the reason for the anonymous name I Am Who I Am and furthermore, we have a good understanding of Yahweh’s motives.
Here we have the youngest son of Enlil, whose Tiwanakan followers had scattered, returning to find his original lands in Anatolia occupied by the Hittites. Here we have a God who never had a permanent city and people to call his own, returning to find his name being misused and abused by a bunch of soothsayers and idol-worshippers.
And finally, to remove any last vestige of doubt, we can explain why the Lord said to Moses “no-one may see me and live” and why only Yahweh’s glory was ever seen.
The first reason Yahweh’s face could not be seen was to prevent the Israelites from recording his image and hence exposing his secret identity to their enemies.
And the second, more practical, reason was that he was absent on business elsewhere.
lshkur was, after all, a God of the Americas, and the presence of his Storm God image at Teotihuacan (c. 1390 BC) demonstrates his continuing presence in that region at the time of the Exodus.
This absence explains why the Ark of the Covenant was built and used for communications in the Sinai desert from 1433-1393 BC.
It is time that we used our twentieth century eyes to recognize that Yahweh spoke to Moses through a radio transmitter. Unlike the Omnipresent Spiritual God, flesh-and-blood Gods cannot be in two places at the same time!
Source: [link to www.bibliotecapleyades.net]
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