Chavoux: אל is used as a generic word for “god” Genesis 46:3, Deuteronomy 3:24, 4:31, 5:9 and many other verses. It was not a name in Biblical Hebrew.
Karl W. Randolph. On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Chavoux Luyt <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi every-one > > I have read in various (archaeological) sources that the "chief god" > of the Canaanite pagans were called "El" with the implication that > "El" was a personal name rather than being the generic word for "god". > Of course in the Hebrew religion of the Bible, there was only one God > and it would be legitimate to simply call Him "God" as a "personal > name" of sorts. It seems to me however, the in the Hebrew Scriptures > the term "Ha-Elohim" ("the Gods", but with singular verbs) is normally > used instead of only "El" and that when "El" is used as a personal > name it is normally as part of a compound name (e.g. El Shaddai, El > Gibor, El Elyon etc.). > > My question is basically this: is there any evidence that the Hebrews > used "El" on its own as a personal name? Or is it rather used as the > generic term for "God" only? Can this be considered as a semantic > difference between Hebrew and Canaanite usage or may the > interpretation of "El" as a personal name instead of a generic term > for "god" in ANE archaeology simply be mistaken? > > Regards > Chavoux Luyt _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
