Yahweh is the God of the Israelites in ancient Levant. In the Book of Exodus he reveals his Hebrew name, YHWH, to Moses. The origins of his worship are thought to date back to the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550 - 1200 BCE) at least.
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Of ancient Levantine lore, Yahweh is patron god of the kingdoms Israel and Judah. Though the origins of Yahweh are vague, he's said to appear as a divine warrior. He relates to Mount Seir; Edom; Desert of Paran; and Teman (Palestinians descended from Esau).
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Yahweh is later associated with Canaan. Edomites appear c. 1215 BCE in the records of Pharaoh Seti I of Egypt. In ancient biblical literature Yahweh has qualities of storm, weather and war deities.
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He assumes the role of fertility god in gracing the land with abundance. As a warrior god he leads his divine army against the enemies of Israel.
The name YHWH is a sequence of consonants Yod, He, Waw and He creating the tetragrammaton. They correspond to the four-letter Hebrew theonym יהוה , which is read from right to left.
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Like their contemporaries, early Israelites are polytheistic. They worship Yahweh together with Canaanite gods and goddesses including the God King El, fertility goddess Asherah and storm god Baal. In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated.
Yahweh of the Israelites is among the consorts of goddess Asherah. Her other consorts include Baal (Canaanite religion), Amurru (Amorite religion) and Anu (Akkadian religion).
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As time goes by, epithets such as El Shaddai (God Almighty) become applied to Yahweh alone. Other deities such as Baal and Asherah are absorbed into the religion of Yahweh. Baal is also depicted as an enemy of Yahweh.
Toward the end of Babylonian captivity of the Jews (c. 7th century BCE), Yahweh is elevated to creator god as the only deity to be worshipped. After the Babylonian captivity (6th century BCE), and especially from the 3rd century BCE on, Jews stop using the name Yahweh.
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There are two specific reasons. One, as Judaism outgrows its local position and becomes a widespread religion, the more common Hebrew noun Elohim (plural in form but understood as singular), meaning “God,” replaces Yahweh.
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This is perceived to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God above all others. At the same time, the divine name is increasingly seen as too sacred to be spoken. During the Second Temple Period (516 BCE - 70 CE) it's illegal to say the name Yahweh in public.
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It's replaced in the synagogue ritual with the Hebrew adonai (אֲדֹנָי, "my Lords"). In the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Septuagint it's translated as Kyrios (“Lord”).
The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE is the decisive event of the First Jewish-Roman War (66 - 73 CE). The Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieges Jerusalem. The city is the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Judaea.
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Following a five-month siege, the Romans raze the city and destroy the Second Jewish Temple. After the destruction of the Temple, the original pronunciation of the god's name is forgotten.
Theologians and archaeologists divide the history of Yahweh into several time frames. These are:
Late Bronze: 1550 -1200 BCE
Iron Age I: 1200 - 1000 BCE
Iron Age II: 1000 - 586 BCE
Neo-Babylonian: 586 - 539 BCE
Persian: 539 - 332 BCE
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The origin of Yahweh remains a mystery. His name is found only among the Israelites. Scholars reach no consensus on its etymology. Some say Ehyeh ašer ehyeh (I Am that I Am) in Exodus 3:14 seems a late addition when the original meaning is forgotten.
The name may be connected to Amorite yahwi- (ia-wi), found in personal names, meaning "brings to life/causes to exist" (e.g. yahwi-dagan = "Dagon causes to exist"). This is disputed.
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The oldest reference to his name is the Egyptian demonym tꜣ šꜣsw Yhwꜣ, "The Land of the Shasu YHWA," inscribed at the time of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE). The Shasu are nomads from Midian and Edom in northern Arabia.
Yahweh is a "divine warrior from the southern regions" - Mark S. Smith 2017. While this concept is widely accepted it questions how Yahweh arrives in the north.
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Many scholars believe traders bring Yahweh to Israel along the caravan routes between Egypt and Canaan. This assimilates various data, such as absence of Yahweh from Canaan, and his links with Edom and Midian in the biblical stories. Still, dispute arises.
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