The Sons of El
In 1929, a Syrian boy was plowing his field when the plow struck a piece of stone that had squared corners. While this piece of stone was not that important, it led to the uncovering of one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. The findings of Ugarit, which is now known as Ras Shamra in northern Syria, date back to the 1300-1400’s BC. These artifacts give us invaluable insight into the culture of the Canaanites before Israel conquered the land.
Interestingly the head of their gods was known as El, the same name as the Creator God in our Old Testament. There is no shortage of scholars who conclude that the Israelites simply adopted the Canaanite god into their own religion. The language of the entire Middle East was related, sometimes called Semitic, sometimes Phoenician. It used pictorial characters similar to what we see in paleo-Hebrew. The name El simply means strong one. It is used predominately in our Old Testament to mean the Creator, but it is sometimes used of angels or men. The picture in paleo-Hebrew was an ox or a bull, which was the strongest thing a farming society would have come in contact with. It is not difficult to see how the bull came to be worshiped as god, instead of simply being representative of Him.
The fact that two cultures with similar languages, would use the same word for “god”, is not surprising in the least. Also the fact that the Canaanite El (who was very sensuous) had different qualities than the Jewish El isn’t so astonishing either. What becomes important is the difference between two other gods, who were also called lord – Baal and YHWH. Interestingly, Baal was also known as the son of El.
One of the more interesting finds at Ugarit was a Canaanite hymn that was apparently very close to the middle portion of Psalm 29. In this Canaanite version, Baal is credited with thundering over the waters and shaking the wilderness. Some find it strange that David would have copied Canaanite literature, but I don’t. David would have known the Canaanites well since he drove them out of Jerusalem and made it the capital of Judah.
After the victory, David writes a prologue to the hymn:
1 Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
David states his purpose in the first verse – “Give unto YHWH, you elohim” (plural of El). He is stating that out of all the mighty ones - out of all the sons of El - YHWH was to receive all the glory. This is exactly the message of the New Testament. Paul declares about Jesus:
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Col 1:15)
After apparently copying the Canaanite hymn (while, of course, substituting YHWH for Baal), David concludes:
10 The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever. 11 The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.
David understood what many of us don't today. YHWH (Jesus) sits as King through every disaster of this world. And through it all, He gives strength to His people, and gives us peace in the midst of the storm!