God is invoked by the pious and as a figure of speech by many others who don’t pause to consider the actual existence of a deity - with more names than any of us can imagine. For prophets like Habakkuk denial of the divine is not an option - and he somehow manages to combine the attributions of multiple gods into his final vision. His version of the Hebrew god YHWH would be very strange to contemporary worshippers.
So where DOES YHWH come from? Who invited the Hebrew God? A verse from today’s chapter + a coin discovered in Gaza over a century ago may hold some clues.
Habakkuk wraps his visions in this third chapter with a poetic psalm, which is a lament of how bad things are plus a plea for divine help. Though scholars question how this poem got here - it does not exactly fit the form of the previous two chapters -- on some level it does conclude his prophecies in which he starts off with a question, gets an answer and now wraps it up with a declaration of ultimate faith.
But there’s something odd here that has caught the eye of sages over the generations -- the images he uses to describe the God of Israel to whose aid he turns seems to be a collage of many other local deities, with mythological references that fuse all faith traditions into one. What was the purpose of this chapter? And is there information here about the actual origin of the Hebrew God?
Habakkuk names the Canaanite Deities Reshef and Yam, refers to God’s glory in language that is very reminiscent of Ra - the Egyptian deity of the sun. And there are other references from Sumerian, Akkadian and even Assyrian depictions of the gods.
It’s likely that by using all these tropes of superpowers Habakuk was speaking to his listeners, for whom the religious references were familiar and clear. Perhaps he tries to seduce their faithless ways with symbols from the powerful cultures that surrounded them, popular and known among the nations of the east? Or perhaps he tries to tell them and us the story of where our god came from -- and how we hope that our local deity will be as powerful - or more powerful than all of them combined?
The telling detail of YHWH’s origin is in this verse:
אֱל֙וֹהַּ֙ מִתֵּימָ֣ן יָב֔וֹא וְקָד֥וֹשׁ מֵהַר־פָּארָ֖ן סֶ֑לָה כִּסָּ֤ה שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ הוֹד֔וֹ וּתְהִלָּת֖וֹ מָלְאָ֥ה הָאָֽרֶץ׃
God has come from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah.
God’s majesty covers the skies,
Such splendor fills the earth:
Habakkuk 3:3
Teman is Yemen - not so much the country but the ancient word for ‘South’. As in other biblical verses it appears that the origins of the Hebrew god is from the regions south of the promised land - which makes sense considering the importance of Mount Sinai to the narratives of revelation.
Prof.Israel Knohl, the biblical scholar who has written extensively on this topic explains why this verse form Habakkuk supports the theories that this deity is borrowed - from the tribes that lived in the south and gave the Hebrews their original theology:
“A number of biblical traditions describe YHWH’s emergence from the south, either the southern Transjordan, the Sinai wilderness, or both.
Biblical scholars have hypothesized that YHWH was originally worshiped in this area, in the south. This is supported by geographical records from various Egyptian temples that list areas located in southern Transjordan. These lists, dating from the 14th-12th centuries BCE, include a region referred to as “the land of Shasu, YHW.”
Since the Egyptian writing system contains consonants and no vowels, the letter W in the word YHW cannot be a vowel, but reflects a consonant, which in speech would have been followed by a vowel. The word “YHW” therefore corresponds to the name of the biblical God, YHWH.
..It appears that YHW was the chief deity worshiped by the Midyanites - the nomadic tribes in this southern region, which was therefore called by the Egyptians “the land of the Shasu, YHW.”
But how did the deity YHW become transformed into the God of Israel?
it is possible that some Israelites lived in the same area of the Midyan, and over time adopted and adapted their god.”
There is much more to Knohl’s theory - this article is recommended for those who want to probe this thread a little further.
Regardless of the origins of God and all the other mystical and mythic layers, Habakkuk concludes his book and this psalm with a reminder of why any of this matters. No matter what happens, as wars ravage and famine dries the figs, there is a way to find your faith and have a personal relationship with the source of all life.
“Though the olive crop has failed
And the fields produce no grain,
Though sheep have vanished from the fold
And no cattle are in the pen --
Yet will I rejoice in YHWH
Exult in the God who delivers me.”
Habakkuk 3:17-18
Whatever this psalm was intended for, it survived as a reminder of the mysteries that we still long for, origin stories lost in the fogs of time.
One last clue is hidden in the last verse - an instruction for the musicians who performed this piece once upon a time:
“For the leader; with instrumental music.”
Scholars suggest that perhaps this chapter was a musical number - an epic mythic ballad, or inspiring poem for when we don’t remember where we come from, why anything matters, what to trust in. Perhaps that’s how prophetic promises try to make the future a bit less terrifying and more grounded in some sort of mythic comfort-giving dimension that’s got many names, and is sometimes called god.
On this day, marking 5 months since October 7, with so many praying for safe return, cessation of war, healing and hope for all — whatever works, let the source of life help us lift up life and each other’s healing - everywhere.
Image: A 4th-century BCE silver coin from the Persian province of Yehud , discovered in Gaza, depicting the inscription YHW, possibly representing Yahweh enthroned on a winged wheel
TODAY:
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