Religion as a phenomenon was unknown and would be incomprehensible to the Canaanites and Israelites. What happened happened because the divine powers either willed it or did not oppose it. In pre-Hellenistic times there was no concept of an order of nature governed by immutable natural laws. Hence Biblical Hebrew has no word for “religion”.
In Syria-Palestine survival depended on the annual rains and rain fall varies widely from year to year. It was clear to Canaanites and Israelites that rainfall was sent by the divine powers and the god who could provide rain, as well as the god or gods who assured human and animal fecundity would be the key object(s) of worship in the subsistence farming communities where almost all Israelites and Canaanites lived.
Physical security was, of course, also important so divine help in war was a necessity. This might be given by one of the gods or goddesses covering off weather and fecundity or by a specialized war god, national god or god of the place.
As is probably the case in most religions it underwrote the existing social structure. The most basic of these structures is that of the nuclear family – father, mother, child. For the king the national god, who would preferably also be a war god would be particularly important to assure ethnic cohesion and military success.
The gods, on whom all depended, must be accessible (i.e. exhibit imminence and be worshiped at local shrines) yet also clearly be transcendent celestial powers.

B. Methodology

I will not write a note on methodology as this issue is covered well in Zevit’s first chapter Surveying Paths: An Essay about Humanities, Religion, History and Israelite Religions. Of particular interest is Zevit’s discussion of the evolution of the concept of history. I would also light to highlight the following quotes from his essay –

a) What Are Israelite Religions? (Quoted from Zevit pp. 14-15)

1. Within the worldviews of ancient Israel and her surrounding cultural milieus… deities – the major ones usually being transcendental – conceived as having names, personalities, functions, egos and histories…. In addition, different ancient Near Eastern worldviews recognized the existence of various ill-defined, lesser, often localized, attendant or indwelling powers both malignant and benign.

2. The term "Israelite religion" does not correspond to any well-defined historical reality and is, like "religion," "Christianity," and "Judaism," also a product of the scholar's study. It is a technical term enveloping the religions of groups with different but overlapping worldviews, patterns of ritual acts, and other activities and expressions that we identify as "religious." The common denominator of "Israelite religion" is found in the adjective and not the noun: the majority of its practitioners considered themselves a people descendant from an ancestor named Jacob/Israel. But the noun is troublesome also.

(In Ancient Israel) … there was no commonly accepted cultic norm and praxis, cf. the Jerusalem temple cultic calandar and clergy versus those in the temples at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-33). Therefore, rather than consider the idealized, Jerusalem perspective of what ought to have been a cultic and behavioral norm for all Israelites "proper Israelite religion," and deviations from this norm "corruptions," - an approach prejudging conflicting truth claims - I prefer the more concrete and historically defensible term, "Israelite religions."

… Accordingly, this work employs the following definition:

Israelite religions are the varied, symbolic expressions of, and appropriate responses to the deities and powers that groups or communities deliberately affirmed as being of unrestricted value to them within their world view.

b) Objectivity and Phenomenology (Quoted from Zevit pp. 24-27)

The requirement for objectivity that traditionally characterizes (or is supposed to characterize) academic research necessitates that observers or researchers be apart from the religious matters that interest them…. As outsiders, students of ancient religions (or of religions not their own) come from cultures with their own worldviews and mappings of reality, so the conclusions of their research will be delimited by a priori methodological considerations and translated into a language whose conceptional and semantic fields differ from that of their subject….

The phenomenological approach recommends tactics for bridging the gap between the paradigm-laden outside observer striving for objectivity and basic signifying meanings of religious constructions maintained within a participant insider's worldview.

Phenomenology is an approach to observing, describing and arranging phenomena so that they may be studied either synchronically or diachronically by other methodologies. It understands a phenomenon to be something perceived in consciousness but not originating in consciousness. Thus, a phenomenon may be something physical or not physical … such as a sacred ark, the temple purification rituals of the first month, even the contents of the heavenly vision of Isaiah. Phenomenology's specific objective is to penetrate through the observed and reported phenomena in order to discern the meanings of symbols, myths, and rituals within a religious culture. Its a priori assumption is that these meanings are available intuitively to those within the culture but not regularly to outsiders. If, however, outsiders are able to gain access first to the concrete surface world of phenomena, their Lebenswelt, through a form of disciplined observation called "reduction" intended to eliminate anachronistic conceptualizing, they may also succeed in accessing the world of meaning underlying the Lebenswelt.

Reduction consists initially of observing carefully, without prejudging, because initially the observer may not know what he or she is observing and therefore what is or is not significant

Reduction, in the phenomenological context, involves bracketing out the observer's preconceived, culturally bound, explanatory paradigms and all prejudices incompatible with and foreign to the observed culture. This is hardly an easy task. It involves concentrated thinking, conscientious self-criticism and self-analysis, as well as the active criticism of others. For example, in observing the culture of ancient Israel it is first of all necessary to bracket out all (theological) notions of deity that are post-Kantian, or that are derived even indirectly from Neo-Platonism and Neo-Aristotelianism. Ancient Israelite thinking was pre-scholastic and pre-Aquinas and pre-Christian and pre-Jewish. As a consequence, certain distinctions between categories of being and of thought shared by most contemporary scholars, heirs of Western philosophic developments since the thirteenth century CE, distinctions that fill this chapter, cannot be ascribed to Israelite thought. They were foreign to that culture and not part of Israelite consciousness; consequently, evaluative distinctions made nowadays between knowledge of observable nature, knowledge of things passed down in oral tradition, and knowledge of intuited or of revealed matters, were not made then. Contemporary scholars have no reason to suppose, then, that Israelites considered faith and reason separate categories of thinking and experience or that they conferred different kinds of validity on their subject matter.

Phenomenological reduction must bracket out contemporary understandings of monotheism; post-Enlightenment notions of evolution, progress and development; all post-geocentric concepts of astronomy; almost all geographical knowledge about the shape of the planet and the global distribution of populations and natural resources; information about microbes and contemporary understandings of pathogenesis and mental illness, weather patterns, economics, gender roles, women, children, slavery, war, kingship, animal sacrifice, early death, astrology, and magic. The bracketing process, if not thought through, may cause one to miss the mark entirely….

Researchers or observers have to bracket in, keep in mind, what is known about sacrifice in Israel, in Jerusalem c. 950-600 BCE. They cannot exclude some form of Israelite awareness, reflected in various biblical sources, of what Israelites may have thought such acts were intended to accomplish and of what individuals experienced when participating in them. If not included, the exercise might lead observers to view Israelite sacrifice as if it took place under isolated conditions in an unreflective, preliterate culture, like those of pre-missionary Polynesia or New Guinea or those of the Chalcolithic period. Reduction, therefore, includes disciplined and controlled bracketing in, and in the case of Israel requires anthropological sensitivities linked to historical controls. This bracketing process enables observers to reduce phenomena to a level of meaning foreign to their own sensibilities, but appropriate to Israel c. 950-600 BCE.

If the observers/researchers have mastered the relevant primary sources, and if the observing and describing have been done properly, the phenomenological approach should enable them to consider phenomena from the subject's perspective. Then, the observers/researchers should be able to intuit the meanings of the phenomena of interest to them, experiencing them almost as insiders…. Unlike insiders, however, observers/researchers have only bracketed their beliefs and disbeliefs, held them in suspension. Having obtained data, observers are prepared to re-engage their own critical faculties and to analyze them according to chosen critical methodologies in order to answer questions of their posing.

Phenomenology provides a propaedeutic approach for describing and analyzing the religious component of world views in ancient Israel. Its exercise, when separated from the considerations that make it appropriate for the study of religion, is employed with greater or lesser self-consciousness in many of the humanities, in most social sciences, and to a much lesser degree even in some physical sciences as well. The process described above is recognizable, therefore, to historians using other terminology. Rather than "phenomenon," historians employ "datum, text, event" and "example;" rather than "bracketing," they prefer expressions such as "thinking historically" or "critically" or "objectively," and rather than "intuiting," words such as "imagining, inducting, inferring, reconstructing," and "concluding. "

1. Canaan before the Israelites

1.1 The Nature of the Country and its Pre-Israelite Ethnic Makeup

It is useful to bear in mind two constants about the Palestinian area that held true throughout the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and beyond:

The country was always open to immigration [1] though broken up within itself (see Dever 2005 pp. 12-15). In the Bronze Age, it had no unified government or army and had, in the Late Bronze Age, large areas of hill country, which had been periodically settled in earlier periods, were almost unoccupied[2]. This was the case in spite of the fact that the technology, in the form of plastered cisterns, metal tools and terracing , necessary to clear and settle the land were available. In the event, Israel emerged in the form of settlers on this largely unoccupied hill country.
From the north, the country was open to Lebanon, Syria and via Syria to Mesopotamia and Anatolia. The south was open to infiltration by nomads and to military invasion by Egypt. The east was open to infiltration by nomads from the Syrian Desert and Arabia. The western border was the Mediterranean which was the greatest highway of all. In fact, during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages Egyptian armies frequently invaded from the south; the Bible states that the Israelites tried, and failed to enter Canaan from the south and then entered successfully from the east; and, the Philistines and other Sea People successfully invaded from the sea and took over the coastal plain. Later, both Israelite kingdoms were destroyed by Mesopotamian powers coming from the north in response to rebellions supported by Egypt from the south.
While, according to biblical tradition, there were many ethnic groups in Canaan (Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Horites, Kenites, Perizites etc.), and even though some of these would appear to be non-Semitic in origin (e.g. Horites (= Hurrians?) and Hittites) they seem to have become assimilated into the Canaanite culture speaking Canaanite and having West Semitic names.
There was, from the earliest times, strong Egyptian cultural influence along the coast and strong Mesopotamian influence in north Syria. Egyptian cultural influence was boosted by Egyptian rule in the centuries preceding the emergence of Ancient Israel.

The great professor Albright has put it, perhaps overstating it, as follows[3] –

There has been much misunderstanding of the nature of Canaanite-Phoenician culture. It must be emphasized that this was a relatively homogeneous civilization from the Middle Bronze Age down to the beginning of the Achaemenian period, after which it was swallowed up in large part by much more extensive cultures. Chronologically speaking, it is certain that "Phoenician" is simply the Iron-Age equivalent of Bronze-Age "Canaanite"…. Phoenician culture did not finally expire until the triumph of Christianity in the fourth century. From the geographical standpoint, there was a homogeneous civilization which extended in the Bronze Age from Mount Casius, north of Ugarit, to the Negeb of Palestine, and in the Iron Age from north of Arvad (at least) to the extreme south of Palestine. This civilization shared a common material culture (including architecture, pottery, etc.) through the entire period, and we now know that language, literature, art, and religion were substantially the same in the Bronze Age. From the twelfth century on we find increasing divergence in higher culture, but material culture remained practically the same in all parts of the area. The differences (except in the case of Israelite religion) were no greater than they were in different parts of the Mesopotamian area of culture, which was geographically much more extensive. The situation in Canaan is in a number of ways comparable to that in Egypt, where the distance down the Nile is just about twice the distance along the coast from Gaza to Ugarit and yet the civilization of Egypt was much more homogeneous than even I would maintain with respect to Canaanite culture.

Since Israel emerged from the same Northwest-Semitic background as the Phoenicians and other Canaanite groups which continued to exist down into the Iron Age, one would expect to find extremely close relationships in both material and higher culture. It is true that Israelite ties with Egypt were very strong, both historically and geographically, but it is doubtful whether Canaanite and Phoenician bonds with Egypt were any less close. Quite aside from the close ties of reciprocal trade, it must never be forgotten that Palestine, Phoenicia, and Egypt were as a rule part of the same political organization, in which Egypt generally played the controlling part. So far as we know, the only exceptions, during the period which interests us particularly, were during the 18th century B.C., again at the end of the 13th, and from the middle of the 12th to the late tenth. After the early ninth century B.C. Egyptian political influence in Asia decreased greatly, but was compensated by the steady development of reciprocal trade relations.

1.2 Canaanite Religion

1.2.1 General

Box 1

Near Eastern Religion and Morality

If we study the literature of the ancient Babylonians and Sumerians, we can no longer believe the description of "pagan" religion that has long been part of Western tradition and is still often found in modern religious writing. Instead of capricious gods acting only in pursuit of their own desires, we meet deities concerned with the proper ordering of the universe and the regulation of history. Instead of divine cruelty and arrogance, we find deliberation and understanding. Instead of lawlessness and violence, we see a developed legal system and a long tradition of reflective jurisprudence. Instead of immoral attitudes and behavior, we find moral deliberation, philosophical speculation, and penitential prayer. Instead of wild orgiastic rites, we read of hymns, processions, sacrifices, and prayers. Instead of the benighted paganism of the Western imagination, cuneiform literature reveals to us an ethical polytheism that commands serious attention and respect.

But this new valuation of paganism creates its own dilemmas and awakens new questions. If the Bible is not the first dawn of enlightenment in a world of total darkness, then what is it? If polytheism was not the dark disaster that our cultural tradition has imagined it to be, why was it abandoned in Israel and replaced by biblical monotheism? If the old religions swept away by our own monotheist tradition were not grossly deficient, how can we find the precise significance of one God as opposed to the many? How does a monotheistic religion develop? Did the god of Israel simply absorb all the functions and attributes of the pagan gods, essentially changing nothing? Or did monotheism represent a radical break with the past after all, a break not as simply defined and immediately apparent as has been believed, but no less revolutionary?

The discovery of advanced polytheism poses a central theological issue: if polytheism can have such positive attributes, what is the purpose of monotheism? Did the Bible simply substitute another system, one that represented no advance towards a better understanding of the universe and a more equitable way of living? Indeed, were there some aspects of paganism lost in the transition that present, in fact, a more positive way of living in the world? The immediacy of these issues makes imperative an analysis of the nature of paganism and the precise nuances and essential messages of the monotheist revolution of the Bible. We cannot build our spiritual quest on prejudiced assumptions and polemical attributions. We must attain a profound knowledge of ancient polytheism and a sophisticated reading of the biblical texts informed by this knowledge. Thanks to the discovery of ancient Near Eastern literature, we have the ability to study these questions, understand our own past religious development, and make informed contributions to our future.

From In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth, by Tikva Frymer-Kensky

Our only real view into the world of Middle to Late Bronze Age Canaanite culture is via Ugaritic literature (see my Ugarit and the Bible: Ugaritic Literature as an Aid to Understanding the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).

Ugaritic literature reflects a society of independent city-states sharing a common culture; a stratified aristocratic society based on agriculture.

Some of the characteristics of Canaanite Religion were (see Table 8 for more details):

§ It was polytheistic and iconic (i.e. worshiped idols which served as focuses of the presence of cosmic /nature gods).

§ It was tied to nature and the seasons; a religion of renewal of life and fertility. Not surprisingly, its predominant sense of time was cyclical not linear i.e. it did not provide a good cultural background for the writing of history which presumes real linear change [4].

1.2.2 The Gods

See

Best general source is van der Toorn

Canaanite and Phoenician religions http://i-cias.com/e.o/can_phoe_rel.htm

The Temple of the Deities - Room One - The Major Deities in the Myths of Ugarit http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2938/majdei.html

Canaanite/Ugaritic Mythology FAQ, ver. 1.1

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mythology/canaanite-faq/

Official Religion and Popular Religion in Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel

The Canaanite religion, from which the Religion of Israel emerged had priests, priestesses[5] and prophets. At Ugarit, like later Israelite religion, it viewed the universe as having three levels. The highest celestial realm was the realm of El, the earth was the realm of Baal and other gods; and the depth was the realm of Mot[6] (death), Resheph[7] (pestilence) and Horon[8] (perhaps meaning “depth).

Canaanite religion concentrated on the middle realm. In Bronze Age Ugarit many gods were worshiped. However, the pattern in Iron Age Phoenicia, and probably in the territories of Israel and Judah, usually was composed of a triad consisting of a protective god of the place, a goddess, often his wife or companion who symbolizes the fertile earth; and a young god somehow connected with the goddess whose resurrection expresses the annual cycle of vegetation” (see Dever on Popular Religion and Canaanite Religion Compared to Israelite Official Religion As Reflected in the Torah on the confusion of divine names see). In Carthage the triad was Baal Hammon (may be Ugaritic El or Baal-Haddad with some El features attached), Tanit (his spouse who may be Ugaritic Asherah or an African goddess with similar characteristics) and Melkart (may be derived from Baal-Haddad)

This triad[9], similar to that of Israelite religion about 1000 BCE, can be seen as a reflection of the nuclear family. At Ugarit, the primary triad was -

A. El [10] – Divine Father

In Ugaritic el (‘il) is both the common noun “god” and the name of the head of the Ugaritic pantheon – El. Similarly, in the Hebrew Bible, ‘el both means god and the Israelite God [11]. The probable root meaning of ‘el is “power”.
Ugaritic El is the patriarchal father. The creator, old, wise, compassionate, the supreme judge, and, in the last resort, all-powerful symbolized by the bull. Cross writes, that at Ugarit;

'EI a strong but not absolute ruler…. 'El also appears as the divine warrior: 'El Gibbor.... … 'El reflects the patriarchal structures of society in many of the myths and the organized institutions of kingship in other titles and functions. He may be a state god or a "god of the father."

We see 'El as the figure of the divine father. 'El cannot be described as a sky god like Anu, a storm god like Enlil or Zeus, a chthonic god like Nergal, or a grain god like Dagon. The one image of 'El that seems to tie all of his myths together is that of the patriarch. Unlike the great gods who represent the powers behind the phenomena of nature, 'El is in the first instance a social god. He is the primordial father of gods and men, sometimes stern, often compassionate, always wise in judgment…. He is a tent-dweller in many of his myths. (In other texts) he appears to live in a palace, hekal, and live like a king. 'El is creator …. In Akkadian and Amorite religion as also in Canaanite, 'El frequently plays the role of "god of the father," the social deity who governs the tribe or league, often bound to league or king with kinship or covenant ties.

His characteristic mode of manifestation appears to be the vision or audition, often in dreams. This mode stands in strong contrast to the theophany of the storm god (Baal) whose voice is the thunder and who goes out to battle riding the cloud chariot, shaking the mountains with stormy blasts of his nostrils, striking the enemy with fiery bolts. Baal comes near in his shining storm cloud. 'El is the transcendent one.

In the Ugaritic literature El:

Is the greatest of all the gods with full ultimate authority though he tends to sit back and let other gods, especially Baal, take the spotlight;

is the creator of all things[12];

Sexually fathered the other gods who participate, under El’s headship in the Divine Assembly;

El’s epithets or descriptions include: Bull, Father of Men, Holy, Ancient, Merciful, Supreme Judge, guardian of the cosmic order, Kindly One and Compassionate. Ugaritic El can be drunken and, though he copulates freely with numerous females, his consort is Asherah.

He is represented as an aged man. El wore bull's horns, the symbol of strength, and was usually depicted as seated.

“Our own view is that, so far from all other deities in the Ugaritic pantheon being expressions of provinces of the activity of the one original deity, EI, there is a fundamental diversity of nature and interest in the case of EI, the paramount authority in social affairs, and of Baal and the others, whose province was nature. The family relationship of EI and the nature-deities in the Baal-mythology strikes one as artificial, and the comparative superfluity of EI in those texts is an indication of this. The titular supremacy of EI in the Baal-mythology may be an acknowledgement of the supremacy of some invading tribal element to whom the worship of EI was proper, but the fact remains that EI expresses the omnipotence of God above the menace of evil, while Baal expresses the dynamic power of God in the struggle to preserve order in Nature.”[13]
In Carthage, a Phoenician-Canaanite colony near present-day Tunis, In Carthage Baal Hammon (may be Ugaritic El or Baal-Haddad with some El features attached) and his consort Tanit were the main or only gods to which child sacrifices, which took place on a massive scale [14], were dedicated.

“The common identity shared by El and Yahweh is impressive…. In the various texts El and Yahweh were both portrayed as 1) father figures, 2) judges, 3) compassionate and merciful, 4) revealing themselves through dreams, 5) capable of healing those who are sick, 6) dwelling in a cosmic tent. 7) dwelling over the great cosmic waters or at the source of the primordial rivers, which is also on top of a mountain, 8) favourable to the widow 9) kings in the heavenly realm exercising authority over the other gods, who may be called ‘sons of gods’, 10) warrior deities who led the other gods in battle, 11) creator deities, 12) aged and venerable in appearance, and most significantly, 13) capable of guiding the destinies of people in the social arena.”[15]

In the climate of Syria-Palestine where survival depends on rain, the weather god cult will always predominate and the weather god will tend to displace any god above him in the divine hierarchy. This was clearly happening in Ugarit and, judging by the dominance of Baal-Hadad and Baal Shamem in the first millennium, a similar process was probably occurring throughout the region.

“Certain conclusions may thus be drawn from the Ugaritic myths … concerning the relationship between El and Baal…. In Ugarit Baal and Anat were the strong, young gods…. That does not mean that they swept away the old gods completely, but what it actually meant can be observed in the texts. The old gods remained, even in their previous positions, but their power was only nominal. The young gods were placed in the foreground, a fact which the texts announce clearly.

“El is still present, in no changed position nominally, as father and apparent leader of the gods. But actually he is only a shadow, receding slowly into the background. In front of the picture Baal and Anat are fighting, struggling with enemies of many kinds, building up a position in close contact with life in nature, in men, women, beasts and vegetation…. when Baal and Anat are in the foreground in the mythical texts, it means that they were also the dominating figures in the religious cult....

“Our conclusion, then, is that there was a silent struggle going on between Baal and El, a struggle that Baal was on the verge of winning, but had not yet won. The Ras Shamra texts emphasize the importance of the role of Baal and indicate that he was a leading figure in the religious cult.

El is slowly receding into the background…. In his house on the mountain from which the rivers flowed, he tries to reign, but the events show that he no longer has any power. Baal is the powerful god….

Quoted from THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EL AND BAAL IN THE RAS SHAMRA TEXTS by ARVID S. KAPELRUD

B. Ela/Elat-Asherah – Divine Mother

Box 2

Goddess as Role Model

(In the figure of goddesses) women could see divine modeling for their own roles in life. The goddesses provided a way for society to discuss the roles and nature of women. Furthermore, the fact that goddesses play the roles of women in the divine realm reinforces cultural stereotypes about women and makes these stereotypes sacred.

When the goddesses portray and represent women in society, they are women writ large, with the same positions in the god-world that women have in the human world. They appear in well-known familial relationships to men and are the archetypes of woman-in-the family….

By the end of the second millennium, the religious thinkers of Mesopotamia saw the cosmos as controlled and regulated by male gods, with only Ishtar maintaining a position of power. When we see such a pattern of theological change, we must ask whether the religious imagery is leading society, or whether it is following socioeconomic development? Was the supplanting of goddesses in Sumerian religious texts an inner theological development that resulted purely from the tendency to view the world of the gods on the model of an imperial state in which women paid no real political role? Or does it follow in the wake of sociological change, of the development of what might be called "patriarchy"? And if the latter is true, is the change in the world of the gods contemporary to the changes in human society, or does it lag behind it by hundreds of years? To these questions we really have no answer.

The eclipse of the goddesses was undoubtedly part of the same process that witnessed a decline in the public role of women, with both reflective of fundamental changes in society that we cannot yet specify. The existence and power of a goddess, particularly of Ishtar, is no indication or guarantee of a high status for human women. In Assyria, where Ishtar was so prominent, women were not…. Ishtar, the female with the fundamental attributes of manhood, does not enable women to transcend their femaleness. In her being and her cult (where she changes men into women and women into men), she provides an outlet for strong feelings about gender, but in the final analysis, she is the supporter and maintainer of the gender order. The world by the end of the second millennium was a male's world, above and below; and the ancient goddesses have all but disappeared.

From In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth, by Tikva Frymer-Kensky

§ She is the universal mother. As such, she is wise, nurturing, symbolizing and supporting the fertility of man, beasts and crops.

§ Asherah is symbolized by the Tree of Life which, in turn, may be symbolized by a pole. On a thriteent century BCE ewer found near a temple, a female, probably goddess, figure has its pubic triangle replaced by a tree [16].

§ Her title Ela (Hebrew) or Elat (Phoenician) is the feminine form of El and hence means "goddess". “Another name of ´Asherah in the first milleneum BCE is Chawat, which is Hawah in Hebrew and Eve in English. “Her full title is Rabat Chawat ´Elat, Great Lady Eve the Goddess, and is associated with the serpent.[17]”

§ El’s consort and as such clearly subordinate to El. She provides an avenue of approach to the august El[18].

“Asherah succeeds in convincing El to give his permission for the building of a palace for Baal. Apparently she has a decisive influence on major decisions of her husband, the king of the gods. Later on in the myth of Baal Asherah determines El's choice of a successor for Baal, in the same way as the biblical Bathsheba does for her son Solomon (1 Kgs 1). It is likely that this too reflects the situation on earth where queens, especially queen-mothers, often influenced the political choices of their royal husbands and in many cases decided who would be the next on the throne…. (However, in addition) in the myth, Asherah is depicted as a power-greedy woman who manipulates the heavenly court.” (Korpel p. 131, 137)

“As in ancient Egypt, the processes of creation and procreation were not sharply distinguished in ancient Ugarit. El could create by word alone, or by modelling a creature from clay, like a potter, or by sexual , as he deemed fit. What is especially significant is the fact that when creating a new human being ‘adm) El and Asherah were thought to act not by physical interaction, but by way of a mental process in which the god and the goddess both participated.” (Korpel p. 130)

Asherah is the divine model of the wife

“Asherah is depicted as a respectable old lady, with typical features of a mother…. The goddess is wearing a long robe, covering almost her entire body …. The equally old god EI usually also wears such a long robe, and it seems that this special type of clothing was worn by aged people of high standing…. The Ugaritic goddess Asherah has to be seen as a kind of matriarch….

Despite her high position in the divine hierarchy of Ugarit, the Baal Myth tells us how the goddess was busy with maternal, domestic affairs,

She took her spindle in her hand,

(and) the spindle fell from her right hand."

She carried her clothing into the sea,"

her skirts, the covering of her body,

her two skirts into the river.

She placed a cauldron on the fire,

a washing-copper on the coals.

(In this way) she wanted to charm the Bull EI, the good-natured,

she wanted to please the Creator of creatures. (KTU 1.4:II.3-11)

It is remarkable that Asherah by washing her clothes wants to charm her husband. Obviously fine and clean clothes were essential for a harmonious marriage.” (Korpel p. 131)

In contrast Anat, associated with Baal is shown in the Ugaritic literature to be a ferocious, bloodthirsty, lustful, “virgin”. She shares many characteristics with the Mesopotamian Inanna-Ishtar of whom Tikva Frymer-Kensky states

As an unencumbered woman, she could not easily be relegated to the domestic sphere. Her role as representative of sexual attraction could not be taken over by a male god …. As goddess of warfare, she maintained and even increased…. On the one hand, she was glorified and exalted as preeminent among gods and men. But she was, to put it mildly, intimidating and frightening. Even her very sexual attractiveness inspired fear, and men expressed their dread that such lust might lead to their doom. Alongside hymns to Ishtar's glory and preeminence, we also find negative portrayals and ultimately a demonization of her image…. which portrays Ishtar as so indiscriminately wild and ferocious that the gods cannot control her….

§ Women would have been prominent among the devotees of Asherah and, to the extent that the cult of Asherah had a priesthood, probably Asherah would have had priests of both sexes. Asherah could be counted on to understand the women’s problems such as pregnancy, child rearing and managing family disputes.

C. Baal-Hadad – Divine Son

§ Baal means ”lord”. Elsewhere he is called Adon (=”lord”) and Re^cammin (=”thunderer).

§ Baal is also identified as Hadad (Ugaritic haddu), an Akkadian and Babylonian god of the sky, clouds, and rain, both creative, gentle showers and destructive, devastating storms and floods. In Ugaritic literature he is frequently referred to as "Cloud Rider" (rkb rpt) a title that was later used to describe El-YHWH in Psalms 68:5.

Yea, also Baal will make fertile with His rain,
with water He will indeed make fertile harrowed land;
and He will put His voice in the clouds,
He will flash His lightning to the earth.[19]

§ Baal is the vigorous, young god of the triad, not a creator, but basically the executive member of the triad. He is the executive of the divine assembly. Baal is the champion of divine order against chaos. Lightening is his weapon, and he can be found in storms and thunder. However, though he embodies royal power, Baal is vulnerable. He is repeatedly threatened yet triumphant, as in the struggle to maintain order against the chaos represented by the god Yam and to sustain life and agricultural fertility against Mot (Mawet/Mavet in Hebrew), the god of drought, blight, sterility, and decay. When Baal falls into the hands of Mot, the god of death, there is drought and sterility, growth ceases. With his rescue, by his consort, rains return and vegetation is returned to the earth. In the beginning of all things, Baal-Haddad warred with and conquered Yamm (Sea), and so brought the unruly waters of Chaos under divine authority and control.

§ Baal is always paired with a female consort whose name varied with place and time – Anat (at Ugarit), Ashtart (paired with the vowels of boshet=shame to make the artificial name Ashtoreth in the Bible).

§ Baal’s consort, whatever her name, had 3 characteristics:

o Sexual lust;

o Fecundity; and,

o Being a bloody goddess of war e.g. Anat, at Ugarit, wading up to her thighs in the blood of her enemies.

1.2.3 Rituals

“Rituals were performed either outdoors on hills or in groves, or inside temples. Outdoor cult places are called bamah, which can be translated with "high place". On these places, pillars were erected, one in stone for the male god, and one in wood for the female goddess. Bamahs could be built on hill tops…. When temples were built, bamahs were sometimes built in front of the entrance — still under open sky. The reason of erecting temples, were that the gods… needed a house, in order to exercise his power over humans and the earth. The house was also believed to be a place where gods could dwell….

“Central to the rituals were offerings that were consummated by the gods. Offerings were both vegetable and animals. We also see that human sacrifice was fairly common in some areas, even though some scientists believe that the frequency of this has been exaggerated by outside sources, like what we read in the Old Testament. But at least in the North-African colony of Carthage we know that children were thrown into a fire in front of a statue of a god. But from Ugarit there are no indications on child sacrifice.

“The myth of Baal's death and resurrection is believed to have been the source of some of the main religious festivals. Other festivals appear to have involved eating and drinking (alcohol) by the partakers. A third group of rituals involve that statues of gods were carried down to the sea, rituals that could involve either a sacred marriage or the blessing of the sea and the ships. A fourth group of rituals were the very central festival where sacrifice were hung from trees, and then put on fire.

“Priests in Ugarit were called khnm (there must have been vowels in the pronunciation, but these were not written, and cannot be reconstructed). Under the priest … (there may have been) qdshm, sacred prostitutes, performing their sexual rituals in the temples to promote fertility. There was also room for oracle priests or prophets that received messages from the gods during states of ecstasy.[20]”

1.2.4 Myths

a) Creation [21]

"The authors of ancient cosmologies were essentially compilers. Their originality was expressed in new combinations of old themes, and in new twists to old ideas.[22]"

”From the sources we have, texts from Ugarit and indirect recounts by contemporary writers, creation myths dominate. There are several of these, but they resemble one another. The main theme of the creation myths is that basic elements of nature mix, and from them gods are created, and then heaven and earth.

“A central element of the creation myths is the egg — a symbol that is found in many other religions as well. Within the egg, the potentials of the complex world is found, and then this is carried out.

“The primary gods of creation are not important to the religious rituals, and neither El nor Baal are among these. Most of the primary gods, or rather qualities and powers of nature, seem to disappear from the mythology after that the creation of the world is accomplished….”[23]

b) Order out of Chaos - Baal and Yahm (the Sea a son of El)

“Foremost of the non-creation myths is the death and resurrection of Baal. Then, from the Ugarit myths we hear about an important battle, where Baal defeats Yam, the god of the sea, resulting in Baal's total domination of the world. Yahm “… may embody wild, chaotic earth-encircling ocean waters and winter floods and sea storms. When in conflict with Ba`al, he is identified as a seven-headed sea serpent or dragon. His other names - or perhaps the names of his henchmen - include Tannin, the Primeval Serpent, Lotan, the Crooked Serpent, the Sea Monster, the Close-coiling One, the Tyrant of Seven Heads. He is eventually defeated and subjugated by Ba`al. Their battle is told in altered form in the Bible as the story of the sea monster Leviathan and Behemoth, the gigantic bull-monster. Although he is Ba`al's adversary in part of the myth, he regularly received offerings in the temples of Ugarit, featured in peoples' theophoric names, and was otherwise honored, so he is a god to be revered. He was not an evil or villainous deity, merely powerful and potentially dangerous… The Sea in the West Semitic tale Astarte and the Tribute of the Sea is called Tiamat. Yam's name is linguistically cognate with Tiamat, the Akkadian primordial ocean goddess, who is ta- (serpent) + yam- (ocean) + -at (fem. ending). She was the personification of salt water, counterpart of Abzu, who was fresh water. Originally creatrix of the world … (Tiamat) was demoted and considered the primary force of chaos and evil, eventually slain by Marduk, who created heaven and earth from Her body.”[24]

c) Fertility for the Land – Baal and Mot

Mot[25], a son of El, is the god of senility and death. Mot brings Baal into the netherworld (i.e. kill him), which causes the vegetation to die which is a metaphor for the rainless summer of Syria-Palestine. With the help of his sister Anat, Baal returns to life, and with this nature returns to fertility (fall, winter, spring) ^{^[26]}.

d) A House for Baal

This myth that must have been central to the rituals of building temples[27] cf. Solomon’s building of a temple in Jerusalem.

Box 3

Near Eastern Primordial Myths in the Hebrew Bible

“A number of apparent myths and mythical subjects which found their way into the Bible, have been collected and compared with extra-biblical parallels. In the prophetic and poetic books, references are made to the Lord's struggle with the primeval dragon, variously named Tannin ("Dragon," Isa. 27:1, 51:9; Ps. 74:13; Job 7:12), Yam ("Sea," Isa. 51:10; Hab. 3:8; Ps. 74:13; Job 7:12), Nahar ("River," Hab. 3:8; Ps. 93?), Leviathan (Isa. 27:1; Ps. 74:14), and Rahab (Isa. 30:7; 51:9; Ps. 89:11; Job 9:13; 26:12–13). A special parallel to this theme is found in the Ugaritic myth of Baal and his struggle against Yam, in which mention is made of Leviathan (ltn; C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (1965), 67, 1:1) and Tannin (tnn; nt, ibid., 3:37) as well as of Nahar (nhr). In this myth the dragon is called, as in Isaiah 27:1, bari'ah ("fleeing serpent") and aqallaton ("twisting serpent"; cf. Gordon, ibid., 67, 1:2–3). The same theme is found in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma elish (Marduk's fight with Tiamat, "Sea") and in the Hittite myth of the storm-god and the dragon Illuyankas (Pritchard, Texts, 125–6), and with variations in Sumerian, Egyptian, Phoenician, and other literatures.” Encyclopedia Judaica

Leviathan[28] (Hebrew liwyatan), in the Bible, one of the names of the primeval dragon subdued by Yahweh at the outset of creation: "You crushed Leviathan's heads, gave him as food to the wild animals" (Psalm 74:14; see also Isaiah 27:1; Job 3:8). In ; Amos 9:3 it is probably the that is called the “serpant (Hebrew naHash the same word as is used for the serpant in the Eden story). Biblical writers also refer to the dragon as Rahab[29] (Job 9:13; Psalm 89:10) or simply as the Abyss (Hebrew tehom) (Habakkuk 3:10).

The biblical references to the battle between Yahweh and Leviathan reflect the Syro-Palestinian version of a myth found throughout the ancient Near East. In this myth, creation is represented as the victory of the creator-god over a monster of chaos. The closest parallel to the biblical versions of the story appears in the Canaanite texts from Ra's Shamrah (14th century BC), in which Baal defeats a dragonlike monster: "You will crush Leviathan the fleeing serpent, you will consume the twisting serpent, the mighty one with seven heads." (The wording of Isaiah 27:1 draws directly on this text.)

A more ancient version of the myth occurs in the Babylonian Creation Epic, in which the storm god Marduk defeats the sea monster Tiamat and creates the earth and sky by cleaving her corpse in two (Assyro-Babylonian Literature). The latter motif is reflected in a few biblical passages that extol Yahweh's military valor: "Was it not you who split Rahab in half, who pierced the dragon through?" (Isaiah 51:9; see also Job 26:12; Psalm 74:13, 89:10)[30].

Amos 9:3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the sea-serpent (Hebrew nāHāš the same word as is used for the serpant in the Eden story), and it shall bite them.

Psalm 74:13-15 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams.

Isaiah 27:1 On that day the LORD with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

Job 3:7-8 Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. Let those curse it who curse the Sea[31], those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan

Job 9:13 (600-300 BCE) "God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

Psalm 89:10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

Habakkuk 3:5-10 (very end of 7^th century BCE) Before Him went Pestilence/pestilence (Hebrew reshef), and plague followed close behind. He stopped and shook the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. The eternal mountains were shattered; along his ancient pathways the everlasting hills sank low. I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction; the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled. Was your wrath against the River Yam/rivers (Hebrew n^eharim), O LORD? Or your anger against the River Yam/rivers, or your rage against the Sea/sea (Hebrew yam), when you drove your horses, your chariots to victory? You brandished your naked bow, sated were the arrows[32] (Reshef bore the title of Lord of the Arrow) at your command. Selah You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you, and writhed; a torrent of water swept by; the Abyss/depths (Hebrew tehom [33]), gave forth its voice.

3. What Does Syncretism Mean in Context?

Tables

Table 7 - Divine Triads Primarily Reflective of the Nuclear Family

Table 8 - Divine Triads Primarily Reflective of Theological Speculation

Table 9 - Canaanite Religion Compared to Israelite Religion (as reflected in the Torah)

Many approaches have been taken to the understanding religion as a pan-human phenomenon of which one of the most interesting is evolutionary psychology. However, narrowing the consideration to what is known of Canaanite and early Israelite religion we could make the following observations:

a) Creation[21]

a) Creation [21]