The following is a question regarding the theophoric nature of the name Israel:
If Yahweh is the personal name of God, and more important than any of the other names of God (mentioned in the Bible), then why is the name Isra-El not utilizing Yahweh in its name ?
Shouldn’t the name of Isra-Yahu be used and not using the so-called lesser name of God, El in its name ?
Here is what authors have to say on the topic:
“Indeed, the name Israel seems to point to EL as its original deity, not Yahweh (hence Israe-el rather than Isra-yahu or the like….”
The Memoirs of God: History, Memory and the Experience of the Divine in Ancient Israel By Mark S. Smith
“The first tutelary deity they were worshipping was El, otherwise their name would have been Israyahu.”
Romer, Thomas. The Invention of God. Harvard University Press, 2015
The original God of Israel was El, not Yahweh, as is evident in the patriarchal narratives: the name Isra-el means “El rules,” not “Yahweh rules” – that would be Isra-yahu.”
Bellah, R. N. (2011). Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Just like other ancient people, the Canaanites also had a pantheon of Gods. El was the top God.
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From memory, the Jews are thought to have come from the southern end of Canaan. I separate people south of them worshipped a God called YHW. The Jews also adapted this God as part of their religion, and eventually combined the two.
It is rather odd. In my way of thinking, Judah was not one of the original twelve tribes. Jerusalem only came to Iron Age prominence once the Assyrians destroyed not only Israel but much of what lay south of Israel that we call Judah. Despite not being a part of Israel, everything written until Ezra called them Israelites. They were more concerned with being Israel than they were with being Yahwists, it seems. Maybe… they were not that monotheistic yet?
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