Crazyguy : Another word that the meaning may have been changed and i should have added to my original post is the word Amen. The word is also a name for an Egyptian god , sometimes spelled that way sometimes spelled Amun.
That notion has also been around a while. But its dangerous to associate ideas because of some similarity in the word. There's only a certain amount of sounds that humans can produce, so sounds (and, combinations of sounds) will have different meanings in different languages
I've got a lot to get through today, so I'll just use Wikipedia as a reference (as its easily accessible, in spite of some associated problems).
On the topic of Amun, the author of that topic notes: ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amun )
The name Amun (written imn, pronounced Amana in ancient Egyptian [5]) meant something like "the hidden one" or "invisible".[6] It was thought that Amun created himself and then his surroundings.[7]
Wikipedia in the entry for the word 'Amen,' says:
Etymology
Grammarians frequently list ʾāmán under its three consonants (aleph-mem-nun), which are identical to those of ʾāmēn (note that the Hebrew letter א aleph represents a glottal stop sound, which functions as a consonant in the morphology of hebrew).[9] This triliteralroot means to be firm, confirmed, reliable, faithful, have faith, believe.
The usage of Amen, meaning "so be it", as found in the early scriptures of the Bible is said to be of Hebrew origin;[6][7] however, the basic triconsonantal root from which the word was derived is common to a number of languages, such as Aramaic, in the Semitic branch of the Afrasian languages. The word was imported into the Greek of the early Church from Judaism.[1][8] From Greek, amen entered the other Western languages. ...
In Arabic, the word is derived from its triliteral common root word ʾĀmana (Arabic: آمن), which has the same meanings as the Hebrew root word.
Popular among some theosophists,[11] proponents of Afrocentric theories of history,[12] and adherents of esoteric Christianity [13][14] is the conjecture that amen is a derivative of the name of the Egyptian god Amun (which is sometimes also spelled Amen). Some adherents of Eastern religions believe thatamen shares roots with the Hindu Sanskrit word, Aum.[15][16][17][18] Such external etymologies are not included in standard etymological reference works. The Hebrew word, as noted above, starts with aleph, while the Egyptian name begins with a yodh.[19]
---------------------------
Crazyguy :
This understanding goes hand in hand with what was found at Ugarit, that El was the most high god, created offspring other gods some of which resided on the mountains. These gods were referred to as Elohim and when we see the word angels in the old testament this is also incorrect these are in fact also the gods, not lowly flying messengers with wings. Then last but not least YHWH the sign we have always been told was a symbol for the name of the one true god could be in fact stand for a, family of Gods.
I think its easiest to say that there are different interpretations as to how YHWH came to occuppy the chief place in the thinking of the early Hebrews.
What is clear however, is that those early Hebrews (whoever they may have been ethnically) did not see the unseen (and imagined ) heavens, the way modern Jews do.
The evidence points to many gods in their belief system. You may enjoy (if you can access a library that has a copy) Page DuBois' book, "A Million and One Gods: The Persistence of Polytheism" (published by Harvard University Press in 2014.) Its not a long book and covers more than just the biblical area.
And thanks for publishing the Book of Balaam.
I think its easiest to say that there are different interpretations as to how YHWH came to occuppy the chief place in the thinking of the early Hebrews.
What is clear however, is that those early Hebrews (whoever they may have been ethnically) did not see the unseen (and imagined ) heavens, the way modern Jews do.
The evidence points to many gods in their belief system. You may enjoy (if you can access a library that has a copy) Page DuBois' book, "A Million and One Gods: The Persistence of Polytheism" (published by Harvard University Press in 2014.) Its not a long book and covers more than just the biblical area.
And thanks for publishing the Book of Balaam.
