User:Dontuseurrealname/sandbox/Canaanite religion (rewrite)

The Mesha Stele, a stele from 840 BCE which contains the earliest mention of the Levantine deity Yahweh.

The Canaanite religion was a group of ancient Semitic religions from the Bronze Age, centralized in the historical land of Canaan in the Southern Levant. Originally, Canaanite religion was polytheistic, having many different gods and goddesses; major deities in the Canaanite pantheon included El, Asherah, Anath, and Baal. Once the ancient Israelite peoples emerged in Canaan, the regional faith shifted towards a more henotheistic belief system, with the deity Yahweh being given utmost importance. Near the end of the Babylonian captivity, the existence of other gods was denied by the Israelites, and the major religion of Judaism emerged.

History

Mythological origins and pantheon

Unlike other religions and mythologies, there existed not definite creation myth in the Canaanite religion. Despite this, the god El was recognized as the creator god and as the primeval chief deity of the mythological pantheon. El was often known as the "God of the Fathers", and was a focus of family religion.

Sources

Hebrew Bible

Most of the information known about the ancient Canaanite religion derives from the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. According to the Book of Genesis, the patriarch Abram was promised by God the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1–3), and took his nephew Lot, his wife Sarai, and his personal possessions to Canaan (Genesis 12:4–5). In the text, it is mentioned passively that the land was inhabited by the Canaanites (Genesis 12:6–7). Abram then set up a tent, with the city of Bethel in the east and the city of Ai in the west.