Yahweh makes his public [pubic?] appearance

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Scholars zero in on the Canaanite “gods” who seem to have congregated around 3500 B.C. and stood their ground until shortly before the appearance of the Christian decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Canaanite_religion

What’s interesting, to me, is that those scholars, almost all of them – John L. McLaughlin, Karen Armstrong, Mark Smith, Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, et al. – treat those alleged deities as (human-like) beings or entities little different than normal humans.

That is, the gods or deities of Canaan (and surrounding geographical area) are seen and were seen by humans at the time as exalted beings, composed of family mostly and notable only for their deeds, warriors usually or entities with some strange or outstanding attribute(s).

This is where the “god” of the Israelites comes in.

Around 1300 B.C. an odd and queer (in a number of ways) being steps into history by proclaiming he is “I am” – the almighty creator of mankind and the world. This is proclaimed to Moses and other Israelite patriarchs such as Aaron, a high priest in the Israelite Monarchy, and others during a gathering on Mount Horeb sometime before 1271 B.C. (Moses’ death).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Horeb

Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, in his fascinating book God’s Phallus [Beacon Press, Boston, 1994] offers the controversial argument that this “divine outlaw” (my designation) met with the Israelite hierarchs by stipulating they could not look upon his face, but could see his backside, this with other restrictions. [Chapter Three, Page 59 ff]

This “deity” – not yet known as YHWH (Yahweh) – is loath to have his face seen, or his genitalia. (More on this upcoming).

Why is this? Since this so-called god was obsessed with genitalia – see my Biblical Paradigm for Homosexuality – why the proscription against showing it to the patriarchs of Israel, as the act of circumcision was intrinsic (and still is) a major part of the covenant between god and his chosen people?

I contend that this being – this pretend god – was deformed in several ways. A recent find of a sculpted depiction of the being indicates non-beautiful facial features and depictions of the phallic god – apparently the being discussed here – show a grotesque deformity in the genital area:

https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/46/4/2

But there is more….

RR