Yam (god)

Yaw or Yam is the name for the Levantine god of chaos and the power of the untamed sea as found in texts from the ancient city of Ugarit. His archenemy is Ba'al, whose name means "lord" — a euphemism for Ba'al's sacred name Hadad which only his priests could utter. In Ugaritic texts, Ba'al is also known as the king of heaven, and the first born son of El, whom ancient Greeks identified with their god Cronus. He ruled over the gods assembled on the Syrian Mount Tsephon (also Sapan and Casius) which is etymologically cognate to Aramaic Zion.

Since Yaw/Yam wishes to raise himself to the lofty heights of the gods whom he hates, and since he is the lord of chaos and destruction, the nearest equivalent in modern thought to Yaw/Yam is the Devil. However, this is not strictly fair, since a comparison with Thor (norse god of thunder) is more accurate to his job description, and Thor was regarded favourably in norse mythology.

Some research in the academic discipline of comparative mythology, has suggested the god may in some manner be the predecessor (in the sense of a religion evolving) of the Judao-Christian god Yahweh. Evidence in the psalms is considered in this research to indicate that, early in the hebrew religion, Yahweh was considered to have been assigned to the israelites as their protector god by El, i.e. that the early form of the religion was henotheistic. This research is also used to give reason to why it is that Yahweh is described in the Bible as being so angry about people worshipping Ba'al (as Ba'al is the arch-enemy of Yaw). It has been suggested that the elevation of Yahweh to the status of monotheism was due to reforms enacted by Josiah.

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