The Jews say thanks to Yahweh …
We know him under the name Yahweh (Jehovah, Hosts), the god of the Jews. However, the Old Testament God, appearing in the monotheistic primary sources, kept his incognito so carefully that it is still not clear: who he is and where he appeared to people. His well-known name is not a clue to this - "Yahweh" only means "I am who is," that is, "I am the one who really exists." You can look for hints elsewhere …
For example, it is known that Yahweh founded Jerusalem, which was ruled by the legendary Melchizedek. Yerushal - "built by Shalim". And Shalim (Shalimmu) in Western Semitic mythology was the god of the evening dawn - a minor and little-known god. It is curious that like the Egyptian god Aton, the god of the setting sun, whose cult of monotheism (as in the case of Yahweh) tried to introduce the no less legendary Pharaoh Akhenaten … For now, let's note this name for ourselves.
The name of the West Semitic god Shalim was to be recorded as SH-L-M. But the well-known word “shalom”, used by Jews for greeting, has the same basis. It is believed that "shalom" in Hebrew means "peace". The greeting “shalom aleichem” is translated as “peace be upon you”. However, the original meaning of this greeting sounded like “God be with you”!
This can be seen even more clearly in the Arabic greeting "al-salamu alaykum" - "peace be with you" or "peace be with you". The concept of "salam", a cognate word for "Islam", originally had a purely religious meaning and was used just in the sense of "peace with God"! At the same time, “salam” and “shalom” definitely have a common origin. Thus, Shalim could well have used the pseudonym "Yahweh".
It is curious that the name Shlomo - Solomon, which was borne by the famous king who built the Jerusalem Temple, is also associated with "shalom". That is, it may be that he bore the name of God!
West Semitic Shalim (Shalimmu) is not only the god of the evening dawn, but also the god of fertility. If you look closely at the texts of both the Torah and the Old Testament, you can easily find in them the same “specialization” (fertility) in Yahweh.
Who is Shalim? In Ugaritic mythology, there is an interesting legend that tells about the birth of the god Shalim. According to the so-called "text 52", the god Shalim is the father of the god El (Baal's father and the previous head of the pantheon of gods). However, in this case, Shalim's mother is not El's wife, but one of the women specially born by him. Shalim had a brother named Shahar (the god of the morning dawn), born of the same woman, even less is known about him. The brothers were conceived by Al at a very respectable age, when he no longer hoped too …
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Perhaps, experts in mythology will suggest additional information, because there is nothing else in the Ugaritic legends about Shalim.
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