Where did YHWH come from?

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

Habbakuk is a book of prophecy unlike any others; For it is not a case of God approaching Habbakuk with a message with which to bring to Israel; Rather, it is Habbakuk who approaches God with a series of complaints. God responds. Habbakuk complains again. God responds again.

And then we arrive at our chapter, a prayer which includes descriptions of theophany (visible manifestation of God to man), and then ends on a high note of confidence.

There's really only one thing I want to bring to your attention in this Haftorah, which starts off the theophanic section; A cryptic verse which seemingly tells us God's place of origin. (???)

Okay, what's going on here?

Well first of all, what is Teman? It can actually be one of a couple of things.

• The son of Eliphaz and Timnah (same letters). Eliphaz was the grandson of Esau, and is described as one of the chieftains of Edom. (Gen 36:15);

• The tribe whose forefather is said Teman from above;

• The region which this tribe occupied.

Take a look at the map below. You'll see the region of Teman as the very southeast.

This map makes sense once you understand the origin of the word itself. "Teman" (תימן) comes from "right-hand" (ימין). In the ancient world, the direction from which the sun would rise in the morning was considered to be forward.

So you can imagine, if you are facing the east, the direction to your right hand would be south. Hence Teman means southward.

In the TaNaKh, Teman ends up being used as a synonym for Edom/Esau in general.

Here are a few examples:

So maybe this helps us a bit. Habbakuk is saying that God comes from Teman, which is probably referring either to the region, or maybe even just southward in general.

If it means southward, this makes sense, for south of Israel is the Sinai peninsula, which is where Mount Sinai, the place of God's revelation to Israel occurred. (This would also be quite apropos, given the context in which we will be reading this Haftorah.)

So what would Habbakuk be saying? That God comes from Sinai. I.e., perhaps that once God revealed Himself to our ancestors at Mount Sinai, he went with our ancestors from there and accompanied them during their wanderings, until finally ending up northward in Israel.

But there's another theory...

Ancient Egyptian Heiroglyphics speak about an ancient enemy of theirs; the Shasu (those-who-move-on-foot).

The Shasu were semitic-speaking nomads who are traced back to the Moab region. (You can see Moab on the map above, just north of Edom). Egyptain records of them go as far back as 1,500 years BCE.

The Egyptians characterized them as brigands, and they were active in an area spanning the Jezreel Valley all the way to the Sinai Peninsula!

(look for the Mt. Carmel tip jutting into the Mediterranean Sea. The Jezreel valley is just to the right of that.)

Here's where things get fascinating; In a couple of Ancient Egyptian records, there is mention of an entity called:

"YHW in the land of the Shasu-nomads."

The heiroglyphics above is one such instance.

So here's the theory - which is far from foolproof, and has legitimate opposition amongst scholars- but is intriguing, and compelling for quite a few reasons as well:

Originally, the name YHWH referred to a "divine warrior from the Southern region associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman." ---- from Proposals for the Original Profile of YHWH.

Eventually - so this theory goes - these Shasu would make up but one small part of a nation that would eventually come to be known as Israel.

Our passage from Habbakuk above is a remnant of this ancient memory as to where, and from whom, knowledge of one aspect of YHWH, as well the name itself, came from!

Habbakuk's book is not the only one where we see this historical memory lingering. There are a handful passages throughout the TaNaKh with similar references. Here's one right out of the books of Moses themselves:

Here's one from the Song of Devorah in Judges:

Note that as stated above, Habbakuk's statement is in the context of a theophany. Here is the verse again but with more context:

Note the common denominator between all of the verses above. Not only do they consistently mention God coming from a southern region, but they are all also associated with cataclysmic events:

Thunder, Lightning, Earthquakes...!

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what to do with this information myself, other than the be blown away at the possibility as to what some of these verse in the TaNaKh might be alluding to. As I said above, these are theories, which are heavily disputed. But the theories, combined with the verses as we encounter them in the TaNaKh, are certainly provocative and worthy of consideration and discussion.

Given this background, what do you think about such verses as what we've seen from Habbakuk?

Could this memory of the Shasu be what he, Devorah, and Moses have been referring to? Or, do you find the first explanation satisfactory? That this is all simply a hearkening back to the moment when our ancestors stood at Sinai!