EL ĕl (אֵ֕ל, strength, power, Assyrian ilu, Ugaritic il). Largely poetic designation of the one and only true God of Israel; often in Heb., used with the definite article, the (true) God, although no such article is needed to define the true God (Num 12:13). But the term, basically meaning “strength,” can be used as an adjective and also in reference to men of might and rank (Ezek 31:11), such as Nebuchadnezzar, or it may refer to the angels (Ps 29:1).

Just as the word “god” in Eng. can be used of the true God or the gods, so this word in Heb. may mean the heathen gods, usually meaning idols (Exod 15:11; 34:14; Isa 43:10). The same root is used in the Ugaritic mythology as the name of the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon, although father-god of the pantheon Il played a role of lesser importance than such hero gods as Baal. Critics posit the idea that the Heb. ancestors worshiped clan deities who bore this element in their names. Old Phoen. and Ugaritic lit. use the feminine form of this word for the goddesses of the pantheon. The Heb. Bible wholly avoids this feminine usage of the word because the Heb. religion had no mythological concept of a goddess. The heathen goddesses are named in the Heb. Bible (e.g. Ashtaroth, 1 Sam 7:3). El, however, is often combined with other adjectives to create epithets of God which express His numerous attributes. Among these names are El Shaddai, God of the Mountain (Gen 17:1; Exod 6:3); El ’Elyon, God Almighty (Gen 14:18-24); El ’Olam, God of Eternity (Gen 21:33); El Ro’i, God the Seeing One (Gen 16:13); El Rehum, God of Compassion (Deut 4:31); El Nose’, the forgiving God (Ps 99:8); El Hannun, the gracious God (Neh 9:31); El Kanna’, the jealous God (Exod 20:5); etc. See Names of God.

Bibliography M. H. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts (1955); J. Bright, A History of Israel (1959), 90, 91, 108, 109, 147 n.43.