‘Then humans began to invoke yhvh by name’ (Genesis 4:26)

YHVH is not a name. It is an infinite flow of energy, the ongoing capacity to do physical work, and/or to cause ideological change. YHVH started before the big bang and is a fundamental quantitative property that can be transferred between objects, or transformed from one ideological view to another,

But YHVH cannot be created or destroyed because in our universe there is something and not nothing. Our universe had a beginning, and like infinite numbers, it will not ever have an end. A long-dismissed “decoupled” heavy neutrino temporarily dominated the early universe’s energy density and YHVH energy helped matter prevail over antimatter after the Big Bang.

“Oh humankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored among you in the sight of Allah is the who is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)” (Qur’an 49:13).

So Qur’an 49:13 states that God created humanity from a single pair of male and female and then divided them into nations and tribes so that they may know (and respect) one another. The verse emphasizes that the most honored in God’s sight are those who are most righteous, not based on their nationality or tribal affiliation.

And Qur’an 30:22 states: “And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. Surely in this are signs for those of ˹sound˺ knowledge.”

YHVH energy is the result of Qur’an 2:213 and 10:19 that provide the essential foundations for pluralist societies and religions, that embraces human diversity and encourages peaceful coexistence.

1.- Prior to this time humans believed in the local world of spirits. They invoked the spirits of their dead ancestors. The oldest Homo sapiens skulls-160, 000 year-old fossil bones-were polished after death by continuous handling. The earliest examples of ritual burials are from 2 sites in northern Israel dated 90-100,000 years ago.

Red ochre is frequently associated with ritual burials. Qafzeh Cave in Israel is a remarkable site that contains many skeletons of humans who lived there about 100,000 years ago. Archaeologists have recently discovered 71 fragments of red ochre – a form of iron oxide that yields a pigment when heated – alongside bones in the cave. The ochre was only found alongside the bones.

Early humans worshiped spirits in trees, springs and other natural phenomena. They invoked many different animal spirits. Shamans and medicine women fought the many demon spirits that caused illness and misfortune. A feline-headed human figure from Germany, thought to be 32,000 to 34,000 years old, might be evidence of a belief system in which shamans were thought to have supernatural powers. Most cave art from 15-25,000 years ago features animal figures and probably reflects Shamanistic rituals.

Every human band or tribal community had dozens of names for spirits. In some societies hundreds of Gods could be called upon by name. This universal pagan nature religion remained wide spread in the Americas, Africa, the Pacific Islands and Europe even after the generation of Enosh. There was little overall order or structure in this spiritual world. There was no awareness of a unified creation, plan, purpose or destiny.

2 -Then in the generation of Enosh, whose uncle built the first town (4:17), humans began to invoke YHVH by name i.e. they formed a hierarchy of Gods with a creator God or high God at the top. Often this high God was remote and later generations of Gods were more important. Rarely was this creator God an ethical lawgiver. This became the religious view of the urbanized polytheistic religions of the Far and Middle East as well as parts of Africa and Mesoamerica.

In the time following Prophet Abraham, God sent: “We surely sent a messenger to every community, saying, “Worship Allah and shun false gods.” Some of them were guided by Allah, while (most of the) others were destined to stray. Travel (for centuries) throughout the land and see the fate of the deniers!” (Quran 16:36)

3.-This attempt to perceive an order and system among the spirit forces moved humans closer to a Divine reality: YHVH. With Abraham (and later Akhenaten) the perception of monotheism begins to take root, but that is only (a small) part of the whole. The Torah tells us that not until the generation of the Exodus was the one God YHVH known as the lawgiver of sacred scripture. “I am YHVH. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not let myself be known to them by my name YHVH.” (Exodus 6:3)

El Shaddai is the God of the breast or chest. This signifies the divine spirit within each individual, or the maternal nurturing mystical soul that is invoked in most Indian and some East Asian religions; the mystical religions of inner enlightenment and personal rebirth or escape from the corruption of the material world. This is an advance beyond invoking spirits and the hierarchy of sky Gods or a remote high God. However, YHVH is a God of history and society; a God of human society’s spiritual and moral growth. YHVH isn’t fully self-realized until Israel’s covenant with the Divine lawgiver, who is the source of Western society’s ethics and morality.

4.-Before the end of the Biblical period Jews stopped audibly invoking the name YHVH (today we say simply HaShem- the name) because they feared some people would make an idol of this name; demanding belief only in their own verbal definition of the one God.
And [mention, O Muhammad], when [Prophet] Abraham said to his father Azar, “Do you take idols as deities? Indeed, I see you and your people to be in manifest error. (Qur’an 6:74)

And Prophet Jacob says: “O my sons! go you and enquire about Joseph and his brother, and never give up hope of Allah’s Mercy: truly no one despairs of Allah’s Mercy, except those who have no faith.” (Qur’an 12:87)

In the final stage (the Messianic Age) YHVH, the unpronounceable HaShem; and Islam’s one and only God, who should not be represented by any image or incarnation; will be invoked by all humanity, even while each people still retains its own religion and its own name for God. “In days to come…All peoples will walk, each in the name of their God, and we will walk in the name of YHVH our God for ever and ever.” (Micah 4:5)

We have revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ this Book with the truth, as a confirmation of previous Scriptures and a supreme authority on them. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed, and do not follow their desires over the truth that has come to you. To each of you We have ordained a code of law and a way of life. If Allah had willed, He would have made you one community, but His Will is to test you with what He has given ˹each of˺ you. So compete with one another in doing good. To Allah you will all return, then He will inform you ˹of the truth˺ regarding your differences.” (Qur’an 5:48)

“God is the Creator of all things and He is the Guardian over all things.” (Quran 39:62) This is perhaps the most important of all the verses about creation. God is not only the creator of the past Universe. God has an ongoing guardian relationship with all living creatures, especially with all intelligent beings in the universe. As it is written: “The heavens declare the glory of God. The universe proclaims God’s handiwork.” (Psalms 19:2) And as the Qur’an proclaims over and over again, “All that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth exalts Allah” (Qur’an 57:1, 61:1, and 64:1)

As the Hebrew Bible says; “Your (YHVH) kingdom is a kingdom of all the worlds; and Your dominion is for all generations.” (Psalms 145:13) and “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” (Psalm 33:6) and “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)