Yahwe was not identified with sun, moon or stars. No more was he identified with the thunderstorm. ’Tis true, in Psalm 29 the thunder is described as the voice of Yahwe, but while the tempest rages below, Yahwe sits exalted in heaven, the mighty God, who gives strength to his people, and blesses them with peace. It is the glory of the Hebrew religion, that its God has been released from all identification with nature’s forces and is lord in his universe. So he controls also the winds:
Who bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
—Psalm 135:7.
To him that rideth in the ancient heavens.
—Psalm 68:34.
Who maketh clouds his chariot,
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind.
—Psalm 104:3.
As gods of heaven, both the Assyrian deities and Yahwe are revered as lofty, exalted beings. Marduk is addressed as the one
“who alone art lofty.”