Ilûma-le'i, “God is mighty.”
Ilûma-âbi, “God is my father.”
Ilûma-ilu, “God is God.”
Šumma-îlu-lâ-îlîa, “If God were not my god?”
And if more be wanted, to these may be added Ya'kub-îlu, Yasup-îlu, Abdi-îlu, Ya'zar-îlu, and Yantin-îlu, on p. 157; Ili-bandi, “God is my creator,” p. 166; Sar-îli, “Prince of God,” p. 170; Uštašni-îli, “My God has made to increase twofold,” p. 178; Nûr-ili, “Light of God,” p. 184; Arad-îli-rêmeanni, “The servant of God, (who) had mercy on me,” p. 187; Yabnik-îlu, “God has been gracious (?),” p. 243; and many others. Remarks upon some of these names will be found on pp. 244, 245. Similar names occurring during the time of the later Babylonian empire will be found on pp. 434, 463 (Aqabi-îlu), 435, 436 (Adi'-ilu and Yadi'îlu), 458 (Baruḫi-ilu, probably a Jew, and Idiḫi-îlu). It will therefore be seen that names of a monotheistic nature were common in Babylonia at all periods, but as they are greatly outnumbered by the polytheistic ones,[310] their exact value as testimony to monotheism, or to a tendency to it, is doubtful. In certain cases, the deity intended by the word îlu is the family god, but [pg 535] in the above examples, names implying this have been as far as possible avoided.
“Of what kind and of what value this monothesis was, our present sources of knowledge do not allow us to state, but we can best conclude from the later development of Jahvism.” (Delitzsch.)
Jahweh (Jehovah).
Most important of all, however, from the point of view of the history of the religion of the Jews, is what Delitzsch states concerning the name Jahweh (Jehovah). On p. 46 of his first lecture (German edition) he gives half-tone reproductions of three tablets preserved in the British Museum, which, according to him, contain three forms of the personal name meaning “Jahwe is God”—Ya'we-îlu, Yawe-îlu, and Yaum-îlu. The last of these names we may dismiss at once, the form being clearly not that of Yahweh, but of Yah, the Jah of Ps. civ. 35 and several other passages. The other two, however, are not so lightly dealt with, notwithstanding the objections of other Assyriologists and Orientalists. It is true that Ya'pi-îlu and Yapi-îlu are possible readings, but Delitzsch's objections to them are soundly based, and can hardly be set aside. The principal argument against the identification of Ya'we or Yawe with Yahwah is, that we should have here, about 2000 years before Christ, a form of the word which is really later than that used by the Jewish captives at Babylon 500 years before Christ, when it was to all appearance pronounced Ya(')awa or Yâwa (see pp. 458, 465, 470, 471). If, however, we may read the name Ya'wa (Ya'awa) or Yâwa, as is possible, then there is nothing against the identification proposed by Delitzsch. That [Cuneiform] was used with the value of wa is proved by such words as warka, “after,” where the reading wearka seems to be impossible, and the necessary distinction between ma and wa (the former was written with a different character) would be maintained. It is worthy of note that Ya'wa must have been more of a name than Yau, which was a primitive Babylonian word for “God,” it is doubtful whether it could always be written without the divine prefix. As, however, the divine name Ae or Ea, with others, is often written so unprovided, such an objection as this could not be held to invalidate Delitzsch's contention.
The probability therefore is, that Delitzsch is right in transcribing [pg 536] the name as he has done, if we may change the final e to a, and he is also probably right in his identification. Nevertheless, we require more information from the records of ancient Babylonia before we can say, with certainty, that the first component of the name Ya'wa-îlu is the Yahweh of the Hebrews, though we are bound to admit that the identification is in the highest degree probable. Delitzsch speaks of the possibility of ya've being a verbal form (it would be parallel to names like Yabnik-îlu), only to reject it, as a name meaning “God exists” (Hommel and Zimmern) is certainly not what one would expect to find. On the other hand, Zimmern admits the possibility that Yaum may be the name of a god, and possibly the name Yahu, Yahve may be present in it. As he is against Delitzsch on the whole, this is an important admission.