God of the Heavens

The Theological, Historical, and Literary Implications of a Divine Epithet

The Bible uses many names to describe the biblical God. While His proper name is YHWH (which translates something like “to be”), or the diminutive form, Yah (or Yahu in a few sources), He is also often referred to by many other titles. Some have become associated as proper names for God, such as YHWH Ṣebaot (YHWH of legions), El Shadai (commonly translated as Almighty, likely originally God of the Mountain), and Elohim (the generic term meaning ‘god’, or ‘gods’). These are descriptions of YHWH or the role he plays. Sometimes descriptive terms are used that remained mere titles or poetic descriptions without becoming standard designations. This includes El Elyon (Supreme God), El Olam (Everlasting God), Melekh Hakavod (King of Glory), Qedosh Yisroel (Holy One of Israel), among many others. Usually, the usage of a specific term is typically justified by context, where the passage is looking to emphasize the attribute of YHWH associated with that term. In some cases scholars have argued that the use of a specific name might have originated in a source which may have been referring to a different deity later conflated with YHWH and therefore included in the Biblical text. In this post I would like to examine one title which is not referring to another deity, but may reflect a theology not necessarily reflected in other biblical sources.

God of the Heavens

This title “God of the Heavens” appears only 21 times in the Hebrew Bible. Of the 21, 13 appear as “elah shemaya” (אלה שמיא)¹ in the Aramaic passages in Ezra² (which uses this phrase 8 times) and in Daniel³ (5 times). The eight Hebrew occurrences (אלהי השמים) are once in Ezra, 4 times in Nehemiah, once in Chronicles,⁴ and once each in Genesis and Jonah.⁵ Why is this title so rare in the Bible, and why does it occur in these specific verses?

When examining the context of the occurrences a clear pattern emerges. Two of the occurrences (Chronicles and the Hebrew reference in Ezra) are in the account of the Cyrus Edict, when Cyrus of Persia allowed the Judeans to return to Jerusalem in 538 BCE. All 8 Aramaic occurences in Ezra appear in relation to the Persian Kings either discussing the permissibility of building the Temple or in their list of donations to the Temple. The 4 usages in Nehemiah are all in the account of the events in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes, including Nehemiah’s dialogue with him and his subsequent prayer to “the God of the Heavens”. This means a total of 14 out of 21 times are used in context of the Persian court.

The 5 appearances in Daniel are used during the narratives of his escapades in the Babylonian court. This is loosely connected to the theme of the Persian court, but the key distinction is that the setting is in the previous Neo-Babylonian Empire. The other two appearances in Genesis and Jonah don’t have any apparent connection to this theme. I shall return to these shortly.

The Persian Context

What is the connection between the Persian court and the use of this phrase? A bit of understanding of the theological context of the Achaemenid Persian court will likely answer this question. While most religions of the ancient world were polytheistic, where a pantheon of gods were connected to various natural phenomena, one of the notable exceptions is the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism. This religion can best be described as dualistic, where there are two primary deities,⁶ one representing the force of good, and the other representing the force of evil.⁷ The deity who represents goodness is called Ahura Mazda, the god of light, wisdom, and goodness, and he is said to dwell in the heavens above. The other deity is called Angra Mainyu, who represents chaos, evil, and falsehood, and he is said to dwell in the netherworld below. The events of this world between the heavens above and the netherworld below, which are a mixture of good and evil, are a result of the struggle between these two opposing forces.

Zoroastrian religion is likely ancient, possibly dating as far back as the first half of the 2^nd millenium BCE. Nevertheless, it remained small until the 6^th century BCE. While the exact timeline is unclear, Darius I, who ruled from 522 to 486 BCE, credits Ahura Mazda for his victories in many of his royal inscriptions. This likely reflects the growing influence of Zoroastrian beliefs in the Achaemenid empire and probably began even before the reign of Darius himself. (It is unlikely though that Zoroastrianism was recognized in the Babylonian court, as it is clearly of Iranian origin and not Mesopotamian.)

Given this context, it is now clear why the phrase “God of the Heavens” appears in context of the Persian court. Being that Ahura Mazda was the supreme deity in the Persian court and identified as God of the Heavens, a natural way to present YHWH in this context is by describing Him as the God of the Heavens the Achaemenids knew and worshipped. This may be a theological influence where began to be understood that way by those figures or alternatively was a political framing to present YHWH in a manner the Persians would understand and appreciate. This comes to its greatest expression when Cyrus declares that the God of the Heavens commanded him to allow the Judeans to return and when Artaxerxes donates large sums to facilitate the sacrificial restoration to the God of the Heavens. (In the Nehemiah narrative I would argue that it might be more plausible that this reflects Nehemiah’s own theology, but this is not conclusive.)

In the Book of Daniel

The usage in Daniel can also be attributed to this influence. While the setting of the narratives is in the Babylonian court, not the Persian court, they were clearly not written down until at least after the fall of the Babylonian empire.⁸ This might have influenced the portrayal of the later author, who was using terms that would fit the context of the Persian empire. Furthermore, many scholars support a hypothesis which suggests that the Daniel narratives were originally Mesopotamian legends which were adapted to a Jewish context. If this is the case, one might argue that the original recognized Ahura Mazda as the deity and this influence persisted in the later adaptation.

In Genesis 23:7

As mentioned above, the two references which are not connected to this theme appear in the books of Genesis and Jonah. Regarding the use in Genesis, I would argue that there is a different reason this term was used based on literary considerations. The context is a conversation between Abraham and his slave, who is made to swear that he will bring Isaac a wife from Abraham’s native land. In chapter 24:3-4 Abraham tells his slave the following:

“I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” (NIV)

Several lines later, in verse 7, Abraham elaborates on this:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.” (NIV)

In verse 3 Abraham refers to YHWH as the God of the heavens and the God of earth. In verse 7, he seems to be expounding on his original statement in response to the question asked by the slave in verse 5. Therefore, his usage of this phrase is likely shorthand for the longer phrase of “The God of the heavens and the God of earth”, a concept which is routinely referred to in the Bible. Additionally, the continuation of verse 7 uses the same Hebrew terms for earth used in verse 3; ereṣ (ארץ), used to describe his origin from the land, or ereṣ of his father.⁹ This might have led the verse to avoid using the title God of the Heavens, as this would lead to a repetition of the term twice in a row, which may have been avoided for literary purposes. Alternatively, the immediate reference of God being active in the ereṣ might achieve the full expression of verse 3 through implication that He is indeed dominant in the land as well.

In Jonah 1:9

The final use in the book of Jonah appears when Jonah reveals his identity to the sailors, who then throw him overboard for causing the storm. He tells the sailors as follows (Jonah 1:9):

“I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

A few explanations might be offered for the use of this phrase in this specific passage. The first is its theological and historical context. Without engaging in the full discussion about the book of Jonah, most scholars place its authorship during the Persian period. At this time there was fierce internal debate in Judea which is represented in various biblical books about the inclusion of other nations into the worship of YHWH. While figures such as Ezra and Nehemiah were exclusionary and argued for a covenant solely for the people of Israel, other biblical voices such as the later chapters of Isaiah, Zechariah, and Ruth argue for the universal nature of monotheism being inclusive of all of humanity. In this context, Jonah is placed among the latter school of thought due to his central message that God cares for all his creations, including the wicked people of Nineveh. The discussion and the fate of the sailors as well is framed as part of this ideology, as they begin by being told about YHWH and they eventually learn to fear YHWH and bring sacrifices to Him.

If this is the case, both the dating and the ideology might help explain his reference to “the God of Heaven”. The Persian date allows for the general idea of Ahura Mazda being culturally prevalent. Jonah may have appealed to the terminology of the God of Heaven which might represent a universal deity to appeal to the sailors and present the God of Israel in a manner which would be theologically compelling to them.

An alternative explanation is based on the latter half of the verse, where Jonah declares that YHWH made the sea and the dry land. This was used to emphasize that although he had attempted to escape the land for the sea to avoid carrying his prophecy, the hand of YHWH rules over both equally. Being that he is attempting to argue for this implication, a schematic presentation can begin by appealing to his status as God of the Heavens, and demonstrating that this rule applies equally on the entire land as well.

In conclusion, we have explored the nature of the use of the specific title “God of the Heavens” throughout the Hebrew Bible. This can be understood when properly understanding the historical, theological, and sometimes literary context of each verse. I hope this can serve to illustrate both the literary sophistication and attention to detail in the Hebrew Bible, and the insights which can be gleaned from better appreciating the world of the Bible itself.

1. In Dan. 2:28 as “God in the heavens” (אלה בשמיא)

2. 5:11, 12; 6:9, 10; 7:12, 21, 23 (x2).

3. 2:18, 19, 29, 37, 44; 5. See also 5:23 “master of the heavens” (מרא שמיא).

4. Ezra 1:2; Nehemiah 1:4, 5; 2:4, 20; II Chronicles 36:23.

5. Genesis 24:7, Jonah 1:9.

6. There are other deities as well, but they are all minor deities and more comparable to angels than gods.

7. There is extensive literature exploring the influences of Zoroastrianism on Judaism and vice versa, but this post is maintaining a very limited discussion regarding the use of the title “God of the Heavens”.

8. Scholars tend to date these sections of Daniel to the Hellenistic period, but the narratives themselves which continue into the Persian period is sufficient to eliminate a Babylonian date.

9. The Hebrew reads - יהוה אלהי השמים אשר לקחני מבית אבי ומארץ מולדתי