Number of Gods in the world:

[The Dark]

I already knew about the name, I didn't say Yahweh was his original name.

El-Shaddai, otoh, I haven't heard. Do you have a source for that? Never would have thought his Jewish titles resembled his Canaanite name (or is that merely coincidental? There was also El, or Bull-El in Canaanite myth. Has that anything to do with the 'El' in El-Shaddai, Alohim, etc?).

El is a general term in that area of the world that means God, so El-Shaddai comes from the words El (God) and Shaddai (mountain). All the names I mentioned occur in Genesis, usually wherever the translation I put is used (if it says "the LORD," it's Elohim, "Everlasting God" is El Olam, etcetera...unfortunately my references aren't that great, and I don't read Hebrew). I believe Bull-El may be what my professor translates Baal-El, which is a Mesopotamian deity adopted by the Canaanites. In Mesopotamia, Baal-El was Tammuz, husband of Ishtar and god of the soil. Baal-El was also called Baal-Zebul, or "Baal the exalted," which the Hebrews made a pun on by changing to Baal-Zebub, or "Baal of the flies." I'll try asking my Old Testament professor when he returns from Philadelphia if you have any more questions, but I really don't know as much on this topic as I would like in order to answer you properly.

[Utsanomiko]

Bull-El and Baal were two different deities, trust me.

Bull-El was considered a 'father of gods', while Baal was just a single god who was eventually killed by Mot.

Also, the goddess Astarte was considered the 'wife' of El-Shaddai (Yahweh), even up untill the time of Solomon. Solomon even had a temple built near Jerusalem in her honor.

[The Dark]

*Shrug* That's what I get for taking a survey course. Thanks for the extra information, Utsanomiko. I'll have to remember that for future reference.