The original god of Israel was El. This reconstruction may be inferred from two pieces of information. First, the name of Israel is not a Yahwistic name with the divine element of Yahweh, but an EI name, with the element, "el." This fact would suggest that EI was the original chief god of the group named Israel. Second Genesis 49:24-25 presents a series of EI epithets seperate from the mention of Yehweh in verse 18...Similarly, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 casts Yahweh in the role of one of the sons of El, here called elyon.