4.1.4. Can the Context Be Associated with Yahwistic Worship?

Primary evidence that the sanctuary may be associated with Yahwistic worship comes in the form of an 8th c. seal impression with the name 'Immadiyaw, a theophoric name meaning "Yahweh is with me," found on a vessel fragment in a chamber attached to the precinct (Biran 1994, pp. 199–201), complemented by other Yahwistic names discovered elsewhere on the site associated within this time period, though names in and of themselves are not definitive. Secondary evidence includes the association of certain artifacts with those employed in Yahwistic worship as described in the Hebrew Bible as well as distribution patterns of animal bone remains that correspond with biblical prescriptions described below, though evidence in this category parallels practices in other cultures. Also at the secondary level are several traditions in the Hebrew Bible that identify the site as a Yahwistic worship center, albeit heterodox if not idolatrous in the eyes of the biblical writers: Judges 17–18; 1 Kgs 12:28–33; Amos 8:14. The convergence of these pieces of evidence—epigraphic, artifactual, faunal, and biblical—have been argued to suggest that the temple was Yahwistic in nature (Greer 2017).
