I. Name
The Edomite personal name Yĕʿûš (Gen. 36.5, Gen. 14, Gen. 18; 1 Chr. 1.35; 1 Chr. 7.10; 1 Chr. 8.39; 1 Chr. 23.10, 1 Chr. 11; 2 Chr. 11.19) has been interpreted as a theophoric name comparable with the Arabian lion god Yaǧūṯ,‘the protector’, and the Nabataean deity yʿwt (Robertson Smith 1912).
II. Identity
Islamic traditions refer to the worship of a deity called Yaǧūṯ among the pre-islamic tribe of the Maḏḥiǧ and in the area of Ǧuraš in Yemen. Qur‘an Sura 71:20–25 and Ibn al-Kalb…