Dunlap is like G.Massey, rather dubious but not always wrong. This point seems valid, regardless of the OT, but here Dunlap is paraphrasing Philo of Byblos (c.125 AD), who claimed to have used 'ancient' Thoth books received from a Jewish priest (!!!) and which describe some curiously Semitic historical aspects of the local Phoenician religion. I'm daring to date, from internal evidence, the key 'Phoenician' deities in Philo B. to c.150-50 BC.
As a counter-point, the thoroughly Hellenic Lucian of Samosata - who had no obvious interest in Jews AND who had been initiated in the local Adonis cult of Byblos - ignored this Semitic history altogether. Philo of Byblos had a different orientation and purpose: I suspect it's actually a kind of guide-book for Jews fleeing Alexandrian/Egyptian persecution (c.115 AD) and settling in a more tolerant city (Byblos), in what's now Lebanon.
What's really quite interesting, I think, is that tacit connection to the Alexandrian Diaspora Jews. An earlier support, Kronos is mentioned as 'God' in three or four Powers by Philo Judaeus (c.25 AD) a century before. This is no coincidence, because the connection of Egypt to Byblos was ancient and still strong (again: confirmed by Lucian's claim the local god Adon was worshipped as Osiris by some Byblians) when Philo Judaeus wrote. So Philo J. is addressing an Allegorist topic of interest to a cosmopolitan synagogue, 'How Does our Jewish God Relate to the Hellenistic Kronos Concept?' two or three generations before Philo B. (although Philo B.s source-material was probably contemporaneous w/ the Alexandrian.)
The question then is who was 'El' - the Phoenician Semitic God - in Egyptian Rhakotis and Pharos before Alexander, c.400-300 BC, before the Ptolemies arrived? I'm looking for that god's Egyptian Name (or Concept equivalent), perhaps not Greek, among Phoenician 'Jews' or indigenous Semitic coastal/Delta peoples in Egypt.
Citing a variety of sources, Eusebius of Caesarea (315 km south: ~4.25 days' sail) grappled with the identity of these Byblian/Phoenician gods - which one substituted for another, the order replacement, etc. Hypothetically, but narrowly following Sanchuniathon, Phoenician 'El' (c.700-500 BC) is the proto-Jewish/Semitic 'El' in the OT, who becomes 'El-Kronos' (c.500-200 BC) in Philo B's god-lineage. This is either a) not Yahweh, or b) the name 'Yahweh' has been suppressed at that time; herein lies the question, debate, etc.
1) Philo B. mentions the solar god Baalshamin, a deity well-established in Syria and Northern Phoenicia c.1000 BC, the Romans (re-)built a Temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra, Syria c.125 BC-125 AD: archaeological evidence proves this. However, Baalshamin (Egyptian Re) disappears from the Philo B. narrative early on.This is logical: 'Baalshamin' fits a Chaldaean tradition (i.e. Baal), already long-defeated and anathematized by Mosaicized Egyptian Jews and therefore forbidden. Philo of Byblos wants to present a different tradition, one of Semitic Phoenicians, received from a local Jewish priest. However, if Phoenician Zeus Demarus??/Adodos is a hidden form of Baal Hadad, this conflation looks anachronistic. Chronologically (known), Baalshamin must follow 'Baal Hadad'. Furthermore, by the OT 'Baal' (in whatever form) is certainly an opponent of Yahweh c.300 BC, whereas Hellenizing any controversial Semitic High God as 'Zeus' was deemed neutral. (Egyptian Baal=Seth would be a likely candidate, but nothing in Philo B. suggests that option; this also pushes the cosmogony later than a Seth-Typhon or Seth-Baal mythos, not earlier.) These assumed/estimated dates become very helpful, narrowing the range to which we must focus, if Philo B. has credible source-material.
Scholars have sought in vain for any confirmation of Philo B's mysterious 'Zeus Demarus'/Adodos (c.300 BC - 100 AD), but Baal-Tamar is one intriguing suggestion (Sayce, 1907). 'Baaltamar' as the material Form of god, a 'Master of the (Date) Palms', transposed as 'Zeus Demarus',would be the cult Philo B. recommends. Baaltamar interpreted as the Phoenix (i.e. Phoenicia) also fits neatly (correct?); Phoenician Semites. They (priests of Ieoud?) presumably still practice circumcision in Phoenicia; they are (Zeus Demarus' = Ieoud?) also religious syncretists, and presumably shared 'Books of Thoth' (i.e. Judeo-Phoenician and Judeo-Egyptian religious history) with Philo B. Therefore, Zeus Demarus = Baal-Tamar would establish a defensible Judeo-Phoenician correspondence, c.300 BC-100 AD.
Uncorroborated but on point, 1843:
Furthermore, Zeus Demarus = Baal-Tamar = Jupiter Tigillus would establish a known Latin correspondence c.150 BC. That hasn't resolved the Coastal Egypt 'El' question two centuries earlier, unfortunately.
If 'Baal-Tamar' is a sanctuary of Baal, a garden of Eden, where the Palm is considered 'the Tree of Life'/Yggdrasill-tree, the Judeo-Egyptian myth must be c.500-300 BC at the latest. The Latin name for the god who upholds the Sky - 'Jupiter Tigillus' (c.150 BC?) - would be equivalent to the Egyptian god Shu (c.1100 BC), son of Atum. This anachronistic Egyptian formula seems unlikely, however. An ancient lineage would complete as 1) Atum 2) Shu 3) Geb 4) Osiris 4) Horus, but at some later point - in the Egyptian New Kingdom - it was reduced to 1) Osiris-Sah 2) Horus-Sopdu, perhaps. Augustine c.425 AD isnt supported by other sources, but he was looking at material dated before c.100 BC (if proximate references to Quintus Valerius Soranus are relevant) and Plutarch reports multiple and contrary old Osiris myths, c.100 AD.
If we admit the lineage (again, citing the order Philo Judaeus, writing c.25 AD but on older concepts):
1. Baalshamin/Ouranos (El #1) ........... Kronos #1
2. El-Kronos (El #2) ......................... Kronos #2, assisted by Phoenician Taauthos/ Egyptian Thoth
3. Zeus Demarus/Baal-Tamar ............. Kronos #3
then Phoenician Deity #3 (c.250 BC-150 BC) should correspond to Jewish Yahweh (c.300 BC), as Second God after El-Elyon but also 'Son of the Demiurge' and 'Second Son of the Most High God'. This - if true - would confirm both a Judeo-Phoenician and Judeo-Egyptian Father-Demiurge-(Adopted) Son formula which pre-dates the euhumerized Jesus Christ by several centuries.
Another known, competing Phoenician deity must be examined, compared:
2) Adonis the local Phoenician deity is well-attested by many sources; on this god Philo B. is notably silent, however. Adon is probably a competitor w/ the El-Kronos lineage. Why? As Osiris (by c.500 BC?) if not Serapis (c.150 BC?), Semitic A. a) is 'Lord' and 'Master' but IS NOT the 'Most High God' (i.e. Zeus/El), b) A. is not mentioned or recommended by Philo B., c) A. does not have a circumcision ritual reported (presumably, Lucian would have noted his own circumcision, since he was so initiated!), d) classical Greek myth has Adonis euhemerized; Apollo (competitor/murderer) is the son of Zeus, etc. Adon doesn't work as Supreme Zeus, but I should like to see evidence that contradicts this Phoenician formula, anyway.
The Biblical story of Tamar-'Palm-tree' (Gen 38:12-30) has quasi-incestuous elements which definitely recall the (Byblos) Adonis myth of king Cinyras and his daughter Myrrha, begetting Adon (the Dying and Reborn God-Child). Amongst the Carthaginians, Adon is the son of Phoenix (c.800 BC), etc.; note the above.
The substance of the 'Sanchuniathon' myth, supposedly 'Phoenician', involves Jewish and Egyptian elements which have been Hellenized. Taauthos (Thoth) is claimed as the source - perhaps (Judeo-)Egyptian, but supposedly Phoenician. Semitic Elyon (hypothetically: c.800-600 BC) 'El' begets Ouranos (Hesiod's myth: a Greek adaptation, therefore later) who may be another Sky God, uncertain. 'Zeus Ouranios' begets Kronos: 'El-Kronos' who replaces whichever god preceded but retains the 'El' - a back-&-forth contest between rival religions? Then the El-Kronos Myth introduces Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus, NOT Thoth (c.250 BC). If not a late inclusion, Hermes' arrival dates this approximately: Judeo-Phoenician 'El-Kronos' supported by a foreign (Judeo-)Egyptian 'Hermes Trismegistus' AFTER 200 BC is the only possibility.
What is interesting in this lineage is the incidence of two Kronos characters, since we know (from Manetho, c.250 BC) there were three Thoths at the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period. In Egypt, Thoth #2 (c.500?-250 BC) is identified as Agathodaimon, the Great Serpent. Philo B. records that Thoth taught the 'Egyptians' (i.e. Judeo-Egyptians) to worship snakes, which situates his myth in pre-Ptolemaic Egypt (Thoth #2) and would incorporate part of the OT Jewish Moses myth also. Presumably, Moses' god 'El Shaddai' transforms into Yahweh c.500-300 BC. (If 'Yahweh' is Sopdu, following Völter, then 'El' should be Thoth #1, or Osiris-Sah; Moses would then be Hermes Trismegistos.) However, the Third Thoth (Hermes Trismegistos, c.275 BC) is not equal to 'El-Kronos' nor is he a son. In Philo B. (Myth: c.200-100 BC?), 'Hermes Trismegistus' is a foreign helper of El-Kronos, God #2. Hermes/Thoth as the helper of Egyptian Osiris still fits here, but Philo B's 'old Thoth books' must predate the Corpus Hermeticum by ~100 years or so. Likewise, there's no hint of 1st C BC Jewish Gnosticism or 1st C. AD theurgic Hermeticism, so Philo B's core-material is therefore most probably older (well before c.50 BC).
That is the best resolution I can offer, now. I am revising what I began working on awhile back:
Regarding the later Gnostic expression (c.75-150 AD), Ialdabaoth is a mixture of Saturn, Yahweh, Kronos, and Baal/Bel.The Adon cult originates at Byblos, Adonai is the Israelite (Norther Semitic tribe) name for God. Coinage proves Adonis was still worshipped at Byblos, but Lucian of Samosata (c.160 AD) confirmed that fact: "I saw too at Byblos a large temple, sacred to the Byblian Aphrodite: this is the scene of the secret rites of Adonis: I mastered these." Yet there was another related interpretation, the cult was Osiris and Egyptian:Some of the inhabitants of Byblos maintain that the Egyptian Osiris is buried in their town, and that the public mourning and secret rites are performed in memory not of Adonis, but of Osiris. I will tell you why this story seems worthy of credence. ... The whole occurrence is miraculous. It occurs every year, and it came to pass while I was myself in Byblos... in that city.
Link: