the ottawa school of theology & spirituality · 2013-11-03 · israelite culture in context 2...

The Ottawa School of Theology & Spirituality

The Bible: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives

September 16 – November 25, 2013

Lecturer - David Steinberg

http://www.houseofdavid.ca/

[email protected]

Tel. 613-731-5964

Lecture 5

October 21, 2013

Lecture 2 slides available at http://www.houseofdavid.ca/lecture5.pdf

http://www.houseofdavid.ca/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.houseofdavid.ca/lecture5.pdf



Lecture 3

• Israelite Culture in Context

• History of the region Early Bronze

Age to Babylonian Exile

• Ugarit and the Bible

Lecture slides available at http://www.houseofdavid.ca/lecture4.pdf




Israelite Culture in Context 1

Subset of Canaanite Culture (see

Ugarit)

Which was subset of Syro-

Palestinian Culture (includes

Aramaeans)

Which was subset of Near Eastern

Semitic Culture (includes

Assyrians and Babylonians)

Israelite Culture in Context 2

Babylonian Culture heavily influenced some parts of

Genesis and the legal codes of the Old Testament.

(Problem of writing medium). Was this from the MB

Age of Abraham or from the time of the Babylonian

Exile (6th-5th c. BCE)?

Egyptian cultural influence was variable, sometimes

heavy, in what is now Israel and Lebanon.

Greek cultural influence became pervasive from 4th c.

BC and continued until after 700 CE.

Where is this From?

I sent forth and set free a dove.

The dove went forth, but she came back

again.

But, since no resting place for her was

visible, she simply returned.

Bible as a History Book

• Like all texts, the Bible grew out of sociopolitical realities and cannot be understood apart from them.

• As is the case for any text, the biblical traditions are models of reality. Although they can tell us something about general cultural notions about reality, they also reflect individual biases and assumptions of authors and editors

Bible as a History Book cont.

• The “history” recorded in biblical narratives,

whether they contain accurate information or

not, must be understood first and foremost as

representing notions, beliefs and myths

constructed to serve some purpose in the social

and historical contexts in which they were written

edited, preserved etc.

• It is important to understand this clearly before

evaluating possible historical information

contained in the text.

What is Religion? From Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey , Richard S. Hess 2007

2 definitions –

• Communication with the divine or supernatural through a system of attitudes, beliefs, asnd practices.

• A way of tying together multiple experiences and memories of the sacred into a single system of belief and practice

Smart’s categories in which religions may be studied and

compared From Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey , Richard S. Hess 2007 p. 38

• Practical and ritual

• Experiential and emotional

• Narrative or mythic

• Doctrinal and philosophical

• Ethical and legal

• Social and institutional

• Material

Which of these would leave clear traces in the archaeological record?

Hess’s Conclusion From Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey , Richard S. Hess 2007 p. 348

Recent scholarship in ancient Israelite religion attests to the failure of a single synthetic model and for an ongoing need for humility when approaching much of the data. We simply do not know enough about the analysis of the material. We remain dependent on heuristic models with their potential to become anachronistic and to demonstrate how much we are prisoners of our own age …. Nevertheless, the overwhelming sense of complexity and diversity attested both by the inner- and extrabiblical evidence compels a recognition of multiple, diverse, and at times contradictory expressions of religious belief and practice within ancient Israel.

Religion in the Context of Culture

• Traditionally, studies have focused upon religion as religion rather than viewing it as one aspect of culture as a complete entity.

• Conceptualization of religion as an integral and integrative part of society rather than as a discrete cultural expression, and as a component of socio-cultural identity rather than as its sole foundation, has been slow to penetrate the scholarship of biblical religion (Meyers 1988: 22). Here, the insistence of anthropologists and sociologists that the organization and practice of religion reflect multiple dimensions of society at-large has enriched our study.

Quoted from Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel (Asor Books) by Beth Alpert Nakhai p. 201

The Early Bronze Age

Period/Dates Politics Culture

Early Bronze (3300-

1950 BCE)

Rise of Cities

Hill country settled.

Development of

writing. N. Syria

influenced by

Mesopotamia; coastal

areas by Egypt

Ebla

archives

End of Early Bronze

(2200-1950 BCE)

Destruction of cities.

Hill country

abandoned.

MAJOR DISCONTINUITY

POPULATION CONTINUITY WITH SOME SYRIAN INFLUENCE

Middle Bronze Age


Middle Bronze (1950 -1539 BCE)

Reestablishment of

walled cities, great

wealth

Hill country settled.

Execration texts

Destruction of

walled cities at the

end of period

probably by

Egyptians

Classical

Canaanite culture

Origin of much of

Ugaritic literature

Age of the

Patriarchs (if

historical)

MAJOR DISCONTINUITY

NO INDICATION OF POPULATION CHANGE

Late Bronze Age


Late Bronze (1539-c.1250 BCE)

Cities rebuilt unwalled

at reduced scale by

same population.

Population and wealth

decline. Hill country

abandoned.

Cosmopolitan city

states under suzerainty

of Egypt (in south) and

Hittites (in north)

Amarna letters

Egyptian garrisons

until c. 1150 BCE

Moses c. 1350-1250

BCE (if the Biblical

traditions have a

substantial historical

kernel)

- Trade especially

with Aegean

- Ugarit archives

- Birth of

Monotheism (if the

Biblical traditions have

a substantial historical

kernel)

MAJOR DISCONTINUITY. RISE OF

POPULATION CHANGE?

Age of Empires

Middle-Late Bronze Age

• Mitanni – N. Syria Hurrian population led by a warrior nobility of partly Indo-Aryan descent . From c.1500 BCE; conquored by Assyria c. 1250 BCE;

• Hittite Empire – north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BCE – c. 1160 BCE

• Middle Assyrian Empire – c. 1300-1100 BCE

• Egyptian New Kingdom Empire (18th-19th d.;c. 1550-1250 BCE)- Canaanite city states Egyptian vassals.

Late Bronze-Iron I Transition

(1250-1035 BCE) - Massive invasion of Anatolia and whole

Levant.

- collapse of Hittite Empire

- Egyptian rule ends in Syria-Palestine (c. 1150 BCE)

- Philistines take over southern coast of

present day Israel (c. 1175–1100 BCE)

- except in Phoenicia (Lebanese coast),

Canaanite city states go under probably

to a combination of invasion, internal

decay and revolution (mainly c. 1250–1150

BCE; some sites much later)

- proto-states of Israel, Ammon, Moab

(later than Ammon), Edom (later than Moab)

- period of the Judges leading to

kingdom of Saul

- Neo-Hittite states in North Syria;

Aramean states elsewhere

- Canaanite culture continues unbroken

only in Phoenicia

- Aegean imports cease

- Aramean culture and language

established in Syria and south-eastern

Anatolia

- Israelite culture, indicated by the four-

room-house, in highlands of Judea,

Samaria, Gilead and Galilee

- Israelites adopt Canaanite language

and literary traditions

Iron I (1035-928 BCE)

- - Kingdom of Saul

(1035-1017 BCE)

- United Israelite

Monarchy (1017-928

BCE)

Latter part of this

period:

beginnings of

Israelite

historiography

stories of the Judges

importing

administrative system

and wisdom tradition

and literature from

Egypt

Iron II (928-609) BCE

separate kingdoms of Israel

and Judah

Assyrian Destruction of

Kingdom of Israel (734-712 BCE)

exile of Kingdom of Israel

ruling class and some foreign

settlers brought to Samaria

much of Book of Psalms

composed

First Isaiah, Amos, Hosea

Deuteronomic Reform in Judah

under Josiah (628-609 BCE)

proclaiming of core of

Deuteronomy as the Law of

Israel. Beginning of transition

from Israelite Religion to

Judaism

Deuteronomic History

(Deuteronomy- 2 Kings)

Jeremiah

Iron II (609-586) BCE

Exile from Judah (597-582

BCE) and the destruction

of Jerusalem (586 BCE)

Book of Lamentations

end of scribal schools

with literary traditions

going back to Bronze Age

Start of Ezekiel’s

ministry

Babylonian Exile Start or completion of

redaction of Torah

ditto much of rest of

Hebrew Bible

Three Examples of Intercultural Polemic

• Garden of Eden

• Dragon

• Tower of Babel/Jacob’s Vision

Garden of Eden

Probably the original audience was the

Jewish exile community in 6th c. BCE

Babylon. Aramaic had replaced

Babylonian as the common language

and all the Jews would have spoken

Aramaic as a second, or increasingly

first, language. All would have been

familiar with Babylonian and Aramaic

mythic traditions even if not with their

cuneiform literary forms.

Garden of Eden 2

Symbols/associations of the goddess –

• Tree of life

• Serpent (casting of skin makes it a

symbol of rejuvination/eternal youth)

• Earth-fertility

Garden of Eden 3

In the biblical story, ḥawwa (Eve), is

entrapped by the serpent (in Aramaic ḥiwya)

and finds death rather than life with the

woman, snake and tree of life being in

radical separation. It also explains:

• Why snakes crawl

• Why women bear in pain

• Why men must labor to grow food (due to

the ground being cursed)

• Why women are subordinated to their

husbands

Genesis 3:14-20

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon

your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I

will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your

offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.“

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pangs in

childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall

be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.“

nd to the man he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your

wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You

shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall

eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for

you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were

taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.“

The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Garden of Eden 3

In the biblical story, ḥawwa (Eve), is

entrapped by the serpent (in Aramaic ḥiwya)

and finds death rather than life with the

woman, snake and tree of life being in

radical separation. It also explains:

• Why snakes crawl

• Why women bear in pain

• Why men must labor to grow food (due to

the ground being cursed)

• Why women are subordinated to their

husbands

Creation According to Genesis ch. 1

1:2 - the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep (tehom),

while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

1:12 - The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of

every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good – day 3

1:20-21- And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds

fly above the earth across the dome of the sky."

So God created the great sea monsters (tannin) and every living creature that moves, of

every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God

saw that it was good. – day 5

24-25 - And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and

creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so.

God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and

everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. –

day 6

A Question

All created beings (before Adam)

were mentioned in terms of

categories except one.

Which one??

A Key Observation

In the Genesis story of creation

everything is restful, quiet, and

orderly. There are no battles or

opposition!

Babylonian Creation Myth

In the Babylonian myth Enuma Elish

the god of the heavens, Marduk, fought

Tiamat (cf. tehom) goddess of the sea,

defeated her, and created the world

from her corpse.

Enuma Elish

Ugaritic Myth of Baal, Death and the Sea

Baal – god of the heavens and weather – battles

Mot (= “death”) the god of the underworld. Mot’s

allies include Prince Sea (yam) along with the

Leviathan the twisting serpent and the sea

dragons. The seas challenged Baal at the

beginning of the world. Baal appeared in a great

tempest. The disgraced oceans were quieted and

confined by shores, while its allies were either

trapped or killed by Baal.

Cf. Job 7:12 - Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that

you set a guard over me?

Other Biblical Passages Reflecting the Mythological Background or “pre-history” of the

Genesis Creation Story 1

Is 27:1

On that day the LORD with his cruel and great and strong sword will

punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent,

and he will kill the dragon (tannin) that is in the sea (yam).

Is 51:9-10

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake, as in days

of old, the generations of long ago! Was it not you who cut Rahab in

pieces, who pierced the dragon?

Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who

made the depths of the sea (yam) a way for the redeemed to cross

over?

(Rahab = a mythical monster, the name of which means “surger”, and plays upon the

restlessness and crashing of the sea)

Other Biblical Passages Reflecting the Mythological Background or “pre-history” of the

Genesis Creation Story 2

Ps 74:13-14

You divided the sea by your might;

you broke the heads of the dragons (tannin) in the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

Ps 104 25-27

Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things

innumerable are there, living things both small and great.

There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport

in it.

These all look to you to give them their food in due season

A Conclusion

In a context where everyone would know of

the pagan myths, the Genesis creation story

contains a hidden polemic:

a) against the widespread myths that

creation, and indeed the ongoing

reality, were a reflection of celestial

conflict between the gods.

b) Against polytheism

Tower of Babel and Jacob’s Ladder

Some entomologies:

a) In Babylonian the name Babel/Babylonia (bab-ilu

or bab-ilani) means “gate of the gods” ie.

Heaven’s gate. The Babylonians believed that the

ziggurat-temple there was the earthly passageway

between heaven and earth.

b) In the Bible it is given a different entomology

based on the root BLL to confuse.

c) Beth El means “house or temple of god” or

“house or temple of (the high god) El”

Tower of Babel and Jacob’s Ladder 2

From Enuma elish:

For one whole year they molded bricks

When the second year arrived

They raised high the head of Esagila equaling Apsu

As a clue to how the Babylonians viewed things –

Esagila = “House of the Raised Head”

The tower itself was called “foundation of Heaven and Earth”

Genesis 11 1

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land

of Shinar and settled there.

And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn

them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for

mortar.

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with

its top in the heavens (ַמיִם and let us make a name for ,(וְרֹאשֹו ַבשָּׁ

ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the

whole earth.“

The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had

built. And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all

one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do;

nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come,

let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not

understand one another's speech.“

Genesis 11 2

So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the

earth, and they left off building the city.

Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the

language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them

abroad over the face of all the earth.

Tower of Babel and Jacob’s Ladder 3

The biblical writer turned this into a story of conceit leading to disaster –

a) The tower is abandoned

b) Human groups can no longer communicate due to the division by

language

c) Humans are scattered

Genesis 28:10-18

Jacob … came to a certain place and stayed there for the night,

because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put

it under his head and lay down in that place.

And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of

it reaching to heaven (ה יְמָּׁ מָּׁ and the angels of God were ;(רֹאשֹו ַמִגיַע ַהשָּׁ

ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and

said….

Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this

place-- and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, "How

awesome is this place! This is none other than the , and this is the

gate of heaven.“

So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had

put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of

it. He called that place Bethel….

Tower of Babel and Jacob’s Ladder – Contrasts 1

• Tower, with its “head in the heavens” result of arrogant human

initiative – humans seeking to climb up to the divine realm; Jacob’s

vision is God’s initiative with Jacob remaining on the ground.

• God punishes the Tower peeople; God speaks words of promise to

Jacob

• Builders of the Tower use man-made (mud) bricks; Jacob uses a

rock made by God which would form the foundation of a famous

Israelite shrine..

• The Tower people were migrating from the east; Jacob was

temporarily going to the land of the Easterners

Tower of Babel and Jacob’s Ladder – Contrasts 2

• The Tower people built the Tower feared “we shall be scattered

abroad upon the face of the whole earth.“ That, indeed was part of

their punishment. To Jacob God promises the opposite “I … will

bring you back to this land”. This is supplemented by a promise

“your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall

spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to

the south”

• The curse with which the tower story ends divides the earth’s

families, while Jacob is told “all the families of the earth shall be

blessed in you and in your offspring.”

• Both stories contain name derivations, but in contrast to the negative

interpretation of the name Babel – “confound, confusion” – which

reflects a curse on the place, the explanation of “Bethel” expresses

the presence of God in Bethel – a promise of blessing and hope.

Two Archaeological Revelations

• Ugarit – giving us insight into Canaanite

religion and culture

• Mesopotamian (Sumerian, Akkadian,

Babylonian) literature of great relevence to

understanding:

– Genesis Creation Story

– Genesis Flood Story

– Tower of Babel

Ugaritic Alphabet

My Name

Ugarit Map 21

Ugarit Map 2

Discovery

• 1928 a peasant accidentally opened an old

tomb while plowing a field.

• Excavations revealed an important city that

takes its place alongside Ur and Eridu as a

cradle of urban culture, with a prehistory

reaching back to c. 6000 BCE, perhaps

because it was both a port, connecting to

Egypt and the Aegean and serving as the

gateway to the inland trade route to the

Euphrates and Tigris lands.

Culture Including Religion

• Religion, art, literature linguistic and ethnic

makeup was cosmopolitan as would be

expected of city on trade routes

connecting all major centres

• Gods from many places leading to

synthetically structured pantheon.

• Tablets in a number of languages

Ugaritic

• Probably the native language was Ugaritic;

a language close to the precursors of

Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew

• Ugaritic written in alphabetic cuneiform

• Texts dealing with the gods, El, Baal,

Anat, Ashtart etc. give us our first look into

Canaanite religion from the point of view of

Canaanite higher culture

Asherah

Ugaritic Literature and the Old

Testament

• View from inside of Canaanite gods and mythology and cult.

• Independent view into the Canaanite poetic tradition in a form similar to the one in which it was adopted by Israel’s earliest poets. We thus can better understand some aspects of early biblical poetry probably better than they have been understood since Pre-Hellenistic times.

• By contrast, we can better understand contrasts with the views of the biblical authors which often were expressed using the stock phraseology of Canaanite literature.

• It extends our knowledge of a sister language of the Early Canaanite language out of which Hebrew developed. This offers lexical resources for helping to define rare words in Early Biblical Hebrew.

Canaanite and Israelite Religions

and Gods Worldview 1 Religion as a phenomenon was unknown

and would be incomprehensible to the Canaanites and Israelites.

Survival depended on the annual rains and rain fall varies widely from year to year. The god who could provide rain was key.

Physical security.

Divine underwriting the existing social structure.

The gods, on whom all depended, must be immanent and transcendent.


and Gods Worldview 2 Religion as a phenomenon was unknown and would

be incomprehensible to the Canaanites and Israelites. What happened happened because the divine powers either willed it or did not oppose it. In pre-Hellenistic times there was no concept of an order of nature governed by immutable natural laws. Hence Biblical Hebrew has no word for “religion”.

In Syria-Palestine survival depended on the annual rains and rain fall varies widely from year to year. It was clear to Canaanites and Israelites that rainfall was sent by the divine powers and the god who could provide rain, as well as the god or gods who assured human and animal fecundity would be the key object(s) of worship in the subsistence farming communities where almost all Israelites and Canaanites lived.


and Gods Worldview 3 Physical security was, of course, also

important so divine help in war was a necessity. This might be given by one of the gods or goddesses covering off weather and fecundity or by a specialized war god, national god or god of the place.

As is probably the case in most religions it underwrote the existing social structure. The most basic of these structures is that of the nuclear family – father, mother, child. For the king the national god, who would preferably also be a war god would be particularly important to assure ethnic cohesion and military success.


and Gods Worldview 4

The gods, on whom all depended, must be accessible (i.e. exhibit imminence and be worshiped at local shrines) yet also clearly be transcendent celestial powers.

Ugaritic Religion 1

• Our only view into Bronze Age Canaanite culture is via Ugaritic literature

• Ugaritic literature reflects a society of independent city-states sharing a common culture; a stratified aristocratic society based on agriculture.

• Some of the characteristics of Canaanite Religion were: – It was polytheistic and iconic (i.e. worshiped idols which

served as focuses of the presence of cosmic /nature gods).

– It was tied to nature and the seasons; a religion of renewal of life and fertility. Not surprisingly, its predominant sense of time was cyclical not linear i.e. it did not provide a good cultural background for the writing of history which presumes real linear change.

Ugaritic Religion 2

• The Canaanite religion, from which the Religion of Israel emerged had priests, priestesses and prophets. It viewed the universe as having three levels. The highest celestial realm was the realm of El, the earth was the realm of Baal and other gods; and the depth was the realm of Mot (death), Resheph (pestilence) and Horon (perhaps meaning “depth).

• Canaanite religion concentrated on the middle realm. Ugarit had many gods. (Later, in Iron Age Phoenicia the key deities were a triad consisting of a protective god of the place, a goddess, often his wife or companion who symbolizes the fertile earth; and a young god somehow connected with the goddess whose resurrection expresses the annual cycle of vegetation”)

Ugaritic Pantheon 1

Level Name Degree of

Freedom

1 Supreme El-Athirat Theoretically

unlimited

2. Specialized Baal-Anat,

Athtart

Mot

Yam

Resheph -

pestilence. etc.

Shapshu sun

Yarikh - moon

Large

Much conflict

Ugaritic Pantheon 2

Level Name Degree of

Freedom

3. Craftsgods

Kothar-Wahasis

Kotharat

goddesses

associated with

conception and

childbirth.

Some

4. Minor

messengers etc.

None

El – Divine Father

• In Ugaritic el (‘il) is both the common noun “god” and the name of the head of the Ugaritic pantheon – El. In the Hebrew Bible, ‘el both means god and the Israelite God.

• El is the greatest of all the gods with full ultimate authority though he tends to sit back and let other gods, especially Baal, take the spotlight;

• El is the creator of all things;

• El sexually fathered the other gods who participate, under El’s headship in the Divine Assembly;

• El’s epithets or descriptions include: Bull, Father of Men, Holy, Ancient, Merciful, Supreme Judge, guardian of the cosmic order, Kindly One and Compassionate. Ugaritic El can be drunken and, though he copulates freely with numerous females, his consort is Asherah.

• He is represented as an aged man. El wore bull's horns, the symbol of strength.

Asherah – Divine Mother 1

Ela/Elat-Asherah – Divine Mother

• She is the universal mother. As such, she is wise, nurturing, symbolizing and supporting the fertility of man, beasts and crops.

• Asherah is symbolized by the Tree of Life which, in turn, may be symbolized by a pole. On a thirteenth century BCE ewer found near a temple, a female, probably goddess, figure has its pubic triangle replaced by a tree.

• El’s consort and as such clearly subordinate to El.


Asherah provides an avenue of approach to the august El.

Asherah succeeds in convincing El to give his permission for the building of a palace for Baal.

Asherah determines El's choice of a successor for Baal, in the same way as the biblical Bathsheba does for her son Solomon (1 Kgs 1). It is likely that this reflects the situation on earth where queens, especially queen-mothers, often influenced the political choices of their royal husbands and in many cases decided who would be the next on the throne.

However, in addition in the myth, Asherah is depicted as a power-greedy woman who manipulates the heavenly court.


Asherah is the divine model of the wife –

She took her spindle in her hand,

(and) the spindle fell from her right hand.

She carried her clothing into the sea,

her skirts, the covering of her body,

her two skirts into the river.

She placed a cauldron on the fire,

a washing-copper on the coals.

(In this way) she wanted to charm the Bull EI, the good-natured,

she wanted to please the Creator of creatures. (KTU 1.4:II.3-11)

Anat

• Anat (Anath, Rahmay - 'the merciful') - Baal's sister, daughter of El. Goddess of war, the hunt, and savagery.

• She is an archer. Virgin, sister-in-law (progenitress?) of peoples. She and Athirat are nursemaids to the gracious gods.

• Anat killed Yam-Nahar, the dragon, the seven-headed serpent and many other enemies of Baal.

• Anat holds a feast at Baal's palace to celebrate his victory over Yam. She lures the towns' warriors inside to sit and joyfully massacres them. She makes a belt of their heads and hands and wades through the blood. She then makes a ritual peace offering and cleans up. This is possibly related to a seasonal fertility ritual welcoming the autumn rains.

• After Baal dies, she has Shapash take his body to Mt. Zephon, where she buries it and holds a feast in his honor. After seven years of drought, she finds Mot, and cuts, winnows, and sows him like corn.

• When Baal was out hunting, she followed after him and copulated with him in the form of a cow. She gave birth to 'a wild ox' or a 'buffalo', visiting Mt. Zephon to tell Baal of the good news.

Baal-Hadad

God of Weather and War 1

• Baal means ”lord”. Elsewhere he is called Adon (=”lord”) and Recammin (=”thunderer).

• Baal is god of the sky, clouds, and rain, both creative, gentle showers and destructive, devastating storms and floods. He is called "Cloud Rider" (rkb crpt) a title that was later used to describe El-YHWH (rkb crbt) in Psalms 68:5.

Yea, also Baal will make fertile with His rain,

with water He will indeed make fertile harrowed land;

and He will put His voice in the clouds, He will flash His lightning to the earth.

Baal-Hadad

God of Weather and War 2

• Baal is the vigorous, young god of the triad, not a creator, but basically the executive member of the triad. He is the executive of the divine assembly. Baal is the champion of divine order against chaos. Lightening is his weapon, and he can be found in storms and thunder.

• Though he embodies royal power, Baal is vulnerable. He is repeatedly threatened yet triumphant, as in the struggle to maintain order against the chaos represented by the god Yam and to sustain life and agricultural fertility against Mot (Mawt in Hebrew), the god of drought, blight, sterility, and decay. When Baal falls into the hands of Mot, the god of death, there is drought and sterility, growth ceases. With his rescue, by his consort, rains return and vegetation is returned to the earth. In the beginning of all things, Baal-Haddad warred with and conquered Yamm (Sea), and so brought the unruly waters of Chaos under divine authority and control.

Baal-Hadad

God of Weather and War3

• When Baal falls into the hands of Mot, the god of death, there is drought and sterility, growth ceases. With his rescue, by his consort, rains return and vegetation is returned to the earth. In the beginning of all things, Baal-Haddad warred with and conquered Yamm (Sea), and so brought the unruly waters of Chaos under divine authority and control.

• Baal is always paired with a female consort whose name varied with place and time – Anat (at Ugarit), Ashtart (paired with the vowels of boshet=shame to make the artificial name Ashtoreth in the Bible).

• Baal’s consort, whatever her name, had 3 characteristics:

– Sexual lust;

– Fecundity; and,

– Being a bloody goddess of war e.g. Anat, at Ugarit, wading up to her thighs in the blood of her enemies.

Retinue of Baal

• Tallay ='she of dew', 'daughter of drizzle' -

Baal's daughter.

• Arsay = 'she of the earth', 'daugher of [ample

flows]' - Baal's daughter.

• Gapn (vine)- Baal's page and messenger to

Anat. Baal's messenger to Mot.

• Radmanu (Pradmanu) - a minor servitor of Baal.

• Ugar (cultivated field?) - Baal's page

Mot

• Mot is the god of sterility, death, and the underworld. In one hand he holds the scepter of bereavement, and in the other the scepter of widowhooed.

• His jaws and throat are described in cosmic proportions and serve as a euphamism for death.

• When he has influence over Shapash, it is unusually hot and dry. He sits on a pit for a throne in the city of Miry in the underworld.

• When Baal's messengers deliver him an invitation to feast at Baal's new palace, he is insulted that he is offered bread and wine and not the flesh he hungers for. He threatens to defeat Baal as Baal did Leviathan, causing the sky to wilt and then eat Baal himself.

• Baal goes to the underworld and either he or his substitute is eaten by Mot.

• After seven years of famine, Anat seizes Mot, splits, winnows, sows and grinds him like corn.

• Baal eventually returns and defeats Mot's allies. After seven years Mot returns.

Yam = “sea”

• Yam is the god of Rivers and Sea, and in

some myths he is one of the 'ilhm (Elohim)

or sons of El.

• Yam is the deity of the primordial chaos

and represents the power of the sea

untamed and raging; he is seen as ruling

tempests and the disasters they wreak

Kothar-wa-Hasis

• Kothar-u-Khasis ('skillful and clever') the craftsman god. He is identified with Memphis.

• He is ordered by El to build Yam's throne. He upbraids Yam for rising against Baal and threatens him with a magic weapon.

• He gives Baal the magic weapons Yagrush (Chaser) and Aymur (Driver).

• He build's Baal's second house and insists over Baal's objections on including a window. He constructs a bow and arrows set for Aqhat, presenting them first to Daniel and staying for a feast

Assemblies of Gods

• El – cadat-El = Assembly of the Gods. In Ugaritic mythology, El and his council met to govern the cosmos at the "sources of the two rivers," in the "midst of the fountains of the double-deep," located on the cosmic mountain associated with both physical and mythical peaks to the north of Ugarit

• Baal and Mot have their retinues

Assemblies of Gods 2

• In Ugaritic mythology, El and his council

met to govern the cosmos at the "sources

of the two rivers," in the "midst of the

fountains of the double-deep," located on

the cosmic mountain associated with both

physical and mythical peaks to the north of

Ugarit.

Language

• Many of the sacrifices mentioned in the Ugaritic texts have names which are identical to those described in the book of Leviticus. Ugaritic texts speak of the Burnt Offering, the Whole Burnt Offering, the Trespass Offering, the Offering for Expiation of the Soul; the Wave Offering, the Tribute Offering, the First Fruits Offering, the Peace Offering, and the New Moon Offering. The term "offering without blemish" also appears in the Ugaritic literature.

Reshef

• "And the sons of reshef fly upward." (Job

5:7)

• wasting hunger,

burning consumption (lit. consumption of

Reshef),

bitter pestilence Deut 32:24

Deut. 23:29

thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee;

and thou shalt tread upon their high

places. KJV

Your enemies shall come fawning to you,

and you shall tread on their backs. NRSV

2 Samuel, chapter 1:21

Seven years may Baal fail

Even eight the rider of the Clouds;

Nor dew, nor rain, nor upsurging of the deep,

Nor sweetness of the voice of Baal

"Ye mountains of Gilbo'a, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor upsurging of the deep! RSV

Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings KJV

The World According to the Bible 1

Theophany El

Dream no fireworks

1: Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2: At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place; 3: the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down within the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4: Then the LORD called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" 5: and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. 6: And the LORD called again, "Samuel!" And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." 7: Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8: And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy

Theophany Baal

• Thunder lightning etc – Baal repeated the issue of his lips,

His holy voice; the earth quaked

The rocks were dismayed

East and west the high places of the earth w3ere

purturbed

Exodus 19

• 17: Then Moses brought the people out of the

camp to meet God; and they took their stand at

the foot of the mountain.

18: And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke,

because the LORD descended upon it in fire;

and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a

kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

19: And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder

and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered

him in thunder. Exodus 19

1 Kings 19

8 And he arose, and ate and drink, and went in the strength of that meal forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

11 And He said: 'Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.' And, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice (lit. “a thin voice/sound of silence).

13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And there came a voice unto him, and said: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy array. 3: The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, upon many waters. 4: The voice of the LORD is powerful, the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5: The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6: He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Si'rion like a young wild ox. 7: The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire. 8: The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness, the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9: The voice of the LORD makes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forests bare; and in his

Poetry

Lo, thine enemies, O baal

Lo, thine enemies wilt thou smiteLo thaou

wilt cut off thine adversary

For lo thine enemies O Lord

For lo thine enemies shall perish

All evildoers shall be scattered Ps. 92

Deuteronomy 32:8

• When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. KJV

• When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. RSV

• When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods NRSV

Psalm 82 KJV

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2: How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3: Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4: Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 5: They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. 6: I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. 7: But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8: Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Psalm 82 NRSV

God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgement: 2 How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? 3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’ 5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 I say, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; 7nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.’ 8Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

Slightly Emended

Yahweh has taken his place in the El’s council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgement…

I said, ‘You are gods,

children of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,

and fall like any demon

Rise up, O God, judge/rule the earth;

for all the nations belong to you!

the ottawa school of theology & spirituality · 2013-11-03 · israelite culture in context 2...

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