by Brian Godawa
Dan. 7:13-14
“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
“And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom…
His dominion is an everlasting dominion.
Yahweh is God, not the Canaanite El. Jesus is Yahweh’s son, as opposed to Baal being El’s son. And that “Son of Man” is the one who is given a kingdom of everlasting dominion, not Baal.
The Dragon and the Sea
The second narrative element of the Canaanite Baal cycle that I want to address is God’s conflict with the dragon and the sea. In ancient Near Eastern religious mythologies, the sea and the sea dragon were symbols of chaos that had to be overcome to bring order to the universe, or more exactly, the political world order of the myth’s originating culture. Some scholars call this battle Chaoskampf—the divine struggle to create order out of chaos.[24] Creation accounts were often veiled polemics for the establishment of a king or kingdom’s claim to sovereignty.[25] Richard Clifford quotes, “In Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and Israel the Chaoskampf appears not only in cosmological contexts but just as frequently—and this was fundamentally true right from the first—in political contexts. The repulsion and the destruction of the enemy, and thereby the maintenance of political order, always constitute one of the major dimensions of the battle against chaos.”[26]
For example, the Sumerians had three stories where the gods Enki, Ninurta, and Inanna all destroy sea monsters in their pursuit of establishing order. The sea monster in two of those versions, according to Sumerian expert Samuel Noah Kramer, is “conceived as a large serpent which lived in the bottom of the ‘great below’ where the latter came in contact with the primeval waters.”[27] In the Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish, Marduk battles the sea dragon goddess Tiamat, and splits her body into two parts, creating the heavens and the earth, the world order over which Babylon’s deity Marduk ruled.
Another side-by-side comparison of those same Ugaritic passages that we considered above with other Old Testament passages reveals another common narrative: Yahweh, the charioteer of the clouds, metaphorically battles with Sea (Hebrew: yam) and River (Hebrew: nahar), just as Baal struggled with Yam and Nahar, which is also linked to victory over a sea dragon/serpent.
UGARTIC TEXTS
‘Dry him up. O Valiant Baal!
Dry him up, O Charioteer of the Clouds!
For our captive is Prince Yam [Sea],
for our captive is Ruler Nahar [River]!’
(KTU 1.2:4.8-9) [28]
What manner of enemy has arisen against Baal,
of foe against the Charioteer of the Clouds?
Surely I smote the Beloved of El, Yam [Sea]?
Surely I exterminated Nahar [River], the mighty god?
Surely I lifted up the dragon,
I overpowered him?
I smote the writhing serpent,
Encircler-with-seven-heads!
(KTU 1.3:3.38-41)
OLD TESTAMENT
Did Yahweh rage against the rivers (nahar) Or was Your anger against the rivers (nahar), Or was Your wrath against the sea (yam), That You rode on Your horses,
On Your chariots of salvation?
(Hab. 3:8)
In that day Yahweh will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
(Isa. 27:1)
“You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan.
(Ps. 74:13-14)
Baal fights Sea and River to establish his sovereignty. He wins by drinking up Sea and River, draining them dry, and thus establishing his supremacy over the pantheon and the Canaanite world order.[29] In the second passage, Baal’s battle with Sea and River is retold in other words as a battle with a “dragon,” the “writhing serpent” with seven heads.[30] Another Baal text calls this same dragon, “Lotan, the wriggling serpent.”[31] The Hebrew equivalents of the Ugaritic words tannin (dragon) and lotan are tanniyn (dragon) and liwyatan (Leviathan) respectively.[32] Thus, the Canaanite narrative of Leviathan the sea dragon or serpent is undeniably employed in Old Testament Scriptures.[33] Notice the last Scripture in the chart that refers to Leviathan as having multiple heads just like the Canaanite Leviathan.
And notice as well the reference to the Red Sea event also associated with Leviathan in the Biblical text. In Psalm 74 above, God’s parting of the waters is connected to the motif of the Mosaic covenant as the creation of a new world order in the same way that Baal’s victory over the waters and the dragon are emblematic of his establishment of authority in the Canaanite pantheon. This covenant motif is described as a Chaoskampf battle with the Sea and Leviathan (also called Rahab) in several other significant Biblical references as well.[34]
Mount Zaphon/Sapan
Another element of Baal’s reign that was touched upon is his mountain abode of Mount Sapan or Saphon (Zaphon in Hebrew). As illustrated in the passages above, a plethora of Ugaritic texts link Baal with his “divine mountain, Saphon/Sapan” (KTU 1.101:1-9; 1.100:9; 1.3:3:29), that he is buried there (KTU 1.6:1:15-18), in his sanctuary (KTU 1.3:3:30), and mountain of victory (KTU 1.101:1-4). Earlier Hurrian and Hittite traditions of Baal link Mount Zaphon with another mountain, Namni, both in the northern Syrian ranges.[35]
This linking of the two mountains is of particular importance because as the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible explains, the Psalmist asserts Yahweh’s authority as creator and therefore owner of all the heavens and the earth by referring to the mountains of pagan mythology as under the lordship of Yahweh.
Psalm 89:12
The north (zaphon) and the south (yamin), you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
Tabor and Hermon are well-known holy mountains in ANE mythology.[36] But the deliberate linking of Zaphon and Yamin are most likely Hebrew references to the Saphon and Namni of Ugarit in a symbolic reflection of Tabor and Hermon.
In Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah mocks the arrogance of the king of Babylon by likening him to another mythological figure, Athtar, who sought to take Baal’s throne and failed “on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon [Sapan].”[37]
In the Bible, this Mount Zaphon is subverted by Israel’s holy Mount Zion.
Psalm 48:1–2
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north [Zaphon], the city of the great King.
Note in this Scripture that the holy Mount Zion is described as being in “the far north,” the very location of Mount Sapan, but not in fact the actual location of Israel’s Mount Zion. So “the far north” is a theological not a geographical designation of Zion replacing Sapan as the divine mountain par excellence.[38]
Subverting Paganism
The story of deity battling the river, the sea, and the sea dragon Leviathan is clearly a common covenant motif in the Old Testament and its surrounding ancient Near Eastern cultures. The fact that Hebrew Scripture shares common words, concepts, and stories with Ugaritic scripture need not mean that Israel is affirming the same mythology or pantheon of deities. The orthodox Christian need not fear literary similarity between Israel and Canaanite imagination. Common imagination springs from what Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern scholar John Walton calls a “common cognitive environment” of people in a shared space, time, or culture.
Walton suggests “borrowing is not the issue…Likewise this need not concern whose ideas are derivative. There is simply common ground across the cognitive environment of the cultures of the ancient world.”[39]<
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The story of a cloud-rider controlling the elements and battling the Sea and Leviathan to establish his sovereignty over other gods with a new world order is not a false “myth.” It is a narrative shared between Israel and its pagan neighbors that Jewish authors appropriate, under divine authority of Yahweh, as a metaphor within their own discourse. God uses that cultural connection to subvert those words, concepts, and stories with His own poetic meaning and purpose.
Great fathers of the Faith utilized this same subversive storytelling. Curtis Chang, in his book, Engaging Unbelief, explains how Augustine wrote his City of God to defend the Christian faith in the Roman Empire in terms of urban historical narrative saturated with references, motifs, and themes from classical Roman authors. He subverted that “City of Man” by revealing the destructive pride lurking behind all human social construction. Aquinas, in his Summa contra Gentiles, appealed to the Aristotelian story of knowledge because he was addressing a Muslim culture steeped in Aristotle. But he subverted that cultural narrative by teasing out the ultimate insufficiency of human reason.
Campus evangelist Curtis Chang explains this rhetorical strategy as threefold: “1. Entering the challenger’s story, 2. Retelling the story, 3. Capturing that retold tale with the gospel metanarrative.”[40] He writes that the challenge of each epoch in history is a contest in storytelling, a challenge to “overturn and supplant the inherited story of the epoch with its own metanarrative…The one who can tell the best story, in a very real sense, wins the epoch.”[41]
The defense of the gospel in this hostile epoch requires muscular Christians to enter into the narratives of our culture and retell those stories with bold fresh perspectives. I have repeatedly used J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis as examples of subversive authors who entered into the genres and mythology of pagan worlds to harness them for Christian imagination. Tolkien’s Middle Earth abounded with the mythical Norse characters of wizards, dwarves, elves, giants, trolls, and others. Lewis’s Narnia is saturated with a plethora of beasts from assorted pagan mythologies, deliberately subjugated to the Lordship of Aslan.
I am a filmmaker, so I think in terms of movies. We need more storytellers to tell vampire stories with a Christian worldview (The Addiction); more zombie stories with a Christian worldview (I Am Legend); more demonic stories with Christian redemption (M. Night Shyamalan’s Devil); more post-apocalyptic thrillers that honor God (The Book of Eli); more subversion of adultery (Fatal Attraction), fornication (17 Again), unbelief (Paranormal Activity), paganism (Apocalypto), humanistic anti-supernaturalism (The Last Exorcism), and our “pro-Choice” culture of death (The Island).
I will end with a question and a charge. With two exceptions, why were all these movies that subversively incarnate the Christian worldview made by non-Christians instead of Christians? Rise up, O Christian storytellers and subvert ye the world’s imagination!
About the Author
Brian Godawa is the screenwriter for the award-winning feature film, To End All Wars, starring Kiefer Sutherland. It was awarded the Commander in Chief Medal of Service, Honor and Pride by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, won the first Heartland Film Festival by storm, and showcased the Cannes Film Festival Cinema for Peace.
He also co-wrote Alleged, starring Brian Dennehy as Clarence Darrow and Fred Thompson as William Jennings Bryan. He previously adapted to film the bestselling supernatural thriller novel The Visitation by author Frank Peretti for Ralph Winter (X-Men, Wolverine), and wrote and directed Wall of Separation, a PBS documentary, and Lines That Divide, a documentary on stem cell research.
Mr. Godawa’s scripts have won multiple awards in respected screenplay competitions, and his articles on movies and philosophy have been published around the world. He has traveled around the United States teaching on movies, worldviews, and culture to colleges, churches and community groups.
His book, Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment has been released in a revised edition from InterVarsity Press. His book Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story and Imagination (IVP) addresses the power of image and story in the pages of the Bible to transform the Christian life.
Find out more about his other books, lecture tapes and dvds for sale at his website www.godawa.com.
Caleb Vigilant is 6th in a Series!
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www.ChroniclesOfTheNephilim.com
Watch the trailers, listen to the audio commercial, stay informed.
Enoch Primordial is one chapter of the series saga Chronicles of the Nephilim that charts the rise and fall of the Nephilim and just what their place is in the evil plans of the fallen sons of God called, “The Watchers.”
Book 1, Noah Primeval, reveals the hero’s journey of Noah that leads to God’s first act of justice against this diabolical plan of the Watchers: The Deluge.
The Prequel, or Lost Book 2, Enoch Primordial tells the forgotten story of the original descent of the Watchers on Mount Hermon and their introduction of the Nephilim into the created order.
Book 3, Gilgamesh Immortal tells the story of the first Giant King after the Flood, Gilgamesh of Uruk and his epic search for eternal life.
Read the rest of the series to discover just how far the Seed of the Serpent will go in its war on the Seed of Eve.
BOOKS BY BRIAN GODAWA
When Giants Were Upon the Earth: The Watchers, Nephilim, and the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed By Brian Godawa
The Appendices of the Chronicles of the Nephilim Together in One Book.
The bestselling Biblical fantasy novel series Chronicles of the Nephilim has opened a door for Christian imagination and theology like none other. But many have appreciated the appendices of each novel as much as the novels. In those appendices, author Brian Godawa shares the Biblical and ancient historical and mythical research that undergirds the fiction. Now all those appendices have been placed together in one book for those who want serious study of the topics of the Watchers, Nephilim, and the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed.
This book has the special bonus of a previously unpublished chapter on the Book of Enoch, as well as a newly expanded chapter on the Sons of God. But it also contains the appendices of the last two Chronicles, David Ascendant and Jesus Triumphant before their release!
Chapters Include:
1) The Book of Enoch: Scripture, Heresy or What? (Bonus Chapter)
2) Sons of God (Newly expanded from Noah Primeval) 3) The Nephilim (from Noah Primeval) 4) Leviathan (from Noah Primeval) 5) Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography in the Bible (from Noah Primeval) 6) Retelling Bible Stories and Mythic Imagination (from Enoch Primordial) 7) Gilgamesh and the Bible (from Gilgamesh Immortal) 8) In Defense of Ancient Traditions (from Abraham Allegiant) 9) Mythical Monsters in the Bible (from Joshua Valiant) 10) Canaanite Baal and Old Testament Storytelling Polemics (Caleb Vigilant) 11) Goliath was Not Alone (from David Ascendant) 12) Jesus and the Cosmic War (from Jesus Triumphant)
To order books and products by Brian Godawa,
as well as FREE articles, just go to the STORE at:
www.godawa.com
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment By Brian Godawa
With the sensibilities of an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter and the sensitivities of a thoughtful Christian, Brian Godawa guides us through the place of redemption in film, the "tricks of the trade" that screenwriters use to communicate their worldview through their stories, and the mental and spiritual discipline required for watching movies. Hollywood Worldviews helps us enter a dialogue with Hollywood that leads to a happier ending, one that keeps us aware of our culture and awake to our faith.
Endorsements:
“Provocative and challenging. Even when I find myself disagreeing with Brian Godawa in his evaluation of a particular film, his cinematé and sophisticated point of view command attention.”
— Michael Medved, Film critic and author of Hollywood Versus America.
/> “Brian’s analysis is insightful and stimulating. Our Biblical values are colliding with worldviews in the movies, and Brian shows us why. Those values are also illuminated by intersecting with movies, and I find that especially exciting. We might even understand the Bible with more insight from seeing these connections.”
— Ralph Winter, Producer X-Men 2, Planet of the Apes, X-Men
To order books and products by Brian Godawa,
as well as FREE articles, just go to the STORE at:
www.godawa.com
Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story & Imagination By Brian Godawa
In his refreshing and challenging book, Godawa helps you break free from the spiritual suffocation of heady faith. Without negating the importance of reason and doctrine, Godawa challenges you to move from understanding the Bible “literally” to “literarily” by exploring the poetry, parables and metaphors found in God's Word. Weaving historical insight, pop culture and personal narrative throughout, Godawa reveals the importance God places on imagination and creativity in the Scriptures, and provides a Biblical foundation for Christians to pursue image, beauty, wonder and mystery in their faith.
Endorsements:
“Brian Godawa is that rare breed—a philosopher/artist—who opens our eyes to the aesthetic dimension of spirituality. Cogently argued and fun to read, Godawa shows convincingly that God interacts with us as whole persons, not only through didactic teaching but also through metaphor, symbol, and sacrament.”
