7. In his book A Social History of Hebrew, William Schniedewind notes a claim made by the Assyrian king Sargon II (r. 721–705 BCE), recorded on the Dûr-Sharrukîn Cylinder: “People of the four regions of the world, of foreign tongue and divergent speech, dwellers of the mountain and lowland, all that were ruled by the light of the gods, the lord of all, I carried off at Ashur, my lord’s command, by the might of my scepter. I made them of one mouth and settled them therein” (Daniel David Luckenbill, trans., Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia [Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1927]). Schniedewind believes this likely refers to the imposition of a single, unified language over the diverse peoples of the lands he conquered; see also Schniedewind, How the Bible Became a Book, 65. Whether that language was Akkadian or Aramaic and whether Aramaic was the “official” language of the Neo-Assyrian Empire or merely the lingua franca in Persia is debated. See Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic, 5. For an opposing view, see Frye, “Review of G. R. Driver, Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B.C.,” 457. However, it is noteworthy that by the time of the sixth century BCE in the Persian period, Aramaic had risen from lingua franca to become the official administrative language of the empire.
8. There is some debate over whether the language of the Gezer Calendar is Hebrew, or some form of proto-Hebrew that scholars refer to simply as Cana‘anite.
9. Hebrew characters written during the first few centuries BCE that attempted to replicate the Old Hebrew characters are referred to as Palaeo-Hebrew. Some also refer to Old Hebrew characters as Palaeo-Hebrew script, which causes some confusion.
10. Dan. 2–7 are in biblical Aramaic, as are Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, which contain transcripts of letters written in biblical Aramaic. There is also a single verse in Jer. 10:11 that is written in Aramaic as well as an Aramaic place-name in Gen. 31:47.
11. Lipin´ ski, “Hiram of Tyre and Solomon.”
12. Additional claims of Solomon’s commercial ventures with Phoenicia are preserved in 1 Kings 10: “Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood and precious stones. From the almug wood the king made supports for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers; no such almug wood has come or been seen to this day” (vv. 11–12); “For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks” (v. 22).
13. See Katzenstein, “Tyre in the Early Persian Period.”
14. In 126 BCE, Tyre regained its independence from the Seleucids, but was soon annexed by Rome in 64 BCE. Rome designated Tyre as a civitas foederata, or “federated citizenry,” which was a semi-independent client kingdom that had a treaty with Rome exempting it from paying tribute to Rome and from many Roman laws. See Hardy, ed. and trans., Roman Laws and Charters, 95.
Chapter 2: Ugarit
1. Yon, City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra, 106–10.
2. Yon, City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra, 110.
3. Some scholars refer to this temple as the Temple of ’El, arguing that Dagon and ’El were understood to be the same deity at Ugarit. See Fontenrose, “Dagon and El.” For more on Dagon, see Healey, “Dagon.” KTU (from the German title, Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit) is used as a catalog for texts from Ugarit.
4. Crowell, “The Development of Dagan.”
5. There was a temple honoring Dagon at Ebla. The Ebla Tablets mention him, and the name Dagon is incorporated into many personal names. See Pettinato and Waetzoldt, “Dagan in Ebla und Mesopotamien.”
6. Yon, City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra, 111.
7. For more on the archaeology of Ugarit, see Yon, City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra; and Curtis, Ugarit (Ras Shamra).
8. Isa. 14:13 reads: “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon; I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like ‘Elyon (the Most High).” See also Ps. 48:2 (48:3 HB), which may contain a reference to “the heights of Mt. Ṣafon.”
9. It is worth noting that the other tall mountain in the region, Mt. Ḥermon, north of the Golan Heights, mentioned on several occasions throughout the Bible, is referred to as Ba‘al-Ḥermon in Judg. 3:3 and 1 Chron. 5:23, preserving some legacy of association with the deity atop the mountain.
10. ’El Berit may be the same god as Ba‘al Berit mentioned in Judg. 8:33 and 9:4, the god of the Cana‘anite and later Israelite city of Shechem. Interestingly, ’El Berit is also mentioned at Ugarit and in Phoenicia. A deity named brt (Berit) is mentioned in the Ugaritic texts in connection with Ba‘al (see Mulder, “Baal-Berith”), and ’El Berit is perhaps the deity Beruth in the purported Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon’s writings as preserved by Philo of Byblos (809:15). See Baumgarten, The Phoenician History of Byblos, 186.
11. This is common with Hebrew and other Semitic languages. For example, the number three in Hebrew is (shalosh), but in Aramaic it is (thalath).
12. Lit. rbt ’atrt ym.
13. Judg. 3:7; 1 Kings 15:13; 18:19; 2 Kings 21:7; 23:4–7; 2 Chron. 15:16.
14. See also Job 37:2, 4–5; 40:9; Ps. 29:3.
15. To view an image and Louvre Conservateur Général Honoraire Annie Caubet’s description of the Ba‘al Stele in the Near Eastern Antiquities Department in the Sully Wing on the ground floor, Room B (item AO 15775), visit the Louvre’s website: http://www.louvre.fr/en/node/38663.
16. See, e.g., Num. 25:3–5; Judg. 6:30–32; and 1 Sam. 7:4, where Ba‘al is mentioned alongside ’Asherah; also Judg. 8:33; 10:6–10; 1 Kings 16:31– 32; 18:18–40; 22:53.
17. The infrequency of ‘Anat in the Bible may be due to competing myths about her origin and role, especially as worship of the Ugaritic pantheon spread south into Cana‘an. ‘Anat was a companion of Ba‘al at Ugarit, but ’Asherah came to be associated with Ba‘al in Cana‘an (see Judg. 3:7; 1 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 23:4). It may also be the case that since many of the characteristics attributed to ’El were merged into YHWH, ’El’s apparent disappearance caused his popular consort ’Asherah to become associated with the other popular “foreign” deity, Ba‘al, leaving ‘Anat to be remembered only in place-names. Then again, it may be the case that Ba‘al was associated with both female deities (male gods did this on more than one occasion in ancient literature) or that, given the fluidity of many of these mythical legends from region to region, some ‘Anat and ’Asherah legends may have been confused or simply merged into the same deity.
18. Elephantine was known locally then as Yeb.
19. See Berlin Ägyptisches Museum Papyrus 13485, document number B52, in Porten, The Elephantine Papyri in English, 266–67.
20. For more on ‘Anat-Yahu, see Mondriaan, “Anat-Yahu and the Jews at Elephantine.” See also Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses, 143; Smith, The Early History of God, 61; and Van der Toorn “Anat-Yahu, Some Other Deities.”
21. You read that correctly. The actual name of the body of water that Moses and the Hebrews crossed is the Reed Sea, not the Red Sea, farther to the south, as the Hebrew word for the body of water crossed in Exod. 13–15 is yam suf (), and suf in Hebrew means “reed” (cf. Exod. 2:3), not “red.” The confusion between yam suf (“Sea of Reeds”) and the “Red Sea” stems from a mistranslation in the LXX, which we shall discuss in Chapter 7.
22. Scholars consider the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic one of the first great works of literature. The story is dated to about 2100 BCE and exists in multiple versions written on several cuneiform tablets. The story follows the travels of its hero, King Gilgamesh, as he searches for the plant that brings immortality, which is stolen from him by a serpent (which parallels the biblical story of the Garden of Eden); survives a great flood by building an ark, loading his family and all of the animals on it, and sending out birds to determine when the flood had ended (which parallels the b
iblical flood story); and struggles with the idea of death and mortality (which parallels the biblical discourse of Qohelet or Ecclesiastes). Thus, the Gilgamesh Epic, which predates these biblical stories by at least a thousand years, is thought to have influenced the stories of Eden, the flood, and Ecclesiastes.
23. The Atraasis Flood Epic is another flood parallel that predates the Bible. ˘ From the eighteenth century BCE, this Akkadian myth tells the story of the creation of humans out of the dust of the ground, how the gods regretted having created them, and of their decision to send a flood to destroy humankind. The deity Enki warns Atraasis of the coming flood, and Atraasis tears down his house and ˘ ˘ builds an ark, covers it with pitch, loads up his family and animals, and survives the flood. When the flood is over, Atraasis sacrifices to the gods. It is easy to see why scholars argue that the Atraasis Flood Epic is an ˘ ancient parallel that predates and influences the biblical flood stories in Gen. 6–9.
24. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, 16–17.
25. Lewis, “El’s Divine Feast.” For an excellent discussion about the “hair of the dog,” see Cook, “Hair of the Ugaritic Dog.”
26. Ps. 74:13–15 reads almost like the story of Ba‘al and Yam: “You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams.” Interestingly, Isa. 27:1 also appears to reference this same battle: “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 that is in the sea.” This is notable because the Ba‘al Cycle records an almost identical verse centuries before Isaiah lived. COS 1.86.265 reads: “When you smite Lôtan (Leviathan), the fleeing serpent, finish off the twisting serpent, the close-coiling one with seven heads.” Cf. Pardee, “The Ba‘lu Myth,” 265.
27. CTA 3, 5.19–25.
28. CTA 4, 5.120–6.15.
29. ANET 129–42; KTU 1.1–6. For more, see Smith, Ugaritic Baal Cycle. One question to ponder is why two gods of water, namely, Yam (the god of the sea and rivers) and Ba‘al (the storm god) would be so opposed to one another in the mythology. It can’t be a matter of salt vs. fresh water, as Yam is also referred to as Ruler Naharu, or “Ruler of the River,” and therefore rules both freshwater and saltwater. (Note that not only is yam the Hebrew word for “sea,” but the Hebrew cognate nahar is also the word for “river.”) There is little evidence to support an early dispute between dry farming and irrigation. One could make a case for a debate about the use of water in moderation (represented by Ba‘al) vs. the devastating extremes of flooding rivers and the untamable tempests of the sea and its effects on maritime trade and fishing economies. The contest between Yam and Ba‘al is most likely a metaphor for the various agricultural economies espoused by the nations surrounding Ugarit. The sea may represent seafaring nations like the Mycenaeans, while the rivers represent river-based agricultural economies like Egypt (which thrives due to the flooding of the Nile) and Mesopotamia (which is dependent upon the Tigris and Euphrates). These other nations are represented by Yam, the god of the sea and rivers, whereas Ugarit and the surrounding Levantine nations are represented by Ba‘al, who uses storms and rains to water fertile lands independent of rivers or a dependence on maritime trade. The fact, then, that Ba‘al defeats Yam in the Ugaritic myths would represent not only Ugarit’s superiority over Egypt, Mycenae, and Mesopotamian cultures, but also that Ugarit had become a successful trade hub in all three of these realms. Thus, in addition to telling us how Ba‘al got to be so popular in Ugarit (and Cana‘an, where he was a popular fertility deity throughout the Bible), the Ba‘al Cycle says as much about how Ugarit felt about itself as it does in explaining how the gods of the Bible came to be in Cana‘an.
30. Legend of Keret, Tablet C, col. 6, 25–53.
31. O’Connor, in “The Keret Legend and the Prologue-Epilogue of Job,” points out an additional, rather unique parallel between the two: “Job and Keret . . . are now finally blessed with a new family. Job with seven sons and three beautiful daughters (42:13); Keret with a new wife who bears him seven sons and at least six daughters (Keret III, iii, 5–12). An extraordinary parallel emerges in the manner of giving the names of all the daughters, but not of the sons. The names of Job’s three daughters are given (42:14). In the epic Baal and Anat (also from Ugarit) their three daughters are named, but not the sons. In the Keret poem there is no list of his sons by their names, but when it comes to the birth of the daughters we get six parallel lines, short lines of only three words each, but the final word in each gave the name of the girl. Unfortunately, only in the sixth line can the name of the (favourite) daughter of Keret be reconstructed, the text is damaged in the other five, but the space for the name was there.”
32. Note that although the NRSV and other translations refer to “heavenly beings” presenting themselves to YHWH in Job 1:6 (again, remember the assembly of the Ugaritic deities on Mt. Ṣafon), the Hebrew here literally reads “sons of God” (bnei ha’Elohim). Furthermore, the satan mentioned in Job 1:6 is written with a definite article (ha-´satan) and should therefore be read as “the satan,” which is Hebrew for “the accuser,” and not as the proper name “Satan.”
33. ANET 142–49. For more, see Margalit, “The Legend of Keret.” See also Pardee, “The Kirta Epic (1.102).”
34. “Repha’im” can refer either to an ancient race of giants (Gen. 14:5; 15:20; Deut. 2:10–21; 3:11; Josh. 12:4; 13:12; 15:8; 17:15; 18:16; 2 Sam. 5:18–22; 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15; 14:9; 20:4) or to dead ancestors, commonly referred to in English Bible translations as “shades” (Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19; Ps. 88:11; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Job 26:5). See Pardee, “The ’Aqhatu Legend (1.103),” 343, n. 1.
35. ANET 150, AQHT A, col. 1, lines 31ff.
36. ANET 152; AQHT A, col. 6, line 40.
37. ANET 153; AQHT B, col. 4, lines 28ff.
38. Dan’el calls upon Ba‘al to break the wings of the birds above, so that they might fall to the ground allowing Dan’el to cut them open and retrieve the remains of his son. Ba‘al agrees and breaks the birds’ wings, they fall, and Dan’el cuts them open, but he cannot find the remains of ’Aqhat. Not wanting to be blamed for the demise of the now exonerated vultures, Dan’el asks Ba‘al to mend their wings (and I’m assuming also their guts) and allow them to fly away. After repeating the whole process with Hargab, the father of the vultures, Dan’el spots Ṣamal, the mother of the vultures, and again asks Ba‘al to break her wings, so that he can check her. Dan’el finds his son’s remains, takes them from Ṣamal’s belly, and gives them a proper burial.
39. Many scholars assume that some sort of compensation is given to Dan’el, in the form of either a resurrected ’Aqhat or a newborn son, which allows the drought to end and the earth to once again become fruitful, but this is speculation.
40. Homer, Odyssey 11.60–78.
41. Gen. 23.
42. John 19:38–42.
43. Ezek. 14:14: “and were these three men in it, Noaḥ, Dan’el, and Job, they by their righteousness would only save their (own) lives, declares the lord YHWH” (translation mine). Note that Noaḥ and Job were both understood to be pre-Israelite, non-Jewish characters. Job is said to be from the unknown “land of Uz,” while Noaḥ’s place of origin is never given. Furthermore, Noaḥ was not considered to be Jewish, otherwise all of his descendants (i.e., all of the earth’s population) would be Jewish! Furthermore, the reference to Dan’el in Ezek. 28:3 is made as part of a prophecy to the king of Tyre, claiming that he is “wiser than Dan’el.” Tyre (in Phoenicia) and Ugarit are both kingdoms to the north of Israel that share much of the same pantheon. Ezek. 8:14 also demonstrates that the prophet is knowledgeable of non-Israelite mythology, as he references women sitting at the gate of the Temple “weeping for Tammuz,” the Sumerian shepherd who legend says was de
ified as a demigod of death and rebirth and married to the goddess Inanna and who was worshipped at least through the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. Ezekiel’s comparison of the king of Tyre to Dan’el in 28:3 certainly predates the composition of any of the biblical Daniel stories and may very well in fact provide the link for the “wise Daniel” tradition in Babylon and postexilic Judea. In fact, Jubilees 4:20 attempts to appropriate further the reference to Dan’el by supplying it as the name of Enoch’s father-in-law (cf. Gen. 5:21), suggesting that in the second century BCE Jews in fact understood Dan’el to be the wise figure from a primordial legend, not the Daniel of Babylonian exile fame.
44. ANET 151, AQHT A, col. 5, lines 6–9 states that Dan’el “is upright, sitting before the (city) gate . . . judging the cause of the widow, adjudicating the case of the fatherless.” Sitting at the city gate and judging cases is a frequent description of a wise, righteous city elder. Cf. Job 29:7–12: “When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square . . . because I delivered the poor who cried, and the orphan who had no helper.” For other examples of righteous judgment being adjudicated at the city gate, see Ruth 4; Prov. 31:23; Jer. 1:15; Lam. 5:14; 2 Sam. 15:2–6.
45. ANET 149–55. For more on the Epic of ’Aqhat, see Pardee, “The ’Aqhatu Legend.”
46. COS 2.47A; AHI 8.017; HAE 1:59–61. Although P. Kyle McCarter argues that many biblical references to ’Asherah may be to a wooden object of worship instead of the deity herself, he states that in this case the inscription “suggests the pairing of the God of Israel with a consort” (“Kuntillet ‘Ajrud [2.47]”).
47. COS 2.47B; AHI 8.018–22; HAE 1:59–61.
48. Some translations say, “’Uriyahu the governor.” Here I follow McCarter, “Khirbet el-Qom (2.52).”
49. COS 2.52; AHI 25.003; HAE 1:199–211. Cf. Dever, Did God Have a Wife?
The Cities That Built the Bible Page 27
