Texts in Conversation
Psalm 104 describes God making the clouds into a chariot and riding them on the wind, language that is taken from ancient Near Eastern traditions such as the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, where Baal is first called the Cloud-Rider.
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KTU I.3
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
She spoke up and cried out, “Why have Gupan and Ugar come here? What enemy rises up against Baal? What rival faces the Cloud-Rider? Didn’t I crush El’s beloved, Yam (Ocean)? Didn’t I annihilate Nahar (River), the great god? Didn’t I leash Dragon and bind him in a saddle? I crushed the Sinuous Serpent, Encircler, the seven-headed monster. I crushed the gods’ beloved, Arsha. I ravaged El’s young bull, Ataka. I crushed the gods’ she-wolf, Fire.
Date: 2300 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Psalm 104:3
Hebrew Bible
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are magnificent. You are robed in splendor and majesty. 2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment. He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain 3 and lays the beams on water in his upper rooms3. He makes the clouds his chariot and travels on the wings of the wind. 4 He makes the winds his messengers and the flaming fire his attendant.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Several explicit parallels between the Baal Cycle's account of Baal's struggle against Yamm and Daniel 7:9-14 have led to the widespread endorsement of an Ugaritic provenance (KTU 1.2.IV:7-9) ... Baal’s stock epithet, 'Rider of the Clouds,' occurs in this passage and is considered to be the inspiration for the Hebrew phrasings in Daniel 7:13. This specific title is transparently used in the Hebrew Bible for Yahweh himself, as scholars have recognized for many years. Psalm 68 (Hebrew) exhorts the reader to 'Extol the Rider upon the clouds by his name, Yah' and to '(Sing praises) To Him who rides on the ancient high heavens'. Isaiah 19:1 reads: 'The oracle against Egypt: Behold, the LORD (YHWH) rides upon a swift cloud.' Yahweh 'makes the clouds his chariot' and 'walks on the wings of the wind' in Psalm 104:1-3. Finally, in Deuteronomy 33:26, we read, 'O Jeshurun, there is none like God, who rides the heavens to help you; (who rides) the clouds in His majesty.' ..."
Heiser, Michael S.
The Baal Cycle as Backdrop to Daniel 7: A Paradigm for Jewish Binitarianism and the New Testament’s High Christology
(pp. 1-16) Evangelical Theological Society, 2003
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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