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In the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, the storm god Baal builds his palace on Mount Sapan. Psalm 48 echoes this by calling Zion, “Sapan,” linking it with this divine kingship. The use of the name shows how imagery once connected to Baal is reused to describe Israel’s God dwelling on a mountain.
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The Baal Cycle
Ancient Near East
A throne is arranged, and he takes a seat At the right hand of Mightiest Baal As the gods dine and drink. Mightiest Baal declares: Hurry, the house, Kothar Quickly construct the palace. You must promptly build the house You must swiftly construct the palace On the peak of Sapan. Let the house span a thousand fields The palace, ten thousand hectares.
Date: 1500 - 1300 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Psalm 48:2
Hebrew Bible
1 A song, a psalm by the Korahites. The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy hill. 2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, a source of joy to the whole earth. Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; it is the city of the great king. 3 God is in its fortresses; he reveals himself as its defender. 4 For look, the kings assemble; they advance together.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This is the name of Baal's holy mountain. Other deities such as Anat have their own sanctuary-mountains. High places may have represented the meeting point between the heavens, the realm of the deities. and earth, the realm of humans. (The building of temples on the highest point, the acropolis, of a place evidently drew on this idea) As with Baal and Anat, Yahweh's home on earth is located on a "holy mountain" (Exodus 15:13, 17-18). In one biblical passage (Psalm 48:2-3), the name of Baal's mountain, Sapan, is incorporated into the description of Yahweh's mountainous home. See also Isaiah 14:13 for a different usage of Sapan in biblical tradition ..."
* 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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