Texts in Conversation
Psalm 68 describes YHWH as the one who rides the clouds, language echoing the Ugaritic title “Cloud-Rider” used for Baal in the Baal Cycle. This follows an ancient Near Eastern tradition where storm deities are depicted as riding through the heavens.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.3 III:38
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East, Ugaritic
the bones within her spine turn weak. 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, Yamm (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: 1350–1185 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Psalm 68:4
Hebrew Bible
2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God. 3 But the godly are happy; they rejoice before God and are overcome with joy. 4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name. Exalt the one who rides on the clouds. For the Lord is his name. Rejoice before him. 5 He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows. God rules from his holy dwelling place.
Date: 600–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... In some cases, however, the portrayal of Yahweh includes some far more pointed references. Baal’s epithet rkb.‘rpt “rider of the clouds,” attested (so far) sixteen times at Ugarit, is found word-for-word [...] in Ps. 68.5 (Eng. 4), in similar forms in Psalm 104.3 [...] and in Isa. 19.1 [...]. Commentators have long seen this as a taking over of the standard description of the Canaan storm-god. [...] Among the “many-peaked mountains” which look with envy at Yahweh’s eternal abode, Bashan is named in verse 16, but the plural [...] suggests other candidates as well: the rival sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and/or Mount Saphon, the abode of the Cloud-rider mentioned in verse 5. As one of the mountains envying Jerusalem, Saphon produces an artful transference of Baal’s domain. ...”
James S. Anderson, Monotheism and Yahweh’s Appropriation of Baal, Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 617 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 86–87.
* 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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