Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy 33:2 portrays God as a warrior who advances from the south, accompanied by an army of gods. The image follows Ugaritic tradition, such as in the Keret epic, where the king moves forward with many thousands following in ordered procession.
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KTU 1.14
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Take the appointed portion of your offering-bread, dreg-free wine as a drink-offering; pour out wine from a silver rhyton, honeyed wine from a rhyton of gold; Go up to the top of the tower, mount up to the summit of the wall. Lift up your hands to heaven, sacrifice to Bull your father, El. Serve Baal with your sacrifice, the Son of Dagan with your food. Then come down, Keret, from the roof, prepare food for the city, wheat for the house of Khabur; let bread of the fifth month’s harvest be cooked, food of the sixth month’s. Let a force be victualled and let it set out. Let a mighty host be victualled, and let a force go forth. Let your host be a mighty army: a million charioteers, mercenaries without number, archers beyond reckoning. Let them march in their thousands like the downpour, and in their ten thousands like the early rains let them advance.
Date: 2300 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Deuteronomy 33:2
Hebrew Bible
1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. 2 He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them. 3 Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your hand8. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words. 4 Moses delivered to us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
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Notes and References
"... Literary material from the Hebrew Bible – which could be reasonably dated – provides "valuable historical control". Early Israelite poetry contains the earliest literary remains of its history. The final blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy incorporates the vision of Yahweh the Warrior. The victory "Song of Deborah" – dated late twelfth or early eleventh century BC – basically concentrates on the 'victory of Yahweh and his armies over the enemies of Israel'. Psalm 68 contains war songs and war poetry celebrating the victory of Yahweh. In the psalm he is portrayed with his "heavenly chariotry and entourage" – 'thousands upon thousands'. The glorious deeds of Yahweh, the Warrior, are vividly described in the "Song of Moses", the "Song of the Sea". Habakkuk 3 emphasizes the mythological conflict between Yahweh and the chaos forces of the sea and death. The theophany of Yahweh correlates with that described in Deuteronomy 33, Judges 5 and Psalm 68, while a parallel to Canaanite and Mesopotamian mythology can be recognized ..."
Mondriaan, Marlene Elizabeth
The Rise of Yahwism: Role of Marginalized Groups
(p. 156) University of Pretoria, 2010
* 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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