Texts in Conversation
The Ugaritic text KTU describes defeating the mythological creature Litan, a serpent with seven heads. Psalm 74 uses the same imagery, celebrating how God crushed the heads of Leviathan in combat.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.5
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Though you smote Litan the wriggling serpent, finished off the writhing serpent, Encircler-with-seven-heads, the skies will be hot, they will shine when I tear you in pieces: I shall devour you, elbows, blood and forearms; You will indeed go down into the throat of divine Mot (death), into the maw of the Beloved of EI, the hero.
Date: 2300 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Psalms 74:13
Hebrew Bible
12 But God has been my king from ancient times, performing acts of deliverance on the earth. 13 You destroyed the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monster in the water. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast. 15 You broke open the spring and the stream; you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.
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Notes and References
“... The god of death, here at the beginning of his conflict with Baal, refers to a previous battle in which Baal struck down Litan, a sea dragon and the personification of Yamm, the sea god. Directly comparable to this Ugaritic text is a passage from the biblical book of Isaiah: On that day YHWH will punish, With his cruel and great and strong sword, Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent; He will kill the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 27:1; see also Psalm 74:13–14) The reference to mythic tropes could not be clearer. The Isaianic writer describes Leviathan, the Hebrew equivalent of Litan, using the same expressions as those used to describe Litan in the Baal Cycle. Both Leviathan and the Ugaritic Litan are serpentine foes of the deity of life and order, YHWH or Baal, that twist and turn as they flee from the divine warrior. ...”
Cho, Paul K. K.
Myth, History, and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible
(p. 8) Cambridge University Press, 2018
* 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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