Texts in Conversation
In the Ugaritic Aqhat tablet, Baal asks El the Bull-Father to bless childless Danil with a son. Genesis 49 echoes this paternal blessing pattern, invoking El the father and Shaddai to grant Joseph descendants.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.17
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
enrobed, the gods he feeds, enrobed, he gives the holy ones to drink, you must surely bless him, Bull El my father, you must surely give a blessing to him, O Creator-of-creatures, so that he may beget a son in his house, a scion in the midst of his palace.
Date: 2300 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis 49:25
Hebrew Bible
24 But his bow will remain steady, and his hands will be skillful; because of the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 because of the God of your father, who will help you, because of the Sovereign God, who will bless you with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb. 26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers.
Search:
Notes and References
... The story of Aqhat offers similar blessing formulary. In this case, El offers blessing to Danil who lacks a son. Baal first approaches El ’in compassion,’ with a plea to him to bless Danil (1.17 I 23-24): ’Bless him, Bull El my Father, Strengthen him, Creator of Creatures.’ After Baal repeats the requested blessing, namely a son who can perform the traditional filial duties, El then offers his blessing (1.17 I 34-36): He blessed [Dani]l, man of Rapiu, Strengthened the Hero, the [man of the Ha]rnamite. These cases would suggest that El’s blessing is a fairly standard trope in texts involving divine-human relations. This seems to be a fairly regular patriarchal role, if Danil’s blessing of Pughat is any indication (1.19 IV 32); this observation might seem to correlate well with the lack of any blessing by a divine or human female in the Ugaritic texts. ...
Smith, Mark S.
"The Blessing God and Goddess in Early Israel" in Eidevall, Göran; Scheuer, Blaženka (ed.) Enigmas and Images: Studies in Honor of Tryggve N. D. Mettinger
(p. 215) Eisenbrauns, 2011
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.