Texts in Conversation
Psalm 6's plea treats death as separation from worship of God, contrasting with Baal's ties to dead ancestors in the Ugaritic Rephaim texts and giving urgency to the request for healing.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.22 I:8
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
[…] here is your son, here […] your son's son in your place; here the [hero] […] your hand; the little one will kiss your lips. There shoulder by shoulder are the brothers whom El raised up […]. There […] the name of El, the men […] the name of El, the heroes. There Tmq, the Rephaite of Baal, the soldier of Baal and the soldier of Anat. There Yhpn the mighty, the prince, the eternal king. When Anat goes hunting, […] the birds of the sky. Oxen are slaughtered, sheep as well; bulls are felled and fatted rams, year-old calves,
Psalm 6:5
Hebrew Bible
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am frail. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking. 3 I am absolutely terrified, and you, Lord—how long will this continue? 4 Relent, Lord, rescue me! Deliver me because of your faithfulness. 5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death. In Sheol who gives you thanks? 6 I am exhausted as I groan. All night long I drench my bed in tears; my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. 7 My eyes grow dim from suffering; they grow weak because of all my enemies. 8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy; the Lord has accepted my prayer. 10 They will be humiliated and absolutely terrified. All my enemies will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.
Search:
Notes and References
“... Second, the Psalms express an inner-Israelite religious innovation that constructed
the separation of Yahweh from Death and his underworld realm (Pss. 6:7[6] ; 88:13[12];
115:17; Lewis 1989: 170), in contrast to Baal’s association with revered ancestral spirits
(cf. “the Rephaim of Baal” in KTU 1.22 I 8, SAC 62). As a corollary, the Psalms show a
rejection of devotion to the dead as traditionally practiced in ancient Israel (see Psalm
16 discussed above), also seen in the Ugaritic texts (e.g., a royal version of such devotion
in KTU 1.161). Th e Psalms represent the Israelite deity as the God of the living and as the
living God (Feldmeier and Spieckermann 2011). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
"Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms" in Brown, William P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms
(p. 53) Oxford University Press, 2014
* 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.
User Comments
,