Texts in Conversation
Job 38 replaces the battle with Sea in the Baal Cycle with God's care for Sea as a newborn, presenting divine control as effortless care and restraint.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.2 IV:25
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
You, your name is 'All-Driver' All-Driver, drive Yamm away, drive Yamm from his throne, Nahar from the siege of his dominion! You must leap from the hand of Baal, like a falcon from his fingers. Strike the skull of Prince Yamm (Ocean), the brow of Ruler Nahar (River)! Let Yamm collapse in a heap, and let him fall to the ground!' Then the mace leapt from the hand of Baal, like a falcon from his fingers. It struck the skull of Prince Yamm, the brow of Ruler Nahar. Yamm collapsed in a heap; he fell to the ground. His joints trembled, and his visage was discomposed. Baal gathered Up and drank Prince Yamm to the dregs, he exterminated Ruler Nahar. By name Athtart chided him Dry him Up, O Valiant Baal! Dry him up, O Charioteer of the Clouds! For our captive is Prince [Yamm], [for]
Job 38:8
Hebrew Bible
3 Get ready for a difficult task like a man; I will question you, and you will inform me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding. 5 Who set its measurements—if you know—or who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth, coming out of the womb, 9 when I made the storm clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 when I prescribed its limits and set in place its bolts and doors, 11 when I said, ‘To here you may come and no farther, here your proud waves will be confined’?
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Notes and References
“... Third, biblical texts attest to the cosmic forces as the chief-god’s domesticated
beasts. The book of Job knows these cosmic enemies both as human foes and
divine playthings. So Job himself expresses the understanding of these figures as
hostile powers, when he complains against God: “Am I Sea or Tannin that You
set a watch over me?” (Job 7:12; see the reference to Leviathan in Job 3:8 and
the mention of the Sea and the serpent in 26:13). Yet the book of Job later declaws
these enemies by rendering them not as Yahweh’s enemies but as objects of divine
domestication. So God responds to Job that he treated Sea at creation not as an
enemy but as a new-born babe (Job 38:8–11). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts
(p. 36) Oxford University Press, 2001
* 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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