Texts in Conversation
Ezekiel shares the Ugaritic defeat of a dragon and the feeding of Death's remains to birds, making Pharaoh's exposed body a sign that royal power cannot withstand God's judgment.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.3 III:40
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Come, and I will show it: deep inside my mountain, holy Sapan, in the sacred space on my native peak, in the paradise upon the hill of victory.” Watch! Anat sees the gods. Below, her feet start shaking. All around, her limbs are shivering. Up above, her face sweats. Shudders wrack the bones of every limb; the bones within her spine turn weak. She spoke up and cried out, “Why have Gupan and Ugar come here? What enemy rises up against Baal? What rival faces the Cloud-Rider? Didn’t I crush El’s beloved, Yamm (Ocean)? Didn’t I annihilate Nahar (River), the great god? Didn’t I leash Dragon and bind him in a saddle? I crushed the Sinuous Serpent, Encircler, the seven-headed monster. I crushed the gods’ beloved, Arsha. I ravaged El’s young bull, Ataka. I crushed the gods’ she-wolf, Fire.
KTU 1.6 II:35
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
I approached Valiant Baal; I set him like a lamb in my mouth; like a kid he was crushed in my jaws. Shapshu, Lamp of the Gods, glowed hot; the heavens grew weak at the hand of divine Mot. A day, two days passed; from days to months. The Damsel Anat sought him. Like the heart of a cow for her calf, like the heart of a ewe for her lamb, so was the heart of Anat after Baal. She seized divine Mot. With a sword she split him; with a sieve she winnowed him; in fire she burned him; with millstones she ground him; in the field she sowed him. His flesh was eaten by birds; his portions were consumed by fowl. Flesh cried out to flesh.
Ezekiel 32:2
Hebrew Bible
2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: “‘You were like a lion among the nations, but you are a monster in the seas; you thrash about in your streams, stir up the water with your feet, and muddy your streams. 3 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I will throw my net over you in the assembly of many peoples; and they will haul you up in my dragnet. 4 I will leave you on the ground, I will fling you on the open field, I will allow all the birds of the sky to settle on you, and I will permit all the wild animals to gorge themselves on you. 5 I will put your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your maggot-infested carcass. 6 I will drench the land with the flow of your blood up to the mountains, and the ravines will be full of your blood.
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Notes and References
“... Rather, these passages fit within the conflict topos.
Representation of the king of Egypt as the dragon (and of Egypt as Rahab) of
combat traditions was compatible with and possibly attracted by the identi
fication of Egypt with a prominent body of water and the king of Egypt with
the crocodile. Several specific narrative details of Ezek 29:2–6 and 32:2–16
are similar to earlier and later articulations of the conflict topos: the enemy is
portrayed as arrogant (KTU 1.5 I 1–8; Job 41:26; Dan 7:8; 2 Macc 5:21, 9:8; Rev
13:3–8; 2 Thess 2:1–12); the enemy is portrayed as a sea-dragon (KTU 1.3 III
38–42; KTU 1.83; Ps 74:13–14; Isa 27:1; Rev 12, 13, 16, and 20); the deity uses
hooks or nets to secure the enemy (EE IV; Job 40:25–26); the corpse of the
slain enemy is left exposed (EE IV 129–140, V 53–63; KTU 1.2 IV 21–27; KTU
1.6 II 30–37; Ps 74:14); and defeat of the enemy indicates the victorious dei
ty’s incomparability (EE V 133–136; Ps 89:6–15; Job 41:2–3). ...”
Ballentine, Debra Scoggins
The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition
(p. 102) Oxford University Press, 2015
* 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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