Texts in Conversation
Proverbs 8 gives the Sea fought by Baal in the Baal Cycle a boundary fixed by God, making wisdom part of the order that restrains a force once pictured as a divine enemy.
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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]
Proverbs 8:29
Hebrew Bible
24 When there were no deep oceans I was born, when there were no springs overflowing with water; 25 before the mountains were set in place—before the hills—I was born, 26 before he made the earth and its fields, or the top soil of the world. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep, 28 when he established the clouds above, when he secured the fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea his decree that the waters should not pass over his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, rejoicing before him at all times, 31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and delighting in its people.
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Notes and References
“... Common to both Yahweh and Baal was also a constellation of motifs
surrounding their martial and meteorological natures. [...] This conflict corresponds at Ugarit with Baal’s struggle with
Yamm in KTU 1.2 IV, although Yamm appears as Anat’s adversary in KTU
1.3 III 43. [...] Various biblical texts depict the divine defeat of Yamm with other images: the
stilling (*sbhl *rg’) of Yamm (Pss. 65:8 [E 7]; 89:10 [E 9]; Job 26:11); the
crushing361 (*prr) of Yamm (Ps. 74:13; cf. the crushing, *dk’, of Rahab in Ps.
89:11 [E 10]); the drying up (*hrb) of Yamm (Isa. 51:10); the establishment
of a boundary (gĕbûl) for Yamm (Ps. 104:9; Jer. 5:22; cf. Prov. 8:29); the
placement of a guard (mišmār) over Yamm (Job 7:12); and the closing of
Yamm behind doors (Job 38:8, 10); compare the hacking of Rahab into pieces
(*hsb; Isa. 51:9); and the scattering (*pzr) of cosmic enemies (Ps. 89:11 [E
10]). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel
(p. PDF 103) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002
* 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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