Texts in Conversation
Job 36 shares El's ageless character in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.10, making the inability to count God's years part of the limits of human understanding.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.10 III:6
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
[…] the cows give birth […] a bull for the Maiden Anat, and […] for the In-law of the Peoples. And Mighty [Baal] answers: “[…] as our creator […] like the eternal one who formed […]” Baal strides […] the god Haddu […] the Maiden, yes the Maiden [Anat], and the loveliest of the sisters of [Baal]. Baal goes up on the [mountain], and the son of Dagan on […] Baal sits on the throne of [his kingship], the son of Dagan on the seat of [his dominion]. […] the bull […] […] the bull […] She goes and soars […] among the lovely, among the [beautiful]. A cow, a cow […] she bears a bull […] and a wild ox for […] She embraces the [cow], she embraces the cow […] and covers him with her breast.
Job 36:26
Hebrew Bible
22 Indeed, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? 23 Who has prescribed his ways for him? Or said to him, ‘You have done what is wicked’? 24 Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song. 25 All humanity has seen it; people gaze on it from afar. 26 “Yes, God is great—beyond our knowledge! The number of his years is unsearchable. 27 He draws up drops of water; they distill the rain into its mist, 28 which the clouds pour down and shower on humankind abundantly. 29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? 30 See how he scattered his lightning about him; he has covered the depths of the sea. 31 It is by these that he judges the nations and supplies food in abundance. 32 With his hands he covers the lightning and directs it against its target.
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Notes and References
“... In Israel the characteristics and epithets of El became part of the repertoire
of descriptions of Yahweh. [...] In KTU 1.10 III
6 El is called drd, “ageless one,” and in KTU 1.3 V and 1.4 V, Anat and
Asherah both affirm the eternity of his wisdom.208 His eternity is also
expressed in his epithet, ‘ab šnm, “father of years.” [...] Similarly, Yahweh is
described as the aged patriarchal god (Ps. 102:28; Job 36:26; Isa. 40:28; cf.
Ps. 90:10; Isa. 57:15; Hab. 3:6; Dan. 6:26; 2 Esdras 8:20; Tobit 13:6, 10; Ben
Sira 18:30) ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel
(p. PDF 68) 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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