Texts in Conversation
Genesis shares Ugarit's use of a speaking animal, showing that an animal's voice could carry a story's religious message in a familiar ancient storytelling form.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.100:2
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
The mother of the stallion, the mare, daughter of the spring, daughter of the stone, daughter of heaven and the deep, calls to Shapshu her mother: "Shapshu, mother, carry my message to El at the source of the two rivers, at the meeting of the two deeps: My spell for the bite of the snake, the venomous snake, the snake […]. From it let the charmer destroy, from it let him cast out the venom." Then he binds the snake, feeds the snake […], sets out a chair and sits. She calls to Shapshu her mother: "Shapshu, mother, carry my message to Baal on the heights of Sapan: My spell for the bite of the snake, the venomous snake, the snake […]. From it let the charmer destroy, from it let him cast out the venom." Then he binds the snake, feeds the snake […], sets out a chair and sits.
Genesis 3:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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Notes and References
“... The observation that the Balaam tradition features animals with speech ca-
pabilities should not be surprising in the light of other instances in ancient
Near Eastern literature. 195 In fact, numerous texts are now known to contain
references to talking animals. 196 Of particular interest are texts that feature
equids or birds in speaking roles. 197 Texts featuring talking animals are found
in Egyptian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Akkadian, and Sumerian literature, and
they are usually classified under the generic categories of fable, tale, proverb, [...] Biblical, Hit-
tite, and Aramaic literature all provide at least two texts each (Genesis 3, Numbers 22,
“Sun God and the Cow,” “Wrath of Telipinu,” “Proverbs of Ahiqar,” DAPT). Ugaritic
literature has at least one text (Ḥôrānu and the Mare [KTU 1.100]). ...”
* 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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