Texts in Conversation
In Isaiah 45, the clay questioning its potter reverses the helpful role of El's clay-made healer in the Legend of Kirta, using a familiar image of created life to challenge resistance to God's plans.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.16 V:29
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
None among the gods an[swers him]. He says a sixth, a seventh time: "[Who] among the gods can remove the illness, driving out the disease?" None among the gods answers him. Then spoke the Kindly One, El Benignant: "Remain seated, my sons, upon your seat[s], upon yo[ur] thrones of princeship. I will apply sorcery and will surely bring about the removal of the illness, driving out the disease. With clay [his hand] he fills, with good clay [ ]. He moulds . . . . . . . [ ] . . . . [ ] dragon [ ] dragon [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . . . . [ ] . . . . [ ] a cup [he takes in his hand] a flagon [in both his hands]: "Do, Sha['taqat ]
Isaiah 45:9
Hebrew Bible
9 One who argues with his Creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter, “What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!” 10 Danger awaits one who says to his father, “What in the world are you fathering?” and to his mother, “What in the world are you bringing forth?” 11 This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him, concerning things to come: “How dare you question me about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands! 12 I made the earth; I created the people who live on it. It was me—my hands stretched out the sky. I give orders to all the heavenly lights.
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Notes and References
“... The clay here stands for humans, themselves made out of clay (on which see note
217). The pottery imagery here suggests a clay figurine coming to life to speak out
against its potter. Cf. the animated clay figure of Shatiqatu at Ugarit (who strives
helpfully alongside ʾIlu, not against the deity, as we have here in our text; cf. Lewis
2013a, 2014b). That most clay figurines regularly had arms and hands while others
were stylized without arms (cf. the Judean pillar figurines, on which see Kletter
1996; Darby 2014) makes the criticism in 45:9 “your work has no hands [yādayim]”
very understandable. There is no need to translated yādayim as the “handles” on a
pot (so NRSV). ...”
Lewis, Theodore J.
The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity
(p. 841) Oxford University Press, 2020
* 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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