Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 42 uses the drying of waters found in Baal's victory over Sea in the Baal Cycle to promise a way forward for the lost, turning battle power into guidance.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.2 IV:31
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
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] our captive is Ruler Nahar. And […] goes out […] Valiant Baal dries him up, and […] Yamm is surely dead! Baal shall [reign]
Isaiah 42:15
Hebrew Bible
14 “I have been inactive for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp. 15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands and dry up pools of water. 16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. I will turn the darkness in front of them into light and level out the rough ground. This is what I will do for them. I will not abandon them. 17 Those who trust in idols will turn back and be utterly humiliated, those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’ 18 “Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones!
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Notes and References
“... Many writers have noted the great frequency with which the combat myth
is described or alluded to in the Hebrew Bible.98 While it would be wrong to
claim that the biblical narratives derive immediately from the Ugaritic one,
it is unquestionable that they are joint heirs to one West Semitic strand of
the tradition. Both end up with the victor claiming a patrimony described
as his “inheritance”99 and they share many significant items of vocabulary,
as detailed →in Table 2 below.100 The real significance of these terms is not
just their usage across the divide between Ugaritic and Hebrew literature,
suggesting a cognate relationship (which spreads more widely across
diverse recensions of the tradition), but also their capacity, as key poetic
terms, to evoke the trope even when they are used in isolation, as in some
cases instanced here.101 These points of contact are too numerous to claim
that any similarity is superficial and inconsequential. They are evidently
organically linked. ...” “... b. ybṯ, ybš,
ḥrb, “dry
up”:103
KTU 1.2 iv
29 (ybṯ),
31 (ybṯ)
Isa 50:2 (ḥrb), Jer 51:36 (ḥrb), Nah 1:4 (ybš), Josh 2:10 (ybš) etc., Ps
74:15 (ybš), Isa 42:15 (ybš), 44:27 (ḥrb, ybš), Zech 10:11 (ybš), Exod
14:21 (ḥrb), Isa 44:27 (ḥrb). ...”
* 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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