Baal, Anat and the Birth of a Bull

KTU 1.10 I

[…] the Maiden Anat
[…]
[…] that the sons of El do not know⁠
[…] the assembly of the stars⁠
[…] the circle of the heavens
[Mighty] Baal
[…] Rider on the Clouds
[…]
[…] sits on the ground
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…] he gives
[the Maiden] Anat
[the In-law of] the Peoples
[…]
[sits] on the ground
[…] flesh
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.10 I:4 and Deuteronomy 17:3

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Summary

Deuteronomy's ban on worshiping the stars addresses beings treated as gods in Ugarit, making loyalty to Israel's God exclude devotion to other heavenly beings.

Passages

KTU 1.10 I:4

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

[…] the Maiden Anat […] […] that the sons of El do not know […] the assembly of the stars […] the circle of the heavens [Mighty] Baal […] Rider on the Clouds […] […] sits on the ground […] […] […] […] he gives [the Maiden] Anat [the In-law of] the Peoples […] [sits] on the ground […] flesh

1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Deuteronomy 17:3

Hebrew Bible

2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you in one of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you who sins before the Lord your God and breaks his covenant 3 by serving other gods and worshiping them—the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies that I have not permitted you to worship. 4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done in Israel, 5 you must bring to your city gates that man or woman who has done this wicked thing—that very man or woman—and you must stone that person to death.

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

“... This is in harmony with the scholarly studies of astronomical terminology in the Hebrew Bible that Israelite religion, like other ancient religions of Canaan and the Near East, understood celestial bodies to be divine beings. In fact, many canonical texts that identify stars as divine beings are late. It is also noteworthy that this same “host of heaven” appears in a classic divine council scene in Dtr, 1 Kgs 22:17-23. If a redactional campaign was waged during the exile in the name of intolerant monotheism, it was shockingly careless. ...” “... 65 See Job 38:7-8; 1 Kgs 22:19; Deut 17:3; Jer 8:2; 19:13; Dan 8:10-11; Neh 9:6. The idea survived into the first century C.E. as witnessed by Second Temple literature (see Chapter Eight) and was known in the New Testament (Luke 2:13; Acts 7:42-43: Rev 1:20; 12:1-4). For the Ugaritic corollary texts, see KTU 1.10:3-5: bn ʾl (“sons of Ilu/El”) || pḫr kkbm (“assembly of the stars”) || dr dt šmm (“race of heaven”); KTU 1.19.IV:23-25, 29-31: ʾlm (“gods”) || šmym (“celestial ones”) || kbkbm (“stars”). ...”

Michael S. Heiser, “The Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical Second Temple Jewish Literature” (PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2004), 13–14.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Baal, Anat and the Birth of a Bull

KTU347 chapters

Compare KTU 1.10 I:4 and Deuteronomy 17:3

Summary

Passages

KTU 1.10 I:4

Deuteronomy 17:3

References

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