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 Job 1:6

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Summary

The gathering of the Sons of God in Job resembles the heavenly assembly in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.10, which places El's sons beside the gathered stars, setting the dispute about Job inside the divine court.

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

Job 1:6

Hebrew Bible

6 Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord—and Satan also arrived among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 8 So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? 10 Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land. 11 But extend your hand and strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!”

500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

References

“... Their function here as celestial chanters praising, with joy, the amazingly creative work of Yahweh and his sovereignty is explicitly expressed. Thus, Parker relates these divine beings to the gods other than Yahweh, designated explicitly in the first person plural form “us” in the event of Creation at Gen 1.26l82. In the passage, the Hp2 ’’2212 and the **33 are used in paral lel183. The parallel of stars and divine beings is also found in the Uga ritic texts. In KTU 1.10 i 3-4, the phr kkbm, the “assembly of Stars” is paralleled with the bn il, “Sons of El”, and the dr dt smm, the “circle of those of the heavens” to designate the lesser deities in the pantheon. Cassuto states conceivably that the 2 *1 *, “which were deities in the idolatrous cult, were transformed into servants of the Lord in Israel’s religion (likewise in Ugaritic, the phrase phr kbkbm, that is, congrega tion of the stars, corresponds to bn *il [‘sons of G od’]; and the assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord in lob l 6 and ii 1 is paralleled by the gathering of the host of heaven in i Kings xxii 19” 184. ...”

Sang Youl Cho, Lesser Deities in the Ugaritic Texts and the Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Study of Their Nature and Roles, Deities and Angels of the Ancient World 2 (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2007), 283.

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 Job 1:6

Summary

Passages

KTU 1.10 I:4

Job 1:6

References

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