Skip to Content
intertextual.bible
Go to Related Reading
About this book

KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

About this book

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 Nehemiah 9:6

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

In Nehemiah 9, the heavenly army resembles the assembly in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.10, where El's sons stand beside the gathered stars, but the prayer praises God as its maker, placing heavenly beings among his creations.

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

Nehemiah 9:6

Hebrew Bible
4 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani—stood on the steps and called out loudly to the Lord their God. 5 The Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God!” “May you be blessed, O Lord our God, from age to age. May your glorious name be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with all their multitude of stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. 7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham.
400–301 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Nehemiah

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.

Your feedback

KTU 1.10 I:4 and Nehemiah 9:6

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library