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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Aqhat

KTU 1.17 V

[…]
[…] I will bring a bow […]
[…] arrows. And lo, on the seventh
day, then Danel, the man
of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm,
rises and sits at the entrance of the gate, beneath⁠
the nobles who are on the threshing floor. He judges
the case of the widow, he decides the cause of the orphan.⁠
When he lifts his eyes, he sees: at a thousand
fields, ten thousand acres, the coming of Kothar;
he looks, and he sees the striding of Hasis.
He brings a bow; look, […]
[…] arrows. Then Danel,
the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee
of Hrnm, calls aloud to his wife:
“Listen, lady Danatay, prepare⁠
a lamb from the flock for the appetite of Kothar-
wa-Hasis, for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled
of hand. Feed, give drink to
the gods; serve and honor them, the lord
of Hikpat, the god of all of it.” She hears,
lady Danatay; she prepares a lamb
from the flock for the appetite of Kothar-wa-Hasis,
for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled
of hand. Afterward Kothar-
wa-Hasis arrives; into Danel's hand he gives
the bow, on his knees he places
the arrows. Then lady Danatay
feeds, gives drink to the gods,
serves and honors them, the lord of
Hikpat, the god of all of it. Kothar departs
to his tent, Hayyin departs to his
dwelling. Then Danel, the man
of healing, then the hero, the devotee
of Hrnm, […] the bow […]
[…] over Aqhat […]
“The choicest of your hunt, my son, […]
the choicest of your hunt, look, the [choicest]
of game in his palace […]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.17 V:6 and Judges 4:5

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Judges 4, Deborah's public judging shares the position held by Danel in the Tale of Aqhat, placing a woman in a role associated with male leaders in older stories.

Passages

KTU 1.17 V:6

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
[…] […] I will bring a bow […] […] arrows. And lo, on the seventh day, then Danel, the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm, rises and sits at the entrance of the gate, beneath the nobles who are on the threshing floor. He judges the case of the widow, he decides the cause of the orphan. When he lifts his eyes, he sees: at a thousand fields, ten thousand acres, the coming of Kothar; he looks, and he sees the striding of Hasis. He brings a bow; look, […] […] arrows. Then Danel, the man of healing, then the hero, the devotee of Hrnm, calls aloud to his wife: “Listen, lady Danatay, prepare a lamb from the flock for the appetite of Kothar- wa-Hasis, for the hunger of Hayyin, skilled of hand. Feed, give drink to
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Judges 4:5

Hebrew Bible
3 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord because Sisera had 900 chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, and he cruelly oppressed the Israelites for 20 years. 4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled. 6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun. 7 I will bring Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to you at the Kishon River, along with his chariots and huge army. I will hand him over to you.”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Judges

References

“... Various features of Genesis 18:1-15 suggest continuity with an ar- chaic tradition. As argued by Cooper and Goldstein, the position of the clan chieftain at the entrance to the tent represents a longstanding popular motif. They compare Abraham’s position in Genesis 18:1 with Deborah’s in Judges 4:5, Danil’s in the Ugaritic myth of Aqhat (KTU 1.17 V 6-8; 1.19 I 21-25), and others. ...”
Esther J. Hamori, When Gods Were Men: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008), 76.

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

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KTU 1.17 V:6 and Judges 4:5

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