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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:8 and Ezekiel 14:14

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Daniel whom Ezekiel 14 names beside Noah and Job may be Danel from the Tale of Aqhat, a just ruler who mourns that he has no son, making a respected foreign figure part of the prophet's standard.

Passages

KTU 1.17 V:8

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

Ezekiel 14:14

Hebrew Bible
12 The Lord’s message came to me: 13 “Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals. 14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord. 15 “Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals. 16 Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, they could not save their own sons or daughters; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

“... Other traditional forms of prayer are embedded with Ugaritic literary texts, such as requests for blessing, whether from a god (KTU 1.17 I 23–24; SAC 35; see also KTU 1.108.18–27) or from another human being (KTU 1.19 IV 32–33, SAC 54; cf. Gen. 48:15–16, 20). Divine blessing is likewise a staple of the Psalms (5:13[12]; 28:9; 29:11; 45:3[2]; 67:7–8[6–7]; 72:17; 107:38; 109:28; 115:12–13, 15; 128:5; 134:3; 147:13). The lament genre in the Psalms, an extended form of prayer that includes a complaint stating what the speaker lacks, can also be found embedded in the Ugaritic literary contexts (see Pardee 2012: 107). In the Baal Cycle, for example, the god Baal laments that he has no house like his brethren (KTU 1.3 IV 46–53, SAC 123; KTU 1.4 I 4–18, SAC 126; KTU 1.4 IV 50-57, SAC 131), and Aqhat describes the lament of the hero Danil that he has no son like his kin (KTU 1.17 I 16–22, SAC 35). Parenthetically, this Danil is thought to be the Canaanite antecedent to the figure of Daniel mentioned in Ezek. 14:14, 20 and 28:3 (and the namesake of Daniel in the biblical book named after him). The children of King Kirta lament their father’s life-threatening illness (KTU 1.16 I 12–23, SAC 87–88; KTU 1.16 II 33–49, SAC 89–90), an occasional source of lament also in the Psalter (6:3[2]; 38:4[3], 6[5]; 41:4–5[3–4]). ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, ed. William P. Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 46.

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:8 and Ezekiel 14:14

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