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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.2 I


[…]
You […]
Valiant Baal […]
your dominion […]
On your head, All-Driver […]
Ruler Nahar. [May he break] […]
your head, Athtart [Name of Baal], [your skull]
[…] you will fall […]
The Father of the Bright One (has) two wives...
Yamm sent messengers, Ruler Nahar an embassy.
With great rejoicing they flew heavenwards
their nostrils flaring. Depart, divine assistants, do not stay! Indeed, set your faces⁠
towards the convocation of the Council, towards the divine mountain. At the feet of El you shall fall
you shall honour the convocation of the Council! Standing upright, you shall then speak,
declaring your message. And you shall say to Bull your father El, declare to the convocation of the Council:
Message of Yamm, your master, of your lord, Ruler Nahar:
Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey, Tempest! Give up Baal and his retinue,
the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize! The divine assistants depart; they do not delay. Then they set their faces towards the divine mountain,
towards the convocation of the Council. Now the gods were sitting to eat,⁠
the sons of the Holy One to dine. Baal stood by El. Lo, the gods saw them,
they saw the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler Nahar.
The gods lowered their heads onto their knees, and onto the thrones of their princeships.
Baal rebuked them: Why, O gods, have you lowered your heads onto your knees,
and onto the thrones of your princeships? I see, gods,
that the tablets of Yamm's messengers, of the embassy of Ruler Nahar, are humiliating (you).
Lift up, O gods, your heads from on your knees,⁠ from the thrones of your princeships,
and I shall answer the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler Nahar.
The gods raise their heads from on their knees, from the thrones of their princeships.
Afterwards the messengers of Yamm arrive, the embassy of Ruler Nahar. At the feet of El
they do not fall, they do not honour the convocation of the Council. Standing upright, they speak,
[declaring] their message. Like a fire, two fires, they appear; a whetted sword
[is their tongue]. They say to Bull his father El: Message of Yamm, your master,
[of your lord], Ruler Nahar: Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey,
[Tempest]! Give up Baal and his retinue, the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize!
[And] Bull his father El [answers]: Baal is your servant, O Yamm, Baal is your servant,
[O Nahar], the Son of Dagan is your prisoner. He will bring you tribute like the gods,
[…] he will bring you gifts like the sons of the Holy One. Then Prince Baal was enraged.
[He seizes] a knife in his hand, in his right hand a weapon to strike the divine assistants. He lunges
[…] Anat seizes; his left hand Athtart seizes. How [can you strike]
[…] [the embassy] of Ruler Nahar […]
[…] a messenger; between his shoulders is the word of his master, and […]
[…] Then Prince Baal was enraged […]
[…] the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler [Nahar] […]
[…] I say to Yamm, your master, [your lord], [Ruler]
[Nahar] […] hear the word […]
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.2 I:27 and Psalm 24:7

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In the Baal epic, the gods drop their heads to their knees in terror at Yamm's messengers until Baal orders them to lift their heads again. Psalm 24 uses the same language for heavenly gates, which lower their heads while the divine warrior is away.

Passages

KTU 1.2 I:27

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
they saw the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler Nahar. The gods lowered their heads onto their knees, and onto the thrones of their princeships. Baal rebuked them: Why, O gods, have you lowered your heads onto your knees, and onto the thrones of your princeships? I see, gods, that the tablets of Yamm's messengers, of the embassy of Ruler Nahar, are humiliating (you). Lift up, O gods, your heads from on your knees, from the thrones of your princeships, and I shall answer the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler Nahar. The gods raise their heads from on their knees, from the thrones of their princeships.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 24:7

Hebrew Bible
6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle. 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 10 Who is this majestic king? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is the majestic king. (Selah)
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Yhwh’s messenger addresses the gates as “eternal doors,” which hints at their mythic dimension: they participate in the sphere of the eternal gods. The call “Raise your heads!” indicates that the gates have lowered their heads in a gesture of mourning, since the city is threatened by enemies. The divine warrior has left his residency after having fought them off. A close parallel can be found in the Ugaritic Ba‘al epic that narrates the conflict between the storm-god Ba‘al and the sea-god Yamm (KTU/CAT 1.1–1.2). When the assembly of the gods receives messengers of Yamm, requesting to deliver Ba‘al into his power, the horrified gods lower their heads. But the fearless Ba‘al rebukes them—and the rhythm of his first words sounds strikingly similar to the call of Yhwh’s messenger (Psalm 24:7, 9: “Raise, O gates, your heads”): “Raise, O gods, your heads, from the tops of your knees, from your royal thrones!” ... In the ensuing combat, Ba‘al kills Yamm, and the gods acclaim Ba‘al’s kingship. Psalm 24* seems related to a similar tale. ..."
Reinhard Müller, “The Origins of YHWH in Light of the Earliest Psalms,” in The Origins of Yahwism, ed. Jürgen van Oorschot and Markus Witte (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2017), 219.

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 1.2 I:27 and Psalm 24:7

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