Rephaim

KTU 1.20 I

The Rephaim will feast, seven times the divinities, eight times the dead.⁠
[…] the divinities
[…] like […]
As the assembly draws near on a summer’s day, the divinities will eat, they will drink.⁠
[…] [the Rephaim] will drink
The gods of the nut-groves, which is over the slaughter of sacrificial lambs.
[…] they sacrifice lambs
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.20 I:1 and Isaiah 14:9

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Summary

Isaiah 14 presents dead kings brought to attention, following ancient Near Eastern traditions where deified royal ancestors gather, feast, and journey together. As in Ugaritic portraits of the honored dead, they form an active assembly.

Passages

KTU 1.20 I:1

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

The Rephaim will feast, seven times the divinities, eight times the dead. […] the divinities […] like […] As the assembly draws near on a summer’s day, the divinities will eat, they will drink. […] [the Rephaim] will drink The gods of the nut-groves, which is over the slaughter of sacrificial lambs. […] they sacrifice lambs […]

1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Isaiah 14:9

Hebrew Bible

8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ‘Since you fell asleep, no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 9 Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 10 All of them respond to you, saying: ‘You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us!

740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

"... Elsewhere ĕlōhîm can refer to the dead, most famously in 1 Samuel 28:3–25, where the ghost of Samuel appears to Saul. This is probably also the case in Isaiah 8:19, where the people consult the dead on behalf of the living. Van der Toorn has suggested that Micah 3:7 and 2 Samuel 14:16 may also refer to the dead. In many biblical texts, the term rĕphāîm also refers to the dead. In Isaiah 14:9 the term is used in parallel with the kings of the nations. The association with kings seems natural in light of the Ugaritic term rpum, which refers to deified royal ancestors. In particular, in Isaiah 14:9 it is said that the rĕphāîm will be roused from their graves. On the other hand, Isaiah 26:14–19 emphasizes that the rĕphāîm do not live and can never rise (rĕphāîm bal-yāqûmû), and Psalm 88:11 asks ironically whether the rĕphāîm can rise to praise God in the land of oblivion. In contrast to these, Isaiah 14:9 begins to look like Night of the Living Dead ..."

Esther J. Hamori, When Gods Were Men: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008), 123–124.

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

Rephaim

KTU347 chapters

Compare KTU 1.20 I:1 and Isaiah 14:9

Summary

Passages

KTU 1.20 I:1

Isaiah 14:9

References

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