Rephaim

KTU 1.22 I

[…]
[…] here is your son, here […]
your son's son in your place; here the [hero] […]
your hand; the little one will kiss your lips. There
shoulder by shoulder are the brothers whom El raised up⁠
[…]. There […] the name of El, the men
[…] the name of El, the heroes.
There Tmq, the Rephaite of Baal, the soldier of Baal⁠
and the soldier of Anat. There Yhpn the mighty,
the prince, the eternal king. When
Anat goes hunting, […] the birds of the sky.
Oxen are slaughtered, sheep as well; bulls are felled
and fatted rams, year-old calves,
lambs, […] kids. Like silver
[…] olives, gold […]
[…] the table […]
[…] kings. For a day he pours wine of Tmk,
must, wine of rulers, wine of […]
[…] wine […]
of Lebanon, […] must that El has cultivated.
For a day and a second the Rephaim eat,
they drink; a third, a fourth day, a fifth,
a sixth day the Rephaim eat,
they drink in the house of eating on the heights,
[…] in the heart of Lebanon. Then on the seventh
day, then Mighty Baal
[…] his companion […]
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.22 I:8 and Psalm 115:17

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Summary

Psalm 115 separates praise of Israel's God from the world of the dead, breaking with the Ugaritic Rephaim texts, which tie Baal to a company of revered dead ancestors.

Passages

KTU 1.22 I:8

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

[…] here is your son, here […] your son's son in your place; here the [hero] […] your hand; the little one will kiss your lips. There shoulder by shoulder are the brothers whom El raised up […]. There […] the name of El, the men […] the name of El, the heroes. There Tmq, the Rephaite of Baal, the soldier of Baal and the soldier of Anat. There Yhpn the mighty, the prince, the eternal king. When Anat goes hunting, […] the birds of the sky. Oxen are slaughtered, sheep as well; bulls are felled and fatted rams, year-old calves,

1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 115:17

Hebrew Bible

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their deliverer and protector. 10 O family of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their deliverer and protector. 11 You loyal followers of the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their deliverer and protector. 12 The Lord takes notice of us; he will bless—he will bless the family of Israel, he will bless the family of Aaron. 13 He will bless his loyal followers, both young and old. 14 May he increase your numbers, yours and your children’s. 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. 16 The heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind. 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. 18 But we will praise the Lord now and forevermore. Praise the Lord!

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

“... Second, the Psalms express an inner-Israelite religious innovation that constructed the separation of Yahweh from Death and his underworld realm (Pss. 6:7[6] ; 88:13[12]; 115:17; Lewis 1989: 170), in contrast to Baal’s association with revered ancestral spirits (cf. “the Rephaim of Baal” in KTU 1.22 I 8, SAC 62). As a corollary, the Psalms show a rejection of devotion to the dead as traditionally practiced in ancient Israel (see Psalm 16 discussed above), also seen in the Ugaritic texts (e.g., a royal version of such devotion in KTU 1.161). Th e Psalms represent the Israelite deity as the God of the living and as the living God (Feldmeier and Spieckermann 2011). ...”

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), 53.

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 1.22 I:8 and Psalm 115:17

Summary

Passages

KTU 1.22 I:8

Psalm 115:17

References

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library