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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.6 VI

[…] drove him off,
[…] expelled him.
[…]
[…]
[…] Mot
Mot, the Powerful One,
Divine Mot ate his seven divine assistants.
Divine Mot cried:
“Look! It is my brothers whom Baal has given me for my meal,
my mother’s sons for my consumption!”
He returned to Baal in the recesses of Sapan.⁠
He lifted up his voice and cried:
“It is my brothers you have given me, Baal, for my meal,
my mother’s sons for my consumption!”
They glowered at each other like burning coals.
Mot was strong;⁠ Baal was strong.
They gored like wild bulls. Mot was strong; Baal was strong.
They bit like serpents.
Mot was strong; Baal was strong.
They tugged like hunting-dogs. Mot fell. Baal fell on top of him.
Shapshu cried to Mot:
“Listen, pray, O divine Mot!
How can you fight with Valiant Baal?
How will Bull El your father not hear you?
He will surely pull down the pillars of your dwelling,
he will surely overturn the throne of your kingship,⁠
he will surely break the scepter of your rule!”
Divine Mot was afraid; the Beloved of El, the hero, was in dread.
Mot started at her voice and lifted up his voice and cried:
“Let Baal be installed on the throne of his kingship,
on the back-rest, on the siege of his dominion!”
of his dominion […]
[…]
[…]
[…] year […]
[…] El of mercy
[…]
[…]
“Come, pray, to the fresh meat; yes, eat the offering-bread;
[…] fresh; indeed you shall eat
pray drink the libation-wine.
Shapshu, you rule the saviors; Shapshu, you rule the chthonian gods.⁠
the Rephaim are under you;
Shapshu, under you are the divine ones;⁠
Your company are the gods; lo, mortals are your company.
Kothar is your associate, and Hasis is your companion.
and Hasis is your friend.
In the sea of Arsh and the dragon,
Kothar-wa-Hasis, steer the bark!
Pilot the ship, Kothar-wa-Hasis!”
Scribe: Ilimilku the Shubbanite,
pupil of Attenu the diviner, chief
of the priests, chief of the herdsmen,
official of Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit,
lord of Yrgb, master of Trmn.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.6 VI:17 and Song of Solomon 8:6

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Song of Solomon describes love as strong as death, which may echo the language in the Baal Cycle about the Canaanite god of death Mot, who is similarly described as strong.

Passages

KTU 1.6 VI:17

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
They glowered at each other like burning coals. Mot was strong; Baal was strong. They gored like wild bulls. Mot was strong; Baal was strong. They bit like serpents. Mot was strong; Baal was strong. They tugged like hunting-dogs. Mot fell. Baal fell on top of him. Shapshu cried to Mot: “Listen, pray, O divine Mot!
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Song of Solomon 8:6

Hebrew Bible · Song of Songs
5 The Maidens about His Beloved: Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? The Beloved to Her Lover: Under the apple tree I aroused you; there your mother conceived you; there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth. 6 The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death; passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth; it is a blazing flame. 7 Surging waters cannot quench love; floodwaters cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his possessions to buy love, the offer would be utterly despised.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Song of Solomon

References

... So far as I am aware, surprisingly only N.J. Tromp has hitherto pointed to the fact that a comparison of love with Resheph (or the Reshephs) is thematically appropriate in this verse, since Resheph was an underworld god, which fits the declaration 'love is strong as death' (though Tromp inconsistently also associates Resheph with lightning here). We may compare Hosea 13:14, where Sheol/death has its plagues (from deber) and destruction (from qeteb), words elsewhere connected with resheph (compare Deuteronomy 32:24; Habakkuk 3:5; Psalm 78:49). The phrase 'strong as death' also has a mythological background, for we read that 'Mot was strong' (mt. 'z) in the Ugaritic texts (KTU 1.6.VI.17-18, 20), as has been noted earlier. ...
John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, JSOTSup 265 (London: Sheffield Academic, 2002), 205.

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 1.6 VI:17 and Song of Solomon 8:6

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