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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Letter of Talmiyanu to His Mother Tharyelli

KTU 2.16

Message of Talmiyanu.
To Tharyelli, my mother,
say:
May it be well with you. May the gods
of Ugarit guard you
and keep you well, my mother.
Know that I have entered
before the Sun,
and the face of the Sun shone⁠
on me greatly. And let my mother
make Maabu rejoice.
And do not lose heart.
I am the guardian of the army.
With me it is well,
entirely.
And whatever
is well with
my mother,
send back to me
word of it.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 2.16:9 and Numbers 6:25

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The priestly blessing's shining face in Numbers 6 shares the language of a king's favorable reception in a Ugaritic letter, making God's blessing an expression of welcome and protection.

Passages

KTU 2.16:9

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Message of Talmiyanu. To Tharyelli, my mother, say: May it be well with you. May the gods of Ugarit guard you and keep you well, my mother. Know that I have entered before the Sun, and the face of the Sun shone on me greatly. And let my mother make Maabu rejoice. And do not lose heart. I am the guardian of the army. With me it is well, entirely. And whatever is well with my mother, send back to me word of it.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Numbers 6:25

Hebrew Bible
21 “‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord his offering according to his separation, as well as whatever else he can provide. Thus he must fulfill his vow that he makes, according to the law of his separation.’” 22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “‘“The Lord bless you and protect you; 25 The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”’” 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

References

“... (1) Comparative Diction C. Cohen (1993) has studied the themes of the shining divine counte- nance and of the lifting of the divine countenance, as expressed in the biblical benediction, with special reference to Mesopotamian literary sources. The precise semantic equivalent in Akkadian of the Hebrew idiom he'fr panfm 'to cause the face to shine' is panf nummuru 'to cause the face to shine, be bright'. Cohen cites a statement from a twelfth-century boundary stone (kudurru) telling that the god Enlil looked favorably upon the Babylonian king, Nebuchadrezzar I: ina nummur panf8u damquti, ina bunnf8u namruti 'with his(Enlil's) beautiful, radiant face, with his shining countenance' (Hinke 1911: 144, Pines 22-24). Cohen also calls attention to a Ugaritic letter, writ- ten by a prince to his mother, the queen of Ugarit, in which he tells of his favorable reception by the Hittite king, referred to as "the Sun": 'umy td'ky 'rbt lpn sps, wpn sps nr by mid 'My mother, know that I entered into the presence (= face) of "the Sun," and the face of "the Sun" shone strongly upon me' (KTU 2.16:7-10). There are other Akkadian idioms that closely approximate Hebrew nasa' panfm 'el 'to lift the face toward'. These include panf nadanu 'to direct the face toward', resa 8uqqu 'to lift the head (toward)', panf SU U UUTU 'to turn the face around toward', and resa nasJ 'to lift the head toward'. ...”
Baruch A. Levine, Numbers 1–20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1993), 236.

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 2.16:9 and Numbers 6:25

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