Letter to the Sun, the Great King

KTU 2.23

And thus spoke the Sun,
the Great King, my lord: […]
[…] the embassy of his servant⁠
he sends to your lord […]
my embassy with him […]
the embassy of your servant, when it arrives,
the embassy of the Sun, the Great [King],
my [lord] […]
I know […] [the Sun], the Great King,
my [lord] […]
[…] [the Sun], the Great [King],
[…] [my lord].
And I […]
I ask [for life for the] Sun,
the [Great] King, [my lord]. Indeed
I [ask] for life of [soul]
before Baal of Sapan, my lord,
and length of days for my lord,
before Amun and before
the gods of Egypt, who guard
the soul of the Sun, the Great King,
my lord.
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
Also […]
the king […]
[…]
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 2.23:3 and 2 Kings 16:7

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

Summary

In 2 Kings 16, Ahaz's claim to be a foreign king's servant shares the political language of Ugaritic letters, expressing submission to another ruler and dependence on his protection.

Passages

KTU 2.23:3

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

And thus spoke the Sun, the Great King, my lord: […] […] the embassy of his servant he sends to your lord […] my embassy with him […] the embassy of your servant, when it arrives, the embassy of the Sun, the Great [King], my [lord] […] I know […] [the Sun], the Great King, my [lord] […] […] [the Sun], the Great [King], […] [my lord]. And I […] I ask [for life for the] Sun, the [Great] King, [my lord]. Indeed I [ask] for life of [soul] before Baal of Sapan, my lord, and length of days for my lord, before Amun and before the gods of Egypt, who guard the soul of the Sun, the Great King, my lord.

1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

2 Kings 16:7

Hebrew Bible

4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5 At that time King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz, but were unable to conquer him. 6 (At that time King Rezin of Syria recovered Elat for Syria; he drove the Judahites from there. Syrians arrived in Elat and live there to this very day.) 7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent. March up and rescue me from the power of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute to the king of Assyria.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Kings

References

“... 312Ug. 'bd is used in Ugarit to denote the vassal of the Great King (KTU 2.23:3; 2.39:6), like the Akkadian word ardu, "slave" (PRU IV:49, line 12). The use of עבדin this text is the typically political language for vassalage (cf. also 2 Kings 16:7; 17:3; 24:1; Ezra 9:10; 2 Chron. 12:8) and forms a parallel to the bringing of tribute; ...”

Raymond de Hoop, Genesis 49 in Its Literary and Historical Context, OtSt 39 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 134.

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

Letter to the Sun, the Great King

KTU347 chapters

Compare KTU 2.23:3 and 2 Kings 16:7

Summary

Passages

KTU 2.23:3

2 Kings 16:7

References

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