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Habakkuk Echoes Melting Mountains in a Sinai Inscription

Ancient Near East, Northwest Semitic · Hebrew Bible

Summary

A fragmentary inscription from the 9th century BCE pictures the deity causing an earthquake, mountains melting and ruling the gods. Habakkuk pictures the same theophany with God from Teman, the gods Plague and Pestilence in attendance.

Passages

Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions

Ancient Near East, Northwest Semitic · Horvat Teiman

in earthquake. And when God shines forth in the [heights ... YHWH ... the mountains will melt, the hills will crush [... the earth. The Holy one over gods [... prepare (yourself) to bless Baal on the day of war ... To bless the name of El on the day of war ...

800 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions

Habakkuk 3:5

Hebrew Bible

3 God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor has covered the skies, the earth is full of his glory. 4 His brightness will be as lightning; a two-pronged lightning bolt flashing from his hand. This is the outward display of his power. 5 Plague will go before him; pestilence will march right behind him. 6 He took his battle position and shook the earth; with a mere look he frightened the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrated; the primeval hills were flattened. His are ancient roads.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Habakkuk

References

... Most important to this study is the inscription of epiphany found on portion of a plaster wall. It is fragmented, lacking any concrete sign of a beginning and ending, but reads: “] in earthquake. And when God shines forth in the [heights...Y]HW[H... ] the mountains will melt, the hills will crush[... ] the earth. The Holy one over gods [... ] prepare (yourself) to bless Baal on the day of wa[r... To bless/praise] the name of El on the day of wa[r...” Elements of the archaic epiphanic motif can be found in this inscription: the same noun as employed verbally in Judges 5:4, the same verb for shining used in Deuteronomy 33:2, the traditional invocation of the name Yahweh, and reference to lesser deities as is done in Habakkuk 3:5 and possibly Deuteronomy 33:2. ...

Nathan H. Scherrer, “Yahweh of the Southlands” (MA diss., Denver Seminary, 2017), 58–59.

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

Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions3 chapters

Habakkuk Echoes Melting Mountains in a Sinai Inscription

Summary

Passages

Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions

Habakkuk 3:5

References

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