Texts in Conversation
Job's pairing of stars with God's sons shares Ugaritic language for the heavenly assembly, presenting creation as an event celebrated by God's court.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.10 I:4
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
[…] the Maiden Anat […] […] that the sons of El do not know […] the assembly of the stars […] the circle of the heavens [Mighty] Baal […] Rider on the Clouds […] […] sits on the ground […] […] […] […] he gives [the Maiden] Anat [the In-law of] the Peoples […] [sits] on the ground […] flesh
Job 38:7
Hebrew Bible
3 Get ready for a difficult task like a man; I will question you, and you will inform me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding. 5 Who set its measurements—if you know—or who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth, coming out of the womb, 9 when I made the storm clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 when I prescribed its limits and set in place its bolts and doors, 11 when I said, ‘To here you may come and no farther, here your proud waves will be confined’?
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Notes and References
“... Ugaritic regularly refers to heavenly beings as ph}r kkbm (the “congregation of
the stars”75), language corresponding with rqe$b yb'k;wOk2 (“morning stars”; in parallelism
with the “sons of God” in Job 38:7) and l)' yb'k;wOk (the “stars of God”; Isa. 14:13).
Aside from the context of these references, each of which clearly points to personal
beings, not astronomical phenomena, it is significant that in the entire ancient near
eastern literary record, El is never identified with a heavenly body. Thus “the stars of El”
points to created beings with divine status.76 ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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