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In Daniel 6, Darius' declaration shares El's eternal character in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.10, giving a foreign king a reason to acknowledge divine authority that lasts beyond any human kingdom.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.10 III:6
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
[…] the cows give birth […] a bull for the Maiden Anat, and […] for the In-law of the Peoples. And Mighty [Baal] answers: “[…] as our creator […] like the eternal one who formed […]” Baal strides […] the god Haddu […] the Maiden, yes the Maiden [Anat], and the loveliest of the sisters of [Baal]. Baal goes up on the [mountain], and the son of Dagan on […] Baal sits on the throne of [his kingship], the son of Dagan on the seat of [his dominion]. […] the bull […] […] the bull […] She goes and soars […] among the lovely, among the [beautiful]. A cow, a cow […] she bears a bull […] and a wild ox for […] She embraces the [cow], she embraces the cow […] and covers him with her breast.
Daniel 6:26
Hebrew Bible
24 The king gave another order, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lions’ den—they, their children, and their wives. They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. 25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and language groups who were living in all the land: “Peace and prosperity! 26 I have issued an edict that throughout all the dominion of my kingdom people are to revere and fear the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God; he endures forever. His kingdom will not be destroyed; his authority is forever. 27 He rescues and delivers and performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions!”
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Notes and References
“... In Israel the characteristics and epithets of El became part of the repertoire
of descriptions of Yahweh. In both texts and iconography, El is an elderly
bearded figure enthroned,207 sometimes before individual deities (KTU 1.3 V;
1.4 IV-V), sometimes before the divine council (KTU 1.2 I), known by a
variety of expressions; this feature is attested also in Phoenician inscriptions
(KAI 4:4-5; 14:9, 22; 26 A III 19; 27:12; cf. KTU 1.4 III 14). In KTU 1.10 III
6 El is called drd, “ageless one,” and in KTU 1.3 V and 1.4 V, Anat and
Asherah both affirm the eternity of his wisdom.208 His eternity is also
expressed in his epithet, ‘ab šnm, “father of years.”209 In KTU 1.4 V 3-4
Asherah addresses El: “You are great, O El, and indeed, wise; your hoary
beard instructs you” (rbt ‘ilm lḥkmt šbt dqnk ltsrk). Anat’s threats in 1.3 V 24-
25 and 1.18 I 11-12 likewise mention El’s gray beard. Similarly, Yahweh is
described as the aged patriarchal god (Ps. 102:28; Job 36:26; Isa. 40:28; cf.
Ps. 90:10; Isa. 57:15; Hab. 3:6; Dan. 6:26; 2 Esdras 8:20; Tobit 13:6, 10; Ben
Sira 18:30), enthroned amidst the assembly of divine beings (1 Kings 22:19;
Isa. 6:1-8; cf. Pss. 29:1-2; 82:1; 89:5-8; Isa. 14:13; Jer. 23:18, 22; Zechariah
3; Dan. 3:25).210 Later biblical texts continued the long tradition of aged
Yahweh enthroned before the heavenly hosts. Daniel 7:9-14, 22, describes a
bearded Yahweh as the “ancient of days,” and “the Most High.” He is
enthroned amid the assembly of heavenly hosts, called in verse 18 “the holy
ones of the Most High,” qaddîšê ’elyônîn (cf. 2 Esdras 2:42-48; Revelation 7).
This description for the angelic hosts derives from the older usage of Hebrew
qĕdōšîm, “holy ones,” for the divine council (Ps. 89:6; Hos. 12:1; Zech. 14:5;
cf. KAI 4:5, 7; 14:9, 22; 27:12). The tradition of the enthroned bearded god
appears also in a Persian period coin marked yhd, “Yehud.”211 The
iconography belongs to a god, apparently Yahweh. ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel
(p. PDF 68) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002
* 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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