Texts in Conversation
The humanlike throne figure in Ezekiel 1 shares Baal's bodily image in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.101, but fire and brightness make God's appearance harder to describe as an ordinary human body.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.101:1
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Baal sits enthroned, like the seat of a mountain; Haddu […] like the flood, in the midst of his mountain, divine Sapan, on the mountain of might. Seven lightning bolts, […] eight storehouses of thunder, the shaft of lightning […] His head […]; Tallay between his eyes. […] his legs; [horns] that are upon his head […] in the heavens. […] his mouth […] […] […] […] […] […] […] […] he pours oil of peace into a bowl; [she washes] her hands, Maiden Anat, her fingers, [the Sister-in-law] of the Peoples. She takes her lyre in her hand, [she puts] […] to her breast; she sings of the love of Mighty Baal, the affection.
Ezekiel 1:26
Hebrew Bible
26 Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man. 27 I saw an amber glow like a fire enclosed all around from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it, 28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.
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Notes and References
“... In
KTU 1.101 the figure of Baal is not simply human in form and scale. This
Baal is superhuman in scale, yet in a mode made particularly majestic like
the mountain that visibly looms to the north of Ugarit. At the same time,
it seems to make the person of Baal immanent in his natural manifesta-
tions. This sitting of the god is at his earthly mountain, and in this respect
this passage altogether differs from Ezekiel 1. Baal’s anthropomorphism is
intensified and further correlated with the natural. Yahweh’s anthropomor-
phism in Ezekiel 1 is qualified and made quite deliberately problematic;
moreover, it is transcendent by comparison. ...”
Smith, Mark S.
Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World
(p. 54) Yale University Press, 2016
* 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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