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In Genesis 20, the healing of Abimelech's household shares El's role in removing Kirta's sickness, showing how a god's power to punish could also restore health and the future of a family.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.16 V:27
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
None among the gods a[nswers him]. He says a fifth time: "[Who among the gods] can remove the illness, dr[iving out the malady]?" None among the gods an[swers him]. He says a sixth, a seventh time: "[Who] among the gods can remove the illness, driving out the malady?" None among the gods answers him. Then spoke the Kindly One, El Benignant: "Remain seated, my sons, upon your seat[s], upon yo[ur] thrones of princeship. I will apply sorcery and will surely compass the removal of the illness, driving out the malady. With clay [his hand] he fills, with goodly clay [ ]. He moulds . . . . . . . [ ] . . . .
Genesis 20:17
Hebrew Bible
13 When God made me wander from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’” 14 So Abimelech gave sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given 1,000 pieces of silver to your ‘brother.’ This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” 17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children. 18 For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
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Notes and References
“... Both El and Yahweh appear to humans in dream-visions and
function as their divine patron. Like El (CAT 1.16 V–VI), Yahweh is a healing
god (Genesis 20:17; Numbers 12:13; 2 Kings 20:5, 8; Psalm 107:20; cf. the personal
name, reˇpa¯’e¯l, in 1 Chronicles 26:7). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts
(p. 142) Oxford University Press, 2001
* 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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