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In Joshua 2, Rahab's account of the dried sea shares Baal's victory over Sea in the Baal Cycle, making Israel's rescue evidence that its God can defeat Canaan's powers.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.2 IV:31
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
like a falcon from his fingers. Strike the skull of Prince Yamm (Ocean), the brow of Ruler Nahar (River)! Let Yamm collapse in a heap, and let him fall to the ground!' Then the mace leapt from the hand of Baal, like a falcon from his fingers. It struck the skull of Prince Yamm, the brow of Ruler Nahar. Yamm collapsed in a heap; he fell to the ground. His joints trembled, and his visage was discomposed. Baal gathered Up and drank Prince Yamm to the dregs, he exterminated Ruler Nahar. By name Athtart chided him Dry him Up, O Valiant Baal! Dry him up, O Charioteer of the Clouds! For our captive is Prince [Yamm], [for] our captive is Ruler Nahar. And […] goes out […] Valiant Baal dries him up, and […] Yamm is surely dead! Baal shall [reign]
Joshua 2:10
Hebrew Bible
7 Meanwhile, the king’s men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River near the fords. The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them. 8 Now before the spies went to sleep, Rahab went up to the roof. 9 She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified of you, and all who live in the land are cringing before you. 10 For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. 11 When we heard the news, we lost our courage, and no one could even breathe for fear of you. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below!
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Notes and References
“... Many writers have noted the great frequency with which the combat myth
is described or alluded to in the Hebrew Bible.98 While it would be wrong to
claim that the biblical narratives derive immediately from the Ugaritic one,
it is unquestionable that they are joint heirs to one West Semitic strand of
the tradition. Both end up with the victor claiming a patrimony described
as his “inheritance”99 and they share many significant items of vocabulary,
as detailed →in Table 2 below.100 The real significance of these terms is not
just their usage across the divide between Ugaritic and Hebrew literature,
suggesting a cognate relationship (which spreads more widely across
diverse recensions of the tradition), but also their capacity, as key poetic
terms, to evoke the trope even when they are used in isolation, as in some
cases instanced here.101 These points of contact are too numerous to claim
that any similarity is superficial and inconsequential. They are evidently
organically linked. ...” “... b. ybṯ, ybš,
ḥrb, “dry
up”:103
KTU 1.2 iv
29 (ybṯ),
31 (ybṯ)
Isa 50:2 (ḥrb), Jer 51:36 (ḥrb), Nah 1:4 (ybš), Josh 2:10 (ybš) etc., Ps
74:15 (ybš), Isa 42:15 (ybš), 44:27 (ḥrb, ybš), Zech 10:11 (ybš), Exod
14:21 (ḥrb), Isa 44:27 (ḥrb). ...”
* 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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