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Ezekiel's picture of national recovery may develop older Ugaritic language for the dead returning to life, using renewed life to promise a future for a defeated people.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.22 I:5
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
[…] […] here is your son, here […] your son's son in your place; here the [hero] […] your hand; the little one will kiss your lips. There shoulder by shoulder are the brothers whom El raised up […]. There […] the name of El, the men […] the name of El, the heroes. There Tmq, the Rephaite of Baal, the soldier of Baal and the soldier of Anat. There Yhpn the mighty, the prince, the eternal king. When Anat goes hunting, […] the birds of the sky. Oxen are slaughtered, sheep as well; bulls are felled and fatted rams, year-old calves, lambs, […] kids. Like silver […] olives, gold […] […] the table […] […] kings. For a day he pours wine of Tmk, must, wine of rulers, wine of […] […] wine […] of Lebanon, […] must that El has cultivated.
Ezekiel 37:12
Hebrew Bible
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. 14 I will place my breath in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord—I have spoken and I will act, declares the Lord.’”
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Notes and References
“... One can agree with Spronk’s
observations regarding Canaanites prototypes for bib
lical language even if polemic is not involved. The
language of Yahweh’s overcoming death (Hosea 13:14,
14:2; Isaiah 25:8; Song of Songs 8:6; 1 Corinthians
15:54-55; Revelation 12:4; see pp. 277-304) has
a Northwest Semitic antecedent in Baal’s struggle
against Death (Mot) in KTU 1.5-1.6. Furthermore,
the theme of Baal’s return to life and overcoming
Death in 1.6 III and VI and 1.17 V 25-26, and
perhaps the “rising(?)” {qym) of the dead in KTU 1.22
I 5 formed the Northwest Semitic background to the
The same suggestion was made by M. S. Smith, “The
Magic of Kothar, the Ugaritic Craftsman God, in KTU 1.6
VI49-50,” Revue Biblique 91 (1984) 379 n. 12.
biblical idea that the dead “rise,” expressed by the
verb *qwm, “to rise,” in Psalm 88:11 (cf. 2 Samuel
13:21; Job 14:12; Ruth 4:5, 10). These notions in part
laid the basis for the motif of Yahweh’s “bringing
back to life” as a metaphor for preventing the death
of the living (pp. 270-79, 285-89), and for the specific
use of *qwm for divine help in Hosea 6:2. The lan
guage of the individual’s “rising to life from death”
appears to have been applied to the nation in exile
(Ezekiel 37:1-14; pp. 293-97). In turn, this metaphor
laid the foundation for expressing individual resur
rection in Daniel 12:2 (pp. 338-43 and Isaiah 26:19
(pp. 297-305). The development is especially clear in
the case of the latter passage, as it uses the verb
*qwm, “to rise,” to describe resurrection. ...”
Smith, Mark S. and Elizabeth M. Bloch-Smith
Death and Afterlife in Ugarit and Israel
(p. 283) Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 108, 1988
* 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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