Texts in Conversation
Exodus gives Israel the place of a god's son known from Ugaritic stories, making the nation's freedom a father's demand on behalf of his own child.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.3 V:35
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
And Virgin Anat replied: “Your word, El, is wise; you are everlastingly wise; a life of good fortune is your word. Our king is Valiant, Baal is our ruler; there is none who is above him. We should all carry his chalice, we should all carry his cup.” Groaning, he cries to Bull El his father, to El the king who begot him. He cries to Athirat and her sons, to the goddess and the band of her kinsmen: “There is no house for Baal like the gods, nor dwelling like the sons of Athirat. El has a home, his sons have shelters, the Great Lady-who-tramples-Yamm has a home, Pidray daughter of Light has a home, Tallay daughter of Shower has a shelter; Arsay, daughter of Snatcher-for-ever has a home, the perfect brides have homes.”
Exodus 4:22
Hebrew Bible
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord has said, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!”’” 24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”
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Notes and References
“... El and Yahweh are rendered with a similar compassionate disposition toward
humanity. Like El, Yahweh is a father (Deuteronomy 32:6; Isaiah 63:16, 64:7;
Jeremiah 3:4, 19; 31:9; Malachi 1:6, 2:10; cf. Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1) with a
compassionate disposition, many times expressed as “merciful and gracious god,”
’e¯l-ra¯hfiuˆm weˇhfiannuˆn (Exodus 34:6; Jonah 4:2; Joel 2:13; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:
8; Nehemiah 9:17). ...”
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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