Texts in Conversation
Psalm 27 shares El's tent in the Baal Cycle as the image of a divine home, turning worship there into the grateful response of someone protected as a guest in God's dwelling.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.3 V:7
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
“I shall trample him like a lamb to the ground; I shall make his gray hair run with blood, the gray hair of his beard with gore, if he does not give a house to Baal like the gods, and a dwelling like the sons of Athirat!” She stamped her feet, and the earth shook. Then she set her face towards El at the source of the rivers, amidst the springs of the two deeps. She rolled back the tent of El, and came to the pavilion of the King, the Father of the Bright One. She came to the territory, the tent of the creator. Bull El her father heard her voice. El replied from within the seven chambers, through the eight façades of the closed rooms: […] Above […] “At the feet of the divine assistants I fall: I am much afraid!
Psalm 27:6
Hebrew Bible
2 When evil men attack me to devour my flesh, when my adversaries and enemies attack me, they stumble and fall. 3 Even when an army is deployed against me, I do not fear. Even when war is imminent, I remain confident. 4 I have asked the Lord for one thing—this is what I desire! I want to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor of the Lord and contemplate in his temple. 5 He will surely give me shelter in the day of danger; he will hide me in his home. He will place me on an inaccessible rocky summit. 6 Now I will triumph over my enemies who surround me. I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy. I will sing praises to the Lord.
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Notes and References
“... Moreover, the description of Yahweh’s
dwelling-place as a “tent” (’o¯hel) (e.g., Psalms 15:1; 27:6; 91:10; 132:3), called in
the Pentateuchal traditions the “tent of meeting” (’ohel moˆ‘e¯d) (Exodus 33:7–11;
Numbers 12:5, 10; Deuteronomy 31:14, 15), recalls the tent of El. The tabernacle
of Yahweh has qeˇra¯sˇıˆm, usually understood as “boards” (Exodus 26–40); Numbers
3:36; 4:31), whereas the dwelling of El is called qrsˇ, perhaps “tabernacle” or “pa-
vilion” (CAT 1.2 III 5; 1.3 V 8; 1.4 IV 24; 1.17 V 49). ...”
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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