Texts in Conversation
The Ugaritic text KTU and Exodus 24 describe deities eating a ceremonial meal in a divine council setting. In KTU, the gods eat together after Baal’s palace is built, and in Exodus the Israelite leaders see God and eat during the covenant ceremony.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.4 VI:39
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Baal organizes for his dwelling Haddu arranges for his palace. He slaughters large livestock and small: He slaughters bulls and fatling rams Year-old calves Sheep in droves, and kids. He invites his siblings into his house His kin within his palace; He invites the seventy sons of Athirat. He offers the gods rams Offers the goddesses ewes. He offers the gods bulls Offers the goddesses cows. He offers the gods thrones Offers the goddesses seats. He offers the gods jars of wine Offers the goddesses cruets of wine. As the gods dine, drink A suckling of the breast is offered With a salted knife, a cut of fatling. They drink wine from goblets From gold cups, the blood of trees.
Exodus 24:11
Hebrew Bible
5 He sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. 7 He took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey all that the Lord has spoken.” 8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of blue sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank. 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”
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Notes and References
"... From the Ugaritic narratives it can be seen that one aspect of the assembled deities was constant: they feasted. This is not to argue that the assembly was not important as a deliberative council, but the gods apparently gathered to do whatever they needed to do over a fine repast. The fact that Yam sent his messengers before the assembled gods to request the submission of Baal demonstrates the importance of the acquiescence of El and the assembled gods for the activities of Yam. It was the great feast thrown by Baal on the completion of his temple expansion that legitimated the new, improved cult site. Both Kirta and Danil gave feasts so that the gods would come as a group to consider the rulers’ searches for their respective proper heirs. It may be inferred, though it has not been demonstrated, that the assembly of the gods in Syria–Palestine met to work out the actual rule of the universe among the various deities ..."
Handy, Lowell K.
Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy
(p. 119) Eisenbrauns, 1994
* 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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