Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 28's covenant with Death treats Baal's enemy from the Baal Cycle as someone who can make an agreement, exposing the rulers' false hope that a pact can keep disaster away.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.5 I:14
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
The gods departed and did not stay. Thereupon they set their faces towards the lord of the heights of Sapan, and Gupan and Ugar said: Message of divine Mot (death), word of the Beloved of El, the hero: My appetite is the appetite of the lion in the wasteland as the desire of the shark is in the sea; as wild bulls yearn for pools, or the hind longs for the spring. Look, in truth does my throat devour clay and with both my hands I devour them. My seven portions are on the plate, and Nahar has mixed my cup. For Baal did not invite me with my brothers, nor did Haddu summon me with my kinsmen, but he ate food with my brothers, and drank wine with my kinsmen!
Isaiah 28:15
Hebrew Bible
14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s message, you who mock, you rulers of these people who reside in Jerusalem. 15 For you say, “We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord, says: “Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic. 17 I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place. 18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, you will be overrun by it.
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Notes and References
“... Finally, the figure of Mot, “Death,” is attested in KTU 1.4 VIII-1.6 and
2.10 and in several biblical passages, including Isaiah 25:8, 28:15 and 18,
Jeremiah 9:20, Hosea 13:14, Habakkuk 2:5, Psalm 18(2 Sam. 22):5-6,
Revelation 21:4 (cf. Odes of Solomon 15:9; 29:4).369 Biblical Mot is
personified as a demon, in the manner of Ugaritic Mot in KTU 1.127 and
Mesopotamian mütu. ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel
(p. PDF 104) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002
* 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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