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Deuteronomy 9 uses the sequence of actions applied to Mot in the Baal Cycle to describe the golden calf's destruction, turning a divine battle into a model for removing idols.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.6 II:34
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
I approached Valiant Baal; I set him like a lamb in my mouth; like a kid he was crushed in my jaws. Shapshu, Lamp of the Gods, glowed hot; the heavens grew weak at the hand of divine Mot. A day, two days passed; from days to months. The Damsel Anat sought him. Like the heart of a cow for her calf, like the heart of a ewe for her lamb, so was the heart of Anat after Baal. She seized divine Mot. With a sword she split him; with a sieve she winnowed him; in fire she burned him; with millstones she ground him; in the field she sowed him. His flesh was eaten by birds; his portions were consumed by fowl. Flesh cried out to flesh.
Deuteronomy 9:21
Hebrew Bible
19 For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger that threatened to destroy you. But he listened to me this time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him too. 21 As for your sinful thing that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. 22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah. 23 And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God and would neither believe nor obey him. 24 You have been rebelling against him from the very first day I knew you!
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Notes and References
“... Mot, having returned to life, recounts his suffering at the time of his killing.
The first version (KTU 1.6 ii:30-36) reads as follows: tiM hn ilm mt hhrh
thq
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