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Zechariah 14 shares Baal's battle at his mountain home in the Baal Cycle, using an older pattern of divine warfare to promise that Jerusalem's defeat will not end God's defense of the city.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.6 VI:12
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Divine Mot ate his seven divine assistants. Divine Mot cried: “Look! It is my brothers whom Baal has given me for my meal, my mother’s sons for my consumption!” He returned to Baal in the recesses of Sapan. He lifted up his voice and cried: “It is my brothers you have given me, Baal, for my meal, my mother’s sons for my consumption!” They glowered at each other like burning coals. Mot was strong; Baal was strong. They gored like wild bulls. Mot was strong; Baal was strong. They bit like serpents. Mot was strong; Baal was strong. They tugged like hunting-dogs. Mot fell. Baal fell on top of him. Shapshu cried to Mot: “Listen, pray, O divine Mot! How can you fight with Valiant Baal?
Zechariah 14:3
Hebrew Bible
2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. 3 Then the Lord will go to battle and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward.
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Notes and References
“... There are many parallels between this Ugaritic passage and a variety of
biblical texts.425 First, the divine battle takes place at the mountain of the
deity, a motif found in Psalms 2:1-2; 48:5-8; 110; Joel 4:9-14; Zechariah
12:3-4; 14:2; and elsewhere. In Ugaritic, this motif is not restricted to Anat.
Baal also fights his enemies on his mountain (KTU 1.6 VI 12-13; cf. 1.1 V 5,
18). Second, the battle is universal in scope; “peoples” are collectively the
enemies of the deity. Many of the biblical passages just cited likewise contain
this motif. ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel
(p. PDF 115) 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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