Texts in Conversation
An early Israelite inscription from Kuntillet Ajrud describes the deity in a storm and earthquake as the mountains melt. The Song of Deborah in Judges 5 uses the same storm and earthquake imagery for God marching out from the south, from Seir and Edom.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions
Horvat Teiman
Ancient Near East
in earthquake. And when God shines forth in the [heights ... YHWH ... the mountains will melt, the hills will crush [... the earth. The Holy one over gods [... prepare (yourself) to bless Baal on the day of war ... To bless the name of El on the day of war ...
Judges 5:4
Hebrew Bible
3 Hear, O kings! Pay attention, O rulers! I will sing to the Lord! I will sing to the Lord God of Israel! 4 “O Lord, when you departed from Seir, when you marched from Edom’s plains, the earth shook, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down rain. 5 The mountains trembled before the Lord, the God of Sinai; before the Lord God of Israel. 6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael caravans disappeared; travelers had to go on winding side roads.
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Notes and References
... Most important to this study is the inscription of epiphany found on portion of a plaster wall. It is fragmented, lacking any concrete sign of a beginning and ending, but reads: "] in earthquake. And when God shines forth in the [heights...Y]HW[H... ] the mountains will melt, the hills will crush[... ] the earth. The Holy one over gods [... ] prepare (yourself) to bless Baal on the day of wa[r... To bless/praise] the name of El on the day of wa[r..." Elements of the archaic epiphanic motif can be found in this inscription: the same noun as employed verbally in Judges 5:4, the same verb for shining used in Deuteronomy 33:2, the traditional invocation of the name Yahweh, and reference to lesser deities as is done in Habakkuk 3:5 and possibly Deuteronomy 33:2. ...
* 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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