The Storm God versus the Sea: An examination of the myth in the Bible and elsewhere in the Ancient

Near East

Daniel Sarlo

NMC 1020

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea Introduction The common Ancient Near Eastern myth of a storm god who defeats chaos developed into one of the most popular stories in history thanks to the Bible. Many aspects of Yahwehs character, his chariot of clouds, and his presence in the skies can be traced back to the figure of Baal in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle and of Marduk in the Babylonian Enuma Eli. These gods, in turn, were developments of the Sumerian Ningirsu/Ninurta. Does the Bible really contain elements of Mesopotamian myth? Many passages refer to Yahweh as a storm god who did battle with the sea and a seven-headed sea monster. This story does not appear to fit well into the narrative of the Bible; we are only able to fully understand its significance by examining similar myths in other ANE traditions. This paper will explore the myth in four cultures: Israelite, Ugaritic, Babylonian, and Sumerian, in order to contextualize the Biblical tale of the storm god versus the sea. A potential explanation of the myths development will be offered as a conclusion. I. The Israelite Tradition i. Yahweh as a storm god Yahweh, once an insignificant tribal god of the steppes,1 became increasingly important as his nomadic followers settled and gained influence in Canaan. In his ascendance to the throne of monolatry, Yahweh absorbed many characteristics belonging to the gods of surrounding nations, and replaced others in the common lore. In a number of biblical passages, Yahweh is described as a typical ANE storm deity. The most notable comparisons have been drawn to the Canaanite god Baal known from the 1 texts at Ugarit. Like Baal, Yahweh is a warrior who descends from his mountain-home riding a chariot of clouds. His voice is thunder and his weapon is lightning; the earth quakes and the skies release rain at his command. In primeval times he asserted his authority by defeating the sea, becoming the ruler of the skies. These parallels are certainly no accident; however they are unlikely to be the result of literary borrowing. Rather, they are due to the emendation of ancient texts to reflect later Israelite reforms. In short, Yahweh became the hero in certain myths that were not originally written about him. There is sufficient evidence that in the early history of Israel, Yahweh and Baal were worshipped simultaneously. Prior to the first millennium BCE there was no distinct Israelite religion it originated as one of many local variants of the Canaanite religion,2 a polytheistic model with Yahweh as a minor deity. Around the time of the Monarchy, the Israelites began to develop their own unique religious identity,3 but it was not until the ninth century BCE that Baal worship became a concern to the cult of Yahweh and kings actively sought to suppress it. This marked the beginning of the Israelite trend of rejecting their heritage, and led to the fabricated notion that their religion was the antithesis of the Canaanite religion.4 Some biblical authors like Jeremiah linked the worship of Baal to the fall of the Northern Kingdom in order to gain exclusive support for Yahwism. The cult of Baal was eventually eradicated, but not until 621 BCE with King Josiahs reform.5 Psalm 18 reveals significant vestiges of the Canaanite tradition, and is an excellent example of Yahwehs acquisition of Baals characteristics this is likely because of the antiquity of the psalm. The reworked version we find in the Bible is likely from the time of Josiah, but scholars have suggested its original

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea source, no longer extant, may have dated to the tenth century BCE. The biblical psalm is a song of thanksgiving written by a victorious king, perhaps David, who ascribes all of his success to his god.6 In the course of his celebration, he describes Yahweh as the storm god who defeated the sea (Heb. Ym). It should be noted that due to his connection with the mountain, Yahweh is often described as an active volcano when angry, but here his association with the storm remains at the fore:7 The land trembled and quaked, the foundations of the mountains shook and trembled, for he was angry. Smoke ascended into his nostrils and fire devoured from out of his mouth, embers blazed forth from him. Then he divided the skies and descended with darkness beneath his feet. He rode on a cherub, he took flight, he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his veil, his shelter around him was dark waters and dense clouds. His clouds went forth from the brilliance before him and there was hail and embers of fire. Yahweh thundered in the skies, Elyon gave his voice and there was hail and embers of fire. He shot his arrows and made them scatter, he issued lightnings 8 and confounded them. Then the deepest trenches of Ym 9 became visible, the foundations of the land were revealed; by your command, Yahweh, by the gust of wind from your nostrils 10 Psa 18:7-15 (Heb. 18:8-16) Yahweh is also portrayed as a storm god in Psalm 68. In its final form, the psalm has been quite problematic for scholars to date, however Albrights suggestion that it is a collection of reworked Canaanite poems dating from the 13th to the 10th century BCE11 is convincing. Perhaps the most obvious connection to Baal is found in verse 4 (Heb. v.5), where Yahweh is referred to as the one who rides on the clouds this epithet is also attested as a name of Baal in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle.12 The relevant verses are provided below: Sing for God, make melody in his name; make way for the one who rides on the clouds, his name is Yah, celebrate before him God, when you went out before your people, when you marched in the wilderness, the land quaked and the skies poured before God, the god of Sinai; before God, the god of Israel. You caused an abundant rain to pour, God, when your inheritance was impoverished, you restored it Sing for God, kingdoms of the land, make melody for the lord. To he who rides through primeval skies, he thunders forth with his powerful voice.13 Give strength to God, his majesty is over Israel, his might is in the skies Psa 68:4,7-9,32-34 (Heb. 68:5,8-10,33-35) ii. Ym and his helpers in the Bible The sea and its associated forces were divinized in the early history of the ANE.14 As a result, they were given names and characteristics, many of which can be identified in the Bible. The presence of these names reveals clear mythological overtones themes that carried over and were not censored by later redactors. The Hebrew word for the sea, Ym, often appears without the definite article, hinting at its connection with the personified sea in the Baal Cycle (Yamm). In the process of Yahwehs ascendance within the Israelite religion, it was imperative that he be linked to the defeat of Ym. This is because of the chaos associated with his waters, which were believed to be not only encircling the earth, but above and below it.15 In a time when shelter was considerably less effective and when survival depended on local food production, storms, floods and droughts had the potential to severely affect the lives of individuals. Thus, if Yahweh did not control Ym, he could not offer his followers relief from these pervasive dangers.

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea It is not entirely clear whether Ym was thought of as a creation of Yahweh or a preexistent being the Bible does not provide a uniform explanation. Generally, we should expect later texts to say the sea was Gods creation, though this is not always the case. According to Genesis 1:2, which has been dated to the 6th century BCE,16 the waters existed from the beginning, though the word Ym is not used specifically. In Proverbs 8:24, a time when there were no Thmt (depths) is described. Elsewhere, we read that Ym was restrained by Yahweh when he came bursting out of the womb (Gen 38:8), suggesting that Yahweh was present at his birth but did not initially have control of him. Despite the ambiguity surrounding his origins, the notion that he was ultimately defeated by Yahweh is commonplace in the Bible. One example can be found in Job 9:8: [It is he] who spread out the skies on his own and trampled on the back of Ym That being said, Ym did not fight this war alone. There are several characters thought to be associated with the primordial waters, who may have been Yms army. Of these, Thm (deep) occurs most frequently in the Bible, and is often pluralized as Thmt. However, a closer reading suggests that Ym and Thm do not refer to separate entities: The land was unformed and empty, darkness was over Thm, and the wind of God was storming over the waters Gen 1:2 Here, Thm and the waters should be understood as synonyms for Ym the passage is describing the commencement of Yahwehs attack. Thus, it is unlikely that Thm is a personal name, but rather the remnant of one,17 which is why the word does not take the definite article.18 Further evidence that Thm and Ym refer to the same entity can be gathered by the use of 3 parallelism in biblical poetry (i.e. Job 28:14, 38:16). To be sure, Thm is not the precise equivalent of Ym, it is better understood as one of his characteristics. This is also true in Ugaritic, where t-h-m-t refers to the deep waters of Yamm.19 Another Hebrew word connected to Ym is Tannn, or Tannnm in the plural. In several passages, it is used as a clear reference to a mythological serpent (dragon) who lives in the sea and who Yahweh defeated along with Ym. Tannn can be traced to the Semitic root t-n-n to stretch oneself, certainly a fitting verb to describe a serpentine creature. The same word is used in the Ugaritic texts to describe one of Baals enemies,20 though it is unclear whether it is to be understood as a personal name or an epithet. In any case, Tannn should be thought of as distinct from the sea.21 Arguably, Tannn should not be interpreted as a personal name in the Bible. Firstly, there are several cases where the word is used to refer to a non-mythological snake that is found in nature (cf. Deut 32:33, Psa 91:13). It is also used in a parallel construction with Rahab in Isaiah 51:9, where Rahab is a personal name.22 This evidence, though fairly limited, seems to suggest that Tannn is a type of serpent rather than one serpent in particular. Furthermore, in Job 7:12 we find the word used as an alternative to Ym.23 Thus, the verse should be translated as follows: Am I Ym or a Tannn?, for you have placed a guard over me The Priestly authors of the sixth century BCE rendered Yahweh the creator of the Tannnm, despite their association with the pre-existent cosmic waters:24

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea God created the great Tannnm and all the living beings that swarm, and that the waters teem with Gen 1:21a Perhaps the most well known of Yahwehs enemies is Liwytn (Leviathan), known from his drawn out description in the book of Job. The creature is known in Ugaritic as Ltan, and like Ym is listed as a defeated enemy of Baal in the Baal Cycle.25 His name comes from the root l-w-h to twist26 and he is often referred to as a fugitive serpent (Isa 27:1, Job 26:3) this suggests that the creature was thought to be very difficult to capture, i.e. a wriggling snake. In one passage (see below), Liwytn is said to have multiple heads this can be linked to the ANE motif of the sevenheaded dragon, which will be discussed later in more detail. You crushed Liwytns heads into pieces, you gave him as food for the sharks 27 Psa 74:14 The final character we will examine is Rahab, a rather mysterious figure with no known connection to any tradition outside of the Bible. Day expects that it may be Canaanite in origin, 28 though there has been no clear evidence found to support his theory. Spronk notes the possibility that the Akkadian chaos monster Labbu could also be read Rebbu,29 a less convincing explanation. Likely the word originated in Hebrew the root r-h-b means to assail or to pester, an apt description of an incessant storm. It is generally agreed that Rahab represents a later name for Liwytn, as the two appear to be synonymous. This was demonstrated by Day with a comparison of two biblical passages: 30 With his strength he stirred up Ym, with his skill he struck Rahab. With his wind the skies were made fair, his hand pierced the fugitive serpent Job 26:12-13 On that day, Yahweh will visit the fierce, great, and powerful one, Liwytn, the fugitive serpent, with his sword Isa 27:1 Due to the use of the epithet fugitive serpent in both cases, we can be fairly certain that the two names refer to the same creature. To be sure, the passage in Job refers to a primeval battle, while Isaiah is speaking about the end times. However, this does not detract from the claim that Rahab and Liwytn are one and the same. The notion that chaos and death were subdued at creation and will be annihilated in the future will be addressed in another section of this paper. We have seen that Yahweh, in his association with the ANE storm god, is said to have defeated the chaotic sea. We have identified Ym as the sea and Thm as the deep waters of the sea, though we have found that both terms are used interchangeably. Tannn, we have said, is the dragon whose name is Liwytn and Rahab. Thus, we think there are two main agents of chaos involved in this battle. We may suppose this for a number of reasons; one is that the serpent and his abode should necessarily be distinguished. Furthermore, Psalm 89 frames the ancient struggle as a war between Yahweh and his enemies in the plural, and mentions only two by name: You overruled the majesty of Ym, when his waves rose up you stilled them. You crushed Rahab as one who was slain, you scattered your enemies with the force of your strength Psa 89:9-10 (Heb. 89:1011) Psalm 148 appears to confirm this twofold division: Praise Yahweh from the underworld, Tannnm and all Thmt Psa 148:7

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea Here, the creatures of the underworld are categorized as either dragons or depths. This is arguably a direct reference to Liwytn and Ym, the defeated enemies of Yahweh who must now bow before him in worship. iii. Creation out of chaos We have established that there is an ancient myth embedded in the Bible that Yahweh conquered the forces of chaos, personified as Ym and Liwytn. However, we have yet to discuss the different contexts in which this myth is alluded to in the Bible. First of all, it is used to explain the creation of the known world. In Genesis 1, God is not said to have made everything ex nihilo. In the beginning, everything was in a state of chaos and the land was hidden beneath the deep waters of Ym, called Thm (Gen 1:2). With a powerful wind, God separated this chaos from the land, and established limits for the waters both above and beneath the earth.31 This story is not only referred to in Genesis we have seen this notion already in Job 26:13, that the skies were made fair with the defeat of Ym and Rahab. Psalm 104 contains an even more detailed description of this battle and the creative act that followed: [It is he who] built the beams of his high house upon the waters, who made the clouds his chariot, and who walked around on the wings of the wind. [It is he who] made the winds his messengers, and fire and flame his servants. [It is he who] established the land on its foundations it will not shake forever. Thm covered it like a garment, the waters stood over the mountains. They fled at your command, they scattered at the sound of your thunder Psa 104:3-9 Once again, storm god imagery abounds Yahweh lives in the skies, is the ruler of the clouds and the winds, and uses thunder as a weapon. The passage clearly refers to the Genesis 1 creation account, reiterating the 5 story of the separation of the waters from the land. It is interesting that Yahweh builds a house on top of the waters in this version of the story. This is likely a reference to the primeval mountain which is his home, as we have seen in several passages. The notion of the god building a home after his victory against the sea is significant, as it has precedents in Ugaritic and Babylonian mythology, which will be discussed later. iv. The covenant with chaos Before discussing the various other contexts in which the primeval battle against chaos is referenced in the Bible, another layer of the story should be explained. The chaos of the storm was commonly used as a metaphor for the barbarians who lived on the fringes and posed a constant threat to those in the city this is true not only in Israelite thought, but throughout the ANE, as we will see. Unless these hostile forces were defeated in battle, there was no guarantee of safety. Historically, the kings of the ANE would force weakened enemies to sign vassal treaties rather than kill every last one of them. This would result in more subjects to give praise and tribute to the king, and would add to the military force at his disposal. Even as early as the third millennium BCE, these treaties had become formulaic. The process consisted of the swearing of an oath by a subordinate king whereby he agreed to serve the more powerful ruler.32 Yahweh, the military leader of his people, as he was imagined, also opted for a vassal treaty with the agents of chaos. We can see this notion in the Bible when Yahweh demonstrates his power by boasting to Job: Could you catch Liwytn with a hook and hold his tongue down with a rope? Could you put a reed in his nose and pierce his jaw with a thorn? Would he plead with you and speak to you in weakness?

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea Would he make a covenant with you to become a servant forever? Job 41:1-4 (Heb. 40:25-28) While this rhetoric is meant to belittle Job and show him his place in the cosmos, it also reveals a tradition, not explicit in the Bible, where God captured Liwytn and forced him to become his servant.33 It has been said that originally, the Hebrew word bert covenant (used in v. 4) meant the state of being bound, contractually, to a more powerful party against ones will.34 This is clearly the meaning of the word in this context, and thus should be seen as a type of vassal treaty. With this context in mind, let us proceed to discuss how Yahweh used these defeated enemies as agents of destruction. v. The army of chaos Once Ym and Liwytn became Yahwehs servants, their basic nature did not change. They were still destructive forces, but were no longer able to freely molest the lands God would use them to unleash his judgment as he saw fit. This is precisely what happens in the deluge. Yahwehs anger with his people caused him to summon a storm, using his former opponent Thm as a weapon. All the springs of great Thm were burst open, and the windows of the skies were opened Gen 7:11b Likewise, when he wanted the flood to be over, he simply ordered the cosmic sea back into place: God caused a wind to pass over the land, then the waters receded, for the springs of Thm and the windows of the skies were stopped up Gen 8:1-2a This was an event of great significance. The most dangerous elements known to mankind, the chaotic waters, were so easily manipulated by Yahweh. In the form of snow and hail, they are said to be stored in compartments 6 awaiting the time of battle (Job 38:22-23). One psalm gives us an illustration of the magnitude of what Yahweh has done: [It is he who] gathered up the waters of Ym like a dam and placed the Thmt in storehouses Psalm 33:7 The idea is that Yahweh has imprisoned his foes and releases them only for the purpose of punishing the people of the earth. All of the earths water is carefully controlled by God. We often see this in prophecy as well. One example is Ezekiel 26:19, where the prophet invokes mythological language to speak about the destruction of Tyre Yahweh will use Thm to engulf the city, killing all its inhabitants. This is likely a reference to Alexanders siege of Tyre in the 3rd century BCE. With the use of dams, the Greeks were able to flood a part of the city and separate the people from the port where their resources came in.35 The author of Ezekiel exaggerates the story and attributes the destruction to the Israelite god and his servants. In another example from Amos, Yahweh says he will find his enemies no matter where they hide if they escape to the mountains, he will seek them out, and if they hide in the sea, he will command the snake to bite them (9:3). Amos allusion to Ym and Liwytn as Yahwehs agents of destruction is actually ahead of its time this monotheistic view was certainly not widely accepted in the 8th century BCE.36 vi. The end of chaos As we have seen, the chaos monsters are often metaphors for Israels military enemies. For example, Egypt is called Rahab (Isa 30:7, Psa 87:4) and the Pharaoh is compared to Tannn (Ezek 29:3-5, 32:2-8),37 as is Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (Jer 51:34). There are many cases where the primeval battle is compared to the Exodus, like Isaiah

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea 51: Yahwehs defeat of Rahab/Tannn is also his issue of plagues against Egypt/Pharaoh, and his separation of Ym/Thm is his parting of the reed sea (v. 9-11).38 With this in mind, we turn to the biblical concept of the ultimate end of chaos. After the Babylonian exile, Jewish writers began to foresee not only a return to their homeland, but a revitalization of the monarchy as it was remembered in highly romanticized fashion during the reign of King David. Thus, in later texts, Ym and Liwytn are the hostile nations surrounding Israel that must be destroyed in order for this dream to be realized.39 As Niditch puts it, Writers of apocalypses consider the workaday world on the plane of history to have become a chaos New chaos, however, means that new creation will follow40 A good example of this hope for the future can be found in Isaiah 27:1, a passage we have already seen but which deserves to be examined again in this context: On that day, Yahweh will visit the fierce, great, and powerful one, Liwytn, the fugitive serpent, with his sword Many scholars have identified the serpent here as Tyre. The Israelites thought of this city as the embodiment of the Canaanite religious tradition that they had come to abhor. They felt that the underlying reason God had sent the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem was their ancestors involvement in Canaanite practices thus, they had a particular hatred for its existence.41 The hope for a future cosmic war between Yahweh and the sea/dragon was kept alive for many hundreds of years, and is expressed frequently in the New Testament. In the book of Revelation, Saint John foresees the day when the dragon will be imprisoned in the abyss the Greek word for Thm (Rev 20:3) and ultimately 7 destroyed (Rev 20:10). The result is a better world, one without chaos: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of the skies from God 42 Revelation 21:1-2a Here, chaos in the form of the sea is such an overwhelming force that the whole universe must be destroyed in order that a new one be created a world without the sea. The notion that God will lower the perfect city down from the skies is a continuation of the Baal tradition where the head god is a warrior living in the clouds. II. The Ugaritic Tradition i. Baal as a storm god The Baal Cycle is a literary text discovered in the city of Ugarit in the early 1900s.43 It has been dated to around 1300 BCE,44 but is believed to be based on a much older oral tradition one that was also likely the precedent for the Mesopotamian Adad/Timat conflict.45 At some point before it was given its final form in writing, this ancient tradition was merged with a story about Baal and Ltan.46 In addition to the relatively intact version scholars use for translation, seven other broken versions were found which include variations of the cycle.47 The narrative focuses on Baals rise to prominence in the divine sphere through a series of victories relevant here is his battle against Yamm. In an attempt to prevent Baal from encroaching on his power, Yamm appeals to El and his divine council for help. They choose not to interfere, resulting in an all-out war between the two characters.48 Though Baal is initially overwhelmed, with

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea some encouragement he is finally able to defeat Yamm and become king.49 This victory might explain his name Baal lord.50 His association with the storm in particular can be ascertained from one of his other names, Haddu the thunderer, 51 as well as his epithet rider on the clouds. Several passages bring to mind the vivid descriptions of Yahweh in the storm here are two examples: May Baal make his rain abundant; May he make the water greatly abundant in a downpour. May he give his voice in the clouds; May he flash lightning to the earth 52 KTU 1.4 V 6-9 Baal opened a break in the clouds, Baal gave forth his holy voice. Baal repeated the issue of his lips, his holy voice covered the earth. At his voice the mountains trembled, the ancient mountains leapt up, the high places of the earth tottered 53 KTU 1.4 VII 28-34 The notion that the storm god speaks in thunder and attacks with lightning is evident here, as is his ability to make the skies rain. It is likely that these very passages were used by the authors of Psalms 18 and 68. ii. Yamm and his helpers in the Baal Cycle What enemy rises against Baal?; what foe against the cloud rider? Surely I struck down Yamm, the beloved of El; surely I finished off River, the great god. Surely I bound Tunnanu and destroyed him; I struck down the twisting serpent, the powerful one with seven heads. I struck down Desire, beloved of El; I destroyed Rebel, calf of El. I struck down Fire, dog of El; I annihilated Flame, daughter of El 54 KTU 1.3 III 37-47 Using this passage as a guide, we will try to identify Yamms helpers in the primeval battle. Here, River (Heb. Nahar) is another name for Ym, just as it is in the Bible as we 8 have seen, all water is connected to one main source: the cosmic sea.55 Tunnanu is the Ugaritic word for Tannn, the biblical dragon. Tunnanu has been found in a multilingual text connecting it to Sumerian MU and Akkadian ciru.56 The twisting serpent is likely a description of the Tannn rather than a separate being the same epithet is used of Liwytn in Isaiah 27:1. Likewise, the powerful one with seven heads should also be interpreted as a name of the dragon. Ltan is said to have seven heads in the Ugaritic tradition.57 Thus, as it does in the Bible, Tannn here refers to a type of snake, not the name of one. Smith and Pitard provide further proof of this by quoting another parallel passage (KTU 1.5 I 1-3): You struck Ltan down, the fugitive serpent; annihilated the twisting serpent, the powerful one with seven heads 58 Next, we encounter a number of unfamiliar enemies. Desire is the first of these a mysterious figure who may have nothing to do with the sea at all. Smith and Pitard suggest that this deity may be a land-dwelling due to the poetic coupling of Desire and the calf of El in the next line.59 It is not known if the calf, named Rebel, is simply associated with Desire or is the same character the evidence is much too ambiguous in the case of these two gods.60 Finally, Fire and Flame seem to be a divine pair in the Baal Cycle but are not found in any Ugaritic god lists. Interestingly, they appear paired in several Akkadian texts,61 as well as in the Bible: [It is he who] made the winds his messengers, and fire and flame his servants Psa 104:4 We cannot discern much from this, however. These are often interpreted in the biblical text simply as characteristics of lightning (cf. Psalm 29:7) and are certainly not deified.62 Unless new texts are discovered and further

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea research is done, we may not be able to fully understand the role of Fire and Flame, and their relationship to one another. So far in our examination of the Baal Cycle, we have found many connections to the biblical myth of the primeval battle against chaos: Baal is the character of Yahweh, Yamm is Ym, Tunnanu is Tannn, and Ltan is Liwytn. While we know that Baal defeated Yamm and his helpers, we cannot be sure of the number of these helpers, though there certainly appear to be more than there are in the Bible. To complicate matters, some have argued that Yamm and Tunnanu may have been conflated at this time. Smith and Pitard notice the close relationship between Yamm and Tunnan in KTU 1.3 III, but conclude that these names may in fact refer to the same character.63 However, due to the ambiguity of the evidence, and the biblical material we have already examined, there is no need to suggest this Yamm and Tunnan may be two different creatures that simply share close affiliation. iii. Creation out of chaos Though the creation of life does not figure into the Baal Cycle (the Priestly authors added this concept to the Bible in the 6th century BCE), we do find that, like Yahweh, Baal creates order something far more important for the Canaanites.64 After his victory over Yamm, El grants Baal permission to build a house, which the craftsman god Kothar-waHasis makes from the finest materials in the region including the great cedars of Lebanon.65 This house is not only Marduks abode, but is his palace (as king) and temple (as god). As in the Bible, the storm gods home is located on mount Zaphon.66 Quickly build the house; Quickly erect the palace. Quickly shall you build the house; Quickly shall you erect the palace amid the summit of Sapan 67 KTU 1.4 V 51-55 iv. Further considerations The extent to which the chaos monsters were used to refer to surrounding nations at Ugarit is not known. Nevertheless, we know that it was common throughout the ANE to use the language of chaos to speak about the world beyond the walls of the city. In terms of the final conquest of chaos, we have seen that the eschatological concerns of the biblical authors were derived from their unique historical circumstance, as well as late Babylonian and Persian influences.68 Thus, it is not surprising that we do not find the same sort of vision of the end in Canaanite myth. III. The Babylonian Tradition (Enuma Elish) i. Marduk as a storm god Enuma Eli is an Old Babylonian story popular in the first millennium BCE, but may date back as far as 1900 BCE though in this version Marduk may not have been the original hero.69 As in Genesis, Enuma Eli describes the initial state of the world as a watery chaos. In the beginning, there was said to be two kinds of water: Apsu, the subterranean waters, and Timat, the sea.70 These waters mixed together to produce the first generation of gods, which included Anar and Kiar. These two gave birth to Anu, who then begat Ea.71 Ea put Apsu into a deep sleep and then slaughtered him this is thought to be a primitive explanation for why the subterranean waters are so calm in comparison to the raging sea.72 At some point, a son named Marduk was born to Ea. When Timat finally decided to avenge her husbands death, Marduk showed himself to be a powerful leader who would defend his fathers actions in war.73 9

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

The etymology of Marduk has been debated by scholars. Most recently, Abusch suggested that the original Sumerian form was AMAR.UDA.AK, which he translates calf of the storm.74 Before Abusch, Jacobsen had argued that Marduk was in fact a storm god, not a sun god as most scholars thought. There is no reason to doubt his conclusion, AMAR can mean calf or son, and UD (also UDA) originally held the meaning of storm in addition to sun75 the element AK simply indicates that the name is a genitive construction. Because Marduk does not appear to display any characteristics associated with the sun god, we should understand UDA as storm in this case. In Enuma Eli, one of Marduks names is Addu (=Haddu),76 but this title is not the only indication that we are dealing with a storm god. Throughout the narrative, we find the use of storm imagery to discuss Marduks characteristics as well as his actions in battle: He put lightning in front of him; His body was filled with an ever-blazing flame. He made a net to encircle Timat within it; He marshalled the four winds so that no part of her could escape: South wind, North wind, East wind, West wind the gift of his father Anu he kept them close to the net at his side. He created the evil wind, the tempest, the whirlwind, the four winds, the seven winds, the tornado, and the unfaceable facing wind. He released the winds which he had created, seven of them. They advanced behind him to make turmoil inside Timat. The lord raised the flood-weapon, his great weapon; He mounted the frightful, unfaceable storm-chariot 77 IV 39-50 As we see, Marduks vehicle, weaponry and domain are the same as those of Baal and Yahweh. Furthermore, the name Timat is etymologically related to Thm and t-h-m-t, and refers to the same enemy the vast waters of the sea. 10

ii. Timat and her helpers in Enuma Eli Timats army consists of a military commander named Qingu and eleven beasts. The nature of these eleven indicates an important connection to later myth. They include four snakes: venomous snake, great venomous snake, giant snake, and fearsome snake.78 As we will see, this is an important stage in the development of the tradition only one of Ninurtas foes is serpentine, while in the Bible the snake is the primary symbol of chaos. Marduks other foes include untameable animals and composite creatures: wild dog, weather monster, lion monster, scorpion man, hairy hero, fish-man, and bison.79 This part of the list finds no parallel at Ugarit or in the Bible, perhaps because the Mediterranean coast did not share the variety of animals common to the plains of Mesopotamia. iii. Creation out of chaos While the Ugaritic texts do not portray Baal as the creator of the world, we can trace some of Gods feats in Genesis to the story of Marduk. In Enuma Eli, the separation of heaven and earth is described as the splitting of Timats body in two. One of these halves was used as a firmament to hold the rain-waters in place: He sliced her in half like a fish for drying: he put up half of her to roof the sky, he drew a bolt across and made a guard hold it. He arranged her waters so that they could not escape 80 Enuma Eli IV 137-138 As the God of the Bible invented the twelvemonth year and the four seasons, and created the sun and the stars to keep track of time (Gen 1:14-16), so too did Marduk: He fashioned the stations for the great gods. He set up the stars, their likeness, the constellations. He

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea fixed the year, drew the boundary-lines, set up three stars for each of the twelve months 81 Enuma Eli V 1-4 Marduk is praised for having created a stable environment out of chaos (VII 80). Elsewhere, he is called the creator of humankind (VII 29). While the text does not specifically say what became of Timats other half, the implication is that it became the sea the waters below the firmament. Marduk covered this sea with land until it became a mountain (VII 70). This was the earth, where Marduks creation dwelled, and the peak was Marduks home, bringing to mind the mountain-homes of Yahweh and Baal. iv. Chaos as the surrounding nations Like Yahweh, Marduk is said to have subdued the chaos monsters rather than utterly defeat them. There is no indication that something akin to a vassal treaty was signed, but he certainly kept them alive in order to demonstrate his power.82 A Late Babylonian map of the world lists many untamed animals which are described as the defeated gods of Marduk: The ruined gods which he settled inside the sea the viper, great sea-serpent inside The Anzu-bird scorpion-man mountain goat, gazelle, zebu, panther, bull-man lion, wolf, red-deer hyena, monkey, female-monkey, ibex, ostrich, cat, chameleon beasts which Marduk created on top of the restless sea 83 Here, the sea is Tmtu, a late form of the name Timat. The two snakes: viper and great sea serpent are said to be located in Timat, while the other land-dwelling creatures were made to live on top of the sea this is a reference to the earth, the land that was placed over Timats body.84 We have found that the storm god Marduk shares some important characteristics with Yahweh. He defeated Timat (=Thm) in primeval times and the associated forces of chaos. He separated the waters in two and caused dry land to appear, on which he established his home and his creatures. He also made the stars and fixed the year into twelve months and four seasons. IV. Sumerian Tradition i. Ningirsu/Ninurta as a storm god While there were many Mesopotamian storm gods including Ilumer, Dagan, Adad, Ningirsu, Ikur, and of course Enlil, 85 only one was a great warrior who battled against chaos the Sumerian Ningirsu. The earliest textual evidence for this god is from around 2400 BCE,86 well before Marduk, Baal or Yahweh were identified as storm gods. In Lagash, Ningirsu was known as Ninurta. In about 2100 BCE, Ninurta came to be identified as Enlils oldest son by the king of Lagash, legitimizing him as their patron god.87 It was around this time that Ninurta was characterized as a great warrior, perhaps for political reasons. This is likely the origin of the storm gods war-like characteristics in the Baal Cycle and in the Bible Enlil himself was not called a warrior until after Ninurta was declared his son.88 Despite his association with the storm, Ninurtas enemy was not the sea but the mountain. In Lugal-e, his enemy is Asag, a rebellious mountain, and his army of rocks.89 In this myth, Ninurta is referred to as the destructive high flood destroying the mountain (Lugal-e 95).90 Elsewhere, he is said to have defeated a number of enemies in the mountains, only one of which was the mountain itself. This brings to mind the Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Biblical notion that 11

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea the sea is both the enemy and the location of battle. Many of the elements present in later storm god myths have their origin in the legends of Ninurta. We will look at just a few: The utterance of the sovereign is a storm The word of Lord Ninurta is a storm 91 Ninurtas Return 16-17 Ninurta, storm of the rebellious land, swept on like the deluge, he rumbled like a storm on the horizon 92 Ninurtas Return 74-75 When you step into your chariot heaven and earth tremble 93 Ninurtas Return 84-85 The storm god is a warrior who rides in a chariot, and makes the earth tremble when he passes, as well as when he speaks with his thunderous voice. This is all very familiar to the later Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Israelite traditions. ii. Ningirsu/Ninurtas enemies As we said, there are many tales about Ninurta in which he is a hero fighting the forces of chaos in the mountains. Despite this change in scenery, a comparison of Ninurtas enemies with Marduks in Enuma Eli reveals some very interesting connections:94 Ningirsus Temple venomous snake six-headed wild ram seven-headed dog lion Mt. Saggar bisons head date palm copper Magilum kulianna bison Ninurta and Asag venomous snake six-headed wild ram seven-headed snake Lord Samananna gypsum Imdugud king date palm strong copper Magilum kulianna bison Ninurtas Return venomous snake six-headed wild ram seven-headed snake captured cow Gypsum Imdugud captured wild bull strong copper magilum kulianna Bison Enuma Eli venomous snake great venomous snake giant snake fearsome snake wild dog weather monster lion monster scorpion man hairy hero fish-man Bison

A number of these composite creatures and wild animals survived into the Babylonian mythology, and even some to the Ugaritic, though it appears that only the snake survived through to the Israelite tradition as an enemy of the storm god. In the various myths, one or two of Ninurtas enemies were serpents, while the rest were other animals commonly found in the rugged terrain of Mesopotamia. The presence of a seven-headed snake in the list is significant. We have seen this figure in the Baal Cycle and the Bible as Ltan/ Liwytn. There is evidence of a sevenheaded serpentine creature early in a cylinder seal from the 3rd millennium BCE,95 suggesting that it did not originate as an enemy of Ninurta. As for the absence of Timat, Wiggermann tells us that later versions of the Ninurta myths included the sea as one of his enemies. The word Timat specifically was introduced by the Akkadians, though it may not have originally had anything to do with water.96 Timtim (=Timat) appears on an Old Akkadian school exercise tablet which reads: Steward of Timat, fierce warrior, arise! Tipak, steward of Timat, fierce one, arise! 97 This appears to be a line from an incantation ritual where the chaos monster is called to act

12

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea on behalf of the individual a tradition which may also be alluded to in the book of Job: May the sorcerers curse that day, those who are able to wake Leviathan Job 3:8 iii. Further considerations While it is not certain whether or not the surrounding cities or their inhabitants were referred to as chaos monsters, certainly the mountains were seen as rebel lands.98 This is where the barbarians came from, and where wild animals and demons dwelled. Metaphorically, all that was outside the safety of the city walls was chaos, while the area within them was orderly.99 Conclusion In our examination of several mythological traditions where the storm god battles with chaos, we have discovered interesting connections that help us contextualize some of these themes in the Bible. This allows us to reconstruct how the myth of the storm god might have developed from the third millennium BCE in Mesopotamia to the sixth century BCE in Israel. The following is an attempt to do so, albeit in a short simplified manner. The storm god Ningirsu was called Ninurta and was given the characteristics of a warrior by the Nippurians. He was said to have defeated a seven-headed snake in the mountain. Later, the Akkadians added a monster named Timat to his list of defeated enemies. As the story migrated West, Timat was identified with the sea, and the location of the battle shifted. As Wiggermann notes, In the course of the second millennium, sea replaces the mountains as the geographical focus of monster mythology.100 Toward the end of the second millennium BCE, many Mediterranean civilizations collapsed, 13 including Ugarit. Much of the devastation could be traced back to the sea, i.e. invasions by the Sea Peoples, floods, et cetera. For the victims and others living in the region, the sea was chaotic; it represented a much greater threat than anything found in the mountains. Thus, a new myth was born the storm god would conquer the sea.101 In the Babylonian Enuma Eli, Marduk was the calf of the storm, a powerful presence in the skies much like Ninurta. From atop his storm-cloud chariot, he battled Timat and her eleven monsters, four of whom were snakes. Ninurta had also defeated eleven enemies, but only one was serpentine. Marduk defeated Timat and used her carcass as the material with which to create an expanse. He heaped up dirt over the sea to form a mountain that became both his home and the inhabitable world. He created human beings and an organized a system of time and the stars to help them keep track of it. In the Baal cycle, Baal rides a chariot of clouds like Marduk, and uses thunder and lightning as weapons. He fights Yamm, the sea, who is also referred to as t-h-m-t (=Timat). New additions to his list of enemies include the t-n-n (dragon) named Ltan. There are several other enemies in the myth, but we do not know enough about them to comment on their origin or purpose. We do know, however, that the sea and the dragon are attested in the Bible by the same names. Baal was not said to be creator of the world, suggesting that the Baal Cycle was not directly borrowed from Enuma Eli, but from an earlier story that the Babylonians also used. The earliest Israelite traditions evolved out of the Canaanite belief system, thus the Baal Cycle was highly influential on the Biblical authors. As we have seen, both Yahweh and Baal are cloud-riders. Both Liwytn and Ltan are fugitive serpents with multiple

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea heads. Tannn is the type of serpent, identical in Ugaritic (t-n-n). During the Babylonian exile, the Israelites would have read foreign literature like Enuma Eli. With an appreciation for Babylonian wisdom, they amalgamated this creation story with their own monotheistic view of history, and made Yahweh the creator in Marduks place. Likely, the concept of prophecy was also an import from the Babylonians. In the exile, writings began to include the hope of a return to Israel and the revival of the Monarchy. With the decree of Cyrus in the Persian period, their wish appeared to have come true, but the Greeks soon controlled the region, shifting the prophecy further into the future. Persian eschatological concepts undoubtedly crept in, as prophets began to speak of the destruction of world which would be followed by the creation of a new one one without chaos.

14

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea Notes

1

Mark S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Second Edition; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 91 Also called the Phoenician or West Semitic religion by many scholars

For this interpretation of the passage, see Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51-100 (Word Biblical Commentary 20; Dallas: Word, 1990), 162 Donald H. Mills, The Hero and the Sea: Patterns of Chaos in Ancient Myth (Wauconda: BolchazyCarducci, 2003), 1
15 14

13

Herbert Niehr, Israelite Religion and Canaanite Religion, pp. 23-36 in Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah (ed. F. Stavrakopoulou and J. Barton; New York: T & T Clark, 2010), 27-28

Niehr, Israelite Religion and Canaanite Religion, 26

5

The belief in the Ancient Near East was that all fresh water was linked to the primeval sea, including the skies which were thought of as a canopy of its waters; for more information on ancient Israelite cosmogony see John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducting the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 166-167

For more on Baal worship in Israel, see Smith, The Early History of God, 65-79

Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 1-59: A Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 257-258 Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 260 The version in 2Sam 22:15 is preferred, where

Genesis 1:1-2:4 is understood as the Priestly account of creation, a product of the 6th century BCE; see Mark S. Smith, The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010), 41
17

16

br does not appear, and (~y)qrb is governed instead by the preceding verb xlv
9

As we will see, in the Babylonian religion Timat is clearly a water deity. In the Bible, however, Thm has been thoroughly demythologized Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with new JPS Translation (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 6
19 18

Here the text reads ~ym, but is likely a mistake 2Sam 22:16 has instead ~y

All Bible translations are my own, based on the Masoretic Text of the Westminster Leningrad Codex, unless otherwise stated Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 60-150: A Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 49 Baal is called rkb rpt (the one who rides on the clouds); for several examples see Mark S. Smith, Mark S. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume I (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 55; Leiden: Brill, 1994), 276, 336
12 11

10

Private communication with Mark S. Smith (December 1, 2012)

G.C. Heider, Tannin, pp. 834-836 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 834 Mark S. Smith and Wayne T. Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 114; Leiden: Brill, 2009), 248 John Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea: Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1985), 6
22 21

20

15

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

Though it is possible that here the two are synonymous, in a construction of nominal hendiadys, there is reason to doubt such a position; for example, in Psalm 74:13, Ym is clearly the abode of the Tannnm, unlikely to be thought of as its equivalent
24

23

Dennis J. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and in the Old Testament (Analecta Biblica 21A; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1981), 3 Markus Saur, Ezekiel 26 and the History of Tyre, pp. 208-221 in Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 24.2 (Oslo: Taylor & Francis, 2010), 210
36 35

34

The passage belongs to the Priestly Source

John Day, Leviathan, pp. 295-296 in The Anchor Bible Dictionary IV (ed. D.N. Freedman; New York: Doubleday, 1992), 295
26

25

John Barton, The Theology of the Book of Amos (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2012), 102103

Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea, 4

37

The MT reads You gave him as food for the people, to the wild beasts, but a slight emendation makes sense of the verse; see Kraus, Psalms 60-150, 96 f.14n
28

27

This interpretation suggests that !ynt be read for ~ynt in both passages. This appears to solve the problem of interpretation, since jackals does not make sense in either context I am against you Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great jackals lying in the midst of your streams (Ezk 29:3); You are like jackals in the seas (Ezk 32:2) For a detailed discussion of the connection between the chaos monsters and nations hostile to Israel, see Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea, 88-140
39 38

Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea, 6-7

K. Spronk, Rahab, pp. 684-686 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 684
30

29

Smith, The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1, 21-22

Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea, 39

Loren R. Fisher, Genesis: A Royal Epic (Second Edition; Eugene: Cascade, 2011), 225-226. Also informative on the issue is Ellen Van Wolde, Why the Verb arb Does Not Mean To Create In Genesis 1.1-2.4a, pp. 3-23 in Journal of the Study of the Old Testament 34 (Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2009) Dennis J. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and in the Old Testament (Analecta Biblica 21A; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1981), 32 Kathryn Schifferdecker, Out of the Whirlwind: Creation Theology in the Book of Job (Harvard Theological Studies 61; Cambridge: Harvard University, 2008), 172-174
33 32

31

Susan Niditch, Ancient Israelite Religion (New York: Oxford, 1997), 62

41

40

John D.W. Watts, Isaiah 1-33 (Revised Edition; Word Biblical Commentary 24; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 409

Translation based on the work of Smith in The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1, 22

43

42

Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith, Stories from Ancient Canaan (Second Edition; Louisville: John Knox, 2012), 3 Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, xxii Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, 1

44

45

16

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

46

Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, 29, 35

47

Coogan and Smith, Stories from Ancient Canaan, 97

Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 260-261 Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 263-264 W.G.E. Watson, Fire, pp. 332-333 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 32 Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 253-258
64 63 62 61

60

Coogan and Smith, Stories from Ancient Canaan, 97-99

49

48

Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea, 4

This may not be the case, however. According to Pettinato, Baal originated as a personal name with no connection to the adjective Baal meaning Lord. Furthermore, Baal and Hadad may have been conflated in the second millennium BCE; see W. Herrmann, Baal, pp. 132-139 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 132
51

50

Day, Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea, 10

65

Coogan and Smith, Stories from Ancient Canaan, 102

Smith, The Early History of God, 94

Translation based on the work of Smith and Pitard in The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 81 Translation based on the work of Smith and Pitard in The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 84 Translation based on the work of Smith and Pitard in The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 204
55 54 53

52

See Days discussion of Mount Zaphon in Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000), 107-116 Translation based on the work of Smith and Pitard in The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 82
68 67

66

David Novak, Jewish Eschatology, pp. 113131 in The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology (ed. J.L. Walls; Oxford: Oxford University, 2008), 115

Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 247

Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 248 Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 250-251 Translation based on the work of Smith and Pitard in The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 252 Smith and Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, 259
59 58 57

56

Stephanie Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford: Oxford University, 2000), 229-230 Wayne Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 109
71 70

69

Ibid. Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 111 Ibid.

72

73

17

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

T. Abusch, Marduk, pp. 543-549 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 543 Thorkild Jacobsen, The Battle of Marduk and Timat, pp. 104-108 in Journal of the American Oriental Society 88.1 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1968), 105
76 75

74

Green, The Storm God in the Ancient Near East, 43-44 Fumi Karahashi, Fighting the Mountain: Some Observations on the Sumerian Myths of Inanna and Ninurta, pp. 111-118 in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 63.2 (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2004), 118
90 89

88

Smith, The Early History of God, 97

Karahashi, Fighting the Mountain, 112

91

Translation based on the work of Stephanie Dalley in Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 251
78

77

J. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi, The Literature of Ancient Sumer (New York: Oxford University, 2004), 181 Black et al., The Literature of Ancient Sumer, 183 Ibid. Cunningham, Deliver Me from Evil, 92-93

92

G. Cunningham, Deliver Me from Evil: Mesopotamian Incantations, 2500-1500 B.C. (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1997), 92 Cunningham, Deliver Me from Evil, 92-93

93 94

79

Translation based on the work of Dalley in Myths from Mesopotamia, 255 Translation based on the work of Horowitz in Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 114-115 Frans Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts (Cuneiform Monographs 1; Groningen: Styx, 1992), 164
83 82 81

80

C. Uehlinger, Leviathan, pp. 511-515 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 512
96

95

Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits, 155

Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 23 Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 35

A. Westenholz, Old Akkadian School Texts: Some Goals of Sargonic Scribal Education, pp. 95-110 in Archiv Fr Orientforschung 25 (Horn: Ferdinand Berger und Shne, 1974), 102 J.V. Kinnier Wilson, The Rebel Lands: An Investigation into the Origins of Early Mesopotamian Mythology (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 29; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1979), 17 Frans Wiggermann, Scenes from the Shadow Side, pp. 207-220 in Mesopotamian Poetic Language: Sumerian and Akkadian (ed. M.E. Vogelzang and H.L.J. Vantiphout; Cuneiform Monographs 6; Groningen: Styx, 1996), 211
99 98

97

84

See A. Greens discussion of Mesopotamian storm gods in The Storm God in the Ancient Near East (Biblical and Judaic Studies 8; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 34-88
86

85

Green, The Storm God in the Ancient Near East, 42 Green, The Storm God in the Ancient Near East, 43

87

18

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

100

Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits, 155

101

Coogan and Smith, Stories from Ancient Canaan, 104-105

19

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea Bibliography Abusch, T. 1999 Marduk, pp. 543-549 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) Barton, John 2012 The Theology of the Book of Amos (Cambridge: Cambridge University) Black, J., Cunningham G., Robson, E., and Zlyomi, G. 2004 The Literature of Ancient Sumer (New York: Oxford University) Coogan, Michael D. and Smith, Mark S. 2012 Stories from Ancient Canaan (Second Edition; Louisville: John Knox) Cunningham, G. 1997 Deliver Me from Evil: Mesopotamian Incantations, 2500-1500 B.C. (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico) Dalley, S. 2000 Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford: Oxford University) Day, John 2000 Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic) 1992 Leviathan, pp. 295-296 in The Anchor Bible Dictionary IV (ed. D.N. Freedman; New York: Doubleday) Gods Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea: Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament (Cambridge: University of Cambridge) Fisher, Loren R. 2011 Genesis: A Royal Epic (Second Edition; Eugene: Cascade) Green, A. 2003 The Storm God in the Ancient Near East (Biblical and Judaic Studies 8; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns) Heider, G.C. 1999 Tannin, pp. 834-836 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) Herrmann, W. 1999 Baal, pp. 132-139 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) Horowitz, Wayne 1998 Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns) Jacobsen, Thorkild 1968 The Battle of Marduk and Tiamat, pp. 104-108 in Journal of the American Oriental Society 88.1 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan) Karahashi, Fumi 2004 Fighting the Mountain: Some Observations on the Sumerian Myths of Inanna and Ninurta, pp. 111-118 in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 63.2 (Chicago: University of Chicago) Kraus, Hans-Joachim 1993 Psalms 1-59: A Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress)

1985

20

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

1993

Psalms 60-150: A Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress)

Studies 61; Cambridge: Harvard University) Smith, Mark S. 2010 The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress) 2002 The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Second Edition; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume I (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 55; Leiden: Brill)

McCarthy, Dennis J. 1981 Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and in the Old Testament (Analecta Biblica 21A; Rome: Biblical Institute) Mills, Donald H. 2003 The Hero and the Sea: Patterns of Chaos in Ancient Myth (Wauconda: BolchazyCarducci) Niditch, Susan 1997 Ancient Israelite Religion (New York: Oxford) Niehr, Herbert 2010 Israelite Religion and Canaanite Religion, pp. 23-36 in Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah (ed. F. Stavrakopoulou and J. Barton; New York: T & T Clark) Novak, David 2008 Jewish Eschatology, pp. 113-131 in The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology (ed. J.L. Walls; Oxford: Oxford University) Sarna, Nahum M. 1989 Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with New JPS Translation (New York: Jewish Publication Society) Saur, Markus 2010 Ezekiel 26 and the History of Tyre, pp. 208-221 in Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 24.2 (Oslo: Taylor & Francis) Schifferdecker, Kathryn 2008 Out of the Whirlwind: Creation Theology in the Book of Job (Harvard Theological 21

1994

Smith, Mark S. and Pitard, Wayne T. 2009 The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 114; Leiden: Brill) Spronk, K. 1999 Rahab, pp. 684-686 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) Tate, Marvin E. 1990 Psalms 51-100 (Word Biblical Commentary 20; Dallas: Word Books) Uehlinger, C. 1999 Leviathan, pp. 511-515 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) Van Wolde, Ellen 2009 Why the Verb arb Does Not Mean To Create In Genesis 1.1-2.4a, pp. 3-23 in Journal of the Study of the Old Testament 34 (Thousand Oaks: SAGE)

SARLO The Storm God Versus the Sea

Walton, John H. 2006 Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducting the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic) Watson, W.G.E. 1999 Fire, pp. 332-333 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Second Edition; ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P.W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) Watts, John D.W. 2005 Isaiah 1-33 (Revised Edition; Word Biblical Commentary 24; Nashville: Thomas Nelson) Westenholz, A. 1974 Old Akkadian School Texts: Some Goals of Sargonic Scribal Education, pp. 95-110 in Archiv Fr Orientforschung 25 (Horn: Ferdinand Berger und Shne) Wiggermann, Frans 1996 Scenes from the Shadow Side, pp. 207-220 in Mesopotamian Poetic Language: Sumerian and Akkadian (ed. M.E. Vogelzang and H.L.J. Vantiphout; Cuneiform Monographs 6; Groningen: Styx) 1992 Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts (Cuneiform Monographs 1; Groningen: Styx)

Wilson, J.V. Kinnier 1979 The Rebel Lands: An Investigation into the Origins of Early Mesopotamian Mythology (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 29; Cambridge: Cambridge University)

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