New Light on the Mythological Background of the Allusion to Resheph in Habakkuk III 5

Author(s): John Day

Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 29, Fasc. 3 (Jul., 1979), pp. 353-355
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1518105
Accessed: 02-02-2016 06:08 UTC
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SHORT NOTES

353

vaneenAssyrioloog
by Ezechiel (Leyde, 1965);
5) R. Frankena,Kanttekeningen
cf. L. Cagni,ThePoemofErra(Malibu,1977),p. 61,n. 169.
du Proche-Orient
6) Traductionde R. Labat, Les religions
asiatique(Paris,1970),
p. 131. L. Cagni,L'epopeadi Erra (Rome, 1969), p. 111, traduit,,perchecara al
sua squardo",en lisantinaa-qarpa-ni-fu
au lieude inaA-GARpa-ni-u.
7) Cagni,1969,p. 231; 1977,p. 51, n. 126.
8) Cagni,1969,p. 230.
9) Chez les Samaritainscette traditionsubit une nouvelle metamorphose:
d'apres leur traditionc'est le mont Garizim qui fut exceptedu Deluge, voir
Heinemann,1974,pp. 95-6,et 1977,p. 61 ou il ecrit:,,ItfollowsthattheSamaritans adapted an old Jewishtradition,which referredto the Land of Israel in
in particularto theirown use, transferring
it to Mount
generaland to Jerusalem
Gerizim".Nous avons donc troisstadesdans la transmission
de laditetradition:
babylonien,juifet samaritain.

NEW LIGHT ON THE MYTHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

OF THE ALLUSION TO RESHEPH
IN HABAKKUK III 5
Hab. iii 3-15 depictsYahweh's comingup fromthe southin a
and engagingvictoriously
glorioustheophanyin a thunder-storm
in conflict
withthecosmicsea, whichrepresents
Yahweh'senemies
on the historical
The
of
this
plane.
background
passagein the Canaanitemythof Baal's conflict
withthesea or dragonis now genera
in v. 8 to the
view
ally accepted1),
supportedby the reference
as
"sea"
and
"Sea"
"rivers"
(ydm)
enemy
(cf.
(nehdrim)
(ym) and
"JudgeRiver(tptnhr),thenamesof Baal's opponentin theUgaritic
mythin CTA 2), and by the allusionto Yahweh's"sevenarrows"
oflightning
in v. 9 (readingsib'atmattot
forM.T. e_bi'ot
commattot)
to
Baal's
a
seven
first
the
noted
parable
by present
lightnings,parallel
writerin an earlierarticlein thisjournal2).
A further
indicationof the Canaanitebackgroundof theimagery
in Hab. iii is providedby v. 5, wherewe read lepanayw
yelekdeber
"Before him went Pestilence,and Plague went
weyjsP'resepleraglayw,

forthbehindhim." Pestilence(deber)and Plague (resep)are here

and behindthelattertherecertainly
lies the Caclearlypersonified
naaniteplaguegod Resheph.On thebasisofthisone couldtherefore
thatthegod Reshephplayeda partin Baal's conflict
with
conjecture
the sea or dragonin the Canaanitemythunderlying
Hab. iii. It is
therefore
that,in spiteof thevast amountthathas been
surprising
written
aboutResheph3), it has hitherto
unnoticed(so far
remained
as I am aware)thatwe do in factpossessa Ugaritictextalludingto
VetusTestamentum,
Vol. XXIX, Fasc. 3
23

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354

SHORT NOTES

themythology
Hab. iii 5 in whichReshephparticipates
underlying
Baal
in
the
conflict
withthedragon.The textin question
alongside
is UT 1001 (= PRU II, 1 (RS 15.134)), lines 1-3. Unfortunately
thetabletis largelyfragmentary
andobscure,andlines1-3themselves
are notfreeof problems,
but enoughis clearto makeit certainthat
the god Reshephis represented
alongsideBaal in his conflictwith
thedragon.The textreadsas follows:
'[ ]
(1)[ ]mhs.b'l[ ]y. tnn.wygl.wynsk.
(2) [ y. l'ars[ ly. 'alt. l'ah. 'idy.'alt. 'in ly
(3) [ ]t. b'l.

. rip. b-. km.yr. klyth.wlbh

(1) Baal smote ... the dragon and rejoiced and poured out ...
(2) ... on the earth... throne... I have no throne
(3) ... the archer4) Resheph... shot his kidneysand his heart5).

In thisUgaritictextwe havean allusionto theCanaanitemythology whichwas to be takenup perhapssome sevenhundredyears

laterby thePsalmof Habakkuk,in whichlatter,however,Resheph
is demotedto the role of a sort of demon in the heavenlyescort
not of Baal, but of Yahweh,as he setsforthto do battlewiththe
turbulent
sea.
Durham

JohnDay

Postscript
The recentlypublishedvolumeby W. J. Fulco, TheCanaanite
godReSep(New
Haven, 1976), which came to my notice only afterthe above articlehad been
submitted,fails to note the parallelto which I have just drawnattention.In
of its subject.
general,however,it is to be commendedas a finetreatment
1) The view of W. A. Irwin,"The Psalm of Habakkuk",JNES 1 (1942), pp.
10-40,and "The mythological
backgroundof Habakkuk,chapteriii",JNES 15
(1956), pp. 47-50,thatHab. iii has its moreimmediatebackgroundin theBabylonian Marduk-Tiamatconflictof the Enuma elish is now generallyrejected.
in Psalmxxixand Habakand lightnings
2) "Echoes of Baal's seven thunders
kukiii 9 and theidentityof theseraphimin Isaiah vi", VT 29 (1979), pp. 14351, esp. pp. 146-7.
Biblica 7 (1976), col. 441
3) S. E. Loewenstamm,"Resheph", Encyclopaedia
over thirty
itemsrelatingto thisgod, and
(in Hebrew),citesin his bibliography
to this the readeris directed.Among Loewenstamm'smore importantomissions one maynote G. R. Driver,"Ugariticproblems",in S. Segert(ed.), Studia
Semiticaphilologica
necnon
loanniBakol dicata(Bratislava,1965), pp.
philosophica
nella Bibbia", Bibbiae Oriente13 (1971),
96-8, A. van den Branden, RRedeph,
AlterOrientundHellas; FragenderBeeinflussing
pp. 211-25,and M. K. Schretter,
ausaltorientalischenQuellen,
andenGottern
griechischen
Gedankengutes
dargestellt
Nergal,
Sonderheft
Rescheph,
Apollon(InnsbruckerBeitragezur Kulturwissenschaft,
33,
Innsbruck,1974).

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SHORT NOTES

355

in ancientPalestineand Phoenicia",
4) S. Iwry,"New evidenceforbelomancy
andtheGodsofCaJAOS 81 (1961), p. 31, followedby W. F. Albright,Yahweh
naan (London, 1968), p. 121, prefersto renderbCl. . rip as "the lord of good
fortune
Resheph" ratherthan "the archer(lit. the lord of the arrow)Resheph
he understands
thecomparablerlp .sas "Reshephofgood fortune"
(and similarly
ratherthan"Reshephof thearrow",an expressionwhichoccursin a Phoenician
fromCyprus,cf.H. Donnerand W. Rollig,KAI I (Wiesbaden,1966),
inscription
no. 32.3 and 4). However,he has been convincingly
refutedby D. Conrad,"Der
Gott Reschef",ZAW 83 (1971), pp. 172-3,who points out thatthe meaning
"good fortune",unlike the meaning "arrow", is never certainlyattestedin
Ugariticfort., and thatReshephis severaltimesdepictedas an archerin Syrian
iconography(cf. P. Matthiae,"Note sul dio sirianoResef", OriensAntiquus2
[1963], pp. 32-7,and plate XIV). Cf. baCale hi.ssm"archers"in Gen. xlix 23.
5) P. J. van Zijl, "Translationand Discussionof Text 1001 :1-2 (RS 15.134:
1-2)" and "Translationand Discussion of Text 1001: 3-5a (RS 15.134 : 3-5a)",
2 (1972),pp. 74-85,and 3 (1974),pp. 85-93,
Semitic
Journal
Languages
ofNorthwest
offersa translationof thispassage involvinga ratherspeculativerestoration
of
thetext.Thereis no need to discussall van Zijl's suggestionsheresincetheyare
to the mainpointof thepresentarticle.However,it shouldbe noted
immaterial
thatin line 3 he reads[ rp]t.b'l. bg. rsp.b-. km.yr.klyth.wlbh,whichhe renders
"The cloud of Baal is thearrowof Resep,like rainis his kidneysand his heart"
(III, pp. 85-90). Apart fromthe generaloddness of this renderingit may be
[ rp]t "cloud" is entirelyspeculative,and
argued againstit thatthe restoration
thatsincethemostnaturaltranslation
of bC. b. rip is "the archerResheph"(cf.
n. 4 above), it is difficult
to denythe meaning"shot" to yr, especiallysince it
occurselsewherein Ugariticwiththismeaning(cf.CTA 23.38).

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS:
A CONSIDERATION OF SOME QUESTIONS
RAISED BY M. P. WEITZMAN
Michael Weitzman'scarefulreviewof my book, Principles
and

27 [1977], pp. 225-35),

Practiceof TextualAnalysis(Vetus Testamentum

to twomatters
ofsomeimportance
callsattention
thatI did
indirectly
not discussthere.
1. How to testa methodoftextualcriticism.
A methodconsistsof a theoryand a praxis,whichmustbe tested
its conformity
to the
The praxisis testedby examining
separately.
The theory
is testedbyexamining
thetruth,
rulesoflogicaldeduction.
of its
elegance,or othercharacteristics
probability,
indispensability,
can be carriedoutwithout
Suchexaminations
axiomsand corollaries.
posing problemsfor solution by the method,but devisingor under-

standinga methodusuallyentailsat leastsomeand oftena greatdeal

of workwithhypothetical
or realproblems.Suchproblemstestthe
praxisiftheyreston thesameaxioms,otherwise
theytestthetheory.
VetusTestamentum,
Vol. XXIX, Fasc. 3

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