A Ugaritic Psalm (RŠ 24.

252)
Author(s): B. Margulis
Source: Journal of Biblical Literature , Sep., 1970, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Sep., 1970), pp. 292-304
Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature

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 A UGARITIC PSALM (RS 24.252)
B. MARGULIS

HAIFA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, HAIFA, ISRAEL

T HE relevance and significance of Ugaritic literature for biblical

studies has been newly demonstrated by the publication of the
long-awaited Ugaritica V.' Though hardly comparable to the, by now
classic, epic compositions of Baal, Aqhat, and Keret, the collection of
fourteen texts in alphabetic cuneiform ably edited by Virolleaud and
associates2 promises to advance considerably our understanding of both
the Ugaritic and OT literatures and to deepen our appreciation of their
mutual interdependence.3
The present paper deals with the second of the fourteen texts (RS
24.252) in Virolleaud's editio princeps.4 The text is heavily damaged,
though in a manner which does not preclude a linguistic and form-
critical interpretation. What it lacks in size and artistic stature is of
little account in view of the interest that it holds for the student of the
Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East.

I. Recto

TEXT

. .. h]n - yst rpu mlk clm 4

wyXt 2[il?] gtr +3

wyqr il ytb bcttrt 4

il tpt bhdrcy +3

dyfr wydmr 4bknr wtlb 4

btp (b)m}ltm 5(w)mrqdm +3
dln bhbr ktr tbm 4
6wtgt Cnt gtr +3
belt mik bclt 7drkt 4
bClt smm rmm +3

C. F. A. Schaeffer et al., Ugariti

2 Ibid., pp. 545 ff. For purposes
liberty of restructuring the text in
3 See esp. the papers by Loewen
(hereafter: UF 1), 1969; and the p
UF, 2 (1970), forthcoming.
4 This text was the subject of a
Fifth World Congress of Jewish S
which has appeared in the Hebre
further R. Borger, UF, 1 (1969),
292

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 MARGULIS: A UGARITIC PSALM 293

TRANSLATION

... Beh]old' (the) Rapha,2 king eternal,3 imbibes,

[the god ?] drinks g!r4;
While the Honor of E15 sits (enthroned) in Ashtaroth
El rules in Edrei.6
They sing7 to (the music of) lyre8 and lute (?),9
of timbrel, cymbals,10 and castanets.11
Koshar12 pours13 spirits14 from the vat,15
Anat drinks gtr
(Anat -) possessor of rule16 and dominion
Mistress of the lofty heavens.17

NOTES

1 ...h]n: Virolleaud restores [aph]n. But while there may be ro

this reading (cf. however Borger, UF, 1, 3; de Moor, ibid., p. 176
inconsistent with the rhythm pattern of the verse which, as
requires that the restoration constitute a sub-stress unit, a c
fulfilled only by a "monosyllabic" word.

2 rpu : "(the) Rapha"; cf. II Sam 21 16, 18 (=I Chron 20 4, 6), Ug.
(epithet of the king-hero Danel). For the implications and ove
nificance, cf. Comment 2 below.

3 mlk im : OT ni(i7) 'ln (Jer 10 10; Ps 29 10), variant lVY X

21 33; Proto-Sinaitic Text 358 [Albright, Harvard Theological
22 (1969), p. 24; Cross, HTR, 55 (1962), pp. 236 ff.]). The app
in this case however is with (the) Rapha, not El (who has not yet
introduced). Cf. also II Sam 7 i7b (spoken, it will be noted, of an
dynasty).

4 g_tr: Precise meaning and etymology uncertain. That a be

probably fermented - is intended (cf. Loewenstamm, op. cit.)
clearly from verse 4 (text-line 6) where Anat drinks gtr (note the
line form!) consequent to Koshar's dispensing (/dSn) from t
(tbr). One may hazard the suggestion that the word is cogna
(the admittedly obscure) OT ei} which occurs in parallelism
nKi:an (Deut 33 14), denoting a type of grain. Virolleaud's int
tion (followed by de Moor) "fort," cognate with Akk. gaYru,
on faulty stichometry.

6 yqr il : "the Honor/Glory (late OT Hebrew and Aramaic ijr

corresponding to OT ;nm; 'n:a:. For the far-reaching implicat
Comment 3 below.

6 ytb bcttrt... tpt bhdrcy: Cf. Josh 12 4 where (mutatis mutandis) the
identical "formula" (cf. Deut 1 4; Josh 9 lo, 13 12) occurs and in a con-

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294 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

nection (Og, remnant of the Rephaim) suggesting the possibility of

direct dependence. For the metonymous use of v/ytb and Vspt for x/mlk,
cf. Amos 1 8, 2 3 (=formulaic variants). As for the orthography hdrcy
(OT Edrei, modern Derca), I suggest that we are confronted either with
variant phonetic realizations of the initial (prosthetic?) phoneme or
with a scribal error( E / ). cttrt is OT Ashtaroth, EA astarti
(Astour, JNES, 27 (1968), pp. 13-36 whose interpretation of mlk b cttrt
(RS 24.251) is probably wrong, however: render " 'Moloch' son of
Astarte").
7 dysr wydmr : Corresponding to the OT hendiadys x/s(y)r-V/zmr (e.g.,
Ps 27 6). The relative pronoun d- which has been deleted in transla-
tion elegentiae causa -is here employed conjunctionally: cf., e.g., UM
Krt:150 dbhlmy (parallel text, line 35: wbhlmy) il ytn "For in my dream
El has given (WUS, no. 716)"; UM cnt:V:11-12 dl ytn bt Ibcl kilm "No
house hath Baal like the gods" (ANET, 137). Additional references in
WUS, ibid.

8... wydmr bknr ... For the idiomatic parallel in OT Hebrew cf.
Pss 71 22, 98 5, 147 7, 149 3.
9 tlb : a hitherto unidentified instrument. On the basis of the OT evi-
dence - e.g., I Sam 10 5 1nn1 't7n lnl ~:; I Kings 10 12 rnV11
rnv1? t2l' - the choice seems to lie between 5r;n "flute" and :al
"lute," with slight preference to the latter.

10 tp ... msltm : OT anr:_a- nh. Previously in Ugaritic in UM Cnt:I:19.

The emendation - transposition of the particle prefixes in the second
and third vocables - offers a considerably smoother text at little cost.

11 mrqdm: A suggested *maqtal formation (Ges.-K. § 85g) of vrqd+

m dualis; cf. Heb. r,n>S (Ug. msltm); r:jnp7 "thongs."
The restoration of UM Aqht 188-89 (WUS, no. 2318, following
Virolleaud) ms]ltm mrqdm ... is now certain. The instrument designated
mrqdm is perhaps to be identified with OT (II Sam 6 5) Q :::'1?, Latin
sistrum (cf. Bayer, Encyclopedia Miqra~it [Hebrew] V, 766; IDB, 3,
p. 471; Sachs, History of Musical Instruments [1940], p. 121). The
singular form is perhaps to be restored in UM 125:41-42 (apud Herdner,
Corpus, 72) qb [t]pk byd // [m]r[qd]k bm ymn "Take thy timbrel with the
(left-)hand5 // thy [ca]s[tanets] in the right(-hand)." The following com-
ment by Sachs, op. cit., p. 123, is worth noting in this connection:
"... small cymbals in one hand occur... in two forms; either attached
to the thumb and middlefinger of dancers and played in the manner of
castanets or ...." Cf. also Hartmann, Die Musik der sumerischen Kultur
(1960), pp. 37, 331.

5 Cf. Dahood, VTSuppl, 16 (1967), pp. 44-6 (and literature ibid.).

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 MARGULIS: A UGARITIC PSALM 295

12 ktr: Alias ktr-w-hss, Master of Crafts, here in the rl6e

Butler and bartender.

13 dsn: OT Heb. hti "lubricate (i.e., moisten with fatty liquid)"

e.g., Num 4 13; Ps 23 5; Prov 15 30-nominal ]jr=1) [animal] fat
(Lev 1 16; I Kings 13 3, etc.); oil (Judg 9 ); 2) drink (in connection
with banqueting): Isa 55 2b, "delight your palate (Vnps, literally
"throat") with drink (dsn)"; Jer 31 14 "I shall fill the mouth (/nps) of
the priest with drink (dsn), and my people will be sated with my bounty
(vtb !)." The essentially liquid character and connotation of nominal
dsn may be seen from its predication by V/rwy (Jer 31 14), /spk (Lev
4 12; I Kings 13 3, 5), and /rcp (Ps 65 12; cf. Deut 33 28).

14 tbm : Literally "good thing(s); goodness (Heb. to/ub)." For usage

apropos of food, etc., cf. Isa 1 9; Ps 65 5; and esp. Isa 55 2; Jer 31 14
(supra, note 13) where to/ub occurs in parallelism with dsn. Cf. further
Ug. yn tb. On OT t8/uib, see now Mannati, VT, 19 (1969), pp. 488-93.

15 bhbr :=b "from (out of)"+hbr "barrel, vat" (WUS, no. 896). Cf.
UM 52:76 whbrh mla yn, "and his barrel is full of wine"; Akk. huzburu(m)
-AHw, 352a; CAD, vol. 6, s.v. A possible OT reflex is bet heber (Prov
21 9, 25 24) "tavern" (literally, "house of vat"). There appear to be no
compelling grounds however for assuming with Albright (VTSuppl, 3
[1955/1960], pp. 10-12; The Bible and the Ancient Near East [Anchor
ed.], 482 f.) a connection with Ugaritic (UM Krt 82) bt hbr (=Akk. bit
hiburni, AHw, 344b; cf. however CAD, s.v.) "granary." For the highly
problematic smn sswn mhbryk in Ps 45 8 (RSV: "with oil of gladness
above your fellows") we ought possibly to read smn swsn(m) mhbry (mr)
"oil of lilies/roses from vats (of myrrh)."

16 mlk: Literally, "kingship"; cf. Num 24 7 (cf. Albright, JBL, 63

[1944], pp. 207-33). The fixed pair mlk-drkt is elsewhere attested in
Ugaritic (e.g., Krt: 41-43).

17 smm rmm : Hitherto known from Phoenician inscriptions as designat-

ing one of the three districts of Sidon (Hoftijzer-Jean, Dictionnaire,
308). Note may be taken of the idiomatic parallel in Prov 25 3; and with
"stars" substituted for "heavens," Job 22 12 (cf. "heavens" in hemi-
stich A).

I I. Verso

TEXT

... ]ik rpu mlk 5[clm] 4

? ... ]k lttk lirst[k +3

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296 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

6b .. ] rpi mlk lm 4
bcz 7rpi mik ilm +4
bdmrh 8bl[iah]2 +4
bhtkh bnmrth \2
91r[pi] ar7 czk 3
dmrk lOl[i]ak htkk +3

nmrtk btk 1lugrt 3

lymt SpS wyrj +3
12wncmt 3nt iI +3

TRANSLATION

...].. Rapha, [eternal] king

to? ... ] thy [... ], to thy lady(?),1 to thy betrothed2
With (the)? ... ] of (the) Rapha, eternal king
With the strength of (the) Rapha, eternal king
With his protection,3 with [his powe]r4
With his patronage,5 with his (glowing-)presence.6

To the Raphaites of the land7 thy strength

Thy protection, thy power, thy patronage;
(May) thy (glowing-)presence8 (be) in the midst of9 Ugarit
for (all) the days10 of the sun and the moon1l
and (for all) the good yearsl2 of El.13

NOTES

1 Itstk :=l+tst+-k. The word tst may be derived from \/st(t),

case it is either 1) a by-form of St, "lady" (WUS, no. 2704; UM
1902), analogous to ]n-lrnl; n-.:-nI:'; - I-nrm)';
scribal error for lst(t?)k. Of the two possibilities, the former is
An interpretation based on verbal vsyt "place, set" must be re
syntactic grounds, in that the context admits at this point on
or noun-equivalent.

2 irstk : vrs (Akk. eresu [AHw, 239], Heb. t =K D (=rg/s) "re

sire." For the meaning "betroth(en)," cf. Akk. erisu (AHw,
ftre (Hos 3 21 f.), MHeb. (l)o(l)n. If this interpretation be
we have here a clue to the probable sitz im leben of the text,
(ritual) marriage (hieros gamos) of the divine/semi-divine a
mous Rapha. This interpretation can help to explain as well the
of the hymnic verso and the narrative recto, viz., a wedding fea
by the divine pantheon.

3 bz ... bdmrh : A hendiadys known from Exod 15 2 (=Isa

118 14) (nrl;) []ntlnn "'T (LXX f3or]o0s KaL aKE7raTar,s [Ex

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 MARGULIS: A UGARITIC PSALM 297

cf. UT Supplement, p. 551; Gr6ndahl, Personennamen, p. 197; d

Loewenstamm, VT, 19 (1969), pp. 464-70.
4 bl[iah] : Cf. the parallel-text l[i]ak below. The root is the we
VlPy (UT Glossary 1342; WUS, no. 1430) "to be strong; pre
aliyn bcl "Puissant Baal" [Ginsberg, ANET]), with assimilat
Ill-weak radical (cf. tluan < *t(a)l(u)w/y(a)n(u) [Krt:33]). Cf
Dahood, Biblica, 47 (1966), p. 408.
5 htkh :=htk+h. WUS (no. 985) renders "Gebieter, Vater"
(UM Glossary 672) and Pope (JBL, 85 (1966), p. 465), "fathe
This term may be significant evidence for the Rapha as ep
ancestor and patron of a military order known as the rpi a
yelide ha-rapha). See further below, Comment 2.

6 nmrth : Virolleaud and de Moor cite Akk. namur(ra)tu "6cla

deur" (de Moor [=AHw, 730] "terror-inspiring splendour"
also Akk. namartu (<amaru "to see") ilim (AHw, 725b "Ersc
which is contextually more appropriate (cf. below, lines 10 f.)

7 lr[pi]6 ars : Cf. UM 128:111:14 mid rm krt btk rpi ar, whic
2527) renders "... unter den Fiirsten des Landes." The rpum
submitted, are to be seen as an order or brotherhood of knigh
known for their giant physical proportions and under the pa
the mythical-chthonic rpum/Rephaim, themselves a (myt
fraternity of skilled warriors. See further below, Comment 2

8 czk . . .nmrtk : Corresponding to cz (rpi) ... dmrh ... nm

preceding strophe. It is this type of mechanical repetition
the stereotyped rpu mlk >ilm is another instance -which
indicate the basically nonliterary, ritual-incantational nat
composition, esp. in the verso. (The recto has a moderate spri
epic-literary features; cf. below Comment 1.) Just such a type
tion, it may be noted, characterizes inter alia Pss 29 (vss. 1-2; c
51 [1970] op. cit.); 24 7-10; 103 1-2, 20-22); 114 --11; 118 2-4
135 19 f.; 136 (passim); 146 7b-9a; 148 1-5, 7, 13; 150.

9 btk: Heb. Jpln (so Virolleaud; Loewenstamm reads l

house"). Cf. the OT idiom Vskn betok (Exod 29 45; I Kings
2 14 f.; and esp. Zech 8 3), variant vkbd/Vqds betok (e.g.,
Ezek 28 22).
10 lymt :=l+ym "day"+t pluralis, attested for the first tim
form in Ugaritic (hitherto : ym(m) =(two) day(s) - WUS,
OT nw (Deut 32 7; Ps 90 15; note status constructus) versu
(n)m,. See further below, note 12.

6 So independently R. Borger, UF, 1 (1969), p. 4.

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298 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

11 sps wyrh : Paratactical usage of a fixed pair (e.g., Josh 10 12 f.; Ps

72 5, 104 19; Hab 3 11 [text emend.; cf. ZAW, 82 (1970), no. 3]) as in
Joel 2 0o (=4 15); Ps 148 3; fuller listing of the traditional pair sms/yrh,
"sun/moon," in S. Gevirtz, Patterns in the Early Poetry of Israel (1963),
p. 49, n. 2.

12 ncmt snt : Vncm, Heb. t(i)wy (cf. WUS, 1806): cf. Gen 49 15 (// n:).
The precise syntactical relationship depends on whether one sees ncmt
as an abstract noun (WUS, s.v.: Lieblichkeit) or as modifying snt. Re
the latter term, cf. OT ni3v =plural construct, versus Z'W (Ug. snm?) =
plural absolute/rectus, rarely construct (e.g., the fixed idiom .. . .n ,w).
ym-snt, Heb. ;ivW-ns, esp. in their respective plural forms, are a
fixed pair in which Vym is consistently the A-word and V/snt the B-word
(e.g., UT 1019:4-5; Deut 32 7; Ps 77 6, 90 15; Job 10 5. On the termi-
nology A-word/B-word, cf. M. Held, in R. Boling, JSS, 5 (1960),
pp. 223 ff.). This is sufficient to rule out the possibility of snt ( <ysn) =
(Heb.) m;rt "sleep" [Krt:33]) in this context.
13 (Snt) il : "(the years) of El" or "of the god," with decided preference
to the former in view of Canaanite-Hebrew Del colam (cf. supra, I, Recto,
note 3). For it is obvious that the thrust of the imagery here is the idea
of eternity, symbolized by the superannuated head of the pantheon as
well as by the main steller luminaries: cf. Karatepe Inscription, III,
lines 18 f. : bcl smm wl qn 'rs wsms 'lm, and IV, lines 2 f. : sm 'ztwd ykn
lclm km smr -s wyr~. In the OT, cf. Ps 89 37 f. (Eng. 36 f.): "His line shall
endure for ever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon
it shall be established for ever, eternal as the sky [reading waded kassazaaq]
it shall stand firm."

COMMENT

1. Meter and Style

The dominant rhythm pattern ("meter"), covering all of th

served) recto and extending into the verso, is the (4+3) coup
strophe division occurs in the verso, a division indicated by t
from a (4+3) couplet to a (4+4) triplet and by the initiation of a
(3+3) "epic" pattern in the continuation. The termination of the
composition is signaled rhythmically by a tristichic verse.
The parallelisms are mostly of the formal ("complementary") type.
Synonymous parallelism occurs in verse 2 (text-lines 2-3) of the recto,
while repetitive parallelism is found in verses 1 and 5 (text-lines 1-2;
6-7). Synonymous parallelism also occurs in the two instances of "in-
ternal" parallelism (recto: 6b-7; verso: 7b-8).
Excepting a number of vivid lines in the recto - especially in the

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 MARGULIS: A UGARITIC PSALM 299

A-position - the bulk of the text is influenced by the stiff,

repetitive and formulaic language of ritual incantation.
with the spirited RS 24.258 (=Virolleaud Text 1) is especially

2. The Rephaim - rpum

The text at hand sheds new and welcome light on this m
of Ugaritic - OT problems, one last studied in some dept
but with rather inconclusive results. Though the compl
subject clearly indicates treatment on a larger scale, we hop
to summarize within the scope and limits of this Comm
relevant data only part of which has been marshaled i
investigations- and the conclusions that now seem warrante

A. Various OT sources tell of a giant race of peoples repu

inhabited pre-Israelite Canaan in the second millenium B
Num 13 22 ff.; Deut 1 28, 9 12; Amos 1 9. Their respect
group identities are given as zuzzm (variant zamzummim
repacm, and possibly anaqim: e.g., Gen 14 5; Deut 2 10 ff.,
11 21 f., 14 12, 15. Of specific personages identified with t
with the group called repaim in particular - the most signi
present connection is the Amorite9 king of Transjordan
"the land of the Rephaim" (Deut 3 13) - "the last of the
(and) residing in Ashtaroth and Edrei" (Josh 12 4). Addition
for the affinity of the repaIm-tradition with Transjordan
name occurring in Egyptian sources as nw. rpi, identical wi
(I Macc.) Raphon, modern er-Rafeh; and in the probable Tra
origin of the Ugaritic epic hero Danel, whose stock epithet
*nt1 plu. 'nn, "man") rpi and who is otherwise linked to
tradition (UM 121 :II).I

B. The 13th cent. Papyrus Anastasi I - i.e., contempor

the hexateuchal conquest tradition - yields evidence tha
mentioned tradition of giants is not to be lightly dismissed
cession to popular belief."" In xxiii, 7 if. we read: "The narr
valley is dangerous with S3swI2.... Some of them are four or five

7 See my paper in UF, 1 (1970), forthcoming.

8 Syria, 37 (1960), pp. 75-93. See further Gray, The Legacy of Canaan (21965),
pp. 128-31; M. Pope, WdM I, pp. 304 f.; and the present writer's paper in Tarbiz,
39 (1969), pp. 6 f. (Hebrew, with Eng. summary).
9 Cf. Deut 4 47; Josh 2 10 (=9 10).
Io Aharoni, Land of the Bible (1966), p. 148; Albright, BASOR, 130 (1953), pp. 26 ff.
II Caquot, op. cit., p. 76.
I2 Generally rendered "Bedouin"; cf. Helck, VT, 18 (1968), pp. 477-79; idem,
Beziehungen . . ., pp. 278 f., 347 f.

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300 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

cubits ... and fierce of face."I3 This passage, whose setting is the vicinity
of the Esdraelon/Jordan valley and which reflects the firsthand expe-
rience of its author, can hardly fail to bring to mind the description of
the Canaanite population by the Israelite reconnaissance as "men of
great stature" (Num 13 33). The Hebrew phrase Danse midd6t recurs,
interestingly enough, in connection with the accounts of single combat
between David's "mighty (men)" and Philistine warriors of giant pro-
portions designated "offspring of the Rapha/rephaim."'4
An examination of the traditions of single combat found in I Sam
17; II Sam 21 15 ff. (=I Chron 20 4 ff.) and 23 8 ff. (=I Chron 11 1 ff.)
shows that the "offspring of the Rapha(im)" are professional warriors
-'isv milhama (I Sam 17); is mddon (II Sam 21 20 [Qere])--who
specialize in single combat (Dis benayy{m [I Sam 17 4]).15 The formularic
designation Dis+P (=military profession) recalls "West Akkadian"
(El-Amarna, Alalakh, Ugarit, etc.) amelu(tu) - variant sdbe- +P used
to denote military types.'6 In the same vein, one notes the Ugaritic
parallelism mtm-gzrm "men-heroes" that occurs in the so-called
Rephaim text (UM 124:6-7) as follows: tm ytbs sm-il mtm // yc(?)bs
brkn sm-il gzrm (4+4), "There do men pay homage (?) to Name-
of-El // (There do) heroes bow (?) the knee to Name-of-El." It is surely
in this manner, moreover, that one must interpret the stock epithet
of Danel mt rpi (Heb. * rn(;1) V'K) which occurs in parallelism with
gzr mt hrnmy.'7

C. The so-called Rephaim Texts (UM 121-24) are unfortunately

fragmentary and/or exegetically problematic. This much, however,
seems certain: on the mythic-literary level at least, the Ugaritic rpum

I3 Tr. Wilson, ANET2, pp. 475-79; Gardiner, Egyptian Hieratic Texts I, 1 (1911).
14 I Chron 11 23. The parallel text in II Sam 21 and the corresponding LXX
"read" (Qere) ,Imn v, - cf. also I Chron 12 9 - which is strikingly similar to Pap.
Anas. "fierce of face." The expression "man of stature" occurs in the Chron. passage
specifically in connection with one called ,is misrt, usually rendered "an Egyptian,"
the blandness of which is transparent. One ought perhaps to compare Ug. msry which
occurs alongside mryn and mdrilm, both species of military personnel. (Cf. however
Gr6ndahl, op. cit., p. 161). We note parenthetically that the orthography of rapa in
II Sam 21/23 is best explained (contra Willesen, JSS, 3 (1958), pp. 327-35) in terms
of the well-attested tendency of forms III-aleph to become III-he in "late" OT (and
Middle) Hebrew; e.g., Job 8 21 (/mlP > vmlh); Jer 49 10 (vhb' > vzbh); Siloam Inscr.,
line 4 (vqr' > qrh); and finally, Jer 3 22; Ps 60 4 (vrp: > vrph).
15 Cf. also neartm (II Sam 2 14 ff.) =Pap. Anas. I (xvii, 3-4) nearin.
x6 Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln (1915), 49 (Glossary no. 1371); Wiseman,
The Alalakh Tablets (1955), 134f., 138; O'Callaghan, in JFK, 1 (1951), 320. Note-
worthy in this connection is Rabin's suggestion (Eretz Israel 8, pp. 251 f.) that the
term Og is actually a titular meaning "man".
17 One notes parenthetically the possibility that EA amelutu/Sabe bilatu may be a
literal translation of Canaanite mt(m) rpi(m) in view of Akk. vblt which in the D-
formation means "heal, make well" (AHw, 99), Canaanite vrp'.

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 MARGULIS: A UGARITIC PSALM 301

are a band of divine or semi-divine (ilnym) chariot-warriors.'8

clusion is based on the reference to one of the members (rp
mhr (Pap. Anas. I: mahir), a Canaanite word meaning "soldi
like;'9 and on the telling passage in UM 121:11:2-4: t]asr ssw
d[ ] tcln Imrkbthm "They (=the rpum) harness the horses, team
the .... ;20 they mount their chariots." Accordingly, we should posit
rather than a "sacred guild ... dispenser(s) of fertility"2 -a (semi-)
divine guild of chariot-riding warriors akin to, if not identical with,
the mryn/maryannu.22
On the basis of this and other evidence (e.g., 12-11th cent. rp~ and
Cbdlbit inscriptions)23 one might have surmised that the Ug. rpi ars
(Heb. *ri 'xqm) and mt(m) rpi (Heb. *"ti'(;() (O)na) referred to an
elite warrior guild whose members (including the city-state ruler as a
primus inter pares) claimed biological descent from the divine/semi-
divine rpum to whose worship and service they were dedicated and
under whose patronage they were alleged to function.
Such uncertainty as may have formerly attended this reconstruction
has in large measure been removed by the Ugaritic text at hand:
a) The explicit testimony to the existence of a divine or semi-
divine figure called Rapa(u) "(the?) Rapha" who can hardly be other
than the head of the rpum.
b) (The) Rapha is asked to bestow "protection" (V/dmr) and
"power" on the rpi ars, implying the militant nature of both supplicant
and the supplicated. It is even reasonable to assume that the petitioners
are themselves rpi ars, identical with the ruling circles at Ugarit.
c) The petition entreats additionally for the bestowal of htk.
Though the precise meaning of this word is not known as yet, context
indicates that the term denotes some type of family relationship, most
probably "ancestor" or "patriarch."24 The significance here is twofold:
i) it demonstrates that the relationship between (the) Rapha and the
rpi ars was conceived in geneaological-familial terms, a feature typical
of guild or guild-like organizations of the ancient Near East.25 ii) it

18 Cf. A. Jirku, ZAW, 77 (1965), pp. 82 f.

'9 Cf. A. Rainey, JNES, 24 (1965), pp. 17 ff.: Cassuto, Ha-Elah Anat (1951), p. 78.
20 Cf. II Kings 9 21, 25. 21 Gray, Legacy, p. 127.
22 O'Callaghan, op. cit., pp. 309-24.
23 Milik-Cross, BASOR, 134 (1954), pp. 5 ff.; Cross, Eretz Israel 8, pp. 13*-14*, 20*.
24 Cf. above, p. 297. Similarly perhaps cm (Heb. Dy) "kin; ethnos."
25 Cf. Mendelsohn, JAOS, 60 (1940), pp. 68-72. In the OT cf. the bne hannebiim
and the use of ab in I Sam 10 12; II Kings 2 12; Gen 4 20-22. (The implications for the
patriarchal traditions generally should not be overlooked.) The phenomenon is not
unknown in the Greco-Roman sphere: cf. the physicians guild called Asklepiaedae
(eponymous Asklepios), the sea-merchants guild called Herakleidae (eponymous
Herakles), and the terms pater, mater, and frater in the context of the Roman collegia
militum (on the latter, cf. PW, RE, vol. IV (1901), 380 ff.). Also of interest in this
connection is the word abm "brothers" in the Rephaim text UM 124:5.

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302 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

dovetails with the terminology ("offspring," "sons") employed with

remarkable consistency in the OT Rephaim-Anaqim tradition.
D. It now becomes possible to understand, at least in part, how the
word repaim comes to mean "shades" (Latin manes) in Phoenician and
Hebrew usage. As pointed out by Albright,26 a similar transformation
is known from the Greek tradition of the "heroes" and is probably
valid for the OT term gibborim as well.27 Underlying this development,
at least in the Canaanite sphere, is the idea of the hero as (mythic)
progenitor and patron (htk) of elite warrior groups. While it is difficult,
if not impossible, to determine semantic priorities, we may yet venture
to suggest that as patrons of the "historical" warrior-guild par excellence
(rpi ars) the mythic rpum will give their name to all the hero-ancestors
inhabiting the netherworld, reminiscent of the process whereby DN El
becomes generic "deity." By thus distinguishing between the rpum/
Rephaim and the rpi ars/yelide (bne) ha-Rapha, we can explain how the
expression 'eres repaim can be made to do double duty in designating
at once the netherworld, inhabited (and ruled) by the former, and a
legendary kingdom in Transjordania, allegedly founded by the latter
(Isa 26 19; Deut 3 13).

3. Kdbod Theology and Divine Enthronement

Of still greater significance for biblical studies and for the history of
ancient Israelite religion in particular, is the almost parenthetical refer-
ence in our text to "the glory/honor of El" which " 'sits' in Ashtaroth ...
rules in Edrei." This single passage bears most consequentially on two
problems:
a) the nature and origin of the so-called kdb6d-theology in Israel;
b) the much-debated question of a ritual divine enthronement in
ancient Israelite religion.
Our understanding of the kabod doctrine of the priestly traditions
(P and Ezekiel) owes much to the studies of B. Stein and G. von Rad.28
However, for reasons connected with the problematic character of the
biblical material and the absence of extrabiblical data as a vantage

26 Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (1946), p. 218. Cf. also Farnell, Greek Hero
Cults (1920/1), pp. 15-18.
27 Cf. Kraeling, JNES, 6 (1947), pp. 193-208; and my paper in Tarbiz (1969/70),
where I have suggested that Gen 6 1-4, as a theomachy account, be viewed as a mytho-
logical etiology of the Rephaim-Anaqim tradition.
28 Stein, Der Begriff Kebod Jahwe (1939); von Rad, Studies in Deuteronomy (1948/
1953), pp. 37-44; Theology of the OT (1957/1962), pp. 239-41. The merit of Stein's
work lies principally in the collection and classification of the material; that of von Rad
in the application of form-critical method. See also Weinfeld, Tarbiz, 37 (1967/8),
pp. 116-20, 131 f.

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 MARGULIS: A UGARITIC PSALM 303

point, one could only surmise that the doctrine was "in no wi
creation of the Priestly Document but only the reintroduc
very old sacral tradition."29 The question of the doctrine'
historical background and origin could be raised as a prog
challenge only;30 the question of possible extrabiblical cultura
seems never to have been put, much less answered.
In 1969 the present writer completed a study of Psalm 29,
it was argued that the leitmotif of this biblical composition i
or gravitas of Yahweh in the form of a storm cloud, and that
(kultischen) leben of this text was the ritual enthronement of
in the Jerusalem temple.3' The key passage on which this the
was vs. 10, a verse whose true meaning and significance had b
flaged by a faulty masoretic text division. However, once
structure of the poem came into focus, it was obvious that th
reading was approximately as follows:

:x715x7 17 r -1 r - m r: ' ne W) n" :)

In His temple one says:
"The kabod of Yahweh sits enthroned,
It will sit as king forever."

Seen against the background of the preceding storm-god t

there could be little doubt but that the kabod of the psalm
very same divine hypostasis so central to the priestly tradition
P and Ezekiel, an identification made all the more probab
Jerusalem temple setting implied in the phrase "His temp
additionally clear - though this could find but muted expressi
aforementioned study- that the traditio-historical problem
von Rad regarding the origins of the kdb6d theology had
essentially resolved: the kdbod theology of the priestly traditio
be construed as anchored - on the literary and mythic leve
divine-warrior/storm-god theophano-epic tradition,32 a tradi
fragmentarily and/or secondarily preserved in (e.g.), Judg 5 4
33 2 f.; Hab 3 3-15;33 and on the ritual-cultic level, in the 10t

29 Von Rad, Studies, op. cit., p. 40.

30 Ibid., 42.
3I The study, in a somewhat revised form, is scheduled to appear in the third issue
of Biblica (1970).
32 Cf. Cross, "The Divine Warrior ... ," in Biblical Motifs (Lown Studies III,
1966), pp. 11-30; J. Jeremias, Theophanie (1965).
33 See my paper in ZAW, 82 (1970), no. 3, forthcoming; Weinfeld, op. cit., p. 132.
Traditio-historically connected are, of course, the pillars of cloud and fire of the JE
desert traditions, as is clear from Deutero-Isaiah (40 5, 58 8, etc.). Cf. also Isa 60 1-3
in the light of Hab 3 3, 11. A solution to the literary-historical aspects of the problem -
i.e., ancient Israelite epic-poetic literature is to be sought in this direction.

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304 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

Jerusalem cultus, the nature of which could now be defined with some
precision in terms of the divine enthronement construct vigorously
propounded and defended by Mowinckel for half a century but which
had yet to be demonstrated as necessary. The theory of kdb6d en-
thronement, on the other hand, seemed all but immune to the otherwise
formidable arguments leveled at Mowinckel's theory.34
The almost simultaneous appearance of the new (RS 24) Ugaritic
texts35 provided what seemed to be immediate confirmation of this
form-critical thesis while pointing unmistakably to the solution of the
cultural-historical aspect of the problem. To be sure, the formative
role of the pre-Davidic Jerusalem cultus on Israelite kingship and en-
thronement theology had not been entirely overlooked;36 the Ugaritic
testimony to El's kingship had, after all, redrawn attention and im-
parted new credibility to the OT evidence for El-worship in the Jebusite
city-state (Gen 14). But there existed hitherto no unambiguous evidence
to connect Canaanite kingship ideology with Israelite cultic practice,
nor any indication of a Canaanite blend of enthronement and kabod
themes.37
The new evidence for the ritual enthronement (i.e., enthroned
presence within a ritual setting) of the yqr El/kebod Yahweh is thus of
major significance. It may be seen as the linchpin of both Canaanite
and Israelite divine kingship ( = K6nigtum Gottes) ideology and practice,
binding the mythic with the ritual and the Canaanite with the Israelite
on the phenomenological and historical planes respectively.

34 Cf., e.g., Kraus, Gottesdienst in Israel (21962), pp. 239-41; de Vaux, Ancient
Israel (1958/1961), pp. 504-06. Be it noted, however, that some of the arguments
- especially the one based on a being-becoming antithesis (e.g., Johnson, Sacral Kingship
[1955], pp. 54 ff.) - were decisively countered by Mowinckel himself: cf., e.g., PsIs
Worship, II, pp. 222 ff.
It is possibly significant that neither Ps 29 nor the concept of the kabod Yahweh
seems to have figured prominently in Mowinckel's argumentation.
35 Despite a title-page dated 1968, Ugaritica V does not seem to have appeared
publicly before calendar year 1969. The text in question did not come to my attention
until early August 1969 on the occasion of Prof. Loewenstamm's lecture at the Fifth
World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem).
36 On Israelite kingship generally, cf. the writings of A. R. Johnson (e.g., Sacral
Kingship); on the divine enthronement proper, see Mowinckel, Psis Worship, I, p. 114.
37 There did exist however some overlooked evidence for a Canaanite sem-
theology, e.g., UM 124:6-7 (cf. supra, Comment 2); Ug. PN's smbcl, Smcnt (Gronda
op. cit., pp. 193 f.).

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