A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

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Ugaritic <strong>Primer</strong>
connections. The well-known case of Psalm 29 is an interesting
case in point. 26 Some scholars have actually suggested that it is a
Canaanite hymn that was adapted by the Israelites for its own
liturgy. To be sure, the language of the Psalm, with its emphasis on
the qôl yhwh, “voice of Yahweh,” and its use of expressions like
“heavenly beings” (bny }elîm), certainly has strong similarities in its
vocabulary and structure with Ugaritic (or, more generally,
Canaanite) literature. The storm imagery of Psalm 29 also has
strong parallels with the Baal imagery of a Ugaritic epic. In this
respect, Psalm 29 also shares much with the “Song of the Sea”
(Exodus 15:1–18), which is in many ways a polemic against Baal
and the Canaanite religion. Whether scholars read such texts as
being influenced by or polemicizing against the Canaanite religion
and culture, the importance of Ugaritic as a window into ancient
Canaan is nevertheless underscored.
There are many other biblical passages that have been discussed
by scholars and show the relationship of Ugaritic texts to the Old
Testament. These suffice to show how the archives from ancient
Ugarit have furthered our understanding of the late second
millennium BCE in Syria-Palestine as well as the vocabulary,
grammar, structure, and poetry of Hebrews. It has filled in the
context to the Old Testament and enhanced our knowledge of
Hebrew as it was understood in Iron Age Israel.
26 See Y. Avishur, Studies in Hebrew and Ugaritic Psalms (Jerusalem, 1994).