Yahweh Versus Baal

Since 1929, scholars have been concerned with the interpretation of certain Canaanite literary materials found at Ras Shamra in North Syria, known as Ugarit in ancient times. Attention has been paid, primarily, to certain linguistic and cultural parallels between this corpus of literature and sections of the Old Testament. But despite the numerous treatments of the isolated points of contact between Ugaritic and biblical thought, one major question has not received an adequate answer. How and to what extent are the Ugaritic texts, and especially the Baal texts, relevant for an appreciation of the fundamentals of the Israelite religion? Professor Habel seeks to answer at least part of this question by translating pertinent segments of the Baal texts, according to the sequence of G. R. Driver, summarizing their context, and considering their import, thought sequence, and basic ideas in relation to appropriate materials from the early faith of Israel. The succinct results of this comparison are provocative, to say the least. The author begins by isolating the major features of an underlying “conflict tradition.” The conflict between Israel’s beliefs and the religious forces of its environment was a vital influence in the formulation of Israel’s earliest religious faith and experience. The content of this faith as summarized in the concise wording of Exodus 19:3–6 is shown to be virtually identical with that of Israel’s earliest poetic heritage where a lively polemic against the Canaanite religious is discernible. One of the highlights of Professor Habel’s comparison of the Baal texts with Israel’s archaic poetic traditions is his contribution to the understanding of Exodus 15. In this connection he discovers a clearly defined sequence of ideas common to certain Baal texts and Exodus 15:1–18. By skillfully utilizing the work of other scholars the author sheds additional light on the polemical and theological import of several passages depicting theophanies of Yahweh. A similar evaluation of the relevance of the Ugaritic texts for the cultic practices of Israel is made possible by a sober evaluation of the pertinent texts.

The author uses a literary-theological approach to argue that the main theme of the combined Gideon-Abimelech narrative is a theological one, where the narrator demonstrates Yahweh's supreme power and contrasts it with the absence of Baal, the representative of foreign gods. While the Gideon narrative focuses on Yahweh and the illustration of his power and contrasts it with Gideon's limited capacities, the Abimelech narrative demonstrates Baal's absence, Baalism's disastrous potential, and Yahweh's continued control over the events. Hence Gideon's victory over the Midianites and Abimelech's kingship serve only as the tangible instruments by which a single abstract theological theme becomes narratable.

This masterly book is the climax of over twenty-five years of study of the impact of Canaanite religion and mythology on ancient Israel and the Old Testament. It is John Day's magnum opus in which he sets forth all his main arguments and conclusions on the subject. The work considers in detail the relationship between Yahweh and the various gods and goddesses of Canaan, including the leading gods El and Baal, the great goddesses (Asherah, Astarte and Anat), astral deities (Sun, Moon and Lucifer), and underworld deities (Mot, Resheph, Molech and the Rephaim). Day assesses both what Yahwism assimilated from these deities and what it came to reject. More generally he discusses the impact of Canaanite polytheism on ancient Israel and how monotheism was eventually achieved.

Since 1929, scholars have been concerned with the interpretation of certain Canaanite literary materials found at Ras Shamra in North Syria, known as Ugarit in ancient times. Attention has been paid, primarily, to certain linguistic and cultural parallels between this corpus of literature and sections of the Old Testament. But despite the numerous treatments of the isolated points of contact between Ugaritic and biblical thought, one major question has not received an adequate answer. How and to what extent are the Ugaritic texts, and especially the Baal texts, relevant for an appreciation of the fundamentals of the Israelite religion? Professor Habel seeks to answer at least part of this question by translating pertinent segments of the Baal texts, according to the sequence of G. R. Driver, summarizing their context, and considering their import, thought sequence, and basic ideas in relation to appropriate materials from the early faith of Israel. The succinct results of this comparison are provocative, to say the least. The author begins by isolating the major features of an underlying “conflict tradition.” The conflict between Israel’s beliefs and the religious forces of its environment was a vital influence in the formulation of Israel’s earliest religious faith and experience. The content of this faith as summarized in the concise wording of Exodus 19:3–6 is shown to be virtually identical with that of Israel’s earliest poetic heritage where a lively polemic against the Canaanite religious is discernible. One of the highlights of Professor Habel’s comparison of the Baal texts with Israel’s archaic poetic traditions is his contribution to the understanding of Exodus 15. In this connection he discovers a clearly defined sequence of ideas common to certain Baal texts and Exodus 15:1–18. By skillfully utilizing the work of other scholars the author sheds additional light on the polemical and theological import of several passages depicting theophanies of Yahweh. A similar evaluation of the relevance of the Ugaritic texts for the cultic practices of Israel is made possible by a sober evaluation of the pertinent texts.

Biblical scholarship today is divided between two mutually exclusive concepts of the emergence of monotheism: an early-monotheistic Yahwism paradigm and a native-pantheon paradigm. This study identifies five main stages on Israel's journey towards monotheism. Rather than deciding whether Yahweh was originally a god of the Baal-type or of the El-type, this work shuns origins and focuses instead on the first period for which there are abundant sources, the Omride era. Non-biblical sources depict a significantly different situation from the Baalism the Elijah cycle ascribes to King Achab. The novelty of the present study is to take this paradox seriously and identify the Omride dynasty as the first stage in the rise of Yahweh as the main god of Israel. Why Jerusalem later painted the Omrides as anti-Yahweh idolaters is then explained as the need to distance itself from the near-by sanctuary of Bethel by assuming the Omride heritage without admitting its northern Israelite origins. The contribution of the Priestly document and of Deutero-Isaiah during the Persian era comprise the next phase, before the strict Yahwism achieved in Daniel 7 completes the emergence of biblical Yahwism as a truly monotheistic religion.

""Elijah, Yahweh, and Baal is a masterpiece presented with authority by a twentieth-century accomplished and unsurpassed exegete. It is now translated by a disciple, whose elegant rendition sounds as if Hermann Gunkel had originally written himself the book in English."" --Andre LaCocque, The Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL ""Written a century ago for a church audience eager to learn how the best scholarship of the day could illuminate one of the Bible's most absorbing stories, this little book shows Gunkel at the height of his powers of critical perspicuity, explanatory finesse, and reverent sensitivity, the ideal Bible study leader, at once learned, captivating, and devout. . . . Moreover, Gunkel encompasses his subject as few today could or would in such short scope, combining philological acumen, aesthetic appreciation, comparative perspective, and attention to communal folk tradition--his pioneer distinction--and constants of human religiosity. The translation includes astute notes by the editor and a helpful list of more recent resources."" --Robert B. Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, CA ""Hermann Gunkel, who died in 1932, is one of the greatest teachers and 'God-Fathers' of Old Testament study. He has taught us the most about the artistic, imaginative dimensions of the text. His interpretation of the Elijah narrative in this volume is a treasure that merits continuing attention. We may be grateful indeed to K. C. Hanson for bringing it to us in English, and to Wipf and Stock for its publication. Gunkel continues to be our teacher and 'God-Father' in wise shrewd reading of the text."" --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) was Professor of Old Testament at the universities in Berlin, Giessen, and Halle, Germany. Among his major works in English are Genesis, Introduction to the Psalms, and Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton.