Back to the Aqhat legend, I was looking today at the OT to see if there were other traces aside from the verbatim resemblances in the 2 Samuel and the direct allusions in Ezekiel. I found three possible candidates: the Elisha Cycle in 2 Kings, Job, and some of the Messianic material in Isaiah. There are other things as well. The motif of a faithful man lacking a son and heir is familiar from the Abraham Cycle of Genesis. The motif of a seven-year drought is familar as well from Genesis in the Joseph narrative (cf. Genesis 41:26).
THE ELISHA CYCLE
I am particularly struck by the narrative in 2 Kings 4-8, which combines a number of motifs and themes from the Aqhat Legend. That is not to say there was direct influence, but some sort of connection seems evident. (1) First of all, there is the tale of the Shunamite woman. Like Danel, the Shunamite woman was a person of rank (4:8) who had no heir and like Danel was later blessed with a child:
2 Kings 4:14-17: " 'What can be done for her then?' he asked. Gehazi answered, 'Well, she has no son and her husband is old.' Elisha said, 'Call her.' The servant called her and she stood at the door. 'This time next year,' he said, 'you will hold a son in your arms.' But she said, 'No, my lord, do not deceive your servant.' But the woman did conceive, and she gave birth to a son at the time Elisha said she would."
And the boy grows up but one day he suddenly dies (4:18-20). Like Danel, she has lost her promised scion. She had her servant saddle her a donkey and she set off to find Elisha on Mount Carmel (4:22-26). Likewise, when Danel learned of his son's death, he had Pugat saddle his donkey and Danel rushed off to inspect the desolated fields where his son died (cf. Aqhat 19 i. 46 - ii. 74). Then Elisha came to her house and brought the boy back from the dead (4:29-37). Although the ending has been lost, it is widely believed that the Aqhat tale ended with the resurrection of Aqhat from the dead. (2) Moreover, Elisha can inflict curses and spells with a deity's power just like Danel:
2 Kings 6:18: "Elisha prayed to Yahweh, 'I beg you to strike this people with blindness.' And at the word of Elisha he struck them blind."
Aqhat 19 iii. 113-145: " 'May Baal break the wings of the hawk, may Baal break their pinions, so that they may fall down to my feet.' ... Hardly had the words left his mouth, the utterance his lips, when Baal broke the wings of the hawks, Baal broke their pinions."
Then some time later Elisha reverses the spell, just as Danel did the same:
2 Kings 6:20: "Elisha said, 'Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, and let them see.' Yahweh opened their eyes and they saw."
Aqhat 19 iii. 115-120: "May Baal rebuild the wings of the hawks, may Baal rebuild their pinions, may the hawks escape and fly away."
The other connection to the Aqhat Cycle in this regard is the fact that Danel employs just such a spell on blindness: "Woe to you, city of Abilem, for you must bear the responsibility for valiant Aqhat's murder. May Baal make you blind, at this moment and forever more" (Aqhat 19 iii 151 - iv 168). (3) During the drought, very little food is to be found in the land. One of Elisha's men "went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine," and gathered together the fruits tho they were poisonous (2 Kings 4:39). Similarly, Danel "went through the cracked fields, he spied something green growing among the dried up sprouts. He hugged the green growth and kissed it" (Aqhat 19 i 46- ii 74). (4) Immediately after the episode of the poisonous fruit, a man came bringing "twenty barley loaves and an ear of fresh grain" (4:42). Similarly, right after Danel found the green growth in the desicated field, "he spied an ear of grain growing among the dried-up sprouts, he hugged the ear of grain and kissed it" (ibid). (5) A "bow" is mentioned in 2 Kings 6:22. (6) As the drought worsened, woman comes to a king for help as he is by the city wall and he alludes to the threshing-floor as where help could be found; this is reminiscent of Danel's profession:
2 Kings 6:26-27: "Now as the king was passing along the city wall, a woman shouted, 'Help, my lord king!' 'May Yahweh leave you helpless!' he retorted. 'Where can I find help for you? From the threshing-floor? From the winepress?"
Aqhat 17 v. 3-33: "Danel the Rapha man, the valiant Harmenite man, arose and sat at the entrance of the city gates, among the leaders sitting at the threshing-floor. He judged the widow's case, made decisions regarding the orphan."
(7) The woman tells Elisha that another woman took her son and ate him (2 Kings 6:28-29). This recalls how Danel's son was eaten by Anat's henchmen (cf. Aqhat 19 iii 144-147). (8) When the king heard the woman's news he "tore his garments" (2 Kings 6:30). Pugat "tore the garment of Danel the Rapha man" (cf. Aqhat 19 ii. 93). (9) Danel curses the land, bringing about a seven-year drought (Aqhat 19 i. 38-46). Elisha declares to the Shunamite woman that a seven-year drought is upon the land (2 Kings 8:1).
JOB
Ezekiel 14:12-20, as we have already seen, described Job and Danel in similar terms. Broadly speaking, we can see in Job a rather similar plot. A righteous, prosperous man who loses his children and is later rewarded with them because of his faith. The Epic of Keret is probably an even closer analogue to Job in Canaanite literature. (1) But we find a very close similarity between the descriptions of Job's and Danel's professions:
Job 29:7-8, 12-13, 16, 21-22: "When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, as soon as I appeared, the young men stepped aside, while the older men rose to their feet....They waited anxiously to hear me, and listened in silence to what I had to say...In a lordly style, I told them what course to take, and like a king amid his armies, I led them where I chose.... The stranger's case had a hearing from me. I freed the poor man when he called, and the orphan who had no one to help him. When men were dying, it was I who had their blessing, if widows' hearts rejoiced, that was my doing."
Aqhat 17 v. 3-33: "Danel the Rapha man, the valiant Harmenite man, arose and sat at the entrance of the city gates, among the leaders sitting at the threshing-floor. He judged the widow's case, made decisions regarding the orphan."
Danel thus had a virtually identical profession to Job. (2) The same passage in Job makes repeated allusions to a symbolic "bow": "My reputation will never fade, and the bow in my hands will gain new strength" (Job 29:20); "He has unbent my bow and chastened me" (30:11). (3) Danel speaks about his son as his defender while alluding to the jaws of his enemies, while Job refers to the jaws of his adversaries and mentions how no one is defending him from his enemies:
Aqhat 17 ii. 8-23: "[My son will] send up from the earth my incense, from the dust the song of my praise, shut up the jaws of my detractors, to drive out anyone who would do me in."
Job 29:17; 30:9, 12-13: "I used to break the fangs of wicked men, and snatch their prey from between their jaws.... Their children are the ones that now sing ballads about me.... They take threatening strides towards me, they have cut me off from all escape, there is no one to check their attack."
(4) In Aqhat 19 i. 19- ii. 93, we read how the hawks were soaring over Danel's house, "a flock of birds were surveying the scene," and this passage recalls Job 39:26-29 which mentions "the hawk taking flight" and how "she watches for prey, fixing it with her far-ranging eye". There may be other resemblances that I did not yet notice.
ISAIAH
Finally, I noticed a few interesting parallels in the oracular poem in Isaiah 9-10 which reminded me of the Aqhat Legend. (1) The messianic child born in ch. 9 is one that carries forth the House of David from barranness, and the language describing his birth harks back to the Ugaritic story where Aqhat is promised to perpetuate Danel's rule and prestige:
Isaiah 9:5: "For there is a child born to us, a son given to us, and dominion is laid on his shoulder."
Aqhat 17 ii. 8-23: "For a son will be born to me as to my brothers, a scion as to my kinsmen. Someone to raise up the stela of my father's god, in the sanctuary the votive emblem of my clan."
Not only is the language in the first clause very similar but the bicolon comprising the first two clauses in Isaiah 9:5 is also very characteristic of Ugaritic poetry and resembles the bicolon in the Aqhat story. (2) Moreover the description of Danel's profession resembles Isaiah's condemnation of those in similar roles:
Isaiah 9:16: "And so the Lord will not spare their young men, will have no pity for their orphans and widows."
Isaiah 10:1-2: "Woe to the legislators of infamous laws, to those who issue tyrannical decrees, who refuse justice to the unfortunate and cheat the poor among my people of their rights, who make widows their prey [cf. Job 29:17, above] and rob the orphan."
Aqhat 17 v. 3-33: "Danel the Rapha man, the valiant Harmenite man, arose and sat at the entrance of the city gates, among the leaders sitting at the threshing floor. He judged the widow's case, made decisions regarding the orphan."
Anyway, these are some interesting parallels. What do you think?
