Posts by Leolaia

35

Is Jehovah an invention of Jewish imagination??? The fact seem obvious!

by frankiespeakin in

yes, if we think of god as a "transcendant" above everything and then when we think of the biblical jehovah, we come up short 51 cards of a deck of 52.

he is so human,,,, come on,,,,, that to me is proof enough of the preposition that he is just the:

"figment of the jewish imagination"

Leolaia

Here is a good article:

http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/MSmith_BiblicalMonotheism.htm

35

Is Jehovah an invention of Jewish imagination??? The fact seem obvious!

by frankiespeakin in

yes, if we think of god as a "transcendant" above everything and then when we think of the biblical jehovah, we come up short 51 cards of a deck of 52.

he is so human,,,, come on,,,,, that to me is proof enough of the preposition that he is just the:

"figment of the jewish imagination"

Leolaia

The deliberate mistranslation of these writings by monotheists obfuscate this important fact. While she was indeed a prominent deity among the hebrews by the times of its writings (at the babylonian captivity or later) she was in no wise the only deity. Later she was combined with the other Elohim of the hebrews, masculinized, and moulded into a singular deity, hiding in her, all of the other hebrew deites.

It is sometimes amazing how the inherent monolatry and/or polytheism is obscured by translation. But I question why you posit Yahweh as an originally female deity? What is the evidence? Much of the early polytheistic extracanonical evidence of Yahweh pairs "him" with Asherah, a female deity. National patron deities also tended to be male in the Near East. But there are definite female qualities in Yahweh in some of the later sources which likely were acquired through a conflation between Yahweh and Asherah.

35

Is Jehovah an invention of Jewish imagination??? The fact seem obvious!

by frankiespeakin in

yes, if we think of god as a "transcendant" above everything and then when we think of the biblical jehovah, we come up short 51 cards of a deck of 52.

he is so human,,,, come on,,,,, that to me is proof enough of the preposition that he is just the:

"figment of the jewish imagination"

Leolaia

I am far from convinced that the yw of the Ugaritic texts is Yahweh. For one thing, it appears to be an epithet of Yamm -- the enemy of Baal. The linguistic connection is also problematic and aside from the similarity in name, I have not heard much that links the two. Viewing yhwh as of southern origin is also attractive owing to the otherwise general absence of -yhw, -yh as theophoric elements in Bronze Age Levantine names and the traditions of Yahweh as originally worshipped by the Midianite enemies of Judah and Sinai/Horeb as a holy mountain in contrast to Zion, which satisfy the criterion of dissimilarity. And while the nomadic element was very small, it did exist -- specifically re the Kenites, who appear to have a central place in the initial Yahwist primeval legend and who likely constituted one carrier group bringing Yahwist, nomadic, and wilderness traditions to Judah.

6

Latest Book Study

by integ in

at this weeks book study (which i attended for the first time in 6 months) the book is "united in worship of the only true god".

in paragraph 10 it talks about the united nation's, and not in any glowing terms either.

the paragraph condemns her and anyone who would be a part of her.

Leolaia

I take it the book was written by Jehovah before the the U.N debacle was exposed.

Jehovah's not a very good writer.

20

Canaanite legend quoted in 2 Samuel 1:21?

by Leolaia in

the legend of aqhat, one of the great epic myths preserved in the ugaritic archive at ras shamra, was popular in some form in israel and judah and shows its traces in the ot and later jewish literature.

ezekiel 14:12-20, 28:1-3 makes several passing references to the legend and its hero, an ancient semi-divine king named danel renowned for his wisdom and healing powers.

danel was one of the rephaim, a primeval race of demigod kings who linger on as spirits in sheol and who were revered by the canaanites in ancestor worship (cf.

Leolaia

One emendation of 2 Samuel 1:18 I've read removes reference to a bow: "It is written in the Book of Jashar, so that it may be taught to the sons of Judah". This is on the basis of the LXX which has a slightly different reading: "And he gave orders to teach it to sons of Judah (eipen ton didakhai tous huius Iouda)". However this might just be an attempt at making sense of an obscure text, and the mention of a qst "bow" in the MT as the title of the poem fits with v. 22 which refers to the "bow of Jonathan". Either reference to Jonathan's qst would provide a further link to the Aqhat legend. Moreover v. 27 says: "How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!" The latter motif is exactly what we find in the Aqhat legend. When Yatipan and his partner attacks Aqhat and eats up his body, the bow itself (the very object of Anat's envy) is shattered and destroyed (CTA, 1.19 i 1-20). The statement in v. 23 of Jonathan and Saul being "swifter than eagles" echoes the beasts that killed Aqhat. Other points of contact include the wailing women in v. 24 (cf. CTA 1.19 iv. 9-22), the reference to the "blood of the slain, the flesh of the mighty" in v. 22 (cf. CTA 1.18 iv 35-40, 1.19 i 5-15), and the reference to gold adornments (cf. CTA 1.19 ii 4). These echoes however do not require any sort of direct dependence between the poems, only to show that there are links. It is also interesting how the poem repeatedly calls Jonathan and Saul the "mighty" (gibbor), a term that harks back to the Nephilim and Nimrod and the "heroes of old" in Genesis 6 and 10. The idea that the Jashar material (as well as other legendary material in Judges and David Cycle) goes back to Canaanite legends on the Rephaim of old is quite attractive. It's a rich body of tradition that certainly would not have disappeared and would have surely been of use to the compilers of ancestral traditions in the Deuteronomist History.

20

Canaanite legend quoted in 2 Samuel 1:21?

by Leolaia in

the legend of aqhat, one of the great epic myths preserved in the ugaritic archive at ras shamra, was popular in some form in israel and judah and shows its traces in the ot and later jewish literature.

ezekiel 14:12-20, 28:1-3 makes several passing references to the legend and its hero, an ancient semi-divine king named danel renowned for his wisdom and healing powers.

danel was one of the rephaim, a primeval race of demigod kings who linger on as spirits in sheol and who were revered by the canaanites in ancestor worship (cf.

Leolaia

The Legend of Aqhat, one of the great epic myths preserved in the Ugaritic archive at Ras Shamra, was popular in some form in Israel and Judah and shows its traces in the OT and later Jewish literature. Ezekiel 14:12-20, 28:1-3 makes several passing references to the legend and its hero, an ancient semi-divine king named Danel renowned for his wisdom and healing powers. Danel was one of the Rephaim, a primeval race of demigod kings who linger on as spirits in Sheol and who were revered by the Canaanites in ancestor worship (cf. Job 26:5, Proverbs 9:18, 21:16, and especially Isaiah 14:9 which refer to the Rephaim as the ghosts of dead kings and the dead in general, and Genesis 14:5, Deuteronomy 3:13, and 2 Samuel 21:16, 18 which refer to them as the ancient aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan, of gigantic stature like the Nephilim). Ezekiel 28:1-3 alludes to Danel's famed wisdom and 14:12-20 alludes to the death and rebirth of his son Aqhat. In the Ugaritic version of the legend, the divine craftsman Kothar bequeathed the newborn Aqhat with a bow made in his heavenly workshop but the war goddess Anat wanted the bow for herself, and after a long struggle to convince the youth to give it up, she dispatched two monsters to kill the boy. Having lost his only heir, Danel cursed the land and El, feeling pity on the king, blessed the king and brought back his son to life -- blessings reminiscent of Job in Job 42:10-17. Thus Danel was "able to save [his] son", as Ezekiel 14:12-20 says of him, comparing him to Job and Noah (who also saved his family). There are later scattered allusions to the Legend of Aqhat in 1 Enoch 6:7, 69:2 and Jubilees 4:17-21.

There may be additional allusions, even direct quotations, of the tale in the David Cycle of 1 and 2 Samuel -- raising the possibility that much of the lore on the exploits of Kings David and Solomon draws on legendary material on ancient Rephaim kings like King Danel and King Keret. It is curious, for instance, that David fights against various warriors "descended from the Rapha of Gath" in 2 Samuel 21:15-22, and in the Aqhat legend Danel himself is called "a Rapha man" (CTA 17 i 1), and that according to a late tradition in 1 Chronicles 3:1, David had a son named dny'l "Daniel" (compare the dn'l "Danel" of Ezekiel and the Aqhat legend). Danel's wisdom in "judging the cause of the widow, adjudicating the case of the orphan" (CTA 19 i 24-25) is reminiscent of the legendary wisdom of David's successor Solomon (1 Kings 3:16-28). King Keret is called a "son of El" in CTA 16 i 2-23, like David is called God's "son" in 2 Samuel 7:14. Unlike Danel, however, David has little problem fathering children. Danel's plight is closer to that of Job and Abraham, who faced the prospect of giving up his only son through Sarah (Isaac) as a sacrifice.

However, in 2 Samuel 1 David learns of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (whom he loved) and his reaction closely resembles the portion of the Aqhat legend where Danel laments over the death of Aqhat. First, Danel's daughter Pugat in grief "tore the garment of Danel the Rapha man, the cloak of the valiant Harnamite man" (CTA 19 i 93-94). Likewise David "took hold of his garments and tore them, and all the men with him did the same" (2 Samuel 1:11). Then in righteous anger Danel casts a spell of drought "upon the clouds in the heat of the season". David similarly curses the "mountains of Gilboa" where Saul and Jonathan were slain. The language shows near verbatim resemblance with two texts in 2 Samuel. First, compare the curse of Danel with the curse of David:

"For seven years Baal shall fail, for eight (years) he who rides upon the clouds. No dew (tl), no rain, no welling up (sr') of the deeps (thmtm), no goodness of Baal's voice." (CTA 19 i 42-45)

"O mountains of Gilboa, let there be neither dew (tl), nor rain upon you, nor rising up (wsr') of the two deeps (thwmt), for there the hero's shield was dishonored." (2 Samuel 1:21)

Both give a three-fold curse against life-giving water from any of the three natural sources: dew, rain, or springs. There is a late reflex of Danel's curse in 1 Enoch 6:6-7, 13:9 where the defiled angels mourn in Abiline (cf. Abilim where Aqhat was slain) and bind themselves with a curse on Mount Hermon (cf. Danel's appellation "the Harnamite"), and a fragment of the Book of Noah (derived from a lost Enochian work) which states that because of the actions of the rebel angels "cold shall not depart forever, nor snow, nor hoarfrost, and dew shall not descend on it except for a curse" (Book of Noah, 14). According to 1 Enoch 6:6-7, one of these angels who inflicted the curse was named Danel. In the Canaanite legend, Danel later curses the giant hawks that Anat had sent to kill Aqhat, beseeching Baal to smash their wings and tear open their stomaches so Danel can bury his son's bones. Here again we find a verbal reminiscence with the Davidic psalm in 2 Samuel 22 (= Psalm 18):

"He bent the heavens down and came down, a dark cloud under his feet; he mounted a cherub and flew and soared on the wings of the wind.... Yahweh thundered from heaven and made his voice heard; he let his arrows fly and scattered them, launched his lightnings and routed them.... I pursue my enemies and destroy then, no turn back till an end is made for them; I strike them down, and they do not rise, they fall, they are under my feet" (2 Samuel 22:10-11, 14-15, 38-39)

"For seven years Baal shall fail, eight years he who rides upon the clouds.... May Baal break the wings of the hawks, may Baal break their pinions, so that they fall down at my feet. (CTA 19 i 42; ii 106)

In the Ugaritic text, Danel calls on Baal to curse the land and accomplish his wishes, just as David describes Yahweh's assistance at his hour of need. The Davidic psalm is rich in Baalist meterological imagery, from description of the thunderous voice and lightning arrows to the movement with the storm clouds. The statement that Baal "rides upon the clouds" matches the remark about Yahweh mounting a cherub and soaring "on the wings of the wind" with "a dark cloud under his feet". Aqhat calls on Baal to vanquish his enemies "so that they fall down at my feet," and similarly "David" says that his enemies "fall, they are under my feet". While the dependence is likely not direct, there is a commonality in language and theme here.

3

Manna miraculous powers?

by peacefulpete in

this brief comment has been discused before but hey it's a slow week.

ps 78:23-25 says that the 'manna' that the israelites ate in the story was the food of the gods/powerful spirits.

of course various mythologies describe humans seek or eating food of the gods for miraculous powers of wisdom or immortality.

Leolaia

Psalm 78:23-25 is rendered in the LXX "man ate the bread of angels" (arton angelon), and that got picked up in the Wisdom of Solomon quote, and other extrabiblical sources report the same:

Moses said to the Israelites: "Know that you have eaten the bread of angels for forty years" (Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 19:5)

"I pitied your groanings and gave you manna for food; you ate the bread of angels." (4 Ezra 1:19)

" 'The bread of the mighty' [in Psalm 78:25] means that they ate the bread that the ministering angels eat, according to R. Aqiba." (b. Yoma 75b)

Leolaia

8

Holy mountains in Canaanite myth and the Bible

by Leolaia in

baal's mountain: mount casius

baal's mountain was biblical zaphon, known in ugaritic as sapan, in hittite and hurrian as mount hazzi, in akkadian as ba'lisapuna, in greek and latin as casius (< kasios), and in modern arabic as jebel 'el-aqra', which stands at a height of 5,660 ft. about 25 miles north of ras shamra and 2.5 miles from the coast.

i will climb to the top of thunderclouds, i will rival elyon ('l'wn).

Leolaia

Narkissos and PP.... thanks for the references, those are good ones.

"In days to come the mountain of Yahweh's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it" (Isaiah 2:2).

"On this mountain, Yahweh Sabaoth will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines. On this morning he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever." (Isaiah 25:6-8)

"Yahweh will soon come out of his dwelling to punish all the inhabitants of the earth for their crimes. The earth will reveal its blood and no longer hide its slain. That day, Yahweh will punish with his hard sword, massive and strong, Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent; he will kill the sea-dragon....That day, the great trumpet will sound, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, and those exiled to the land of Egypt, and they will worship Yahweh on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem." (Isaiah 26:21-27:1, 13)

"Yahweh loves his city founded on the holy mountain; he prefers the gates of Zion to any town in Jacob....All call Zion 'Mother' since all were born in her. It is he who makes her what she is, Elyon, Yahweh, and as he registers the peoples, we writes 'This one was born in Zion'. As they make music they will sing, 'All my fountains are in you.' " (Psalm 87:1-2, 5-7)

The Isaiah 25 text is especially reminiscent of the myth of El hosting a divine banquet at his mountain palace: "In his house El gave a feast of game, the produce of the hunt in the midst of his palace. He cried, 'To the carving, gods, eat, O gods, and drink! Drink wine until satiety, foaming wine until intoxication!'... El summoned his drinking-companions; El took his seat in his feasting house. He drank wine to satiety, new wine until intoxication. El went off to his house; he stumbled off towards his dwelling; Thukamun and Shanim supported him" (KTU 1.114 R 1-4, 15-18).

I also found a very interesting text in the Ugaritic Baal cycle that sounds a lot like Psalm 29:

"Baal sits like the base of a mountain
Hadad settles as the ocean,
in the midst of his divine mountain Zaphon,
in the midst of the mountain of victory.
Seven lightning-flashes [he wields],
eight bundles of thunder,
a ceder tree of lightning in his right hand.
His head is magnificent,
His brow is dew-drenched,
His feet are eloquent in his wrath.
His horn is exalted;
his head is in the snows of heaven,
with the god there is abounding water." (KTU 1.101 R 1-7)

"The voice of Yahweh over the waters,
Yahweh over the multitudinous waters,
The voice of Yahweh in power,
The voice of Yahweh in splendor.
The voice of Yahweh shatters the cedars,
Yahweh shatters the cedars of Lebanon,
making Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild bull.
The voice of Yahweh sharpens lightning shafts,
The voice of Yahweh sets the wilderness shaking.
Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of Yahweh sets the terebinths shuddering,
stripping the forests bare.
The god of glory thunders,
In his palace everything cries, 'Glory!'
Yahweh sat enthroned on the Flood,
Yahweh sits enthroned as king forever." (Psalm 29:3-10)

We find the same meterological motifs of thunder and lightning (cf. KTU 1.19 I 45-46 which calls thunder "Baal's voice"), and the sevenfold mention of "the voice of Yahweh" echoes the "seven lightning flashes, eight bundles of thunder" in the Ugaritic hymn. In both texts we find cedar trees associated with the thunder-lightning theophany of Baal. Both texts mention sacred mountains in Lebanon (Sirion and Zaphon), and most importantly both picture the god as sitting enthroned in the midst (or over) abundant waters. The bovine imagery of Baal (i.e. his "horn") also recalls the bovine metaphors in v. 4-5; cf. also Yahweh having horns "like the horns of the wild ox" (ktpt r'm) in Numbers 24:8. Also the "wilderness of Kadesh" or "holy wilderness" (mdbr qds) in Psalm 29:8 is an expression that occurs in a text wherein El says to Asherah and Anat: "O wives whom I have married, O sons whom I have begotten, raise up a throne in the midst of the holy desert (tk mdbr qds), there you will make your dwelling among the stones and trees" (KTU 1.23 V 64-66).

9

Explanation to Bush as 42nd President

by Brownboy in

numbering of the presidents.

you may have noticed that the numbering of the presidents on this site differs slightly from other sources.

the reason is because of the two non-consecutive terms that grover cleveland served in the late 19th century.

Leolaia

According to this, George W. Bush is actually the 51st president of the Union:

http://www.oneandonlypresidentialmuseum.com/prezlist.htm

8

Holy mountains in Canaanite myth and the Bible

by Leolaia in

baal's mountain: mount casius

baal's mountain was biblical zaphon, known in ugaritic as sapan, in hittite and hurrian as mount hazzi, in akkadian as ba'lisapuna, in greek and latin as casius (< kasios), and in modern arabic as jebel 'el-aqra', which stands at a height of 5,660 ft. about 25 miles north of ras shamra and 2.5 miles from the coast.

i will climb to the top of thunderclouds, i will rival elyon ('l'wn).

Leolaia

Baal's Mountain: Mount Casius

Baal's mountain was biblical Zaphon, known in Ugaritic as Sapan, in Hittite and Hurrian as Mount Hazzi, in Akkadian as Ba'lisapuna, in Greek and Latin as Casius (< Kasios), and in modern Arabic as Jebel 'el-Aqra', which stands at a height of 5,660 ft. about 25 miles north of Ras Shamra and 2.5 miles from the coast. Sapan was the site of both Baal's palace and his divine battle with Yamm/Lotan and (later) Mot (cf. KTU 1.1 V 5; 1.6 VI 1-2, 12-13, 33-35). Similarly the Hurrian-Hittite myth of Ullikumi places the conflict between the Storm-god and Ullikumi at Mount Hazzi (cf. ANET 123,8; 205,3), and Zeus similarly fights Typhon and other monsters on Mount Casius (cf. Apollodorus Bibl. I 5.3.7; Iliad 2.782f; Hesiod, Theogony, 820f). Biblical allusions to the mythological battle between Yahweh and dragon appear in Psalm 74:13; 89:9-10; Isaiah 27:1 51:9-10; Revelation 12:7-9, though none of them locate the conflict on a mountain. Familiarity with Zaphon as Baal's abode is evident in the toponym Baal-Zephon in Exodus 14:1, 9, Numbers 33:7.

There are numerous references in the OT to Zaphon as Yahweh's holy mountain, resulting through an identification between Yahweh and Baal. Since Yahweh also merges with El in Israelite religion, the biblical texts conflate Zaphon with El's abode as well as the "mountain of assembly" (where the "divine council" meets). Helal, son of Shahar (the twin brother of Shalam, the god of sunset), declares in Isaiah 14:13-14: "I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of Zaphon. I will climb to the top of thunderclouds, I will rival the Most High." Here Zaphon is paired with "the top of thunderclouds", meterological language suitable for Baal, but it is also assigns Zaphon to El (by referring to the "Most High", an epithet of El) and equates it with the mount where the divine council meets. The phrase yarkete zaphon "recesses of Zaphon" also occurs in Psalm 48:3 where it is equated with Zion, Yahweh's holy mountain in Judah:

"Yahweh is great and supremely to be praised, in the city of our God, the holy mountain (hr-qdsw), beautiful where it rises, joy of the whole world; Mount Zion, in the recesses of Zaphon (yrkty zpn), the city of the great king; here among her palaces, God proved to be her fortress." (Psalm 48:1-3)

There is also thought to be an allusion to Zaphon in Psalm 27 through word-play: "One thing I ask of Yahweh, one thing I seek; to live all the days of my life in the house of Yahweh (byt-yhwh), to enjoy the pleasant place of Yahweh (bn'm-yhwh) and to consult him in his temple (bhyklw). For he shelters me (yzpnny) under his awning in times of trouble; he hides me deep in his tent, sets me high on a rock....If my father and mother desert me, Yahweh will shelter me (y'zpny) still" (27:4-5, 10). In this text, zpn "hide, shelter" describes something that happens at "the house of Yahweh" and "his temple"; moreover bn'm "pleasant place" stands in parallel with "his temple" which occurs in reference to Baal's palace in KTU 1.3 III 31. Another reference to Zaphon occurs in Job 26:7:

"He [Yahweh] stretches Zaphon upon chaos (zpn'l-thw), and suspends the earth on nothingness." (Job 26:7)

The parallelism with "earth" suggests that Zaphon, as Yahweh's abode, is here used as a poetic synonym for "heaven". Thus in Isaiah 40:22, 42:5; 44:24, Yahweh is said to "stretch out" the heavens. The connection between "heaven" and Mount Zaphon however is apparent in Isaiah 14:12-13 where Zaphon and "Mount of Assembly" are both paralleled with "the heavens", "higher than the stars of God", and "the top of thunderclouds". The connection with the mountain is also apparent in what Zaphon is stretched over: "chaos" (thw). This word occurs in Genesis 1:1 (as thw-w-bhw) in reference to primeval chaos and may be related to Hebrew thwm in Genesis 1:2 which refers to the watery deep (but cf. Deuteronomy 32:10 Job 6:18, Psalm 107:40 where thw refers to the waste of the desert). It is tempting to see in Job 26:7 an allusion to Baal's palace in Zaphon being built over the carcass of Yamm (the primeval chaos monster), but thw is paralleled with "nothingness" which suggests instead that heavenly Mount Zaphon (and the rest of the earth, by extention) is stretched over the subterranean primeval waters. This notion borrows from the imagery associated with El's mountainous abode, and might reflect further conflation between El and Baal in Israelite tradition. Finally, there is an obscure reference in Job 37:22 that "from Zephon comes gold" (mzpwn zhb y'th), and while this could refer to mining at Mount Casius, this is unlikely in the context referring to divine heavenly splendor. However gold is associated with Baal's palace at Sapan in Canaanite myth. Kothar builds Baal's palace in KTU 1.3 I and he "pours gold by the myriads," producing a throne "adorned with red gold" and golden shoes in his "golden palace". Later on, after the defeat of Baal, Anat declares: "I have smitten for silver, and have repossessed the gold from the one would drive Baal from the heights of Sapan" (KTU 1.3 IV 46-V 1). Prince Yamm also refers to Baal's gold as spoils:

"Standing, make your speech and repeat your instructions. So tell Bull El my father, repeat to the Assembled Council: 'Decree of Yamm, your Master, your Lord, Judge River, 'Give up, you gods, the one you obey, the one you obey, you multitude. Give up Baal that I may humble him, the Son of Dagan that I may seize his gold." (KTU 1.2 I 16-19)

One text in the OT that clearly refers to Baal's palace on Mount Zaphon is Psalm 29, which is widely regarded as originally a Canaanite hymn to Baal. The psalm is rich in Baalist motifs (cf. the bull motif in v. 6, Yahweh's voice being likened to thunder in vs. 3-4, 7-8, lightning shafts as weapons in v. 7, etc.), the geography of the psalm pertains specifically to Lebanon and Syria (cf. Lebanon in v. 5, Sirion in 6, the northern Kadesh in 7, the descriptions of forests of ceders and terebinths in vs. 5 and 9), and a higher level of alliteration is achieved by substituting the name Baal for Yahweh, cf. "The voice of Yahweh in power, the voice of Yahweh in splendor" (qwl yhwh bkch, qwl yhwh bhdr)," versus "The voice of Baal in power, the voice of Baal in splendor" (qwl b'l bkch, qwl b'l bhdr) in v. 4. The psalm explicitly refers to the enthronment of Yahweh in his divine "palace":

"Pay tribute to Yahweh, you sons of El (bny-'lym), tribute to Yahweh of glory and power, tribute to Yahweh of the glory of his name, worship Yahweh in his sacred court. The voice of Yahweh over the waters! Yahweh over the multitudinous waters! The El of glory ('l-kbwd) thunders ... In his palace everything cries, 'Glory!' Yahweh sat enthroned over the Flood, Yahweh sits enthroned as a king forever." (Psalm 29:1-3, 9-10)

The reference to Yahweh enthroned over "multitudinous waters" (mym) and over "the Flood" (mbwl) calls to mind the location of El's abode over the subterranean ocean. The reference to Yahweh as the "El of glory" might suggest some conflation between El and Baal traditions. On the other hand, as suggested above re Job 26:7, Zaphon itself may have been placed over the deeps of the netherworld like El's mountain.

El's Mountain: Mount Hamon and Hermon

According to KTU 1.1 III 12, El's mountain is called ks, or Mount Kasi. The similarity with the name with Greek and Latin Casius had led some to identify El's abode with Zephon, on the theory that Baal took over El's abode and gave it a new name. However texts suggest that Kasi and Sapan were separate mountains belonging to the two different gods, so Kasi is probably derived from the word for "cup" (cf. Hebrew kos, Akkadian kasu), and later Greek and Latin writers associated the name with the wrong mountain. Literary and iconographic evidence shows that El's home existed in the midst of water. According to KTU 1.100.2, El's abode lay "at the springs of the Two Rivers, at the meeting-place of the Double-Deeps" (mbk nhrm b'dt thmtm). The expression "Double-Deeps" suggest a cosmological picture where the peak of El's mountain joined the two cosmic oceans, the upper heavenly waters and the lower subterranean waters. An Israelite reflex of the notion appears in Psalm 42:7-8 in the phrase "in Mount Misar, deep to deep calls" (thwm-'lthwm qwr'). A late survival of this motif may also be found in the Quran (Sura 18:60), which refers to a cosmological "junction of the two seas" (majma'a albahrayni) at the extremity of the world. The concept of a mountain reaching into heaven which joins the heavenly waters with the subterranean waters also occurs in 1 Enoch:

"And they [angels] took me into a place of whirlwind in the mountain, the top of the mountain was reaching into heaven. And I saw chambers of light and thunder in the ultimate end of the depth toward the place where the bow, the arrow, and their quiver and a fiery sword and all lightnings were [i.e. motifs of Baal storm theopany]. And they lifted me up unto the waters of life.... And I saw all the great rivers and reached to the great darkness and went into the place where all flesh must walk cautiously [i.e. Sheol]. And I saw the mountains of the dark storms of the rainy season and from where the waters of all the seas flow." (1 Enoch 17:1-8)

The motif of Yahweh's mountain Zion standing at the source of primeval subterranean waters appears in Isaiah 33:20-22, Ezekiel 47:1-22; Joel 4:18, Zechariah 14:8, 1 Enoch 26:1-2, and is alluded to in Matthew 7:24-25, 16:18, and John 7:38. In later Jewish tradition, the foundation for the Temple was believed to have kept the subterranean floods at bay; it was said to be the stone on which the world is based (Yoma 54b), and David was said to have removed the stone in his search for the great Abyss (Yer Sanh. x. 29a; Suk. 53a). Likening the Qumran community to the Temple, the Thanksgiving Hymns utilize the ancient cosmological concept to connote their struggle against the forces of Satan:

"As the Abysses boil above the foundations of the waters, their towering waves and billows shall rage with the voice of their roaring; and as they rage, Sheol and Abaddon shall open and all the flying arrows of the Pit shall send out their voice to the Abyss. And the gates of Sheol shall open on all the works of vanity and the doors of the Pit shall close on the conceivers of wickedness.....The torrents of Belial shall break into Abaddon, and the deeps of the Abyss shall groan amid the roar of the heaving mud.... The heavenly hosts shall cry out and the world's foundations shall swagger and sway....The deeps resound to my groaning and my soul has journeyed to the gates of death. (1QH 11:16-19, 32-35)

The waters on El's mountain however are not dammed up but flow and water creation. In the Gilgamesh Epic (11.194-96), the abode of the gods lies "at the mouth of the rivers" (ina pi narati), and an Akkadian seal from Mari similarly depicts "a god of the type of El enthroned, between the springs of two streams, on a mountain. He is flanked by two vegetarian goddesses who grow out from the waters" (O. Keel, "Ancient Seals and the Bible," JAOS 1986:309). This recalls the description of the paradise of Eden in Genesis 2:10-44, watered by four rivers springing up in Eden, which according to Ezekiel 28:13-14 was located in "the holy mountain of God//the gods" (hr qds 'lhym). 1 Enoch 25:1-5 also depicts the tree of life as located on the holy mountain of God:

"This tall mountain which you saw whose summit resembles the throne of God is indeed his throne, on which the Holy and Great Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit when he descends to visit the earth with goodness. And as for this fragrant tree, not a single human being has the authority to touch it until the great judgment. This is for the righteous and the pious. And the elect will be presented with its fruit for life." (1 Enoch 25:1-5; cf. Jubilees 4:26 which pairs the "Garden of Eden" with "the Mount of the East")

The language used to describe El's abode also has parallels in the OT. In the Ugaritic material, we find three main descriptions of the waters at El's abode: (1) "the springs of the Double Rivers" (mbk nhrm), (2) "the channels of the Double-Deeps" ('apq thmtm), and (3) "the meeting-place of the Double-Deeps" (b'dt thmtm). The first two expressions occur in the OT in various forms with reference to the subterranean underworld (Genesis 6:11; Job 28:9-11, 38:16-17; Psalm 18:16), with the springs, channels, and sources of the seas and rivers lying beneath mountains and within Sheol.

The terrestial identification of El's mountain is problematic. As mentioned earlier, it is probably not Mount Casius where Baal's abode lay. Frank Moore Cross suggested Mount Amanus, situated on the north Syrian coast, as the locale of El's mountain on the basis of the Punic epithet b'l hmn "lord of the Amanus," which represents a late convergence between El and Baal. Mark Smith also points out that the iconography of Baal Hamon resembles that of El. However Ugaritic texts mention both a Mount hmn and a Mount 'mn, and it is unclear whether both refer to the same mountain or to different peaks in the same range. One curious piece of evidence relates to the throne-name of Roman emperor Elegabalus (< 'el jebel "El of the mountain") who ruled form A.D. 203 to 222. Syrian by birth, Elebagalus brought a statue of Tanit to Rome and identified his wife with the goddess Tanit and himself with the god Elagabal -- replicating the heavenly couple Baal Hamon and Tanit. An identification of El's home with Mount Hamon would fit with coastal Phoenician culture, but evidence suggests that the location shifted depending on the local geographical circumstances. Thus the Gilgamesh Epic and the Elkunirsa legend (cf. ANET 519) place the abode at the headwaters of the Euphrates, north of Carchemish by the Mala River. The Canaanites living in Palestine, dependent on the Jordan River as their main water source, would have looked to Mount Hermon as the abode of El. This is exactly what we find in Psalm 42:4-7 which locates God's "house" at Mount Hermon where the two deeps meet:

"I am on my way to the wonderful Tent, to the House of God, among cries of joy and praise and an exultant throng. Why so downcast, my soul, why do you sigh within me? Put your hope in God, I shall praise him yet, my savior, my God. When my soul is downcast within me, I think of you; from the land of Jordan and in Hermon, in Mount Misar deep is calling to deep as your cataracts roar." (Psalm 42:4-7)

Mount Misar refers to a hill in the Hermon range near the source of the Jordan. The reference to God's house as a tent also parallels the description of El's abode in KTU 1.2 III 4-5: "Then he heads toward El at the springs of the Double-Rivers, amidst the channels of the Double-Deeps. He comes to the mountain of El and enters the tent of the King, the Father of Years." This suggests that while Judah looked to Zion or Horeb as the seat of Yahweh on earth, the northern kingdom of Israel (especially the tribes of Dan and Naphtali) looked to Hermon or Gerizim where Shechem was located. Later evidence relating to Mount Hermon can be found in the pseudepigrapha and in rabbinical literature. In the Testament of Levi, Levi has a vision on Mount Hermon (called Gebel Abila or "mountain of Abilene" in 6:1; cf. 2:6, 6:9) of God's throne and the deeps trembling in heaven (3:9). Mount Hermon is also the portal between heaven and earth in 1 Enoch 6:6 where the fallen angels come to earth. Bereshith Rabbah 33 (67a) says that "three springs of Palestine and vicinity remained open after the Flood: the springs of Tiberias, Abeleni (i.e. Abilene) and the one of the Jordan, issuing from the cave at Banias." The association between Abilene and the waters of Hermon can be seen in the ancient name of the town as Abel-mayim "waters of Abel" in 2 Chronicles 16:4.

Mount of Assembly: Mount Lallar or Mount Hermon

Finally, there was also Mount Lalu, known from KTU 1.2 I 20 as the meeting-place of the divine assembly, a Canaanite version of Mount Olympus. The two different names would suggest two separate mountains, though it is possible that the same mountain had two names. If the mountain is separate from El's abode, it might be identical to Mount Lallar at the southern extremity of the Amanus range, mentioned in the records of Shalmanezer III (cf. ANET 278). However other evidence points to Hermon, or the Hermon range. According to a late Old Babylonian fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh (ANET 504, 5:C:13), "the dwelling-place of the Anunnaki" is in the area of "the Sirion and the Lebanon ranges" (sa-ri-a u la-ab-na-na). 1 Enoch 6:6-7 also locates the earthly assembly of the fallen angels on Mount Hermon:

"And they were altogether two hundred; and they descended into 'Ardos, which is the summit of Hermon. And they called the mount Armon, for they swore and bound one another by a curse. And their names are as follows: Semyaz, the leader of Arakeb, Rame'el, Tam'el, Ram'el, Dan'el, Ezeqel, Baraqyal, As'el, Armaros, Batar'el, Anan'el, Zaqe'el, Sasomaspwe'el, Kestar'el, Tur'el, Yamayol, and Arazyal." (1 Enoch 6:6-7)

The most explicit reference to the divine assembly in the Baal Cycle occurs here: "The boys depart, they do not sit still. Immediately they head to Mount Lalu, to the Assembled Council (phr m'd). Meanwhile the gods ('lm) sit down to feast, the holy ones (qds) dine, Baal waits on El" (1.2 I 19-21). The divine council is also called "the sons of El" and "the gathering of the gods" ('dt 'lm) in KTU 1.15 II 7, 11. Similarly we read later in Baal Cycle: "Asherah went home to the court of El. She came before the divine council, and spoke of her plan to the gods, her children." Later Phoenician expressions for the divine council include "the assembly of the holy gods of Byblos" (mphrt 'l gbl qdsm) and "all the circle of the divine sons". Psalms 82:1 and 89:5-10 are closest to the traditional Canaanite conception, which refer to the deities as "the council of El" ('dw 'l), "sons of Elyon" (in Canaanite mythology, Elyon is an epithet of El), "gods" ('lhym), "council of holy ones in heaven," and "sons of El" (bn 'l ). Psalm 82:1, 6 says that Yahweh "stands in the assembly of El [Heb. 'dw 'l], among the gods ['lwhm] he dispenses justice...You are gods ('lym), all of you are sons of Elyon (bny-'l'wn)." Psalm 89:5-10 even more vividly evokes the Canaanite notion of the divine assembly, where Yahweh takes the traditional place of Baal:

Yahweh, the council of holy ones (qhl qdsym) in heaven applaud the marvel of your faithfulness. Who in the skies can compare with Yahweh? Which of the sons of El (bn 'l) can rival him? El ('l), dreaded in the council of holy ones (swd-qdsym), great and terrible to all around him, Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, who is like you? Mighty Yahweh, clothed in your faithfulness! You control the pride of the Sea (ym = Yamm), when its waves ride high, you calm them; you split Rahab in two like a carcase (rchb = Yamm-like chaos monster) and scattered your enemies with your mighty arm." (Psalm 89:5-10)

There are two allusions of the divine Mount of Assembly in the OT, in both cases equating it with El's abode. Ezekiel 28, in an oracle delivered against the Phoenician king Ittobaal II of Tyre, has the king sitting on the "holy mountain of the gods" (hr qds 'lhym) in v. 14 and 16 who then declares:

"I am El ('l) in the dwelling of the gods ('lhym); I dwell in the midst of the seas (ymym)." (Ezekiel 28:2)

Here again we have an allusion to the throne of El being at the meeting place of the heavenly ocean and the subterranean ocean. This parody of Canaanite and Phoenician myth is quite consistent with Ugaritic cosmology, except it clearly locates the divine assembly in El's abode. The second reference to the Mount of Assembly, as we have already seen, thoroughly merges Baal and El motifs as it simultaneously conflates Baal's abode with the Mount of Assembly:

"I will climb up to the heavens; and higher than the stars of El (kwkby-'l) I will set my throne. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly (hr-mw'd) in the recesses of Zaphon (yrkty zpn). I will climb to the top of thunderclouds, I will rival Elyon ('l'wn)." (Isaiah 14:13-14)

The "stars of El" refers to the divine assembly, cf. Job 38:7 which refers to the day of creation when "all the stars (kwkby) of morning were singing with joy and the sons of God (bny-'lhym) were chanting praise". The Hebrew word mw'd that refers to the Mount of Assembly is the same one in the Baal Epic that refers to the "Assembled Council" (phr m'd) on Mount Lalu (KTU 1.2 I 19-21). Here however the Mount of Assembly is identified with Mount Zaphon, where Elyon (i.e. El) holds his dominion on the top of thunderclouds (i.e. Baal). The mixing of epithets and motifs of El and Baal is characteristic of Judean Yahwism.

(This post incorporates a lot of information from Mark Smith's 1994 volume on the Ugaritic Baal Cycle.)