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6/29/2025, 9:07:02 AM
>>17800006
>Finally, the comparative literary evidence moves closer to home for OT studies, as the Ugaritic texts list a god mlk resident at ʾṯtrt (Ugaritica V 7:41; 8:17), the same “address” as that assigned elsewhere to the netherworld deity Rpu (Rapiu), and testify to the inclusion of beings known as mlkm in the cult of the dead in contexts which suggest their similarity to (if not identity with) the rpum, the shades of the dead royal ancestors (known later in the Bible as the Rephaim, where the term has been broadened to include all the dead, e.g., Ps 88:11). From this evidence there emerges the picture of a netherworld deity involved in the cult of the dead ancestors (perhaps even their king, given the apparent associations with the West Semitic root mlk, “to rule, be king”)
>Note also that a valley adjoining the Hinnom valley is called the Valley of the Rephaim in Joshua 15:8, 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18, 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15, 20:4 and the Rephaim were the ghosts of the dead residing in Sheol (cf. Job 26:5-6; Isaiah 14:4-5, 9-11, 26:14). The earthly valleys associated with the underworld also evoke the "valleys of Sheol" where the Rephaim are found according to Proverbs 9:18. It was in fact in the valley of Hinnom below Zion where the ancestor cult of Molech was practiced (2 Kings 23:10; Isaiah 30:33, 57:9; Jeremiah 7:31-33, 19:4-6, 32:35)
>There is an exact parallel in the Canaanite culture of Syria and northern Israel, which designated Mt. Hermon as the "mountain of El" and the Bashan area below it as the realm of the dead, where Rapiu (aka Molek, or Milku) was enthroned as king in the cities of Ashtaroth/Athtart and Edrei (cf. KTU 1.108 R 1-3, 11-13, V 22-29; compare Genesis 14:5, Deuteronomy 1:4, 3:10, and Joshua 9:10, 12:4, 13:12, 31 which amazingly also locate the Rephaim in the cities of Ashtaroth and Edrei in Bashan)
>Finally, the comparative literary evidence moves closer to home for OT studies, as the Ugaritic texts list a god mlk resident at ʾṯtrt (Ugaritica V 7:41; 8:17), the same “address” as that assigned elsewhere to the netherworld deity Rpu (Rapiu), and testify to the inclusion of beings known as mlkm in the cult of the dead in contexts which suggest their similarity to (if not identity with) the rpum, the shades of the dead royal ancestors (known later in the Bible as the Rephaim, where the term has been broadened to include all the dead, e.g., Ps 88:11). From this evidence there emerges the picture of a netherworld deity involved in the cult of the dead ancestors (perhaps even their king, given the apparent associations with the West Semitic root mlk, “to rule, be king”)
>Note also that a valley adjoining the Hinnom valley is called the Valley of the Rephaim in Joshua 15:8, 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18, 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15, 20:4 and the Rephaim were the ghosts of the dead residing in Sheol (cf. Job 26:5-6; Isaiah 14:4-5, 9-11, 26:14). The earthly valleys associated with the underworld also evoke the "valleys of Sheol" where the Rephaim are found according to Proverbs 9:18. It was in fact in the valley of Hinnom below Zion where the ancestor cult of Molech was practiced (2 Kings 23:10; Isaiah 30:33, 57:9; Jeremiah 7:31-33, 19:4-6, 32:35)
>There is an exact parallel in the Canaanite culture of Syria and northern Israel, which designated Mt. Hermon as the "mountain of El" and the Bashan area below it as the realm of the dead, where Rapiu (aka Molek, or Milku) was enthroned as king in the cities of Ashtaroth/Athtart and Edrei (cf. KTU 1.108 R 1-3, 11-13, V 22-29; compare Genesis 14:5, Deuteronomy 1:4, 3:10, and Joshua 9:10, 12:4, 13:12, 31 which amazingly also locate the Rephaim in the cities of Ashtaroth and Edrei in Bashan)
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