IIRC, I once saw an old translation of Psalm 110 which began “Ba’al said unto my ba’al…”, but I am not able to locate it at this time to verify this.
That’s odd, as the Hebrew itself has
Na’um YHWH l’adoni, “
YHWH said to my
'adoni…” That would not be a ‘translation’, but an ‘adaptation’ IMO.
Now for the Psalm:
1: Ascribe to
YHWH,
b’nai elim (“sons of gods,” “sons of God”), ascribe to
YHWH glory and strength.
2: Ascribe to
YHWH the glory of His Name; worship
YHWH in holy adornment.
3: The voice of
YHWH is over the water;
El ha-kavod (“the God of glory”) thunders,
YHWH is over many waters.
4: The voice of
YHWH is strong; the voice of
YHWH is majestic.
5: The voice of
YHWH breaks the cedars;
YHWH breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6: He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion like a young
re’em.
7: The voice of
YHWH hews out flames of fire.
8: The voice of
YHWH shakes the wilderness;
YHWH shakes the wilderness of Qadesh.
9: The voice of
YHWH gives premature birth to deer (or “
twists the oaks”) and strips the forests bare; and in His temple, all of it says, “
Glory!”
10: YHWH sits enthroned over the flood;
YHWH sits as King for ever.
11: YHWH gives strength to His people;
YHWH blesses His people with peace.
The psalm contains references to storm (“
the voice of YHWH”), which may have prompted the assumption that the psalm was either appropriated from an Canaanite hymn (the Psalm follows the pattern for a hymn found at the end of the
Enuma Elish), or may have even been an Israelite parody/polemic mimicking Canaanite hymn patterns and inserting mythological references.
Those who postulate the Psalm 29=Ba’al theory usually point out to these:
The phrase
b’nai elim (“sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only in verse 1 and in Psalm 89:6. In Canaanite mythology the divine council of the high god El is referred to as “the sons of El.” (
bn 'ilm) The OT apparently borrows the Canaanite phrase and applies it to the supernatural beings (usually interpreted as “angels”) that surround the heavenly throne.
Another would be the phrase
mayim rabim (literally “many waters”) in verse 3. The theory is that the term
mym rbm could be a motif that refers to Yam, the Ugaritic god of rivers and sea. Translating the phrase literally, it is certainly not a direct reference to Yam, but it is likely an allusion to the sea god, in light of the general literary patterns of the Psalm. By simply looking at these two phrases of Hebrew from Psalm 29, it shows that the psalmist had at least an understanding of the Canaanite pantheon, specifically El and Yam. Even so, this does not give any absolute proof of the effect of the Baal Cycle on the Hebrew Bible.
Psalm 29 makes specific mention of YHWH’s sevenfold thunder (“the voice of YHWH”). Some point a parallel to an event in the Baal Cycle in which Baal puts away his seven lightnings and thunders. The number seven is a significant number in both Canaanite and Israelite texts. The entire battle between Baal and the god of death,
Mot son of El takes place over the course of seven years.
Later on in the Baal Cycle, Baal’s seven thunders become personified as his servants (some see specific passages such as Habakkuk 3 or Isaiah 6 as literary references to this).
