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"Death Is Swallowed up in Victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54): Canaanite Mot in Prophecy and Apocalypse

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"DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY" (1 CORINTHIANS 15:54): CANAANITE MOT IN PROPHECY AND APOCALYPSE BY ].F. HEALEY Manchester Since R. Bultmann introduced the term 'demythologization' into the discourse of biblical scholarship to refer to the theologicallkerygma­ tic project of stripping the New Testament of the cultural baggage of a mythopoeic world-view, it has come to be used also in the study of the way that biblical texts sometimes adopt 'mythic' themes while stripping them of the polytheistic implications of the pagan source from which they were borrowed. This approach to 'mythic' themes is, in my view, too simplistic and it implies far too radical a distinc­ tion between the pagan culture of the biblical world (polytheistic, myth-ridden, dominated by often immoral ritual, magic and demons) and the uniform monotheistic culture of ancient Israel and the New Testament (only one divine power, free of myth, sanitised and spir­ itualized ritual). The acceptance of this simplistic contrast is a conse­ quence of the uncritical acceptance of the official version of ancient Israelite religion presented in the Hebrew canon and of the ortho­ dox church understanding of the New Testament texts. In fact the (non-biblical) archaeological and epigraphic evidence suggests that the religious reality was not so simple. Temple orthodoxy may have frowned, but the average Israelite entertained a variety of gods and magical practices. In the early church, until orthodoxy asserted itself, the newly converted pagans continued, perhaps less enthusiastically, their devotion to other deities and certainly to magical practices derived from paganism. It is thus arguable that we should speak of'transmythologization', a term used by D.E. Nineham,l when discussing the phenomenon of I D.E. Nineham, "Demythologization", in RJ. Coggins and J.L. Holden (eds.), A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (London, 1990), pp. 17]-74. 206 HEALEY the adaptation of "mythic" ideas and traditions to a new religious context. For it can hardly be denied that ancient Israelite religion and Christianity had their own myths (in the technical sense of the word, not 'myth' = 'untruth'), stories about divine intervention in the world and man's salvation. And both incorporate adapted motifs taken from other mythic traditions.2 The mythic theme of the Death of Death, at first sight thoroughly Biblical and thoroughly Judaeo-Christian, has its roots in the 'Cana­ anite' mythology represented in the Ugaritic texts and continued in Phoenician tradition. It runs through the Old and New Testaments and into the popular religion of the early church, represented both in Greek and Syriac sources. I. The Canaanite Death if Death3 Our main evidence for Canaanite mythology comes from the Ugaritic mythological texts. 4 Mot is there found as one of the enemies of Baal (alongside Yam, the sea-god). Baal represents principally the life-giving fertility associated with essential autumnal rainfall, while Mot represents the death-dealing sterility associated with the sum­ mer heat and drought. Mot, called "the Warrior" (gzr, e.g. KTU 1.4 vii 46-7), overcomes Baal and the latter has to descend into Mot's underworld domain. Baal is reported dead (KYU 1.5 v-vi), but the goddess Anat goes looking for him and attacks Mot (KYU 1.6 ii 30-5, cf. also v 1 Iff): She seized divine Mot, With a sword she split him, 2 The rich tapestry of Christian mythology is illustrated by G. Every, Christian Mythology (London, 1970). 3 Much of the basic Ugaritic data presented here is discussed more fully in j.F. Healey, "Mot", in K. van der Toorn, B. Becking and P.W. van der Horst (eds.), Dictionary if Deities and Demons (Leiden, 1995), cols. 1122-32. See also NJ. Tromp, Primitive Conceptions if Death and the Nether World in the Old Testament (Rome, 1969); P.L. Watson, "The Death of 'Death' in the Ugaritic Texts," JAOS 92 (1972), pp. 60-4; j.C.L. Gibson, "The Last Enemy", Scottish Journal if 7heology 32 (1979), pp. 151-69; j.F. Healey, "Burning the Corn: new light on the killing of Motu", Or 53 (1984), pp. 245-54. Translations of Ugaritic texts are mostly my own, though sim­ ilar to those found in standard versions. 4 I can here merely mention the difficulty of knowing how far the Ugaritic texts are representative of Canaan: the evidence of Philo of Byblos certainly suggests con­ tinuity with later Phoenicia. .
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