Mot (Semitic god)

Mot was the West Semitic god of death, infertility, and drought. On of the sons of the high god El he was the chief antagonist of the storm god Baal, whose life-giving rains brought fertility to the land. Mot, on the other hand, was the Lord of the destert dryness. In Canaanite mythology, Mot and Baal were bound in a cyclical battle in which Mot temporarily vanquished Baal only to be slain himself by Baal's sister Anath, after which Baal would be resurrected with the coming of the spring rains.

Mot in Canaanite myth

Sources regarding Mot are scarce, but he apparently played a major role in Canaanite mythology. According the Baal Cycle, discovered at Ras Shamra in 1958, he was called the "Darling of El" and was one of the primary actors in the annual fertility cycle. In this drama, Baal, the Lord of the life-giving fresh waters, has defeated the sea god Yam and established his throne on Mount Saphon. A struggle now ensues for sovereignty.

Baal's challenge to Mot

"Respects I shall not send to Mot," declares, Baal. "Nor greetings to El's beloved, the Hero!" Mot the Belove responds in kind: "I alone am He who will rule over the gods, yea, command Gods and men, even dominate the multitudes of the earth."

Baal prepares to storm Mot's realm, commanding his forces to march toward Mot's city, Hemry, where he sits on his throne. However, he cautions his minion: "Do not draw near the God Mot, lest he make you like a lamb in His mouth, like a kid in His jaws you be crushed!"

The lesser god must thus honor Mot: "The heavens halt on account of El's darling, Mot," Baal declares. "At the feet of Mot bow and fall. Prostrate yourselves and honor him!"

Despite honoring him with words, however, Baal refuses to pay him tribute. Enfuriated, Mot sends word back to Baal that, he will exact revenge by devouring Baal, thus bring a terrible curse of drought upon the earth:

"A lip to earth, a lip to heaven, and a tounge to the stars

So that Baal may enter his inwards, yea descend into his mouth

As scorched is the olive, the produce of the Earth, and the fruit of the Trees."

Mot's victory and Baal's death

Baal responds in fear and submission, sending his messengers to declare: "Hail, O divine Mot! Thy slave am I, Yea Thine forever." Mot rejoices when the lesser deities bring him this message, because Baal will be delivered unto him, and the fertility of the land will die with him. "Take thy clouds, thy wind, thy storm, thy rains!" Mot declares. "And go down to the nether reaches of the earth, so that Thou mayest be counted among those who do down into the earth, And all may know that Thou art dead!"

Before dying, however, Baal copulates with heifer: "He lies with Her seventy-seven times, Yea, eighty-eight times, So that She conceives And bears..." Baal is then found dead in the land of Deber.

Baal's death reaches the ears of the high god El, who is moved to grief over his son's death: "He pours the ashes of grief on His head, the dust of wallowing on his pate." El roams the mountains and forest weeping, lacerating his forearms and back in grief.

Anath's intervention

Baa'ls sister Anath, however, is does more than merely mourn her brother's passing. She travels throughout the land in search of his body, finally finding him prostrate on the earth in Debir. Like El, she lacerates her body as a sign of grief for Baal. She then carries him on her shoulders and brings him to Mount Saphon, giving him a proper burial and sacrificing 70 each of buffaloes, oxen, small cattle, deer, wild goats, and asses.

Then travels to the abode of El and Asherah and declares Baal's death, implying that Asherah will rejoice since she had earlier sided with Yam against Baal. "Hear, O Lady Asherah of the Sea!" cries El. "Give one of Thy sons that I may make Him king!" They appoint Ashtar the Terrible to sit on Baal's throne, but he is inadequate to the task.

Now the virgin Anath goes to face Mot, holding Baal in her heart like "a cow toward her calf." Boldly, she seizes Mot,tearing his clothes and demanding: "Come, Mot, yield My brother!"

Mot pleads his case, explaining Baal's death as an act of nature, of which he, Mot, is merely a part. "I arrived at the goodness of the land of Debar... I met Aliyan Baal; I made him like a lamb in My mouth. Like a kid in My jaws was He crushed."

Months pass and Anath again confronts Mot, this time more violently, succeeding in dissipating his wintry power.

With a sword She cleaves him,

With a pitchfork She winnows him,

With a fire She burns him,

In the millstones She grinds him,

In the fields She plants him,

El now has a prophetic dream, indicating that Baal may yet live. "Let Me sit and rest," El declares, "and let My soul repose in My breast. For Aliyan Baal is alive, for the Prince, Lord of Earth, exists."

Anath's assistant Shapash now descends into the underworld, and upon her return she carries Baal with her. Baal now confronts Mot, smiting him on the shoulder and neck. He then returns to his throne on Mount Saphon, but Mot follows him there, blaming Anath's victory on Baal's inspiration:

Because of thee, O Baal, I have experienced humiliation.

Because of thee, experienced scattering by the sword.

Because of thee, experienced burning in the fire.

Because of thee, experienced grinding in the millstones.

Because of thee, experienced winnowing by the pitchfork.

Because of thee, experienced being planted in the fields.

Because of thee, experienced being sown in the sea."

Mot now threatens to destroy Baal utterly and usurp his kingship. Ball is able to drive him out of the heights of Saphon, but Mot vows revenge.

Final battle

Mot and Baal now join in a fierce battle:

They shake each other like Gemar-beasts, Mot is strong, Baal is strong.

They gore each other like buffaloes, Mot is strong, Baal is strong.

They bite like serpents, Mot is strong, Baal is strong.

They kick like racing beasts, Mot is down, Ball is down.

Shapash now intervenes, imploring Mot not to carry on the battle, for Baal now enjoys the support of El, the father of both of them. "How will Bull-El, thy father, not hear thee? Will He not remove the supports of thy throne, or upset the seat of thy kingship, nor break the scepter of Thy rule?"

The season have changed, and now it is Mot's turn to be afraid. The God of sterility thus submits to Baal, the god of fertility, conceding the kingship to him. Anath, meanwhile turns her wrath against those among mankind who have not properly supported Baal.

Etyology

The word mot (spelled mt) is cognate with forms meaning 'death' in various Semitic and Afro-Asiatic languages: with Arabic موت mawt; with Hebrew מות (mot or mavet); with Maltese mewt; with Syriac mautā; with Ge'ez mot; with Canaanite, Egyptian Aramaic, Nabataean, and Palmyrene מות (mwt); with Jewish Aramaic, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Samaritan מותא (mwt’); with Mandaean muta; and with Akkadian mūtu.

In Sanchuniathon Death, call Muth, is also son of El and counted as a god, as the text says in speaking of 'El/Cronus:

... and not long afterwards he consecrated after his death another of his sons, called Muth, whom he had by Rhea; this (Muth) the Phoenicians esteem the same as Thanatos ['Death'] and Pluto.

But earlier in a philosophical creation myth Sanchuniathon has referred to great wind which merged with its parents and that connection was called Eros 'Desire':

From its connection Mot was produced, which some say is mud, and others a putrescence of watery compound; and out of this came every germ of creation, and the generation of the universe. So there were certain animals which had no sensation, and out of them grew intelligent animals, and were called "Zophasemin," that is "observers of heaven"; and they were formed like the shape of an egg. Also Mot burst forth into light, and sun, and moon, and stars, and the great constellations.

Mot in the Bible

(Jeremiah 9:21; and Habakkuk 2:5).

External links

• Putting God on Trial- The Biblical Book of Job A Biblical reworking of the combat motif between Mot and Baal.

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