Yam (god)

The destruction of Leviathan by God, thought by some scholars to parallel the defeat of Yam by Baal

Yamm or Yam, from the Canaanite word meaning "Sea," is the name of the Ugaritic god of rivers and the sea. Yam was the deity of the primordial chaos and represented the power of the sea untamed and raging. He is also seen as ruling floods and tempests and the disasters they wreak.

In Canaanite mythology, the younger deity Baal (Hadad) defeated Yam and cast him down from the heavenly mountain Sappan (modern Jebel Aqra. The seven-headed dragon Lotan is associated closely with Yam and the serpent is frequently used to symbolize him.

The myth of Yam's defeat by Baal parallels the Mesopotamia legend of the storm god Marduk defeated the primordial sea goddess Tiamat. A similar myth was also known to the Egyptians, in which the tyrannical Yam becomes the husband of Astarte.

Some historians of religion believe the ancient Greeks identified El with their god Kronos and Baal with Zeus, Yam with Poseidon, and Mot with Hades. Yam wished to become the Lord god in his place. In turns the two beings kill each other, yet Hadad is resurrected and Yam also returns. Some authors have suggested that these tales reflect the experience of seasonal cycles in the Levant.

In the Epic of Ba'al

A primary source for our knowledge concern Yam is the Epic of Baal, also known as the Baal Cycle, which describes the storm god Baal's ascendancy in the Canaanite pantheon.

In the beginning, the kindly but distant El, the father of the gods, bequeaths the divine kingship to Yam. The sea deity, however, soon turns tyrant and oppresses the other gods. Asherah, the mother goddess, attempts to reason with Yam, but he adamantly refuses to relent. In desperation for the welfare of her children, Asherah finally consents to give Yam her own body.

Baal is outraged at this idea, and Yam brazenly demands that Baal be handed over to him for punishment, sending emissaries to the Divine Council who show no respect even to El. Baal proceeds to defeat Yam in a mighty battle, rescuing Asherah from her fate and liberating the other gods from Yam's oppression.

However, Baal in turn proceeds to be defeated by Mot, the desert god of death and infertility, only to be himself rescued by his sister Anat so that he may rise again and reign supreme in an apparent re-enactment of the annual cycles of rain and drought.

excerpts

Kindly El... gave the kingship to Prince Yam.

He gave the power to Judge Nahar.

Fearsome Yam came to rule the gods with an iron fist.

He caused them to labor and toil under his reign.

They cried unto their mother, Asherah, Lady of the Sea.

They convinced Her to confront Yam, to intercede in their behalf.

Asherah went into the presence of Prince Yam...

She begged that he release his grip upon the gods her sons.

But Mighty Yam declined her request.

She offered favors to the tyrant.

But Powerful Nahar softened not His heart.

Finally, kindly Asherah, who loves Her children, offered herself to the God of the Sea.

She offered Her own body to the Lord of Rivers.

Yam-Nahar agreed to this, and Asherah returned to the Source of the Two Rivers.

She went home to the court of El.

She came before the Divine Council, and spoke of her plan to the Gods her children.

Baal was infuriated by Her speech.

He was angered at the gods who would allow such a plot.

He would not consent to surrendering Great Asherah to the Tyrant Yam-Nahar.

He swore to the Gods that He would destroy Prince Yam...

The weapon springs from the hand of the Lord,

Like a raptor from between his fingers.

It strikes the skull of Prince Yam,

between the eyes of Judge Nahar.

Yam collapses, he falls to the earth;

His joints quiver, and his spine shakes.

However, Athtart pleads for Yam, who acknowledges the Lord as king of heaven:

Then up speaks Yam: "Lo, I am as good as dead! Surely, the Lord now reigns as king!"

Similarities in other mythological traditions

Thor battles Jörmungandr

Yam (sea) and his secondary title Nahar (river) bears definite similarities with the older Mesopotamian deities Tiamat and Apsu, the primordial gods of salt water and fresh water, respectively. In the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, Tiamat and her tyrannical henchman Kingu are defeated and slain by the storm god Marduk, who then becomes the supreme ruler and king of the gods, much as Baal defeats Yam to became the primary Canaanite deity. In the case of Yam, however, there is no indication that he was slain, as it appears from the texts that he was put to sleep through the intervention of Baal's sister and wife, Anath.

The battle between Yam and Baal also resembles the conflict in Hurrian and Hittite mythology between the sky God Teshub (or Tarhunt) with the serpent Illuyanka.

The Egyptians also knew of the tyrannical sea god Yam. The fragmentary Astarte Papyrus hints at Yam's unreasonable demands for tribute from the other deities. As with the case of Asherah in the Baal Cycle, the goddess Astarte then offers to become Yam's bride in order to placate him. She is helped to defeat Yam by the desert storm god Set. Another Egyptian tradition involved the casting of statues of the goddess of the Nile into the river in to become the river's bride. Some scholars also see a parallel between Yam and the Egyptian chaos serpent Apep and his animosity toward the sun god Ra.

Similarly, in a Hittite myth, when the sea-dragon Hedammu threatens the earth with his assualts, the the goddess Ishtar pretends to offer herself to him.

Norse mythology also speaks of a world-serpent and deity of the sea named Jörmungandr. Like Yam, he is the archenemy of the storm god, in this case Thor, son of Odin.

In Greek mythology, the serpent-Titan Typhon battled the storm god Zeus over Olympus and was cast into the pits of the Earth. Yam also shares certain characteristics with Greco-Roman Ophion, the serpentine Titan of the sea, whom Kronos cast out of the heavenly Mt. Olympus.

The story Yam and Baal is also seen as analogous to the Vedic myth of the war between the serpent Vritra and the god Indra, son of the 'Sky Father' Dyaus Pita.

Biblical echoes

In the Hebrew Bible, Psalm (74:14) preserves a tradition which, according to critical scholars, may reflect the Hebrew deity Yahweh's acting much as Baal did by defeating the sea monster Leviathan and also hints at Baal's struggle with the desert god Mot: "It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert." The Book of Job 3:8 seems to refer to a day when the tyrant of the sea will wake from his sleep, speaking of "those who are ready to rouse Leviathan." Isaiah 27:1, meanwhile refers to God's victory over Leviathan in the future: "In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea."

In some Christian interpretations of (Genesis 3:15), the serpent of Eden is seen as equivalent to Leviathan, who the Messiah (or the Archangel Michael) will one day vanquish: "He will crush your (the serpent's) head, and you will strike his heel." A relevant passage in the book of Revelation reads: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9).

In the apocryphal Apocalypse of Abraham, the enemy of Yahweh is called Azazel and is described as a dragon with "hands and feet like a man's, on his back six wings on the right and six on the left." (23:7)

Connections between Yam and YHWH

Beyond the above-mentioned biblical analogies, some scholars have seen other connections between Yam and the Hebrew deity Yahweh. Biblical scholar Mark S. Smith, for example sees evidence that Yam original's name name was Yaw. The resemblance of the latter to the Tetragrammaton YHWH led to speculation over a possible connection between Yam and God of the Hebrew Bible. However, many scholars argue the names have different linguistic roots and reject the idea that they are related.

Another suggested reading of the name is Ya'a, and this has also been suggested as an early form of the divine name Yah or Yahu. A theory proposed at the beginning of the twentieth century suggested that Ya'a was a form of the name Ea, the Mesopotamian water deity This view has been supported in more recent times by archaeologists like Jean Bottero and others. However, Ea's characteristics we far more kindly that those of Yam, and the parallel to the older Mesopotamian sea deity Tiamat seem much more likely, despite the supposed etymological similarity to Ea.

See also

• Ebla
• Ugaritic religion
• Tiamat
• Leviathan
• Iaoue

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cassuto, U., trans. by Israel Abrahams. The Goddess Anath, (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1951).
• Coogan, Michael D., trans. & ed., Stories from Ancient Canaan, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978), 86-89.
• De Moor, Johannes, The Seasonal Pattern in the Myth of Ba' lu according to the version of Ilimilku, (1971).
• Driver, G.R., trans., J. C. L. Gibson, ed., Canaanite Myths and Legends, (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark Ltd., 1977).
• _____, The Rise of Yahwism: The Roots of Israelite Monotheism, (Peeters Publishers, 2001).
• Gaster, Theodor, trans., Thespis: Ritual, Myth & Drama in the Ancient Near East (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 114-244.
• Ginsberg, H. L., trans., in The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Tests and Pictures, James B. Pritchard, Ed., (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958), 92-118.
• Smith, Mark S., The Ugaritic Ba'al Cycle; Vol. I: Introduction with Text, Translation & Commentary of KTU 1.1-1.2, (New York: E. J. Brill, 1994).
• Thompson, Thomas L., The Mythic Past; Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel, (New York: Basic Books, 1999).

External links

• The Epic of Ba'al - online text
• The Historical Evolution of the Hebrew God
• "Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job" - a Biblical reworking of the combat motif between Yaw and Baal
• "Baalism in Canaanite Religion and Its Relation to Selected Old Testament Texts" - an overview of primary sources with a list of secondary sources
• Yam in the Bible: Habakkuk 3:8, Psalms 74:13, Job 7:12

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