To begin at the beginning. The words Satan, Devil, demon, Lucifer, fallen angel etc. simply don't occur in the whole of the book of Genesis. Throughout the Old Testament, the one and only God is presented as all powerful, without equal and in no competition with any other cosmic force. The Old Testament makes it clear that any 'adversary' to God's people was ultimately under the control of God Himself. All Angels are spoken of as being righteous and the servants of God, even "Angels of evil / disaster", who may bring destruction upon sinners, are still God's Angels carrying out His will and judgments. God's people Israel initially held this view; but as has so often happened to God's people, they mixed their true beliefs with those of the world around them. Earlier Judaism spoke of the human tendency to evil [yetser ha-ra] and the tendency to good [yetser ha-tob]. This tendency to evil they understood as being at times personified or symbolized by "the devil": "Satan and the yetser ha-ra are one" (1). But earlier Judaism rejected the idea that angels had rebelled, and they specifically rejected the idea that the serpent in Genesis was satan. At that time, "the Jewish devil was little more than an allegory of the evil inclination among humans" (2). It is noted by the editor of Dent's edition of the Talmud that neither the Talmud nor the Midrash (the Jewish interpretations of the Law of Moses) even mention Satan as being a fallen angel (3). Even in the Zohar- a second century AD Jewish book that became the basis of the Kabbalah- the sitra ahra, the "dark side" is presented as an aspect of God, not independent of Him, which operates on earth as a result of human sin. The Zohar uses the ideas of the Shekhinta b'galuta [God's glory in exile] and sitra ahra in order to speak of God's struggle with evil and to explain its very existence. The Zohar doesn't teach dualism, a universe split between God and Satan, but rather teaches that the struggle between good and evil occurs within God's own self.
Surrounding Canaanite Myths
It's been truly observed: "The Satan of later imagination is absent in the Hebrew Bible" (4). "The early stage of Israelite religion knows no Satan; if a power attacks a man and threatens him, it is proper to recognize YHVH in it or behind it" (5). The Old Testament teaches that God is all powerful, with no equal; sin comes from within the human mind. Never is there any indication of a battle between Angels, and Angels falling from Heaven to earth. Indeed, the Biblical record at times makes allusions to the surrounding myths about a personal Satan [or his equivalent] and deconstructs them. The ancient near East was full of stories of cosmic combat, e.g. Tiamat rebelling against Marduk, Athtar the rebel; they are summarized at length by Neil Forsyth (6). The Old Testament stands out from other local religions by not teaching such ideas. And further, there are a number of Biblical passages which allude to these myths and show them to be untrue. Take Psalm 104, full of allusions to the Ninurta myth. But the inspired writer stresses that it is Yahweh and not Ninurta who rides a chariot "on the wings of the wind"; Ninurta supposedly struggles with the Satan figure who is in the "waters", but in Ps. 104 it is shown that Yahweh does with the oceans or tehom (cognate with the Akkadian Satan figure Tiamat) just what He wishes- He's in no struggle (7). Job 26:5-14 has a whole string of allusions to popular Canaanite myths of cosmic combat; and the point of the passage is that Yahweh is so far greater than them that effectively they don't exist. Thus "The Shades writhe beneath Him [a reference to Mot, writhing as a serpent]... he strips naked Abaddon... stretches Zaphon... by his power he stilled the Sea [a reference to the god Yamm]. By his cunning he smote Rahab. By his wind the heavens are cleared [a reference to the Labbu myth, in which the dragon is cleared out of Heaven], his hand pierced the twisting serpent". Compared to Yahweh, those gods have no power, and they have been effectively 'cleared out of heaven' by Yahweh's power- they simply don't exist out there in the cosmos (8). Although the Gospel records do use the language of the day, it should be noted that implicitly, Jesus is working to correct the wrong understandings. Thus in the storm on Galilee, which would've been understood as the machinations of the Devil, Jesus tells the sea to "shut up" (Mk. 4:37-41), in the same terms as He told the demon to "shut up" in Mk. 1:25. He addressed the sea directly, rather than any dragon or Satan figure.
The well known 'Lucifer' passage in Isaiah 14 is another relevant passage, as we consider in section 5-5. This passage is about the rise and fall of the King of Babylon- the words satan, Angel and devil don't occur there at all. But the likening of Babylon's king to the morning star suggests parallels with the Canaanite myths about Athtar, the "shining one, Son of Dawn", who goes up to "the reaches of Zaphon" to challenge king Baal, and is hurled down. Surely Isaiah's point was that Israel and Judah should worry more about the King of Babylon, keep their eyes on realities here on earth, rather than be involved with such cosmic speculations which were obviously familiar to them. It was the King of Babylon, and not a bunch of cosmic rebels, who were tyrannizing God's people. The Babylonian power invaded Israel from the north, down the fertile crescent. And yet "the north" was associated in pagan thinking with the origin of the gods of evil (9). The prophets were attempting to steer Israel away from such a fear by emphasizing that the literal, human enemy and judge of Israel for their sin was to come from the literal north. They were to quit their cosmic myths and get real, facing up to actual realities in human life on earth. This is why Ezekiel speaks of the Kings of Tyre and Egypt in language very reminiscent of the myths about Tiamat, Mot etc.- they were to be caught like a dragon [tannin, cp. Tiamat], cut up and bled to death (Ez. 29:3-5; 32:2-31). Again, the point is to refocus Israel away from the mythical beings and onto actual realities here on earth.
Situated as it is at the crossroads of so many cultures, Israel inevitably was a state open to influence by the surrounding nations and their beliefs. Despite so many prophetic calls to keep their faith pure, they were influenced by the beliefs of those around them, especially with regard to other gods and the common idea of a god of evil. These influences are summarized in the table "Supernatural Beings And The Common Christian View Of Satan: Shared Aspects (10)" Click here to view table
The gods of evil in many of these ancient cultures had horns, and this would explain where the idea of a horned Devil figure came from. Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is the Devil spoken of as having horns- clearly enough, it was an import from surrounding paganism.
Deconstruction Of The Myths
The ancient Near East was full of beliefs that the sea was somehow where the Satan figure lived; the sea was nearly always identified with a personal god of evil (11). The ancient Canaanite myths saw the sea as being in revolt against the Creator. The Ugaritic texts feature Baal in battle against the Prince of the Sea and the Judge of the River. The Old Testament has a huge number of references to Yahweh's control over the sea- it begins with Him gathering the waters together in obedience to His word. "He placed a bound for the sea which it cannot pass"; and there are is a very wide range of terms used to describe the seas / waters under His sovereign control: "the deep", "the ocean-deep", "the depth", "the mighty waters", "the majestic waters", "the many waters" etc. All these are portrayed as under His control and total manipulation at His whim- seeing He is their creator.
The Egyptians perhaps more than any believed in the waters, especially of the Nile, as the source of good and evil. God powerfully deconstructed this by enabling Moses to turn those waters into blood- i.e. to effectively slay whatever deity was supposed to live in the Nile, and then to revert the water to how it had been (Ex. 4:9). This was surely to demonstrate that whatever deities were associated with "the waters", Yahweh was greater, and could slay and revive them at perfect ease. The record of the Red Sea destruction is instructive in this regard. Later Scripture identified the Egyptians and not the sea itself as "Rahab... the dragon" (Is. 51:9; Ps. 89:9.10)- whereas the common view was that the sea itself was the Satan figure. Moses' stress was that the real adversaries / satans to Israel were people, and not some mythical dragon figure. Even if such a figure existed, then Yahweh had destroyed him at the Red Sea, in that He clearly could manipulate the Sea at His whim. The conflict was between Israel and Egypt, God and Pharaoh- and not God and some dragon in the Sea. Habbakuk, perhaps writing in a context of Israel being influenced by pagan ideas about the Sea god, stressed that at the Red Sea, God thrashed and "trampled Sea with your horses" (Hab. 3:8,12,15)- as Marduk supposedly trampled the storm god, so Israel are being told that in fact Yahweh is the one who trampled the "Sea" god- and other Scriptures confirm this- Yahweh "Trod on the back of Sea", i.e. the supposed Satan figure called "Sea" (Job 9:8; Dt. 33:29; Amos 4:13; Mic. 1:3; Is. 63:3). Even if such a being existed, he had been destroyed for good by Yahweh at the Red Sea. "You split Sea... cut Rahab in pieces... didst pierce the dragon" (Ps. 78:13; Neh. 9:11;Is. 51:9-11). Thus the splitting of the Red Sea was understood as a splitting of the Satan figure or god known as "Sea". Several scholars concur in the need to read the references to "Sea" in this way (12). All this was what Moses had in mind when he sought to explain to his people what had happened at the Red Sea- even if there were such a being as the "Sea" god of evil, Yahweh their God had totally destroyed him and split him into pieces. And the real 'satan' was Egypt, real men on a real earth who posed a danger to Israel. "Thus the best known of all ancient Near Eastern myths, the myth of the chaos-dragon, is no longer understood as the primeval conflict between the deified forces of nature, but as Yahweh's victory over Egypt in his delivering his people from slavery. In a radical sense, myth is transformed in the Old Testament... Yahweh wages war against all the forces which seek to assert their independence over against him, whether they be the evil propensities of the heart of man, or the nations' claim to sovereignty, or the pride and power of the earthly kings. The world of demons is relegated to a position of only minor importance, and in contrast to other Near Eastern religions, man is delivered from the fear and dread of its destructive power" (13). This was and is what is so unique about the one true faith, from Genesis to Revelation. The world of demons and supernatural Satans becomes irrelevant, effectively non-existent, because of Yahweh's amazingly powerful involvement with His people. The Bible begins early on with the comment that "God created the great sea monsters" (Gen. 1:21). The sea was perceived in surrounding mythology as the habitation of 'Satan' like creatures and gods. And right at the outset of Biblical history, the point is being clarified that whatever monsters are in the sea, God created them and is in control and they are fulfilling His will. Hence Ps. 148:7 makes the point that the sea monsters in the very deepest parts of the sea actually praise God. The Hebrew Bible is as it were going out of the way to emphasize that any such sea monsters were not part of any cosmic conflict against God; created by Him, they praise Him and are as it were on His side and not against Him.
In Digression 3 we'll see how one of the intentions of Moses in the Pentateuch was the deconstruction of the Egyptian and Canaanite myths about evil. The more we study the Old Testament, the more apparent it becomes that this is in fact a major theme. Contemporary ideas about Satan, demons etc. are alluded to and Israel are given the true understanding. Take the well known command to Israel to wear a phylactery as a reminder of the Passover deliverance from Egypt: "You shall have the record of it as a sign upon your hand, and upon your forehead as a phylactery, because by the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt" (Ex. 13:16 N.E.B.). Wearing a phylactery wasn't a new concept; the idea "refers to amulets which were worn in order to protect their wearers against demons" (14). So by giving this command, Israel's God was showing His people that instead of being on the defensive against demons, needing good luck charms against them, they should instead replace these by a positive rememberance of how Yawheh had saved His people from all the power of evil which was symbolized by Pharaoh's Egypt. Rejoicing in His salvation and contantly remembering it was intended to totally sideline the various false beliefs about demons which were prevalent at the time.
Students from many backgrounds have likewise perceived that Genesis is deconstructing the surrounding myths. The Catholic theologian Edmund Hill puts it very clearly: “The story of creation is really one of the earliest essays in demythologization... it is a counterblast to the Babylonian creation myth Enuma-elish which glorifies the gods of Babylon, above all Marduk the sun god, for emerging victorious from the great cosmogonic conflict with the monster of chaos Tiamat and then creating men to be the slaves of the gods from the blood of her assistant demon Kingu. ‘This is all hogwash’, says [the author of Genesis] in effect... the worldview it represented was false, a view of a world emerging from the clash of cosmic forces, and of man as the fairly helpless plaything of these forces... ‘No’, [the author of Genesis] says, ‘The world was created by God, the God of Israel, our God, the one true God. It was done in much the same way as the Babylonians construct one of their temples for their non-gods’. And so, just as the Babylonians finish this construction by putting an idol of the non-god in the sanctuary of the temple, God finishes off the work of creating His temple, the world, by putting His idol, man, in it as its crowning achievement or masterpiece. For the word translated ‘image’ here is in fact the Hebrew word for ‘idol’” (15). What is significant here is that God’s corrected view of creation purposefully had no equivalent for the monster and demon figures, and no equivalent of the supposed cosmic conflict. These things had no equivalent- because they had no real existence.
Canaanite Dualism
Exploring further, we discover that the gods of Canaan were in two broad groups- good and evil. The Canaanites were dualists; they believed in Mot as the god of the underworld, called "the angel of death" in the Ras Shamra tablets, with various supporting monsters; over against all of which was Baal as the god of the heavens. "The angel of death" is an idea picked up by Moses in his account of the Passover deliverance, to show that the Angel of death is not in fact Mot but an Angel of Yahweh, completely under His control. For it was none less than Yahweh Himself who slew the firstborn of Egypt (Ex. 12:11,12). Likewise it was Yahweh's Angel who played the role of the 'Angel of death' in smiting the Assyrian army dead (Is. 37:36). Mot was thought to have helpers, dragons such as Leviathan who lived in the sea and rivers. Ps. 74:12-15 majestically disposes of this idea, proclaiming Yahweh to be the God who has divided the sea, broken the heads of the dragons in the waters, crushed the heads of Leviathan [he was thought to be a many headed monster]. "The beasts that dwell among the reeds" of the rivers are likewise "rebuked" by God's almighty strength (Ps. 68:30). God's hand pierced the "crooked serpent", another form of the Leviathan myth (Job 26:13- the very phrase btn brh, the crooked serpent, appears in the Ras Shamra texts). Notice how the past tense is used- these beings, even if they ever existed, have been rendered powerless by God. And of course the allusions are to what God did at the Red Sea, as if to argue that His saving deliverance of His people is the ultimate salvation which we should find significant.
The Old Testament describes Yahweh, the one true God, as riding through the heavens on chariots to the help of His people Israel (Dt. 33:26; 2 Sam. 22:11; Ps. 18:10; 104:3; Is. 19:1; Hab. 3:8). But Baal was known as the rkb 'rpt, the one who rides upon the clouds (16). Clearly the language of Baal is being appropriated to Yahweh. There's another example in Ps. 102:9: "Behold your enemies, O Lord, behold your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered". This is almost verbatim the same as a line on the Ras Shamra tablets about Baal: "Behold your enemies, O Baal, behold your enemies you destroy, you annihilate your foes". Likewise the references to Yahweh giving His voice from Heaven and His enemies fleeing before Him (Ps. 18:13,14; 68:32,33) are references to Baal supposedly being able to do the same, according to the Ras Shamra texts (17). The Canaanites believed that thunder was Baal's voice as he struggled; but it is Yahweh's voice which the Bible presents as thunders. Jer. 23:27 laments that Israel forgot God's Name for that of Baal- hence His appeal for them to realize that what they claimed for Baal they actually ought to claim for Yahweh. This explains why the Old Testament so frequently contains allusions to the Baal cult, deconstructing them and reapplying the language of Baal to Yahweh.
This appropriation of pagan language and re-application to the one true God is very common. Notice how Abraham did this; Melchizedek spoke of his deity as "God most high" and "maker of heaven and earth", and Abraham immediately picks these terms up and applies them to his God, Yahweh (Gen. 14:19-22). Abraham sought to relate to Melchizedek as far as he could in the terms and language which Melchizedek understood. And this is what God does all through; the pagan language used to describe both the good gods and the evil gods is picked up and applied to Yahweh- in order to demonstrate that He was and is the one and only true God, that He is responsible for all those things which the pagans thought the other gods were responsible for. And this includes Yahweh as source of both good and evil, blessing and disaster. Dualism was not to be Israel's religion; their one God, Yahweh, was responsible for all. But the pagan ideas were attractive; and thus all through the Old Testament, the reminders are given. It would appear that whilst in captivity in Babylon, the Jews returned to some of these myths. The Talmud records: "When R. Dimi returned to Babylon he reported in the name of R. Johanan: Gabriel will in the end of days arrange a chase of Leviathan" (18). Hence I have elsewhere suggested that Isaiah and the book of Job were rewritten, under Divine inspiration, in Babylon, along with many of the Psalms, in order to correct these false ideas of Leviathan being a real creature against whom God was somehow struggling.
All the allusions to Mot, Leviathan, Baal etc. are couched in terms of God's victory over Egypt and His ultimate conquest of Babylon. God wished to redirect attention away from these myths towards what He had concretely done and will do in the salvation of His people from sin and concrete, visible, human enemies, just as He had delivered them from their historical enemies in the past such as Egypt. "In the Canaanite myths Baal smites the Prince of the Sea and Judge of the River, the helpers of Mot, on the head and on the neck" (19). This is precisely what we have alluded to in Hab. 3:13,14, where Yahweh smites "the house of the wicked [LXX "death"]" on the head and neck. But the mythical Satan creatures are reapplied to death and "the house of the wicked"- sinful men, whom Habakkuk's hearers personally knew; or death, the fear of every man. Even through the mask of translation, the majesty of Cassuto's argument on this point comes through well: "The Canaanite idea of the victory of the god of the sky over the forces of death is transformed among the Israelites into the concept of the triumph of the One God, the ultimate Source of absolute good, over the principle of evil....the tradition [wrongly] accepted by the Israelites regarding the defeat of the rebellious creatures became a symbol of the punishment of the wicked, the foes of the Lord and of Israel, and the delivery of the righteous" (20).
Cassuto analyzed at great length the Ugaritic poem on Baal which was found in the Ras Shamra texts. It describes the conflict between Baal and Mot; and yet the Old Testament alludes to the language of the poem and applies the characteristics of both Baal and Mot to Yahweh. Thus Ps. 68:5 speaks of Yahweh as the only Rider of the clouds, alluding to Baal, 'the rider of the clouds'. Ps. 68:6 speaks of Yahweh as "father of orphans and judge of widows"- another term applied to Baal in the Ras Shamra texts. Cassuto perceived that the Old Testament is deconstructing the pagan idea of a conflict between deities, and instead speaks of the only essential rebellion as being of creatures against their one Creator (21). Habakkuk 3 is full of allusion to the Baal-Mot conflict poem. That poem speaks of how Mot and his fellow monsters were cast into the sea by Baal, and this stanza is virtually translated into Hebrew in Hab. 3:8: "Was Your wrath against the rivers, O Yahweh, or your indignation against the sea, when You did ride upon Your horses, upon Your chariots of victory?" (22). But the verse in Habakkuk comes in the context of reflection upon Yahweh's victory over Israel's enemies at the Red Sea. Thus the focus is being moved from the legends about cosmic conflict between the gods, to Yahweh's victory over real, tangible, earthly, human enemies of His people. Cassuto comments: "In the Biblical verses the acts are attributed to the Lord, whereas in the gentile poems they are referred to pagan deities" (23).
APPENDIX: Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term I'll be using often in these studies. The similarities between the Biblical record and the surrounding myths and legends of the contemporary peoples are being increasingly revealed. The critical school likes to see in this evidence that the Bible is just another myth, or is repeating pre-existing myths. My approach is that the Bible is indeed alluding to the myths and legends which Israel would have encountered, and showing which parts of them are true and which aren't; and especially, showing the utter supremacy of Israel's God over the supposed gods and demigods of other religions. The gods of the underworld, whose characteristics were slowly merged into the classical but mistaken images of 'Satan', are particularly singled out for allusion and deconstruction. The point of all the allusions to them is to deconstruct them and thus demonstrate their effective non-existence, in that their function in human life is in fact in the hands of Israel's God, Yahweh. Thus the Ninevites had grown up believing in Divine heroes being swallowed alive by monsters and yet emerging alive; and God chose to subvert that belief by making His man, Jonah, appear alive out of the large fish in order to witness His Truth to them. Viewed this way, the Hebrew Bible can be understood as an extended appeal to reject pagan notions of 'Satan' figures. This theme continues into the New Testament, whose language often alludes to incorrect beliefs [not least in demons] precisely in order to deconstruct them.
Stephanie Dalley has translated a text titled "Erra and Ishum" (24), dated by its colophon to the time of the Assyrian king Asshurbanipal. Erra was a name for the god of the underworld. There are amazing similarities between this document and the Biblical prophets, especially Nahum, who wrote in an Assyrian context. Following are just a sample (page numbers refer to Dalley):
"Because they no longer fear my name... I shall overwhelm his people" (p. 290) Mal 1:6; Num. 14:11
"Woe to Babylon!" (p. 304) Jer. 50:27; Nah. 3:1
"How could you plot evil for gods and men?" (p. 301) Is. 45:5-7
"Nobody can stand up to you in your day of wrath!" (p. 310) Nah. 1:6
"Erra became angry and set his face towards overwhelming countries and destroying their people, but Ishum his counsellor placated him so that he let a remnant." (p. 311) Ez. 6:8 etc.
"The mountains shake, the seas surge at the flashing of your sword..." (p. 302) Nah. 1:5
"Bright day will turn to darkness [before me]... I shall destroy the rays of the sun; I shall cover the face of the moon in the middle of the night" (pp. 292, 297) Am. 5:18; 8:9; Joel 3:15
"I shall sever the life of the just man... and the wicked man" (p. 298) "I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked" (Ez. 21:4)
The Biblical allusions to this language is to show that Israel's God, as the one and only God, is the One to be feared, and not any god of the underworld, or 'Satan' figure. Alluding in this way to contemporary writings or ideas in order to deconstruct them was often done in Bible times; and it was done without as it were soecifically referencing the material being alluded to. This is what makes all such literature, the Bible included, so hard to interpret when we read it many centuries later without full access to nor appreciation of the material being alluded to. Such literary style was "a typical enough formula of the ancient Easter... Jahwism is forever pouring entirely new wine into the old bottles, and sooner or later, in many cases, these do indeed burst" (25). This effective re-writing of texts wasn't uncommon in the Biblical world. Wilfred Lambert has observed: "...the ancient world had no proper titles, no sense of literary rights, and no aversion to what we call plagiarism. Succeeding ages often rewrote old texts" (26). And again: "The authors of ancient cosmologies were essentially compilers. Their originality was expressed in new combinations of old themes, and in new twists to old ideas. Sheer invention was not part of their craft" (27). Donald Redford puts it like this: "The nature of Ancient Near Eastern writing proves unannounced quotation to have been the rule, not the exception" (28). The Gilgamesh Epic has been analyzed as evidencing "the adaptation of earlier works of various genres, some of which are employed within their new literary context in a manner contrary to their original intent" (29). The Bible is doing the same- but under Divine inspiration. And my point throughout these studies will be that it does so particularly with reference to false, if popular, ideas about evil, sin and 'Satan' figures. These ideas are alluded to, at times the language of the myths about them is used and effectively quoted, in order to invert and deconstruct those ideas. The text of the Hebrew Bible was initially given by God for the guidance of His people Israel, a largely illiterate group of people bombarded on every side by the myths and legends of the societies around them. And God through His word was speaking to those issues they faced, teaching them the true position, and revealing those false ideas for what they really were. And so it has been observed that "No one familiar with the mythologies of the primitive, ancient, and Oriental worlds can turn to the Bible without recognizing counterparts on every page, transformed, however, to render an argument contrary to the older faiths" (30).
Notes
(1) Rabbi Simon ben Lakish in The Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra 16a.
(2) Joshua Trachtenberg, The Devil And The Jews (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943) p. 19.
(3) A. Cohen, Everyman’s Talmud (London: J.M. Dent, 1949), p. 55. The same fact is extensively noted in Roy A. Stewart, Rabbinic Theology: An Introductory study (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1961), pp. 81-5, 88.
(4) T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley, The Birth Of Satan: Tracing The Devil's Biblical Roots (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) p. 52.
(5) Martin Buber, Moses (Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1947) p. 58.
(6) Neil Forsyth, Satan And The Combat Myth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989) chapter 2.
(7) This and other connections are developed in W.G. Lambert, The Background Of Jewish Apocalyptic (London: Athlone Press, 1978).
(8) This is but a brief summary of the careful research of John Day, God's Conflict With The Dragon And The Sea (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). See especially pp. 38,39. It is also the interpretation of Marvin Pope, Job (New York: Doubleday) 1965 pp. 164-167.
(9) R.J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain In Canaan And The Old Testament (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972).
(10) Taken from T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley, The Birth Of Satan: Tracing The Devil's Biblical Roots (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) pp. 92,93.
(11) Neil Forsyth, Satan And The Combat Myth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989) chapter 4 provides ample evidence of this.
(12) B.W. Anderson, Creation Versus Chaos: The Reinterpretation Of Mythical Symbolism In The Bible (New York: Association Press, 1967) pp. 98,99; F.M. Cross, Canaanite Myth And Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973) pp. 132, 140; Marvin Pope, Job (New York: Doubleday) 1965 pp. 67-70.
(13) James Muilenburg, The Way Of Israel (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962) p. 45.
(14) R.E. Clements, Exodus [Cambridge Bible Commentary] (Cambridge: C.U.P., 1972) p. 80.
(15) Edmund Hill, Being Human (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1984) pp. 196,197.
(16) Umberto Cassuto, Biblical And Oriental Studies (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1973) Vol. 1 p. 246.
(17) Cassuto, ibid pp. 251, 278.
(18) B. Baba Batra 74b-75a, quoted (along with other evidence to this effect) in L. Ginzberg, Legends Of The Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1909) Vol. 1 pp. 27,28; Vol. 5 pp. 43-46.
(19) Cassuto, op cit p. 268.
(20) Cassuto, op cit pp. 251,252.
(21) Umberto Cassuto, Biblical And Oriental Studies
(Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1975) Vol. 2 p. 5.
(22) Cassuto, ibid
p. 11.
(23) Cassuto, ibid p. 72
(24) Stephanie Dalley, Myths From Mesopotamia, Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, And Others (Oxford: O.U.P., 1991).
(25) H. Renckens, Israel's Concept of the Beginning: The Theology of Genesis 1-3 (New York: Herder & Herder, 1964) p. 114.
(26) W. G. Lambert & A. R. Millard, Atra-Khasis, The Babylonian Story Of The Flood (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1999) p. 5.
(27) Wilfred G. Lambert, "A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis" in Richard S. Hess and David T. Tsumura, eds., I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood: Literary And Linguistic Approaches To Genesis 1 — 11 (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1994) p. 107.
(28) Donald Redford, The Biblical Story of Joseph (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970) p. 109.
(29) C. L. Seow, "Qohelet's Autobiography" in Astrid B. Beck, ed., Fortunate The Eyes That See (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995) p. 285.
(30) Joseph Campbell, The Masks Of God: Vol. 3, Occidental Mythology (New York: Viking Arkana, 1991) p. 9.