Bible Review

The root śwś, “rejoice,” is used apropos of marriage in Isaiah 61:10, 62:5.

This refers to decoration of ivory inlay; see 1 Kings 22:39; Amos 3:15, 6:4. On the ivory palace decorations, see Hershel Shanks, “Ancient Ivory,” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1985.

Given the violent imagery, and assuming his wife is a foreign princess, the king’s metaphorical conquest of his queen may symbolize the actual conquest of her people (cf. Christoph Schroeder, “‘A Love Song’: Psalm 45 in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Marriage Texts,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 58 [1996], pp. 417–432).

Robert D. Biggs, ŠÀ.ZI.GA: Ancient Mesopotamian Potency Incantations, Texts from Cuneiform Sources 2, (Locust Valley, NY: J.J. Augustin, 1967), pp. 17, 19, 20, 21, 35, 37, 53. The bow is also a masculine symbol in a Hittite potency-restoring ceremony; see James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969), p. 349.

KTU 1.23.32-51.

Literally, “lowers,” a usage found also in Psalm 18:35. For safety’s sake, one points the arrow downward when setting it to the string. To bend or string the bow, one can also use a stabilizing foot, hence the common idiom “to tread the bow.” I do not agree with the view that El is described as sexually impotent, just because his shaft momentarily droops.

It is not clear whether the sex is consensual. My assumption is that, at the beginning of the episode, the women are crying for help. The entire myth is translated in Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, pp. 205–218.

Gaster, “Psalm 45,” p. 243.