Abstract
The article suggests that the story of the contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs 18:19-40) is a complete literary unit that was written by a single author in the early Persian period and inserted into the deuteronomistic story-cycle of Elijah. The story is entirely legendary and reflects the polemic of a devotee of YHWH against the contemporaneous spread of the Phoenician cult and culture. The attachment of the story to Mount Carmel may reflect the occasion of the establishment of a Tyrian/Sidonian temple on one of the mountain's peaks, but this hypothesis cannot be verified. The story conveys a clear religious message of the absolute power of YHWH and the worthlessness of all other gods - in particular the Phoenician God Ba'al - and of the fallacy of the belief in his divine power.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 85-100 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Biblische Zeitschrift |
Volume | 64 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- Ba'al Shamêm
- Elijah
- Melqart
- Mizpeh Yammim
- Mount Carmel
- Sidon
- Tyre