Editing Hadad (section)

==Hadad in Ugarit==
[[File:Baal thunderbolt Louvre AO15775.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Stele of [[Baal with Thunderbolt]], 15th{{endash}}13th century BCE. Found at the acropolis in Ras Shamra (ancient city of Ugarit).]]

In religious texts, [[Ba‘al]]/Hadad is the lord of the sky who governs rain and crops, master of fertility and protector of life and growth. His absence brings drought, starvation, and chaos. Texts of the [[Baal Cycle]] from [[Ugarit]] are fragmentary and assume much background knowledge.

The supreme god [[El (god)|El]] resides on Mount Lel (Night?) where the assembly of the gods meets. At the beginning of the cycle, there appears to a feud between El and Ba‘al. El appoints one of his sons, called both prince [[Yam (god)|Yamm]] (Sea) and judge Nahar (River), as king over the gods and changes Yamm's name from ''yw'' to ''mdd ’il'' (darling of El). El tells his son that he will have to drive off Ba‘al to secure the throne. 
 
In this battle Ba‘al is somehow weakened, but the divine craftsman [[Kothar-wa-Khasis]] crafts two magic clubs for Ba’al as weapons that help Ba’al strike down Yamm and Ba'al is supreme. [[Astarte|‘Athtart]] proclaims Ba‘al's victory and salutes Ba‘al/Hadad as {{Transliteration|uga|lrkb ‘rpt}} (Rider on the Clouds), a phrase applied by editors of modern English Bibles to [[Yahweh]] in [[Psalms|Psalm]] 68.4. At ‘Athtart's urging Ba‘al "scatters" Yamm and proclaims that he is dead and warmth is assured.

A later passage refers to Ba‘al's victory over [[Lotan]], the many-headed sea dragon. Due to gaps in the text it is not known whether Lotan is another name for Yamm or a character in a similar story. These stories may have been allegories of crops threatened by the winds, storms, and floods from the [[Mediterranean]] sea.

A palace is built for Ba‘al with silver, gold, and cedar wood from [[Mount Lebanon]] and [[Mount Hermon|Sirion]]. In his new palace Ba‘al hosts a great feast for the other gods. When urged by Kothar-wa-Khasis, Ba’al reluctantly opens a window in his palace and sends forth thunder and lightning. He then invites [[Mot (god)|Mot]] (Death, the god of drought and the underworld), another son of El, to join the feast.

But Mot, the eater of human flesh and blood, is insulted when offered only bread and wine. He threatens to break Ba‘al to pieces and swallow him, and even Ba‘al cannot stand against Death. Gaps here make interpretation dubious. It seems that by the advice of the sun goddess [[Shapash]], Ba‘al mates with a heifer and dresses the resultant calf in his own clothes as a gift to Mot, and then himself prepares to go down to the underworld in the guise of a helpless shade. News of Ba‘al's apparent death leads even El to mourn. Ba‘al's sister ‘[[Anat]] finds Ba‘al's corpse, presumably really the dead calf, and she buries the body with a funeral feast. The god [[Attar (god)|‘Athtar]] is appointed to take Ba‘al's place, but he is a poor substitute. Meanwhile, ‘Anat finds Mot, cleaves him with a sword, burns him with fire, and throws his remains to the birds. But the earth is still cracked with drought until Shapsh fetches Ba‘al back.

Seven years later Mot returns and attacks Ba‘al, but the battle is quelled when Shapsh tells Mot that El now supports Ba’al. Mot surrenders to Ba‘al and recognizes him as king.