The Good and Evil Serpent (109 page)

Assuming that Psalm 68 reflects some unity, we may look for possible echoes of our restored text. First, the noun “n, “den,” seems to echo “n, “mountain” in a preceding verse. In early square Hebrew scripts, the two forms, n and n, frequently appear identical. The text was intended to be read out loud. The two Hebrew nouns for “den” and “mountain” sound similar. They can be indistinguishable when the speaker does not bring out the force of the laryngeal (the
).

By choosing his words carefully, a poet (or the compiler) may echo in 68:23(22) a passage in Psalm 68:16(15). Note the latter verse:

A mountain of God [is] the mountain of Bashan;

A mountain [of many] peaks (is) the mountain of Bashan.
⁷⁷

In this verse,
appears in colon one and in colon two. The poet then proceeds to develop his thought, so that a similar phrase evolves into the meaning “the den of the dragon-snake.” Note how similar the two passages appear:

har-’
^e
lōhîm har-bāšān

har gabhnunnîm har-bāšān
[Ps 68:16(15)]

This text seems to be echoed in the restored text:

mihur bāšān ‘āšîbh

‘āšîbh mimm
^e
sulōth yām

Because an echo of a sound bouncing off mountains does not identically reproduce the original sound, so the repetitive
har-bāšān (bis)
is echoed in memory when one hears
hur bdsdn
. Even if Psalm 68 is fundamentally a compilation of
incipits
, some postexilic readers would likely have heard the echo. It is also conceivable that the two passages, now verses 16(15) and 22(23), were originally much closer than in the miscellany; both reflect early Canaanite myths (“Bashan” as the abode of God and “Bashan” as the enemy of Baal [the likely Urtext]) and the similar lexemes are not only harmonious but most likely created by the same poet.

Such a reader may have perceived an evolution of thought from the mount of Bashan as the place where God dwells forever (68:16–17[15–16]) to the extremities in which God’s enemies now hide (68:20–24[19–23]). We have amassed additional data to demonstrate that
once also denoted a “dragon-snake.” Surely, it is not wise now to follow the advice of H.-J. Kraus who has argued that in Psalm 68:23[22] Bashan is “certainly a designation for the ‘highest height.’ “
⁷⁸

Second, the context suggests that the thought of verse 23 flows from verses 20–22. In 68:23(22) the poet (through the paronomasia of double entendre) is drawing attention to the power of “the God of salvation” (68:21[20]). God will bring everything and everyone to judgment—that is, bring them back from a place poetically representing Sheol (the den of the dragon-snake and the depths of the sea).
⁷⁹
The Warrior-God,
YHWH
, is bringing to judgment all his enemies.

My interpretation is not far from that of P. D. Miller. Note how he renders verses 22–24:

How “Yahweh” has smitten

The head of his enemies

The head of the “wicked”(?)

Roaming in his guilt.

The Lord said:

I muzzled the Serpent
,

I muzzled the Deep Sea.
⁸⁰

That you may wash

Your feet in blood,

The tongues of your dogs

From the enemies their portion. [?]
⁸¹

Miller was focused on the image of the “Divine Warrior in Early Israel.” I am focusing on “Bashan” as denoting a serpent. Miller rightly found Albright’s emendations “too extreme and actually unnecessary” (p. 111). He also is deeply influenced by Ugaritic, especially
‘nt:
III:37–38 (= CTA 3.III.37–38),
⁸²
which he renders as follows:

I muzzled Tannin, I muzzled him.

I smote the twisting Serpent.
⁸³

In contrast to Miller, I prefer to see Psalm 68:23[22] in light of RS 15.134 in-stead of CTA 3.III.37–38. I take the verb
in Psalm 68:23(22), in which it appears in colons one and two, as a Hiphil from the familiar
(with most scholars), and not as Miller, who follows Dahood,
⁸⁴
from
, “muzzled,” which is a verb known from Ugaritic and Arabic, but not extant in biblical Hebrew.
⁸⁵

My restoration does not appeal to any emendation, as many experts have concluded Psalm 68 must receive. It is not an unfounded speculation. It restores the meter and the
parallelismus membrorum
. That is, “the
den
of the dragon-snake” is parallel and synonymous to “the
depths
of the sea.” The passage fits the early Canaanite origins of this psalm that reflects the Canaanite myth of how Baal defeated both
Ydm
(the Sea) and Bashan (the Monster). This dating of the traditions behind Psalm 68 is in line with many experts who follow Albright in tracing the traditions to pre-Solomonic Canaanite culture.
⁸⁶
As Miller contends, “when verse 23 is translated correctly, we see that Yahweh’s enemies are also the monsters of the cosmos.” Miller then salutes Albright for being “one of the first to call attention to this theme in the verse and particularly to the mention of the serpent Basan.”
⁸⁷

There is more that may be speculated. What is the etymological link between the two meanings of “Bashan”? The putative verbal source of this noun,)V2, may be
bdsdn
, and analogous with the cognate Arabic; it would mean “to be smooth.” The connection between the Bashan plain and the smooth skin of a snake becomes obvious. As a place, “Bashan” denotes the smooth fertile and stoneless plain east of the Jordan River with Hermon on the north and Gilead on the south, so as a dragon-snake “Bashan” denotes the unparalleled smoothness of a serpent’s skin.
⁸⁸
It is also possible that in the second millennium
BCE
the place called Bashan, which is ideal for snakes then and now, was noted for its vipers or “dragon-snakes.”

What then evolves regarding the meaning of other passages with
in the Hebrew Bible? More challenging than the passage in Psalm 68, which most likely refers to a dragon-snake,
⁸⁹
is the use of the noun in Deuteronomy 33:22. This verse contains the only other time
appears in the Hebrew Bible with the possible meaning of “dragon-snake.” Little help is obtained from the Targumim in ascertaining the meaning of “Bashan” in Deuteronomy 33:22. The translator who gave us Targum Onkelos paraphrased the line, explaining of Dan that “his territory is watered by the wadis that flow from Matnan [Bashan]. ”
⁹⁰
In contrast to the Targum, note the following translation of the Hebrew: