Therefore, the Pentateuch is an evolved and text composed mostly after ~700-600 BCE. The sources were Babylonian, Ugarite and Canaanite texts, and merged and combined with Hebrew traditions and history, both real and mythical.
The Hebrew tribes of Judah evolved from Canaanite/Ugarit pastoral tribes of the Hills of Judah. The Hebrew written language evolved from Ugarit/Canaanite written language, as evidenced by the earliest known primitive texts. Exodus as described never took place as described, and
The earliest known textual parallels in style and form found in Psalms and Proverbs are found in Ugarit/Canaanite cuneiform texts.
From: Ugarit and the Bible
"These texts, as mentioned above, are very important for Old Testament study. The Ugaritic literature demonstrates that Israel and Ugarit shared a common literary heritage and a common linguistic lineage. They are, in short, related languages and literatures. We can thus learn very much about the one from the other. Our knowledge of the religion of Ancient Syria-Palestine and Canaan has been greatly increased by the Ugaritic materials and their significance cannot be overlooked. We have here, as it were, an open window on the culture and religion of Israel in its earliest period.
3. From the Literature of Ugarit to the Literature of the Bible.
The style of writing discovered at Ugarit is known as alphabetic cuneiform. This is a unique blending of an alphabetic script (like Hebrew) and cuneiform (like Akkadian); thus it is a unique blending of two styles of writing. Most likely it came into being as cuneiform was passing from the scene and alphabetic scripts were making their rise. Ugaritic is thus a bridge from one to the other and very important in itself for the development of both.
One of the most, if perhaps not the most, important aspect of Ugaritic studies is the assistance it gives in correctly translating difficult Hebrew words and passages in the Old Testament. As a language develops the meaning of words changes or their meaning is lost altogether. This is also true of the Biblical text. But after the discovery of the Ugaritic texts we gained new information concerning the meaning of archaic words in the Hebrew text.
One example of this is found in Proverbs 26:23. In the Hebrew text Mygys Psk is divided just as it is here. This has caused commentators quite a bit of confusion over the centuries, for what does �silver lips� mean? The discovery of the Ugaritic texts has helped us to understand that the word was divided incorrectly by the Hebrew scribe (who was as unfamiliar as we are with what the words were supposed to mean). Instead of the two words above, the Ugaritic texts lead us to divide the two words as Mygysps k which means �like silver�. This makes eminently more sense in context than the word mistakenly divided by the Hebrew scribe who was unfamiliar with the second word; so he divided into two words which he did know even though it made no sense.
Another example occurs in Ps 89:20. Here the word rz( is usually translated �help� but the Ugaritic word �gzr� means �young man� and if Psalm 89:20 is translated this way it is clearly more meaningful.
Besides single words being illuminated by the Ugaritic texts, entire ideas or complexes of ideas have parallels in the literature. For example, in Proverbs 9:1-18 wisdom and folly are personified as women. This means that when the Hebrew wisdom teacher instructed his students on these matters, he was drawing on material that was commonly known in the Canaanite environment (for Ugarit was Canaanite). In point of fact, KTU 1,7 VI 2-45 is nearly identical to Proverbs 9:1ff. (The abbreviation KTU stands for �Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit�, the standard collection of this material. The numbers are what we might call the chapter and verse). KTU 1.114:2-4 says-
hklh. sh. lqs. ilm. tlhmn
ilm w tstn. tstnyn �d sb�
trt. �d. skr. y�.db .yrh
�Eat, o Gods, and drink,
drink wine till you are sated,
Which is very similar to Proverbs 9:5;
�Come, eat of my food and drink wine that I have mixed�.
Ugaritic poetry is very similar to Biblical poetry and is therefore very useful in interpreting difficult poetic texts. In fact, Ugaritic literature (besides lists and the like) is composed completely in poetic metre. Biblical poetry follows Ugaritc poetry in form and function. There is parallelism, qinah metre, bi and tri colas, and all of the poetic tools found in the Bible are found at Ugarit. In short the Ugaritic materials have a great deal to contribute to our understanding of the Biblical materials; especially since they predate any of the Biblical texts."
Next: Ugarit/Canaanite polytheistic theology in the OT.
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