4.0.1 Overview
[callout]The divine (or heavenly) council is a common motif within the ancient Near Eastern literature and the Hebrew Bible. It depicts a high god or Yahweh meeting together with a group of members (gods, goddesses, celestial beings) to make an important decision. We will explore some of the primary gods and goddesses in ancient Near Eastern documents like El, Baal, Dagon, Asherah, Astarte, and Anat. We will also consider who might be on Yahweh’s council in various biblical passages and what Asherah’s relationship with Yahweh might have been.
This lesson includes:
- X short video lectures: Watch the videos and download the slides.
- Suggested readings: Each lesson includes several biblical verses to read. They are linked to the NSRV version at Bible Gateway, but you are welcome to use your own Bible translation.
- Short quizzes: Each lesson has a 2-4 question quiz to verify your understanding of the material
- Discussion questions: Many of the lessons have questions you can discuss in the forum (optional).
If you have questions or comments about this module’s topics, please post in the forum Forum Topic.
To complete this module, pass all lesson quizzes. (You can take each quiz multiple times.)
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