'There's such Divinity doth Hedge a King'

Nicolas Wyatt is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Religions at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, UK.

'Over the years Professor Nicolas Wyatt, whose translation of the Ugaritic literary and religious documents is now a standard textbook, has been exploring the ancient near eastern mythological background to biblical traditions, particularly in respect of kingship. The present collection offers a sure guide through these ancient texts, often providing a new and refreshing slant while making them intelligible to the modern reader.' W.G.E. Watson, Department of Religious Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne 'The author, who often suggests - and risks - new interpretations, is to be congratulated on this useful and stimulating collection.' International Review of Biblical Studies

• Contents: Preface; 'Araunah the Jebusite' and the throne of David; 'Jedidiah' and cognate forms as a title of royal legitimization; Cain's wife; The hollow crown: ambivalent elements in west Semitic royal ideology; Echoes of the King and his Ka: an ideological motif in the story of Solomon's birth; When Adam delved: the meaning of Genesis 3:23; 'Supposing him to be the gardener' (John 20:15): a study of the paradise motif in John; The meaning of El Roi and the mythological dimension of Genesis 16; The theogony motif in Ugarit and the Bible; The liturgical context of Psalm 19 and its mythical and ritual origins; Ilimilku's ideological programme: Ugaritic royal propaganda, and a biblical postscript; Arms and the King: the earliest allusions to the Chaoskampf motif and their implications for the interpretation of the Ugaritic and biblical traditions; Degrees of divinity: some mythical and ritual aspects of west Semitic kingship; Ilimilku the theologian: the ideological roles of Athtar and Baal in KTU 1.1 and 1.6; Marriage, mayhem and murder: an everyday story of royal folk; Bibliography; Index.