It is important at this point to understand something of the nature of Canaanite religion against which such strong warnings had been given to the Israelites. Valuable archaeological evidence came to light when Ras Shamra, on the coast of Syria, was excavated to see what could be found in the ruins of the ancient city of Ugarit. A library of clay tablets, dating from about 1400 to 1300 B.C. was found, and when the language had been deciphered, provided information about the kind of religion against which all the Israelite leaders and prophets continually warned their people and which is totally condemned in the book of Deuteronomy . The religion of Ugarit was a polytheistic nature religion and the aim of the worshippers was to control or placate the forces on which their crops, herds and their own human fertility seemed to be dependent. The aims of their religious rituals were to ensure continued fertility of the land, animals and people. Sexual rituals involving temple prostitutes were practised; if a man had sexual intercourse with such a woman, he believed that his own fertility and that of the animals he owned and the crops he planted would be maintained. The festivals of such a religion followed the cycle of the agricultural seasons; as the annual period of rain from about November to March gave way to the months of drought and heat, it seemed that fertility went from the earth and had to be persuaded or forced to return.

The chief god of the people of ancient Ugarit was called EI. He was given the title of 'the bull' and was said to be the father of innumerable gods. He was thought of as an old man and was called 'the father of years'. He was called 'creator of created things' and 'father of men'. It was thought that his dwelling place was far away at the source of mysterious rivers. He had a wife called Asherah, who is referred to in a number of passages in the Old Testament, for example, Deuteronomy 7: S. One of the offspring of El and Asherah was Baal, the god of rain and storms, the god of the great voice of thunder. The word ba-al in both the ancient Canaanite language and Hebrew means 'lord', and the word El was used in both languages, which were similar, for God or god. The fact that words common to the languages of the Canaanites and the Israelites were used in different religious contexts with very different understanding of what and who they stood for, could and did bring some problems to the Israelites when they came into contact with Canaanite religion.

The people of Ugarit depended on the annual rain for their crops and offered worship and ritual to Baal to try to ensure the coming of the rain which they needed. They believed that there was a recurring struggle between Baal and a god of death called Mot, whose dwelling place was under the ground. Each year Baal was overcome by Mot but was restored to life again by a goddess called Anath who was both his wife and his sister and who was aided by the goddess of the sun. Anath was an extraordinary goddess, thought to be the goddess of love, war and fertility!

It is obvious that the myth of Baal, Mot and Anath is connected with the annual drying up of the rain and its later return after the hot summer. The myth of the dying and rising god is found in other ancient Middle East literature from areas where the same kind of climatic conditions were experienced.

In the Old Testament there are references to a goddess of fertility called Astarte (Ashtaroth is the form given in the RSV Bible). This may have been another name for Anath, or another form of the fertility goddesses which were widely worshipped all over the Middle East. Later in Israelite history we find references to the goddess of fertility in Assyria, named Ishtar.

Another god referred to in the Ugarit pantheon was Dagon, known to us in the Old Testament as a god of the Philistines. In Ugarit, Dagon was worshipped as a god of the corn, which was the staple food of the people. There were many gods and goddesses in the Ugarit myths, personifying different aspects of the natural world and its phenomena, as the Canaanites of that area knew it. Most of the gods and goddesses were thought of as violent and powerful; the needs of human beings made it necessary for these gods and goddesses to be 'controlled' by the means of magical rituals. It is probable that the myths of Ugarit's religion were acted out as part of the worship of the gods and goddesses at religious festivals.