ABSTRACT
There have already been published a number of comprehensive and valuable studies on the nature of the institution of kingship among the West Semitic peoples (especially with regard to Israel and Judah),1 and so there is no need here to reiterate generally agreed and understood issues. Instead, I should like to examine some of the less obvious questions related to it, with a view to filling out our overall perspective a little more. I shall without apology concentrate on Ugaritic and biblical material, not on the assumption that the two societies are saying the same thing, but on the ground that there are, in spite of enormous differences, points of contact in which the one area may legitimately elucidate the other.
