I. Name
The name ‘Rock’ (ṣwr) is very common as a metaphor for God in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. 2 Sam. 22.3 = Ps. 18.3; a few times in Deut. 32). Etymologically the original form of the word ṣwr will have been *ẓr, as may be concluded on the basis of the cognates in other Semitic languages (HALAT 953). Like ‘mountain’ (Mountains-and-Valleys; Shadday) and Stone the term was used in the Semitic world as a divine epithet, but in contrast to ʾbn, stone, it never became obsolete.
II. Identity
The Ugaritic texts mention ǵrm, i…