Baal begins to become arrogant and sends a message to Mot in the Underworld that he's going to come down and take over. Mot is furious and says he will devour him. Baal insists. Mot says, "Okay, come down and visit, we'll sit down and have a bite to eat . . ." Baal is gullible enough to go. After a meal and drink, he is stuck in the Underworld (see common archetypes). The fertility of the earth ends for six years. In the seventh year, Anat feels the lack of a consort and wants to bring back Baal. She asks Shapash to find his body when she travels through the Underworld and to bring it back. Shapash does this. Anat is unable to bring him back to life. She mourns. One day she encounters Mot and asks him to bring Baal back to life. Mot says, "No way." She seizes Mot. With a blade, she cleaves him; with a shovel, she winnows him; with fire she parches him; with a stone, she grinds him; and then she scatters him in the field. Baal comes back to life. This is symbolic of the harvest as well as the sowing and fertilization of the ground. Seven years later, Mot pulls himself together and battles with Baal. This cycle reverses on itself every seven years.
Baal and Mot -> Inanna's Descent to the Underworld (Archetype: The Dying God Theme). A seven year cycle because the Canaanites had little arable land -- enough but very little. They could only plant year-round to accomodate their available agriculture. Every seventh year they would leave the ground fallow (the year of rest they called "sabbath"). They stored food for the year of famine. Sometimes, though, Mot would win the battle, and the year of sabbath did not replenish the land sufficiently. Crops would be poor and this made the next year of sabbath more difficult to prepare for. Their years were measured in centuries. 7x7=49+1=50 The extra 1 is an extra year lying fallow. This year was spent in festivals and was called "Jubilee." If Mot won the battle on the seventh cycle, they would have two years of famine. Then they would have to look elsewhere for food, most likely in Egypt, because a bad year in Canaan usually meant a bad year in all of the Near East. This led to the Biblical story of Joseph's journey to Egypt and the seven years of famine, etc. In the year of Jubilee, Canaanites would greet each other by asking "'Yit Zebul?" which would be followed by the response "'Yi Zebul!" which translates: "Does the prince live? Yes, the prince lives!" Children born in the year of Jubilee were named appropriately. Queen Jezebel of Tyre was born in Jubilee. Her father Ethzebel must have been as well.