Wednesday, October 7, 2015

When did Job live?

“Administration
Law is retribution that is administered by a centralized authority. This way retribution for wrongs does not threaten to escalate into a cycle of mutual revenge. Sumerian law sits half way between individual revenge and state-administered revenge: it is up to the individual to drag (quite literally) the accused party into the court, but the court actually determines the nature of the retribution to be exacted.
Writing

Law is written; in this way, law assumes an independent character beyond the centralized authority that administers it. This produces a sociological fiction that the law controls those who administer the law and that the "law" exacts retribution, not humans.

Retribution
Law is at its heart revenge; the basic cultural mechanism for dealing with unacceptable behavior is to exact revenge. Unacceptable behavior outside the sphere of revenge initially did not come under the institution of law: it was only much later that disputes that didn't involve retribution would be included in law.

Although we don't know much about Sumerian law, scholars agree that the Code of Hammurabi, written by a Babylonian monarch, reproduces Sumerian law fairly exactly. Sumerian law, as represented in Hammurabi's code, was a law of exact revenge, which we call lex talionis. This is revenge in kind: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life," and reveals to us that human law has as its fundamental basis revenge. Sumerian law was also only partly administered by the state; the victim had to bring the criminal to court. Once there, the court mediated the dispute, rendered a decision, and most of the time a court official would execute the sentence, but often it fell on the victim or the victim's family to enforce the sentence. Finally, Sumerian law recognized class distinctions; under Sumerian law, everyone was not equal under the law. Harming a priest or noble person was a far more serious crime than harming a slave or poor person; yet, the penalties assessed for a noble person who commits a crime were often far harsher than the penalties assessed for someone from the lower classes who committed the same crime.
This great invention, law, would serve as the basis for the institution of law among all the Semitic peoples to follow: Babylonians, Assyrians, and, eventually, the Hebrews.”[1]

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Unlike the rich corpus of ancient Egyptian funerary texts, no such “guidebooks” from Mesopotamia detail the afterlife and the soul’s fate after death. Instead, ancient Mesopotamian views of the afterlife must be pieced together from a variety of sources across different genres.

Many literary texts, most famously the Epic of Gilgamesh, contemplate the meaning of death, recount the fate of the dead in the netherworld, and describe mourning rites. Other texts were probably composed in order to be recited during religious rites involving ghosts or dying gods. Of these ritual texts, the most notable are Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld; Ishtar’s Descent to the Netherworld; and Nergal and Ereshkigal. Further sources for Mesopotamian afterlife beliefs include burials, grave inscriptions, economic texts recording disbursements for funerals or cults of the dead, references to death in royal inscriptions and edicts, chronicles, royal and private letters, lexical texts, cultic commentaries, magico-medical texts, omens, and curse formulas.

In addition to belonging to different genres, the sources for Mesopotamian beliefs in the afterlife come from distinct periods in Mesopotamian history and encompass Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures. We should therefore be careful not to view Mesopotamian afterlife beliefs as static or uniform. Like all cultural systems, Mesopotamian ideas of the afterlife transformed throughout time. Beliefs and practices relating to the afterlife also varied with socio-economic status and differed within official and popular religious paradigms. With this in mind, however, cultural continuity between the Sumerian civilization and its successors allows a synthesis of diverse sources in order to provide a working introduction to Mesopotamian concepts of the afterlife.

The Netherworld

Ancient Mesopotamians conceptualized the netherworld as the cosmic opposite of the heavens and as a shadowy version of life on earth. Metaphysically, it was thought to lie a great distance from the realm of the living. Physically, however, it lay underground and is poetically described as located only a short distance from the earth’s surface.

Literary accounts of the netherworld are generally dismal. It is described as a dark “land of no return” and the “house which none leaves who enters,” with dust on its door and bolt (Dalley 155). Yet other accounts moderate this bleak picture. For instance, a Sumerian work referred to as the Death of Urnamma describes the spirits of the dead rejoicing and feasting upon the ruler Urnamma’s arrival in the netherworld. Shamash, the sun god of justice, also visited the netherworld every night on his daily circuit through the cosmos. Similarly, scholar Caitlín Barrett has proposed that grave iconography – specifically symbolism related to the goddess Inanna/Ishtar who descended and returned from the underworld — indicates a belief in a more desirable afterlife existence than the one described in many literary texts. Although humans could not hope to return to life in exact imitation of Inanna/Ishtar, Barrett argues, by utilizing funerary iconography representing Ishtar, they could seek to avoid the unpleasant aspects of the netherworld from which Inanna/Ishtar herself had escaped. The Mesopotamian netherworld is therefore best understood as neither a place of great misery nor great joy, but as a dulled version of life on earth.

One of the most vivid portrayals of the netherworld describes a subterranean “great city” (Sumerian "iri.gal") protected by seven walls and gates where the spirits of the dead dwell. In the Akkadian Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, Ishtar passes through these seven gates on her journey to the netherworld. At each gate she is stripped of her garments and jewelry until she enters the city of the dead naked. In light of such descriptions, it is perhaps notable that Mesopotamian funerary rites for the elite could last up to seven days.

Human Nature & Fate after Death

In the Old Babylonian Atrahasis epic, the gods created humans by mixing clay with the blood of a rebellious deity named We-ilu who was specially slaughtered for the occasion. Humans therefore contained both an earthly and a divine component. Yet the divine element did not mean that humans were immortal. The Mesopotamians had no concept of either physical resurrection or metempsychosis.[4] Rather, Enki (Akkadian Ea), the Sumerian deity of wisdom and magic, ordained death for humans from their very inception. Mortality defined the fundamental human condition, and is even described as the destiny (Akk. šimtu) of mankind. The most common euphemism for dying in Mesopotamian texts is “to go to one’s fate” (Cooper 21). The quest for physical immortality, suggests the Epic of Gilgamesh, was consequently futile. The best humans could strive for was enduring fame through their deeds and accomplishments on earth. Immortality, insofar as it was metaphorically possible, was actualized in the memory of future generations.[2]

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The Code of Ur-Nammu certainly relies on the concept of “joint members of the same family” in that an underlying understanding by the people of proper behavior in society is assumed throughout. Everyone under the law was expected to already know what the gods required of them, and the king was expected simply to administer the god’s will. As historian Karen Rhea Nemet-Najat writes, “The king was directly responsible for administering justice on behalf of the gods, who had established law and order in the universe” (221). Hammurabi’s code was written in a later time when one tribe’s or city’s understanding of the will of the gods might be different from another’s. In order to simplify matters, Hammurabi’s code sought to prevent vendetta and blood feuds by stating clearly the crime - and the punishment which would administered by the state for committing such crime – without assuming a communal understanding of the god’s will in these matters:
If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
If he break another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken.
If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.
If a builder build a house for someone, and does not construct it properly,
And the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
If it kill the son of the owner of the house, the son of that builder shall be put to death.

Unlike the earlier Code of Ur-Nammu, which imposed fines or penalties of land, Hammurabi’s code epitomized the principle known as Lex Talionis, the law of retributive justice, in which punishment corresponds directly to the crime, better known as the concept of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth', made famous from the later law code of the Old Testament, exemplified in this passage from the Book of Exodus:


If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Exodus 21:22-25).

Hammurabi’s law code thus set the standard for future codes in dealing strictly with the evidence of the crime and setting a specific punishment for that crime. What decided one’s guilt or innocence, however, was the much older method of the Ordeal, in which an accused person was sentenced to perform a certain task (usually being thrown into a river or having to swim a certain distance across a river) and, if they succeeded, they were innocent and, if not, they were guilty. Hammurabi’s code stipulates that: “If a man’s wife has been pointed out because of another man, even though she has not been caught with him, for her husband’s sake she must plunge into the divine river.” The woman who did so and survived the ordeal would be recognized as innocent, but then her accuser would be found guilty of false witness and punished by death. The ordeal was resorted to regularly in what were considered the most serious crimes, adultery and sorcery, because it was thought these two infractions were most likely to undermine social stability. Sorcery, to an ancient Mesopotamian, would not have exactly the same definition as it does in the modern day but would be along the lines of performing acts that went against the known will of the gods -- acts which reflected on oneself the kind of power and prestige only the gods could lay claim to. Tales of evil sorcerers and sorceresses are found throughout many periods of Mesopotamian history, and the writers of these tales always have them meet with a bad end as, it seems, they also did when submitted to the Ordeal.[3]

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Moral Values in Two Ancient Societies: Egypt and Ancient Israel

  Ancient societies such as ancient Egypt and ancient Israel view the world in religious terms. In these societies, order was essential for a people’s survival as it is in any society past or present. Order and chaos represented two contrasting realities. When there were problems in a society, its inhabitants needed to know why these problems occurred. By determining why something bad happened, they could be able to prevent it from happening again. For instance, ancient societies may have seen the occurrence of a devastating disease as punishment for some immoral behavior. Additionally, they would attempt to identify and eliminate the behavior responsible for the trouble to avoid further problems.
  In a more modern society, people may have concluded that criminal behavior came about because of an abusive home life. As a result, society would attempt to crack down on family abuse hoping to rid themselves of such behavior. There have also been people in modern times to see bad things as punishment for immoral behavior. In both premodern and many modern societies, religions have often explained certain difficulties by saying that a member of the group or the group as a whole has disobeyed God or the gods. There is a general tendency to believe that good conduct reaches its conclusion with some reward.
  In short, an orderly society depended upon the conduct or behavior of its members. The ancient Egyptians and ancient Israelites associated order primarily with good behavior or correct observance of procedure: on the other hand, they associated chaos with bad behavior or the failure to follow correct procedure. They supposed that bad behavior unleashed a force that could destroy a community; so they had to deal with this potential problem. Often they viewed these destructive elements as natural forces such as the waters. For example, Genesis 1 tells of how God tamed the waters and brought them under control. However, the waters, as a force of nature, struggled to exceed their boundaries. The forces of chaos were always a potential threat. Only the gods or God could protect the people from these forces. Yet, this protection depended upon the people's behavior. These societies, therefore, closely connected ethics with behavior.
  Moral values concern behavior and beliefs that a society accepts as valid. From the perspective of ancient Egypt and ancient Israel in particular, ethics focuses on human behavior. This focus derives from its religious world view. This world view considers the relationship between the natural and supernatural worlds to be of utmost seriousness. Society cannot tolerate bad behavior because it threatens the existing good order. In ancient Israel, the law required that communities isolate and punish those who were disobedient. The concern over one's behavior is prominent in both ancient Egyptian and ancient Israelite societies.
  People in ancient Egypt, ancient Israel, and Mesopotamia came to question the belief that acting morally would naturally lead to blessing. Unlike Egypt ancient Israel and Sumer in Mesopotamia had no belief in an afterlife that could justify the wrongs suffered in this life. Therefore, the Sumerian writing entitled “I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom,” and the biblical book of J struggle with a seeming Inconsistency. How does one explain the suffering of a righteous person? (Crenshaw 19819 229.230)
  We can also see this view in some modern societies as well. For example, the belief held in ancient Egypt and ancient Israel that moral conduct leads to reward and bad conduct to punishment has survived among many modern religious people and religious traditions of our day in the notion of retribution. Retribution means repaying bad for bad and good for good. In other words, if we behave immorally we shall receive punishment, but if we behave morally, then we will gain some reward. A problem occurs, however, when an individual experiences trouble or difficulties, which he or she considers unjustifiable.[4]

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Ludlul bēl nēmeqi ("I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom"), also sometimes known in English as The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer, is a Mesopotamian poem (ANET, pp. 434–437) written in Akkadian that concerns itself with the problem of the unjust suffering of an afflicted man, named Shubshi-meshre-Shakkan. The author is tormented, but he doesn't know why. He has been faithful in all of his duties to the gods. He speculates that perhaps what is good to man is evil to the gods and vice versa. He is ultimately delivered from his sufferings.[5]

I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom
POEM OF THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFERER
Tablet I
43. My own god threw me over and disappeared,
44. My goddess broke rank and vanished
45. He cut off the benevolent angel who walked beside me
46. My protecting spirit was frightened off, to seek out someone else
47. My vigor was taken away, my manly appearance became gloomy,
48. My dignity flew off, my cover leaped away.

84. My brother became my foe,
85. My friend became a malignant demon,
86. My comrade would denounce me savagely,

Tablet II
1. As I turned around, it was more and more terrible,
3. My ill luck was on the increase, I could find no good fortune.
4. I called to my god, he did not show his face,
5. I prayed to my goddess, she did not raise her head.

29. I instructed my land to observe the god´s rites,
30. The goddess´s name did I drill my people to esteem
31. I made my praises of the king like a god´s,
32. And taught the populace reverence for the palace.

49. But as for me, in despair a whirlwind is driving me!
50. Debilitating disease is let loose upon me:]

112. No god came to the rescue, nor lent me a hand,
113. No goddess took pity on me, nor went at my side.

Tablet III
43. "Marduk has sent me!
44. "To Shubshi-meshre-Sakkan [the sufferer] I have brought swathe,
45."From his pure hands I have brought a swathe".
46. He has entrusted me into the hands of my ministrant.
47. In waking hours he sent a message,
48. He revealed his favorable sign to my people.
49. I was awake in my sickness, a healing serpent slithered by [the symbol of the healing goddess]
50. My illness was quickly over, my fetters were broken
51. After my lord´s heart had quieted,
52. And the feelings of merciful Marduk were appeased,
53. And he had accepted my prayers,
54. His sweet relenting......
55. He ordered my deliverance:" He is greatly tried"
56..... to extol...
57..... to worship and.....
58..... my guilt.....
59..... my iniquity....
60..... my transgression....
61. He made the wind hear away my offenses[6]

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A man and his god: translation
1-9A person should steadfastly proclaim the exaltedness of his god. A young man should devoutly praise the words of his god; the people living in the righteous Land should unravel them like a thread. May the balaj singer assuage the spirit of his neighbour and friend. May it soothe their (?) hearts, bring forth ......, utter ......, and measure out ....... Let his mouth shaping a lament soothe the heart of his god, for a man without a god does not obtain food.
10-17There is a young man who does not wickedly put his efforts into evil murder, yet he spends the time in grief, asag illness and bitter suffering. The fate demon has brought need and ...... close to him. Bitter ...... has confused his judgment (?) of it, and covered his ....... Behind his back they have overpowered him like a ....... Before his god the youth, the young man weeps bitterly over the malice he has suffered. He is reverent and performs obeisance.
18-24He speaks ...... of his suffering. In his total exhaustion ......, ...... he weeps. ......, ...... he weeps bitterly. He was able to fill the ...... for him. He ...... to him and addresses him:
25-34"Grief ......, despair ......, and ...... has been put in place. I am a young man, I am knowledgeable, but what I know does not come out right with me. The truth which I speak has been turned (?) into a lie. A man of deceit has overwhelmed me like the south wind and prostrated me before him. My unwitting arm has shamed me before you. You have doled out to me suffering ever anew. When I go into the house I despair. When I, a young man, go out into the street, I am depressed.
35-45"My righteous shepherd has become angry with me, a youth, and looked upon me with hostility. My herdsman has plotted malice against me although I am not his enemy. My companion does not say a true word to me. My friend falsifies my truthfully spoken words. A man of deceit has spoken insulting words to me while you, my god, do not respond to him and you carry off my understanding. An ill-wisher has spoken insulting words to me -- he angered me, was like a storm and created anguish. I am wise -- why am I tied up with ignorant youths? I am discerning -- why am I entangled among ignorant men?
46-56"Food is all about, yet my food is hunger. When shares were allotted to all the people, my allotted share was suffering. A brother ...... insulted me, created anguish. He ...... my ......, raised up ...... and carried off ....... A hostile ...... without wisdom wrote on clay (?). He sought the ...... of the journey. He cut down the ...... of the road like a tree. He ...... the supervisor and ...... my steward.
57-63"My god, ...... before you. I would speak to you: my tears are excess and my words are supplication. I would tell you about it, would unravel to you like a thread the evil of my path. ...... the confusion of what I have done (?). Let the wise ...... in my plans; tears will not cease. I am less qualified than my friend; I am inferior to my companion.
64-68"Now, let my mother who bore me not cease lamenting for me before you. Let my sister, truly a sweet-voiced balaj singer, narrate tearfully to you the deeds by which I was overpowered. Let my wife voice my suffering ...... to you. Let the singer expert in chanting unravel my bitter fate to you like a thread.
69-74"My god, the day shines bright over the Land, but for me the day is black. The bright day has become (?) a ...... day. Tears, lament, anguish and despair are lodged within me. Suffering overwhelms me like a weeping child. In the hands of the fate demon my appearance has been altered, my breath of life carried away. The asag demon, the evil one, bathes in my body.
75-81"In the overwhelming bitterness of my path I never see a good dream -- but unfavourable (?) visions daily never stop for me. Anguish embraced me though I am not its wife and ....... Grief spread its lap for me though I am not its small child. Lamentation sweeps over me as if it were a southerly wind-storm and ....... My brother cried "Alas"."
10 lines fragmentary
5 lines missing
97-105"I weep ...... and ....... My god, you who are my father who begot me, lift up my face to you. Righteous cow, god (?) of mercy and supplication, let me acquire (?) noble strength. For how long will you be uncaring for me and not look after me? Like a bull I would rise to you but you do not let me rise, you do not let me take the right course. The wise heroes say true and right words: "Never has a sinless child been born to its mother; making an effort (?) does not bring success (?); a sinless workman has never existed from of old."
106-112"My god -- the ...... of forgetting which I have ...... against you, the ...... of releasing which I have prepared before you -- may you utter words of grace on a young man who knows the holy words "May he not consume me". When the day is not bright, in my vigour, in my sleep, may I walk before you. May I ...... my impurities and uncleanliness in the health of the city. May you utter words of grace on him who knows the words "When anger and the evil heart came about". Indeed he speaks joyously to him who knows the words "When fear and ...... burned".
113-119"My god, ...... after you have made me know my sins, at the city's (?) gate I would declare them, ones forgotten and ones visible. I, a young man, will declare my sins before you. In the assembly may tears (?) rain like drizzle. In your house may my supplicating mother weep for me. May your holy heart (?) have mercy and compassion for me, a youth. May your heart, an awe-inspiring wave, be restored towards me, the young man."
120-129The man's god heard his bitter weeping. After his lamentation and prolonged wailing had soothed the heart of his god towards the young man, his god accepted the righteous words, the holy words he had spoken. The words of supplication which the young man had mastered, the holy prayers, delighted his god like fine oil. His god stretched his hand away from the hostile words. He ...... like rain the anguish which had embraced him though he was not its wife ...... and scattered to the winds the grief which had spread its arms round him. He let the lamentation which had swept over him as if it were a southerly wind-storm (?) be dissipated. He eradicated (?) the fate demon which had been lodged in his body.
130-136He turned the young man's suffering into joy. He set by him as guardian a benevolent protective demon that keeps guard at the mouth (?). He gave him kindly protective goddesses. The young man steadfastly proclaims the exaltedness of his god. He (?) brings forth ...... and makes known ....... He refreshes himself ....... He trusts in you and .......
137-143"I have set my sights on you as on the rising sun. Like Ninmah ......, you have let me exert great power. My god, you looked on me from a distance with your good life-giving eyes. May I proclaim well your ...... and holy strength. May your ...... heart be restored towards me. May you absolve my sin. May your heart be soothed towards me."[7]

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Karl Budde, followed shortly by Bernhard Duhm, crystallized the emerging perspective in the late nineteenth century and introduced a genre category into discussion by arguing that the prose tale was a Volksbuch, a preexisting popular story, written or oral, taken up by the Job poet as a framework. Attempts were made to identify traces of such an independent popular tradition concerning Job in other surviving literature. In one form or another the view prevailed that the author/redactor of the book of Job appropriated a relatively fixed traditional story as the framework for his composition.
The significance of comparative literature for understanding the genres, motifs, and intellectual context of the book of Job was given further impetus by the discovery in the late nineteenth century of Mesopotamian texts bearing striking resemblances in form and content to the poetic sections of Job, most notably, ludlul bel nemeqi, the Babylonian Theodicy, and the "Sumerian Job." Though scholars disagreed over how these texts might be related to Job, their similarity specifically to the poetry of Job sharpened the sense that the two parts of the book, prose tale and poetic dialogue, belonged to different literary, social, and intellectual traditions. Thus, this distinction between prose tale and poetic dialogue became the key to historical criticism's analysis of the book.[8]

Carol Newsom places the writing of Job early in the second temple period, by a Judean author. She believes the book to be written by one author except for the later addition of Elihu’s speech. The dating of Job is difficult and it suggests that great care must be taken not to select a time of writing based on genre or classification without considering the impact of inspired authorship. If the author was Judean, those who believe in divine inspiration would accept that the author’s personality and background could influence the writing, yet not have anything to do with the dating of the actual event. As far as Job being written in the second temple period there is a marked absence of similarity to other biblical books or deuterocanonical and Apocryphal books.

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The famous Babylonian poem Ludlul bēl nēmeqi of 1700 BCE (known as "the Sumerian Job" owing to its similarity to the Biblical Book of Job) makes mention of this when the speaker, Tabu-Utul-Bel (known in Sumerian as Laluralim) in questioning the cause of his suffering, says how he consulted the Necromancer, “but he opened not my understanding.” Like the Book of Job, the Ludlul bēl nēmeqi asks why bad things happen to good people and, in Laluralim’s case, asserts that he did nothing to offend fellow man, gods or spirits to merit the misfortune he is suffering. …

The people of Mesopotamia relied on their gods for every aspect of their lives, from calling on Kulla, the god of bricks, to help in the laying of the foundation of a house, to petitioning the goddess Lama for protection, and so developed many tales concerning these deities. The myths, legends, hymns, prayers and poems surrounding the Mesopotamian gods and their interaction with the people introduced many of the plots, symbols and characters which modern-day readers are acquainted with such as the story of the Fall of Man (The Myth of Adapa) the tale of the Great Flood (The Atrahasis) the Tree of Life (Inanna and the Hulappu Tree) the tale of a wise man/prophet taken up to heaven (The Myth of Etana) the story of creation (The Enuma Elish) the quest for immortality (The Epic of Gilgamesh) and, perhaps best known, the Dying and Reviving god figure (a deity who dies or goes into the underworld and returns to life or the surface of the world to in some way benefit the people) who is famously depicted through Inanna's Descent to the Underworld. These tales, among many others, became the basis for later myths in the regions the Mesopotamians traded and interacted with, most notably the land of Canaan (Phoenicia) whose people, in time, would produce the narratives which now comprise the scriptures known as the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.[9]

Joshua J. Mark writes, “These tales, among many others, became the basis for later myths in the regions the Mesopotamians traded and interacted with, most notably the land of Canaan (Phoenicia) whose people, in time, would produce the narratives which now comprise the scriptures known as the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.”
Mark’s statement above demonstrates the common view of classification of ancient texts; that later writing are based on former, which makes abundant sense, except in the case of biblical texts. The reason traditional interpretation and classification is not accurate when applied to the biblical text is that it does not factor in the influence of divine inspiration. I would propose a different scenario; ancient Sumerians built on traditional stories handed down from their forefathers – the descendants of Noah. The further from the source, the more imaginative the stories became. Thematically the stories retained some consistency with the source material, but over time the story evolved into mythology. The story of creation, the fall of man, the flood, a wise man/prophet taken up to heaven, the Dying/Reviving god figure and, “the Sumerian Job”, except for the Dying/Reviving god all have similar accounts in the Old Testament. The biblical accounts of the events found in Sumerian and Babylonian mythology were given by God to people to record; they became scripture. The inspired accounts accurately portray God’s message. All, but one of the events listed by Mark were of very early times, including the “Sumerian Job”.

The Dying and Reviving god figure, in Hebrew scripture shows up as prophecies of Jesus sacrifice, and was fulfilled at a much later time. The Old Testament accounts were not based on mythology, but are factual descriptions given by God through inspired scribes. Placing Job in the antediluvian period may remove some of the questions that frustrate the interpretation of the book. Mark’s statement that the myths produced the biblical scriptures is wrong. The common view bases it assessment on similarities between the texts. I would suggest that the differences between the accounts demonstrate that the Bible record, written centuries after the Sumerian texts, accurately represents the events in the time they occurred. Sumerian mythology was based on handed down folklore, and naturally became perverted over time. If the Hebrew Scriptures were based on earlier Sumerian mythology why was the “Dying/Reviving god figure” hidden in prophecy? It doesn’t make any sense that such a key event of Sumerian mythology would not have been treated the same as other “borrowed” material. The Sumerian accounts are mythical, based on information from people with first, second, or third hand knowledge of events. The biblical accounts are accurate even recorded centuries after the events; the writers were inspired by God.

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“Job is in the purest Hebrew. The author uses only the word Elohim for the name of God. The compiler or reviser of the work, Moses, or whoever he was, employed at the heads of chapters and in the introductory and concluding portions the name of Jehovah; but all the verses where Jehovah occurs, in Job, are later interpolations in a very old poem, written at a time when the Semitic race had no other name for God but Elohim; before Moses obtained the elements of the new name from Egypt.”[10]

… Moses had no problem in using a word with earlier pagan connections because the most important thing was to communicate truth, therefore we are bound to conclude that there is nothing intrinsically holy about either 'Elohim' or, indeed, 'God'. It is simply how these words are used. However, we should note that the plurality of the noun 'Elohim' refers to three or more but cannot refer to two; in that case, the dual form of 'Elohiam' would be used. So 'El' is the singular form, 'Elohiam' the dual form but 'Elohim' the true plural form. This tends to legislate against the argument of some who claim that 'Elohim' simply refers to the Father and the Word, denying the Holy Trinity.[11]

I am not sure that Bryant is correct in stating that the word Elohim is an interpolation. There is no reason to remove the Hebrew influence as long as one recognizes that writing followed centuries after the events of the book.

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The book of Job reveals God’s conflict with Satan. The centerpiece in the account is Job. The religious cosmology within the book is somewhat different to later periods. Some of the elements in the book are not found in postdiluvial writings.

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.[12]

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.[13]
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.[14]

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.[15]
 
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?[16]

These are the only Old Testament (NASB) references that include the term “the sons of God”. It is significant that the phrase is found only in antediluvian Genesis and Job. The blending of celestial and terrestrial cosmology during the antediluvian period was unique. It is impossible to assess the interaction between heaven and earth, spirit and human, present in the time before the flood. Everything we know is based on the postdiluvian world, and we cannot understand a world in which people lived nine hundred years with dinosaurs as neighbours. Where did the people come from that Cain feared? “Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”[17] Where did Cain’s wife come from, and what does it mean, he, went out from the presence of the LORD? These and many other questions suggest a period unlike any following.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ Then Satan answered the LORD and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.’ The LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.’ Then Satan answered the LORD, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’”[18]

The confluence of heavenly and earthly, human and spiritual, divine and demonic, fits within the antediluvian period, but is foreign to all subsequent periods.

______

God restored the fortunes of Job, he remarried, had seven sons and three daughters; “After this, Job lived 140 years.”[19] When Satan inflicted Job, he was not a young man, he had independent children, and, “When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, the young men saw me and hid themselves, and the old men arose and stood.”[20] Seemingly an elder, then after his trial when God restored his wealth he had a family and lived further 140 years. The book of Job concludes, “And Job died, an old man and full of days.”[21]

And Job lived after his affliction a hundred and seventy years: and all the years were two hundred and forty: and Job saw his sons' sons, the fourth generation. And Job died, an old man and full of days: and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.

This man is described in the Syriac as living in the land of Ausis, on the border of Idumea and Arabia: and his name before was Jobab; and having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Ennon. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha so that he was the fifth from Abraam. And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over: first Baläc the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba: but after Baläc, Jobab, who is called Job: and after him Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thaeman: and after him Adad, the son of Barad, who destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. And his friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad sovereign of the Sauchaeans, Sophar king of the Minaeans.[22]

It would be from this reference that Adam Clarke drew his conclusions. The addendum has little support among scholars as being factual.

In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek, there is a long subscription. A similar subscription is found in the Arabic Version. It professes to be taken out of "the Syriac book"; but there is nothing to be found of it in the Syriac Version as published in Walton's Polyglot.
   It was doubtless written B.C. It is interesting, especially when compared with the notes on page 666 of the Companion Bible, but what authority there is for it is not stated.
   The last verse of Job (42:17), "And Job died, an old man, and full of days," reads on as follows:
"And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.” This man is described in the Syriac book as dwelling in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia; and his name before was Jobab; and having taken an Arabian wife, he begat a son whose name was Ennon.
  He himself was the son of his father Zara, a son of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth ¹ from Abraham. And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over. First Balak the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba. After Balak, Jobab, who is called Job: and after him, Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thaeman; and after him Adad, son of Barad, that destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. And the friends that came to him were Eliphaz of the sons of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad sovereign of the Sauchaeans, Sophar, king of the Minaeans".[23]

______

Adam was 874 years old when Methuselah was born, Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was born. Adam lived 930 years overlapping with Methuselah for 95 years, Methuselah overlapped with Noah for 600 years. Noah would have received knowledge of the beginning and fall second hand. Noah had 350 years to pass information to his sons. Noah was the source of information to the new world.

“The Sumerian King List records the lengths of reigns of the kings of Sumer. The initial section deals with kings before the Flood and is significantly different from the rest. When the kingdom durations of the antediluvian section are expressed in an early sexagesimal numerical system, all durations except two are expressed as multiples of 602. A simple tally of the ciphers used yields six 10x602 signs, six 602 signs and six 60 signs.
The lives of the biblical patriarchs, however, have a precision of one year. If Adam and Noah are not included (as in the King List), and the lives of the patriarchs are similarly rounded to two digits, the sum of the lives has six 103 signs, six 102 signs and six 10 signs. In addition, if the number representing the sum of the ages was wrongly assumed as having been written in the sexagesimal system, the two totals become numerically equivalent.
It is suggested that the Sumerian scribe that composed the original antediluvian list had available a document (possibly a clay tablet) containing numerical information on the ages of eight of the patriarchs similar to that of the Genesis record and that he mistakenly interpreted it as being written in the sexagesimal system.
That the two documents are numerically related is strong evidence for the historicity of the book of Genesis. The fact that the Sumerian account shows up as a numerically rounded, incomplete version of the Genesis description, lacking the latter’s moral and spiritual depth, is a strong argument for the accuracy, superiority, and primacy of the biblical record. In addition, the parallels between the Sumerian and biblical antediluvian data open up the possibility of establishing chronological correlations between the rest of the Kings List and the book of Genesis.”[24]

______

There are serious objections to Job living in the antediluvian period:

… Job’s postdiluvian status seems apparent from a question Eliphaz raised in his final speech. While accusing Job of wickedness, Eliphaz asked: “Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod, who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were swept away by a flood?” (Job 22:16, emp. added). As Wayne Jackson noted: “That this is a reference to the Flood of Noah’s day is almost universally conceded by scholars” (1983, p. 58).

Like other patriarchs of old (Genesis 8:20; 12:7-8; 31:54), Job, as the head of his family, offered up sacrifices to God (Job 1:5; cf. 42:8). In the book of Job, there is no mention of the Levitical priesthood, the tabernacle, the temple, the Law of Moses, etc.

Unlike Israelite law, where the family inheritance was passed on to daughters only in the absence of sons (Numbers 27:1-11; 36:1-13), Job gave his daughters “an inheritance among their brothers” (Job 42:15).

…it would appear that Job lived well into his 200s or beyond. Interestingly, the Septuagint testifies that Job died at the age of 240—an age more comparable to the ancestors of Abraham (e.g., Serug, Abraham’s great-grandfather lived to be 230—Genesis 11:22-23).[25]

These are indeed strong evidences to suggest the Job lived after the flood, but the spiritual cosmology of Job fits best in the antediluvian period. I am at a real disadvantage facing Wayne Jackson’s statement that the verse, “Who were snatched away before their time, whose foundations were washed away by a river?”[26] Is almost universally conceded by scholars to be a reference to the Flood of Noah’s day. The NASB Hebrew word is river - nāhār. The word used for the flood in Genesis is mabbûl. I wonder why the Hebrew words differ, and if it is correctly assumed that the verse references Noah’s flood.

nāhār: A masculine noun indicating a large, flowing body of water or a current within a sea: any river in general (Num 24:6; Job 14:11); specific rivers (Gen 2:10, Gen 2:13-14); Euphrates River (Gen 15:18; Gen 31:21; Num 22:5); Tigris River (Dan 10:4); Nile River or El Arish River (Gen 15:18). It refers to a current of water within a sea (Jon 2:3 [4]). It is used figuratively and literally of a river flowing around the city of God (Psa 46:4 [5]); as well as to underground flows of water (Job 28:11).

mabbûl: A masculine noun indicating a flood. It refers to both the great flood on the earth (Gen 6:17; Psa 29:10) and to its sources from above and below as well (Gen 7:6-7, Gen 7:10, Gen 7:17; Gen 9:11, Gen 9:15, Gen 9:28). The flood marked a turning point in history (Gen 10:1, Gen 10:32; Gen 11:10). God was entirely in charge of it (Psa 29:10).[27]

Job’s age at his death would be significant if it were certain that everyone who lived before the flood lived as long as Adam’s family listed in his geniality. The other two objection would be true whether Job lived before the flood or soon after it.


No scholarly consensus exists on a date for the writing of Job (nor, for that matter, when the story related is supposed to have taken place) but many point to the 7th, 6th, or 4th centuries BCE as probable while Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi dates to c. 1700 BCE. The Babylonian poem was probably inspired by the earlier Sumerian work, Man and His God (composed c. 2000 BCE) which, according to Samuel Noah Kramer, was written "for the purpose of prescribing the proper attitude and conduct for a victim of cruel and seemingly undeserved misfortune"[28]

“Man and His God” Professor Mark suggests was written c. 2000 BCE; the Sumerian stories of, creation (1600 BCE), the fall (1400 BCE), and the flood (1700 BCE). The Sumerian myths would have existed in oral form for considerable time before being committed to writing.

According to the Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah Kramer, “The first ruler of Sumer, whose deeds are recorded, if only in the briefest kind of statement, is a king by the name of Etana of Kish, who may have come to the throne quite early in the third millennium B.C. In the King List he is described as `he who stabilized all the lands’.” The Sumerian King List is a cuneiform document, written by a scribe of the city of Lagash, sometime around 2100 BCE which lists all of the kings of the region, and their accomplishments, in an attempt to show continuity of order in society dating back to the beginning of civilization.[29]

______

I wonder what conclusions could be drawn from reading the various speeches in Job viewed through the framework of the antediluvian world order. There would be no Hebrew influence on the speeches or events. The location of Uz would not be an issue considering that the geography was significantly different before and after the flood. The religious climate before the flood was dominated by myth, but the same may be said of times after the flood.




[1] http://richard-hooker.com
[2] M. Choksi published on 20 June 2014
[3] Joshua J. Mark published on 12 November 2011
[4] Wanderings: Exploring Moral Landscapes Past and Present, by Tony L. Moyers
[5] Wikipedia
[6] Foster, Benjamin R. (1995) Before the Muses: myths, tales and poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia
[7] Jicgijal of the lament of supplication for a man's god.
[8] The Book of Job, Carol A. Newsom pp. 4 & 5

[9] Mesopotamian Religion, by Joshua J. Mark
[10] C. S. Bryant: Smith's Sacred Annals, vol. i, p. 360
[11] Robin A. Brace, 2005
[12] Gen 6:1, 2
[13] Gen 6:4
[14] Job 1:6
[15] Job 2:1
[16] Job 38:7
[17] Gen 4:16 
[18] Job 1:6-9
[19] Job 42:16
[20] Job 29:7, 8
[21] Job 42:17
[22] Job XLII. 16, 17. LXX
[23] This Is Appendix 62 from the Companion Bible
[24] The antediluvian patriarchs and the Sumerian King List, by Raúl Erlando López. First published in: Journal of Creation 12(3):347–357, 1998
[25] When Did Job Live? By Eric Lyons, M. Min.
[26] Job 22:16
[27] Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary
[28] Joshua J. Mark published on 06 March 2011
[29] Joshua J. Mark, published on 28 April 2011

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