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4. Job s Ancient Near Eastern Context

1. Egyptian Parallels. 1.1 The Admonition of Ipu-wer (ANET, 441-444; Lichtheim, 149-163)1.1.1

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4. Job s Ancient Near Eastern Context

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    1. 4. Job’s Ancient Near Eastern Context

    3. 1. Egyptian Parallels 1.1.2 “The book of Job may also be compared with “The Admonitions of Ipu-wer.” The sage Ipu-wer protests the upheaval in society and is distressed at the decline of morality. The desire of this Egyptian sage, though, is more for stable social order than for moral justice.” [Hartley, John E. The Book of Job, 7]

    4. 1. Egyptian Parallels 1.2 The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba (ANET, 405-7; Lichtheim, 163-169) 1.2.1 “A man who suffers from life longs for death. Angered by his complaints, his ba threatens to leave him. This threat fills the man with horror, for to be abandoned by his ba would mean total annihilation, instead of the resurrection and immortal bliss that he envisages. He therefore implores his ba to remain with him, and not to oppose him in his longing for death, a death that he does not appear to contemplate as suicide but rather as a natural, through greatly welcomed, death, to be followed by a traditional burial. The ba counters his pleas by telling him that death is a sad business, and that those who have fine tombs are no better off than those who have none. It urges him to stop complaining and to enjoy life. And it tells two parables designed to drive home the point that life is worth living. The man’s final answer is delivered through four exquisite poems, in which he deplores the miseries of life and exalts death and resurrection. In a brief concluding speech the ba agrees to remain with him.” [Lichtheim, Miriam, Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, pp. 163]

    5. 1. Egyptian Parallels 1.2 The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba (ANET, 405-7; Lichtheim, 163-169) 1.2.2 “. . . Egyptian literature, we seek in vain for any discussion of theodicy. The vivid descriptions of the social revolution of the First Intermediate Period (2280-2050 B.C.) contained in the Admonitions of Ipuwer or the Suicide contain no attack on the divine government, but rather accuse men of perverting Ma(at, the divinely ordained order.” [Williams, Roland J., “Theodicy in the Ancient Near East,” 47]

    6. 1. Egyptian Parallels 1.3 The Eloquent Peasant (ANET, 407-10; Lichtheim, 169-184) 1.3.1 “The Egyptian “Tale of the Eloquent Peasant,” dating from the early second millennium B.C., has certain affinities with the Book of Job. The text is introduced by a prose prologue and epilogue and the central portion of the text is composed of nine semi-poetic appeals for justice on the part of the eloquent peasant. The peasant, having been maltreated and robbed by a vassal of the Chief Steward, has his complaint brushed aside as a matter of no consequence. The persistent peasant, however, refuses to be squelched. He argues his case before the Chief Steward himself and even charges the high official with lack of concern for justice. Justice, he argues, should be

    7. 1. Egyptian Parallels done for the god’s sake. “Do justice for the sake of the Lord of Justice.” Justice is immortal. “Now justices lasts unto eternity; it goes down into the necropolis with him who does it. When he is buried and interred, his name is not wiped out on earth, (but) is remembered for goodness. That is a principle of the word of god.” Though the peasant fears that he may be put to death for his bold insistence, he nevertheless persists in his demand for justice and welcomes death as a thirsty man goes for water or a suckling child for milk. Justice at last triumphs and the wronged peasant is rewarded with the property of the villain who had despoiled him. Although the issue of this Egyptian story is social justice and no complaint is made against the gods, still the attitude of the peasant is similar to that of Job. He prefers death rather than submission to injustice.” [Pope, M., Job: Anchor Bible, LVIII]

    8. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels 2.0 Introduction: 2.0.1 “According to E. A. Speiser the major Mesopotamian treatments of the problem of theodicy share the common conclusion that “although the blameless may be exposed to suffering, deliverance is sure to come to him in the end. The ways of the gods are indeed inscrutable, but the truly meritorious need never despair of ultimate salvation. The emphasis, in short, is not so much on the trials of the sufferer as on the miracle of final deliverance. Our three versions of the Mesopotamian counterpart of Job, spread though they are over a total span of more than a millennium, are in full agreement on this significant affirmation” [Pope, M. Job: Anchor Bible, LXIX]

    9. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels 2.1 Man and his God (2d millennium; ANET, 589-91) 2.1.1 “In the Sumerian Man and his God (2d millennium; ANET, 589-91), a sufferer complains to the gods but confesses guilt and is restored. He accuses the deity, here called a “righteous shepherd,” of becoming angry, thereby encouraging human enemies to conspire against the sufferer without fear of divine retaliation. Appealing to the intimate relationship of father and son, the sufferer asks how long the deity will leave him unprotected. Nevertheless, he surrenders all right to protest divine conduct and subscribes to conventional wisdom: “Never has a sinless child been born to its mother; a sinless workman has not existed from of old.” [Crenshaw, “Job, Book of,” ABD]

    10. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels 2.1 Man and his God (2d millennium; ANET, 589-91) 2.1.2 The Mesopotamian view that evil is an integral part of the cosmic order is well illustrated by the poem quoted above. Basic to Sumerian theology was the notion that man’s misfortunes result from sin which taints all. The problem of justice is not so acute in such a view, since any human suffering could be regarded as merited. When evil befalls a man, there is no mercy. The god to whom the man addresses himself is his personal god who acts as an advocate on behalf of his human client in the assembly of the great gods where fates are decided. This Mesopotamian notion appears to be very much like that implicit in Job’s appeal for an umpire (9.33), a heavenly witness (16.19, 21), or a vindicator (19.25-27). The attitude of Job’s comforters in the Dialogue is essentially the same as that presupposed in the Sumerian composition: that the victim must have sinned and has no hope but to confess and plead for forgiveness and restoration.” [Pope, M., Job: Anchor Bible, LX]

    11. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels 2.2 I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom (ANET 434-37) 2.2.1“I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom discovers a solution in the inscrutability of the gods and the necessity for human beings to perform proper cultic acts. The sufferer believes in divine compassion (“I will praise the Lord of wisdom ... whose heart is merciful ... whose gentle hand sustains the dying…”) despite his own wretched state. Contrasting his earlier prestige with his present dishonor, he complains about inability to discover the face of the one to whom he prays. Circumstances compel him to conclude that the gods may have a different value system from the one constructed by human beings. This concession leads him to ask: “Who can know the will of the gods in heaven? Who can understand the plans of the underworld gods? Where have humans learned the way of a god?” [Crenshaw, “Job, Book of,” ABD]

    12. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels 2.3 The Babylonian Theodicy (ca. 1100 B.C.E.; ANET, 601-4) 2.3.1 “The Babylonian Theodicy resembles Job in that a sufferer engages in a dispute with a learned friend. An acrostic poem of 27 stanzas with 11 lines each, this dispute entertains the possibility of divine culpability (“Narru king of the gods, who created mankind, and majestic Zulummar, who pinched off the clay for them, and goddess Mami, the queen who fashioned them, gave twisted speech to the human race. With lies, and not truth, they endowed them forever”). The sufferer complains of having been orphaned early, and his friend reminds him that we all die. When told that wild asses trample fields and lions kill, the friend points out that the wild animals pay with their lives and that the plan of the gods is remote. The sufferer insists that his good deeds have not brought favorable response from the gods, and this remark arouses the friend's anger over such blasphemy.

    13. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels The friend does concede that the one who bears the god's yoke may have sparse food, but this situation can change for the better in a moment. The sufferer lingers on the notion that morality yields no profit. In the end, the complainant prays that the shepherd (i.e., god) who abandoned him will yet “pasture his flock as a god should.” [Crenshaw, “Job, Book of,” ABD]

    14. 2. Mesopotamian Parallels 2.4 Dialogue Between a Master and his Slave (ANET 437-38) 2.4.1 “The Dialogue Between a Master and his Slave resembles Ecclesiastes more than the book of Job, but some features of the Dialogue echo the conditions underlying Job's distress. A master determines to pursue a course of action and his servant, the proverbial aye-sayer, encourages him. The master changes his mind and the slave defends this decision. Nothing commends itself to the master-not dining, marrying, hunting, philanthropy, or anything else-except suicide, better still, murdering the slave. This poor wretch, caught in his rhetoric, seems to say that the master would gladly join him in death within three days.” [Crenshaw, “Job, Book of,” ABD]

    15. 3. Canaanite Parallels 3.1 Canaanite Epic of Keret (ANET, 142-49) 3.1.1 “The Canaanite epic of Keret (ANET 142-49) bears some resemblance to the book of Job. The hero loses his wife and sons but eventually finds favor with the gods and acquires a new wife and additional children. More remote parallels such as Prometheus Bound have been compared with Job, but differences stand out (Prometheus was a Titan, not a human being, and he suffered the wrath of Zeus through willful conduct). An Indian tale about a discussion among the gods over the existence of pure goodness among earthly creatures singles out a certain Harischandra, whom the god Shiva submits to a test that demonstrates his incredible virtue.” [Crenshaw, “Job, Book of,” ABD]

    16. 4. Biblical Parallels 4.1 Parallels in the Joseph Story 4.2 Parallels in the Story of Abraham (Genesis 12, 20, and 26) 4.2.1 a situation of need, problem or crisis 4.2.2 a plan to deal with the problem (wise or foolish) 4.2.3 the execution of the plan with some complication 4.2.4 an unexpected outside intervention 4.2.5 fortunate or unfortunate consequences

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