Mesopotamia and the Bible

401 Pages·19.992 MB·English

by  Mark W. Chavalas

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
341
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
Executive Editor
Andrew Mein
Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, J. Cheryl Exum, John Goldingay,
Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, John Jarick,
Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller
Sheffield Academic Press
A Continuum imprint
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Mesopotamia and the Bible
Comparative Explorations
edited by
Mark W. Chavalas and
K. Lawson Younger, Jr
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 341
Copyright © 2002 Sheffield Academic Press
First published in 2002 by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, an imprint of
Continuum.
This edition published in 2003 by T&T Clark International, an imprint of
Continuum.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd.,
Guildford and King's Lynn
ISBN 0567-08231-8
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 9
List of Contributors 19
MARK W. CHAVALAS
Assyriology and Biblical Studies: A Century of Tension 21
STEVEN W. HOLLOWAY
The Quest for Sargon, Pul, and Tiglath-Pileser in
the Nineteenth Century 68
RICHARD E. AVERBECK
Sumer, the Bible, and Comparative Method:
Historiography and Temple Building 88
MARK W. CHAVALAS
Syria and Northern Mesopotamia to the End of
the Third Millennium BCE 126
RONALD A. VEENKER
Syro-Mesopotamia: The Old Babylonian Period 149
VICTOR H. MATTHEWS
Syria to the Early Second Millennium 168
DAVID C. DEUEL
Apprehending Kidnappers by Correspondence
at Provincial Arrapha 191
RICHARD S. HESS
The Bible and Alalakh 209
6 Mesopotamia and the Bible
DANIEL E. FLEMING
Emar: On the Road from Harran to Hebron 222
WAYNE T. PITARD
Voices from the Dust: The Tablets from Ugarit and the Bible 251
WILLIAM SCHNIEDEWIND
The Rise of the Aramean States 276
K. LAWSON YOUNGER, JR
Recent Study on Sargon II, King of Assyria:
Implications for Biblical Studies 288
BILL T. ARNOLD
What has Nebuchadnezzar to do with David?
On the Neo-Babylonian Period and Early Israel 330
EDWIN YAMAUCHI
The Eastern Jewish Diaspora under the Babylonians 356
Index of References 378
Index of Authors 386
PREFACE
At the 1994 meeting of the Near East Archeological Society in Aurora, IL,
Vice-President Bryant Wood asked Mark Chavalas to organize a panel
noting the relationship of Mesopotamia to biblical studies. Thus, a double
panel was organized, entitled 'Syro-Mesopotamia and the Bible' for the
Near East Archeological Society, presented on 17 November 1995, in
Philadelphia, PA, The panels were:
First Plenary Session
Wayne T. Pitard, University of Illinois:
'Whispers from the Dust: North Syrian Funerary Customs and
their Relationship to Israel'
A. The Early and Middle Bronze Ages
Richard Averbeck, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School:
'Sumerians, Temple Building, and the Bible'
Mark W. Chavalas, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse:
'Inland Syria in the Third and Second Millennia BC'
David Deuel, The Masters Seminary:
'Administration by Mail in Fifteenth Century Assyria'
Second Plenary Session,
Wayne Pitard, University of Illinois:
'Voices from the Dust: The Bible and the Great Libraries from
Ugarit'
B. The Middle and Late Bronze Ages
Daniel Fleming, New York University:
'Emar: On the Road from Harran to Hebron'
K. Lawson Younger, Jr, LeTourneau University:
"The Inscriptions of Sargon II in Light of Recent Research'
Bill Arnold, Asbury Theological Seminary:
'Light from Babylonia and the Rise of Israelite Literature'
8 Mesopotamia and the Bible
It was decided to publish the proceedings in a slightly altered and
expanded format, and thus William Schniedewind, Richard Hess, Edwin
Yamauchi, Ronald Veenker, Steven Holloway, and Victor Matthews were
asked to add papers on areas of Syro-Mesopotamia not addressed in the
original panel. In addition, Wayne Pitard collapsed his two plenary
sessions into one paper. Some might question the addition of papers
concerning Ugarit and Alalakh (as well as information concerning Ebla) to
a book devoted to Mesopotamia and the Bible. However, in this book we
will take a very loose definition of Mesopotamia as encompassing some
regions of Syria immediately west of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley that
were obviously connected culturally to traditional Mesopotamia.
The contributors were given only the most general geographic and
chronological parameters concerning their papers. They were not specifi-
cally asked per se to write on the relationship of their subject to biblical
studies (e.g. 'Nuzi and the Bible'; although some did do this), but to write
on their own interests (implicitly offering the reader an opportunity to
either make comparisons/contrasts with the Bible, or to see how their par-
ticular subject sheds light [if any] on the biblical text). Thus, this volume
is not intended to be an exhaustive overview of Mesopotamian civiliza-
tion, but a description of certain aspects of that civilization that may (or
may not) help the reader place the Bible in its greater ancient Near Eastern
context. The emphasis, however, is placed primarily on Mesopotamia and
its relationship to biblical studies.
Mark W. Chavalas
K. Lawson Younger, Jr
ABBREVIATIONS
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
AAA Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology (University of
Liverpool)
AAAS Annales archeologiques arabes syriennes
AAT Agypten und Altes Testament
AB Anchor Bible
ABC A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (Locust
Valley, NY: J.J. Augustin, 1975)
ABD David Noel Freedman (ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary
(New York: Doubleday, 1992)
ABL R.F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters
(London/Chicago, 1892-1914)
ActSum Acta Sumerologica
AfO Archivfur Orientforschung
AMI G.I. Davies, Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions: Corpus and
Concordance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)
AHw Wolfram von Soden, Akkadisches Handworterbuch
(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1959-81)
AION Annali dell 'istituto orientate di Napoli
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AJBI Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute
AKA E.A. Budge and L.W. King, The Annals of the Kings of
Assyria (Volume 1; London: British Musuem, 1902)
AnBib Analecta biblica
AnBoll Analecta Bollandiana
ANET James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating
to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1950)
AnOr Analecta oriental ia
AnSt Anatolian Studies
AO Aula Orientalis. Revista de estudios del proximo oriente
antiguo
AOSup Aula Orientalis Supplementa
AOAT(S) Alter Orient und Altes Testament (Sonderreihe)
AoF Altorientalische Forschungen
AOS American Oriental Series
AOTS D. Winton Thomas (ed.), Archaeology and Old Testament
Study: Jubilee Volume of the Society for Old Testament Study
1917-1967 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967)