WISDOM LITERATURE IN MESOPOTAMIA AND ISRAEL

A Book Review
Presented to
Mr. Jonathan Vijay John
Professor of Old Testament
Serampore College, Faculty of Theology

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Subject

By
Mr. Lalkungthanuama Nampui
BDIV
30th September 2022
Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel. Vol 36 of the Biblical Literature Symposium
Series. Edited by Richard J. Clifford. Houston, Mill Road, Atlanta, GA: Library of Congress
Cataloging, 2007. pp. iv+116, Rs.1554.00. ISBN: 978-1-58983-219-0.

Introduction
This volume in the SBI Symposiums series grew out of a panel on “Mesopotamian Wisdom
Literature and Its Legacy in the Ancient Near East” at the annual meeting of the Society of
Biblical Literature in 2004 at San Antonio, Texas, Panellists Paul Alain Beaulieu, Karel van
der Thorn, Peter Machinist, and Victor Avigdor Humow biblical scholars as well as
distinguished Assyriologists-gave papers on Mesopotamian wisdom literature. The panellists
brought up parallels to other cultures and literary works, such as ancient Israel, despite their
focus on Mesopotamia. The editor of this volume, Richard Clifford, was chair of the SBL
panel. Clifford, a native of Lewiston, Maine, Professor of Old Testament, and Jesuit priest,
taught biblical studies at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge from 1970 to 2008,
and at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry form 2008 to the present. A former
President of Weston Jesuit School of Theology, he was Founding Dean of the Boston College
School of Theology and Ministry from 2008-2010.

Essays by Paul Alain Beaulieu and Karel van der Toorn that are linked in theme can be found
in the first section, “The Context of Wisdom in Mesopotamia.” Beaulieu’s essay provides a
brief summary of the social and intellectual context of Mesopotamian wisdom literature's
historical development. According to Beaulieu, the pre-Kassite ruler served as the hub of
wisdom and closely related prehistoric knowledge while also being responsible for upholding
holy harmony. The main source of information, however, had been displaced by academics
by the end of the second millennium. The royal advisors who functioned as diviners,
lamenters, and exorcists developed into the pre-diluvian knowledge-bearers and mediators
between people and the gods. Beaulieu provides a convincing argument for the inclusion of
literary collections relating to astrology, exorcism, crying, and divination in our
understanding of “wisdom literature.” Read this essay to gain a complete understanding of
Mesopotamian wisdom literature.

Beaulieu’s views provide strong support for Van der Toorn’s main contention that in late
second-millennium literature “experience as the soil of knowledge lost place to revelation as

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its ultimate source.” The gods started hiding knowledge. Comparing the OB and SB versions
of the Epic of Gilgamesh—the latter of which places more emphasis on old knowledge and
its disclosure as a gods' secret—he achieves this. Brief references to the hidden scholarly
corpora as ancient wisdom (such as exorcism, astrology, and divination) as well as analogies
of rulers to Adapa in historical inscriptions lend credence to this theory. In the final few
pages, Van der Toorn rightly argues that the reason wisdom is a secret is due to the
dominance of writing, the standardisation of important cuneiform works, and the exclusivity
of the scribal profession. But the traditional belief in divination that the gods inscribed their
secret will on animal livers must have also had a significant impact on the adaptation of
secrecy to scribal work and products.

Victor Avigdor Hurowitz presents two pieces in the “Studies in Babylonian Wisdom Texts”
part of the book. The first is brief and identifies two instances of the Hymn to Shamash that
were previously ignored in the Dialogue of Pessimism. The Instruction of Pê-Amli, a
relatively modern work of wisdom literature from the Akkadian periphery, is discussed in the
second, which also examines certain biblical analogies. In the book, a dying father and his
son have a discourse akin to that in the Book of Job. The father’s words, which are referred to
as “a kind of ethical will,” comprise around sixteen instructions on how to live a successful
life. (Similar to the Book of Proverbs) Because he believes that “in the end, things that will
befall a man are of little value, even if he heeds the pragmatic advise assuring success,” the
son ignores his father’s guidance. Because the son questions the father's wisdom and because
it most closely resembles the biblical Qohelet, this book stands out among Akkadian works of
wisdom literature. Hurowitz provides his own translation at the end of the piece, emphasising
the text’s structure and including additional biblical references.

“Comparations of Mesopotamian and Biblical Texts and Motifs,” part three of the essay
collection by Raymond C. Smith and Edward L. Greenstein, Greenstein finds several
amusing passages in the biblical Book of Qohelet and the Mesopotamian Dialogue of
Pessimism. Informed by a number of explicit theoretical definitions, Greenstein searches for
humorous as well as satirical humour. For instance, a mechanical, predictable reaction to
shifting circumstances is one definition of humour. Greenstein thinks it funny when the
master and servant in the interaction act identically whether they are praising or criticising
each suggested activity. For the same reason, the fool in Qohelet makes for a humorous
figure. Another definition claims that humour is distinguished by the “sudden finding of
incongruence,” which is quickly stated and quickly understood. Greenstein uses the servant’s

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advice to train a god like a dog as an example of this in the Dialogue. By the same
description, the abrupt turns or paradoxes in the Book of Qohelet are amusing (Eccles 2:3 and
4:6). Greenstein does not use these similarities to erase the main differences between the
Dialogue and Qohelet, despite seeing a shared sense of comedy in both works.

Van Leeuwen offers a very insightful interpretation of Proverb 3:19–20 and 24:3–4 in light of
the ancient Near Eastern concept of building and furnishing a house. Background material
about the ancient Near East is provided in the first third of the essay, which is informed by a
clear theoretical understanding of myth and metaphor. Van Leeuwen makes a strong case for
the relationship between the divine’s creation of the cosmos and human endeavours to build
palaces, temples, and homes. He also emphasises the value of knowledge in these
endeavours. He uses this group of ideas to explain how the divine activity described in
Proverbs about building homes and providing for people works. 3:19–20 and the related
Proverb 24:3–4 that discusses the same human behaviour. Van Leeuwen further demonstrates
the close connection between these two verses and the construction of the temple and the
tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-3), (1 Kings 7:13-14). (1 Kings 7:13-14). Academics who are
interested in metaphor, intertextuality, and the situatedness of biblical (wisdom) literature in
its ancient cultural context would find this study to be particularly thought-provoking.

Finally, an essay from James L. Crenshaw constitutes part four, “Biblical Wisdom
Literature.” Crenshaw offers a catena of annotated biblical passages thematically related to
human life: its beginnings (Job 10:8 12, Ps. 138:13-18, and Eccles 11:5), its end (Job 14,
Eccles 12, Wisdom 3:3-4, and 8:19 20), and life’s necessities (Sirach 29:21, 39:25-27, Eccles
9:7-9, and Prov. 27:26-27). (Sirach 29:21, 39:25-27, Eccles 9:7-9, and Proverb 27:26-27).
Here, Crenshaw collects and explores the various perspectives that several biblical wisdom
books on the beginnings, end, and necessities of life have to offer. While each text covered in
this essay is the subject of a lot of intriguing observations, the essay doesn’t seem to have a
unifying topic or motif that would link all of these findings together into a unified whole. the
essay seems to be about disconnected texts relating to life arranged in a patchwork quilt
without any discernible patterns, colours, or textures.

Although the studies in this book are fairly varied and span from thorough overviews to in-
depth analyses of particular texts, they all offer valuable insights into biblical and
Mesopotamian wisdom literature.

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