The Ancient Near East Context

The Ancient Near East Context

Understanding “divinity” in the Ancient Context Beyond Periphery Periphery: Foreign

Home Temple: joins heaven and earth

Mountain

monsters

Unknown / Less valuable

Ancient Near East Orientations / Contexts NORTH – what is to our “left” What is sinister, dangerous and associated with the enemies

WEST – what is behind Us, what we don’t know The future

EAST – what is known We “face” East

SOUTH – what is to our “right” What is secure and associated with well being

The Flow of Time • Every moment “experienced” already becomes “past” • We remember experiences of the community as well as the individual • Tradition becomes part of forming one’s identity • Community tradition transcends death because stories can be told and passed down, “oral tradition” • Words have a power of their own: Names are an essential part of one’s identity

Who was Baal (in Ugarit)? • Struggled for kingship over the universe • Was the “warrior storm god” whose name means Lord. • Rivals: – Yamm: god of the Sea

Who was Baal (in Ugarit)? • Receives a limited kingship, not one who vanquishes all enemies for all times • Was a relatively weak deity aided in his victories by other deities. • Baal’s rule is in three areas: Cosmic, Human, Nature • Baal’s struggles mirror humanities struggle

Psalm 104: a wise design w/out enemies

Genesis 1: No conflict-creation but “goodness”

What “lies beyond”, the Tanninim is transformed nto part of creation

Sun, moon, etc. are not presented as deities, but rather as part of creation—

Genesis 1 shows a displacement of the traditional conflict between monsters and the Divine Being

Transformations in The Biblical Text

Divine Construction • Reflects political power/powerlessness • Encodes human fear / foibles / problems • Expresses visions of hope • Represents the social order and relationship of human beings to both the known world and the unknown “beyond”

Rituals in the ANE • Prophecy: a response to political unrest and usually addressed to the king. Early prophecies date back to 18th century BCE, and also found in Egypt, Assyria, Babylon • Vows: bargaining with deity, “if you will give me this, I will do this or that…” • Blessing and Cursing • Omens and Signs from nature • Mortuary Rites