Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
ated the heavens and the earth.” In Isa 42:5, Yahweh is “the one who created the
heavens.” The phrase is not an action, but an epithet; it serves to define Yahweh’s
role and power. Ps 102:25 expresses the same idea in more anthropomorphic
terms, “the heavens are the work of your hands.” This idea of Yahweh as
creator of the heavens, not simply a resident of the heavens, is conveyed in multiple
texts in which Yahweh is said to have created the heavenly bodies, such as
the sun, moon, stars, and constellations. Thus, while Anu and Yahweh are both
gods of the heavens, the Hebrew Bible repeatedly distinguishes Yahweh from the
heavens. One possible exception is Dan 4:23, אָיּ ַמ ְשׁ ןטִ ִלּ ַשׁ ידִּ עדַּ נְ תִ
, “You will acknowledge
that Heaven is mighty.” In this case, “Heaven” is the subject of the
predicate adjective “mighty,” and represents the only instance in which
“Heaven” is synonymous with the god of Israel. 2 However, it may well be that
“Heaven” is no more deified in this verse than “the White House” is considered
the President of the United States. Each refers to the location from which ultimate
authority of its respective precinct resides.
Although the phrase pāšir ūmi does not have a counterpart in BH, the concept
is at the forefront of Job’s distress. During the initial response to his calamity,
he cried out ךְ שֺׁח ֶ יהְי ִ אוּההַ םֺויּה,
“may that day (i.e., the day he was born) be as
darkness” (3:4). If that day had never happened, he would not have lived his
tortuous existence. While not worded the same, Job’s desire is essentially the
same as that of this prayer’s supplicant, namely, may the deity remove all traces
of this arduous day from thought or memory. On a separate note, the verb
pašāru has רתפ as its Hebrew cognate and רשׁפ as its Aramaic cognate. This verb
is found only in the context of the Joseph Narrative (Gen 40–41) and in Dan 5.
Always with “dream” as its object, it literally means, “to loosen the dream,” implying
that there is a trapped meaning of the dream that must be released in
order for the dream to be interpreted.
Continuing this theme, dreams in the ancient Near East were powerful
forces. They were considered channels of divine communication. 3 Given the fact
that deities could be either beneficent or malevolent depending on one’s piety,
dreams could elicit a frightening experience. Such is the case, once again, with
Job. He cries out in protest to Yahweh, “If I say, ‘My bed comforts me and my
couch bears my complaint,’ then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with
visions; so that my throat chooses suffocation, and my bones, death” (7:13–15).
In this light, it is no wonder both the supplicant and Job would wish for dreams
to be absolved.
Line 14 reflects the ancient Near Eastern notion that the earthly temple was
a scale model of the deity’s heavenly residence. A stairway connected the two
abodes, with a gate situated at the top of the stairway at the entrance of the
2 The idea of a deified heaven is prevalent in the books of 1 Macc (3:18, 19, 50; 4:24) and 2
Macc (7:11; 8:20).
3 A. Leo Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East with a Translation of an
Assyrian Dream-Book (TAPS 46/3; Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1956), 23.