Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
prophets seem to relish the idea of the great Babylonian Bel’s (לבּ) ֵ defeat and
putting to shame (see Jer 50:2, 51:44, and Isa 46:1–2).
The opening several lines of our hymn associate Marduk’s favorable nature
(i.e., relenting from anger) with the morning (see line 2, 4, and 6). This manner
of speaking recalls passages in the Psalter that associate the morning with divine
help or hope for divine mercy. 7 Interestingly, several of these passages also occur
in the context of a person lamenting divine displeasure. See, for example, Pss
46:6, 59:17 (and contrast the psalmist’s enemies who are depicted as dogs roaming
about in the evening in vv. 7 and 15), 90:14 (with vv. 5–6), and 143:8. In Ps
130:6 the psalmist describes themselves waiting on Yahweh’s favorable answer
to their cry with more anticipation than the watchmen awaiting the appearance
of the morning. Such a comparison confirms rather explicitly the expectation
and hope associated with the morning hours. In light of our Akkadian hymn, Ps
30:6 provides a particularly interesting example of the contrast between
night/divine anger and morning/divine favor. In the context of thanksgiving for
deliverance (vv. 2–4), the psalmist calls on others to praise Yahweh (v. 5), offering
the following as further support for the exhortation to praise: םיִיּ ח ַ וֹפּאַ ְבּ עגַ ר ֶ י ִכּ
ה ָנּר ִ רקֹבּ ֶ ַלו ְ י ִכבּ ֶ ןי ִל ָי ברֶ ֶע ָבּ וֹנוֹצרְ ִבּ, “although (one is) a moment in his anger, (there is) a
lifetime in his favor; weeping lodges in the evening, (but) jubilation belongs to
the morning.” The Psalter also presents the morning as an appropriate time to
request Yahweh’s favor (see Pss 5:4 and 88:14) and indicates in Ps 101:8 that
judgment of the wicked (i.e., vindication for the psalmist) occurs every morning
(םירִ קָ ְבּ ַל; see also Zeph 3:5). Clearly, the morning was often associated with good
things for those in distress. This might make us read the lament in Ps 73:14 as
especially bitter, for there the psalmist complains that every morning brings new
afflictions (see also Ps 55:10, where the psalmist complains morning, noon, and
night).
Why exactly the morning was so often associated with expectation of or
requests for Yahweh’s favor has elicited several creative explanations. 8 Joseph
Blenkinsopp may be closest to understanding the issue when he explains the
association as “simply the feeling that morning puts an end to night as a time of
danger and fear; it is a time for new beginnings.” 9
7 The most famous passage in the Bible in this regard may be the optimistic statement in Lam
3:22–23, where the kindnesses of Yahweh (הוֹהְי ָ ידֵ ְס ח) ַ are said to be new every morning ( םי ִשׁ דָ חֲ
םירִ ק ָ בְּ לַ
).
8 See, e.g., a summary of Joseph Ziegler’s article on the topic (“Die Hilfe Gottes ‘am Morgen’,” in
Alttestamentliche Studien Friedrich Nötscher zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet [ed. Hubert Junker and
Johannes Botterweck; Bonner Biblische Beiträge 1; Bonn: Peter Hanstein Verlag, 1950], 281–88)
with criticisms of his proposal in Ch. Barth, “רקֹבּ ֶ bōqer,” TDOT 2:226–28.
9 Isaiah 1–39: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 19; New York: Doubleday,
2000), 437. His comment is made in reference to Isa 33:2.