Week 3: Make Option 03

Biblical Wisdom found in the Hebrew Bible (Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes) is a very interesting but challenging subject to learn. In order to better understand biblical Wisdom, we should have some knowledge of the ancient Near Eastern literature that could help us with this. We will find out the origin of these works, their titles, their content and context, and the reason and way that they help improve our understanding of the biblical material based on the following questions given by Dr. Lester this week. 

Where and when did these works come from?

 

Throughout the ancient Near East, wisdom teachings played a significant role in shaping the way people thought about ethic and moral issues, and worked as a crucial channel of passing on their moral and ethic standards. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two influential regions that led to the creation of the wisdom materials of the TaNaK. These works were originated from the rich source of oral traditions, very popular among the illiterate masses; then they were composed, compiled and put into collections by the literate elites of society. (Stanley, p. 495).

What are their titles?

Their titles are “the Instruction of Shurappak,” “the Admonition of Ipuwer,” “A Song of the Harper” (Stanley, p. 496), “Man and His God: A Sumerian Variation of the ‘Job’ Motif,” “The Protests of  the Eloquent Peasant,” “The Babylonian Theodicy,” “A Pessimistic Dialogue between Master and Servant” (Dr. Mariottini, “The Pessimistic Literature of the Ancient Near East”), “The Maxims of Ptahhotpe and The Teaching for Merikare,” “The Instruction of Amenemope,” “A Man and his God,” ““I will praise the Lord of wisdom,” “the Babylonian Ecclesiastes” (Bandstra, p. 407, 409, 427), just to name a few.

What are they about, and what happens in them? 

“The Instruction of Shurappak,” a Babylonian text of this kind contains wise sayings similar to the book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible. An Egytian book of this kind is called “the Admonition of Ipuwer,” which resembles the books of Job and Ecclesiastes on the nature and presence of evil in a similar fashion (Stanley, p. 496). Another piece of song called “A Song of the Harper” found in an Egyptian tomb sounds very close to the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, exhorting people for a life of pleasure and ease since no one is absolutely sure what the other side of life looks like. “A Pessimistic Dialogue between Master and Servant” is a dialogue between the master and his servant on finding something worth living, with a similar approach in comparison to the first chapter of book of Ecclesiastes, in which the author talks about trying to find meaning in life with various activities.
Some other works are similar to the biblical book of Job, namely, “Man and His God: A Sumerian Variation of the “Job” Motif,” talking about human suffering asking his god for an explanation and mercy; “The Protests of  the Eloquent Peasant,” telling the story of Khun-Anup, a peasant, robbed by a noble and proceeding to go to the lord’s court to request justice be done to his case, and finally a happy ending with the peasant receiving his positions back; “The Babylonian Theodicy” known as “The Babylonian Job,” with a story similar to the book of Job, dealing with a man and his friend coming to comfort him during his suffering, but also failing to solve his problem (Dr. Mariottini, “The Pessimistic Literature of the Ancient Near East”).

How and why do they improve our understanding of the biblical material?

These works give us a good knowledge of the historical, social, cultural and literary context of the influential world in which the writers of the biblical wisdom lived and interacted with the masses because Israel was located in between both regions (or countries) Egypt to the South–Southwest and Mesopotamia to the North–Northeast. Hence, no wonder the ancient Near Eastern literature influenced that of the Hebrew Bible. It might help us read and understand the biblical material from a wider angle with a panoramic view. Therefore, we need to read the wisdom books in the Hebrew Bible with the lens of one who live beyond Israel in the region in order to thoroughly understand their true meaning and purpose of these wisdom teachings. Then, I hope my eyes will be open wider to see things beyond the Bible on the whole. By the way, that is part of the reason I was wondering how the book of Job could be included into the TaNaK though Job himself was not one of Jewish people or related to them–“He was from the land of Uz” (Job 1:1).