THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL: PATTERNED AFTER A MESOPOTAMIAN CITY LAMENT? By Donna Lee Petter A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Copyright by Donna Lee Petter 2009 Abstract The Book of Ezekiel: Patterned After a Mesopotamian City Lament? Doctor of Philosophy 2009 Donna L. Petter Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto This dissertation is a comparison of the book of Ezekiel with the well-known city lament genre of ancient Mesopotamia. Nine shared features are analyzed and explained. These features derive from the work of Dobbs-Allsopp1 and his comparison of biblical Lamentations with city laments of Mesopotamia. This material provides a fruitful point of comparison; one that is more than coincidental given Ezekiel’s geographical location in Nippur (the provenience of one of the five historical city laments). Compelling comparative evidence reveals that the lament genre is reflected in the book of Ezekiel and was used as a matrix for its compilation. Ezekiel’s usage of the city lament genre is, perhaps, the key to understanding the organizational structure of much of the book along with its various themes. 1 F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep, O Daughter of Zion: A Study of the City-Lament Genre in the Hebrew Bible (Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1993). ii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: City Laments in Mesopotamia Introduction 9 Historical City Laments 10 Erñemmas and Balags 13 Standard Features of the Texts 17 Summary 43 Chapter Two: City Laments in Israel Introduction 45 City Lament Features in Lamentations 45 City Lament Features in the Oracles against the Nations 51 City Lament Features in Psalms 55 City Lament Features in Prophetic Literature 59 Summary 63 Chapter Three: Understanding Ezekiel’s Role in Light of the MCL Introduction 66 The Scroll Incident 67 Ezekiel’s Reaction to the Scroll Incident 74 Ezekiel’s Lament Gestures 83 Summary 88 Evidence beyond the Scroll Incident that Ezekiel is a Mourner 88 Summary 100 Chapter Four: Understanding Yahweh’s Anger and Abandonment of Jerusalem in Light of the MCL Introduction 101 Yahweh assumes some Responsibility for Jerusalem’s Destruction 103 Yahweh Assigns Responsibility to Israel for Jerusalem’s Destruction 110 Summary 117 Divine Abandonment 119 Ezekiel 8–11: The Literary Framework and Narrative Flow 120 Summary 138 iii Chapter Five: Understanding Sin and Judgment in Ezekiel Light of the MCL Introduction 140 Yahweh’s Agents of Destruction 141 Description of Destruction in Ezekiel 156 Summary 168 Chapter Six: Understanding Restoration in Ezekiel in Light of the MCL Introduction 170 Anticipating Restoration 171 Restoration and the Oracles against the Nations 173 Restoration and the Fall of Jerusalem 176 Program of Restoration 177 Summary 185 Chapter Seven: Conclusions 189 Bibliography 198 List of Appendices Appendix A: A Sample Kirugu from NL 212 Appendix B: A Sample Erñemma 214 Appendix C: A Sample Balag 216 Appendix D: Ninlil’s Cult Boat in Nippur and Enki’s Cult Boat in Eridu 220 Appendix E: Ezekiel 27:1–25 224 iv Abbreviations AB Anchor Bible ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages AnBib Analecta biblica ANEP Ancient Near Eastern Pictures Relating to the Old Testament ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament ASTI Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon Of the Old Testament BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium BHS Biblica hebraica stuttgartensia BKAT Biblischer Kommentar: Altes Testament BJS Biblical and Judaic Studies BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW BO Bibliotheca orientalis BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester CA Curse of Agade CAD Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CCSOT Communicator’s Commentary Series of the Old Testament CLAM Canonical Lamentations of Ancient Mesopotamia ConBot Coniectanea Biblia Old Testament CTA Corpus des tablettes en cuneiforms alphabétiques. EL Eridu Lament ErIsr Eretz ISrael FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature GKC Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs HALAT Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament HALOT The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament ICC International Critical Commentary Impv Imperative ISBE International Standard Bible Encylopedia ITC International Theological Commentary IOS Israel Oriental Society JANES Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JBLMS Journal of Biblical Literature Monograph Series JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JHNES Johns Hopkins Near Eastern Studies JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament v JSOTSup JSOT Supplements KB L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros LHBOTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies LSUr Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur LU Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur LXX Septuagint MCL Mesopotamian City Lament ms(s). manuscripts(s) NCBC New Century Bible Commentary NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament NL Nippur Lament NSBT New Studies in Biblical Theology OAJ Oracles Against Judah OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis OTE Old Testament Essays OTL Old Testament Library PTMS Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series RB Revue Biblique SANE Sources from the Ancient Near East SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series SJOT Scandinavian Journal of Theology Syr. Syriac Targ. Targum TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament THAT Theologishes Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament UF Ugarit-Forschungen UL Uruk Lament VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Vetus Testamentum Supplements WBC Word Biblical Commentary ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft vi Introduction In her recent work, M. Odell has noted the inadequacies of the prophetic book genre classification for Ezekiel. 2 With respect to the vision of restoration in Ezekiel 40– 48, for example, she observes that “prophetic motifs are minimal,” and that the present classification does not tell us how the collection works.3 Odell, likewise, asserts that the category does not help in understanding the persona of Ezekiel in 24:15–24, nor does it mirror other prophetic books.4 In an attempt to solve the genre problem, one that defies prophetic literature expectations, Odell offers a creative solution. She suggests that the outline of Ezekiel resembles Assyrian building inscriptions, especially Esarhaddon’s 2 Margaret Odell, “Genre and Persona in Ezekiel 24:15–24,” in The Book of Ezekiel: Theological and Anthropological Perspectives (eds. Margaret Odell and John T. Strong; Atlanta: SBL, 2000), 195–219. See also Margaret Odell, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: Ezekiel (Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys, 2005), 4–5. Most people commenting and writing on Ezekiel usually start from the premise that, in terms of genre, Ezekiel represents prophetic literature. This is in large part due to Gunkel’s contribution and his initial proposal that prophetic genres (“forms”) should be analyzed and isolated for study as literary phenomena, since as speakers and writers the prophets had a distinctive way of communicating. Hermann Gunkel, “Nahum 1,” ZAW 13 (1893): 223–44. The four leading commentaries on Ezekiel in the past twenty years were written with this assumption: Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 1–19 (WBC 28; Dallas: Word, 1994), and Ezekiel 20–48 (WBC 29; Waco: Word, 1990); Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel (2 vols.; NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997–98); Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 1–20 (AB 22; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983), and Ezekiel 21–37 (AB 22A; Garden city, N. Y.; Doubleday, 1997); Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel: A Commentary on the book of the Prophet Ezekiel (2 vols.; Hermeneia; Philadelphia; Fortress, 1979, 1983). Likewise, Ellen F. Davis, Swallowing the Scroll: Textuality and the Dynamics of Discourse in Ezekiel’s Prophecy (JSOT Sup 78; Sheffield: Almond, 1989) declares that Ezekiel is the first truly designed prophetic book. The contribution of her work for this study will be noted below. See also Marvin A. Sweeney, Isaiah 1–39: With an Introduction to Prophetic Literature (FOTL 16; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 16–18 for more discussion on genre classification of the “prophetic book.” However, within this working assumption, scholars have been quick to realize something unique about the nature of this book. To cite just one example, D. Block states that “While Ezekiel’s prophecies share numerous features with other prophetic books; this collection is distinctive in many respects.” Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1–24 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 23. What all these have in common is the acknowledgment that to Ezekiel belongs a literary distinctiveness, the prophetic classification notwithstanding. Scholars have long observed that there seems to be a deliberate design imposed on the book. Admittedly, the consensus reveals that Ezekiel is not the typical prophetic book. As a result, one might query if Ezekiel is to be understood as more than just a collection of independent literary units of prophetic sayings and visions chronologically ordered by a careful editor. Could Ezekiel’s distinctiveness be pointing to the possibility that the label “prophetic vision” or “prophetic literature” inadequately represents the totality of Ezekiel’s written record? 3 Odell, “Genre and Persona,” 195–219. 4 Odell, “Genre and Persona,” 197–98. 1 Babylonian inscriptions (c. 680 BC).5 These monumental inscriptions detail the fate of a single city (its destruction to abandonment and its subsequent restoration). Ezekiel does this with Jerusalem. Due to a striking number of features shared between the two genres, Odell proposes that the inscriptions may have been a “literary model for the book of Ezekiel.”6 The genre study by A. Fowler provides a rationale for her argument. 7 In terms of genre development in general, he notes two stages. The first stage concerns the genre’s natural organic development. Each use of the genre thereafter is dependent upon past uses. The second stage imitates the original by keeping all the main elements yet with adaptations and variations of its features. On the basis of the second development, Odell argues that Ezekiel took a public genre style and developed it into a “private, literary mode.”8 Ezekiel’s cultural and historical context would allow for such literary contact.9 Even though she challenges the traditional genre designation on sufficient grounds, she makes this qualifying remark, “though the general outline of Ezekiel resembles Esarhaddon’s inscription, its individual units remain, for the most part, immersed in Judean prophetic and priestly tradition.”10 On the one hand, Odell joins the rank and file of those who have not only noticed Ezekiel’s distinctiveness, but who have also observed Mesopotamian influences throughout the text. In this respect, the work of D. Bodi is especially noteworthy because it provides a helpful survey reflecting the philological, iconographic, and thematic 5 Odell, Ezekiel, 4. 6 Odell, “Genre and Persona,” 212. Consult the summary chart especially on 218–19 for a line up of the comparisons. See also 208–17. 7 Odell, “Genre and Persona,” 212. Cf. Alastair Fowler, “Life and Death of Literary Forms,” New Literary History 2 (1971) 149–69. 8 Odell, “Genre and Persona,” 211. This explanation accounts for the obvious differences between the scroll of Ezekiel vs. compositions on monuments. 9 Ibid. Odell appeals to the Assyrian domination in the west, and to the possibility that Assyrian literary models might have been appropriated even among the Babylonians as a venue for contact. 10 Ibid., 214. 2 parallels from Mesopotamia in the book of Ezekiel. 11 With respect to the range of the comparisons that have been made between Ezekiel and Mesopotamian literature, the focus is generally not on the whole book, only select texts or blocks of material in Ezekiel. For example, chapters 8–11 are discussed in relationship to the theme of divine abandonment so common in the ancient Near East.12 Popular mythological themes are reviewed in close connection to Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38–39).13 At times, an isolated chapter or verse forms the basis for comparison. In most cases, this is in no small measure due to the understanding that Ezekiel underwent intense redactional activity, a view espoused especially by W. Zimmerli and others before him.14 Although this diachronic approach is helpful, it can deter from a fruitful analysis of the literary whole.15 Furthermore, the literary repertoire from the ancient Near East that has been compared with portions of Ezekiel covers a wide array of genres. At least nine different genres have been used. Some of these include historiographic poems, dream reports, victory songs, and poetic laments.16 These genres, likewise, span the centuries. They reach back as early as Sumerian civilization, include Canaanite mythology, and extend down to the sixth century B.C.17 11 Daniel Bodi, The Book of Ezekiel and the Poem of Erra (OBO 104; Freiburg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991), 35–51. Bodi’s list need not be improved upon. See also Daniel Block, “Divine Abandonment: Ezekiel’s Adaptation of an Ancient Near Eastern Motif” in The Book of Ezekiel: Theological and Anthropological Perspectives (eds. Margaret S. Odell and John T. Strong; Atlanta: SBL, 2000), 32–33. 12 Block, Ezekiel 1–24, 272–360. 13 Block, Ezekiel 25–48, 424–493. 14 Gustav Hölscher, Hesekiel, der Dichter und das Buch, eine literarkritische Untersuchung (BZAW 39; Giessen: A. Töpelmann, 1924). See also Charles C. Torrey and Shalom Spiegel, Pseudo-Ezekiel and the Original Prophecy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1930; repr., New York: Ktav Pub. House, 1970) xxxvii-xxxviii, 11–119. 15 Those that debate Ezekiel’s unity, authorship, redaction, and form still generally treat the book as a literary whole. 16 See Daniel Block, The Gods of the Nations (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000). 17 A few samples will suffice to illustrate. Ezekiel 14 has been compared with Tablet XI of Gilgamesh, Ezekiel 23:20 with a Sumerian proverb, and Ezekiel 9 with the Poem of Erra. 3 On the other hand, few scholars like Odell have broadened the base of comparison to encompass the entire plan of the book of Ezekiel. Again, the trend was to dissect the text and reconstruct a hypothetical history of its development. However, Greenberg’s synchronic or holistic approach licensed Odell and others to move in this new direction.18 Perhaps the nearest to this holistic comparative literature approach, apart from Odell, is D. Bodi’s work on Ezekiel. He examines Ezekiel in light of the Poem of Erra and argues that the redactor of Ezekiel was familiar with the Poem of Erra on account of a formal parallelism contained within the narrative structure of both works.19 He accounts for the similarities on the basis of “literary emulation” yet acknowledges other influences on the book.20 D. Sharon compares Ezekiel 40–48 to a Sumerian Temple Hymn.21 Although the study pertains specifically to chapters 40–48, it does, in fact, assume chapters 1–39 as vital for the comparison. She argues that the circumstances detailed in the first half of the book (the inevitability of Jerusalem’s destruction and the death and scattering of its people) logically lead to restoration. This parallels the years of death and desolation in Sumer which also leads to its renewal.22 The study of Ezekiel by B. Power argues that the book’s literary shaping and essential structure indicates iconographic influence from the royal administration of the Babylonian court.23 J. Kutsko’s excellent study on the presence and absence of God in Ezekiel understands the structure of the 18 Susan Niditch, “Ezekiel 40-48 in Visionary Context,” CBQ 48 (1986): 208–24; Gordon H. Matties, Ezekiel 18 and the Rhetoric of Moral Discourse (SBLDS 126; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990); Thomas Renz, The Rhetorical Function of the Book of Ezekiel (VTSup 76; Leiden: Brill, 1999); J. Galambash, Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel: The City as Yahweh’s Wife (SBLDS 130; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992). 19 Bodi, The Book of Ezekiel, 11–30. The poem’s main thrust is the destruction and restoration of Babylon. It contains a long lament by the god Marduk on the destruction of his city. 20 Ibid., 319–20. 21 Diane M. Sharon, “A Biblical Parallel to a Sumerian Temple Hymn? Ezekiel 40-48 and Gudea,” JANES 24 (1996): 99–109. 22 Ibid., 99–100. 23 Bruce A. Power, “Iconographic Windows to Ezekiel’s World” (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1999), 6. 4