Psalm 141

As one plows (141:7). After the first rains of autumn, the ground was soft enough for plowing. An iron point (or a set of two points) fixed to a stick for handling was pulled by oxen to break the soil.649 This loosening necessarily surfaced rocks, which is perhaps the word picture behind this verse. Instead of an undisturbed burial, bones are pictured as scattered at a grave, like rocks spread across the field. Disturbing the bones of those buried or destroying the corpse was a severe infliction of torment upon their disembodied spirits.650 Assurbanipal (ca. 650 B.C.) conducted his most severe retaliation against rebels by carrying into captivity not only the people but even the bones of former kings, which left their “ghosts” without peace.651

Snares (141:9–10). See comments on 140:5.

Psalm 142

Snare (142:3). See comment on 124:7.

Land of the living (142:5). In ancient thought the earth was divided into the two realms, the surface where people lived and the underworld, the abode of the dead (see the sidebar “Death and the Underworld” at Ps. 30). The psalmist declares that God is his only real asset in this life and therefore the only one to whom he may turn for security.

Prison (142:7). Cisterns or pits were often used for prisons (Gen. 37:24–25; Jer. 38:6). As a place in the ground, shut off from light (Isa. 42:7), a cistern metaphorically depicted the underworld (Isa. 14:15; 24:22, where “prison” is parallel with “pit” or “dungeon” [NIV]). In view of the contrast with “land of the living” (v. 5), the psalmist invites his audience to imagine his potential death as confinement in a dark, subterranean prison (Ps. 143:3).

Psalm 143

Spread out my hands (143:6). See comment on 44:20.

Pit (143:7). See comment on 142:7 and the sidebar “Death and the Underworld” at Psalm 30.

Level ground (143:10). Smooth roads could not be taken for granted in the ancient world. Pack animals could manage trails, but any wheeled transport needed a level, maintained road (generally packed dirt); in cities, a variety of stone paving techniques were often used. Mountain travel was notoriously difficult, and when kings do boast of road construction, it is when they sponsor the cutting of a mountain road.652 Nebuchadrezzar II claims: “I cut through steep mountains, I split rocks, opened passages, constructed a straight road.”653 The psalmist likens a Spirit-led life to a journey on level roads through otherwise rugged terrain.

Psalm 144

Who trains my hands for war (144:1). See Psalm 18 for discussion of many of the military images in Psalm 144 as well as portraits of Yahweh as a divine warrior.

Mighty waters (144:7). See comments on 93:3–4.

Ten-stringed lyre (144:9). See comments on 150:3.

Well-nurtured plants … pillars (144:12). The royal interest of this psalm as it refers to a palace may conjure an image of flourishing civic projects. The splendor of a palace and city was enhanced by ornamental gardens.654 Sennacherib boasted that he adorned Nineveh with a “great park” containing “all kinds of herbs and fruit trees” and allotted plots of land for the people to plant orchards. In addition he developed an elaborate irrigation system to keep the plantings lush.655

Hatshepsut in Osiride form on a pillar at her temple at Deir el Bahri

Lenka Peacock

Fine architecture was a credit to any successful monarch. Sennacherib spoke of the elaborate portico of his palace with copper and cedar pillars to support the grand doors.656 Such pillars were sometimes carved in human shape.657 This psalm draws on such images to describe offspring who flourish as the most important pride of any community (see comments at 127:1, 5).

Our barns will be filled (144:13). Continuing the description of a prosperous society, the psalmist speaks of agricultural fertility. Verses 12–13 allude to social conditions arising from covenant blessing (Deut. 28:1–14) in contrast with those of a curse (28:15–19). Azatiwada, a Hittite official (ca. 700 B.C.), prayed for blessing on his own city measured in terms of children, grain, and livestock.658 These are the three most important components of life for people in an agriculturally based society.

Breaching of walls (144:14). Wall carvings from Assyrian palaces illustrate the work of soldiers in siege engines that ram and claw at a city’s defensive structures in order to penetrate its walls. Once inside, the invading army could slaughter inhabitants and take survivors captive. One Sumerian city lament cries: “In its wall saps [i.e., breaches] had been made—the people mourn.”659

Assyrian relief shows Sappers undermining the city wall during the attack of the Elamite city of Hamanu.

Werner Forman Archive/The British Museum

In addition to community blessings and curses, Deuteronomy speaks of exile and captivity as the ultimate consequence of Israel’s breaking covenant with God (Deut. 28:63–68). The practice of deporting a conquered people from their native land and resettling them in a foreign country was well known in the ancient Near East (see comments on 107:3).660 Because such scattering and resettlement disrupted social cohesion and stability, this policy was intended to prevent further rebellion of the conquered people against their overlord. If the hope of the king in Psalm 144 is realized, his subjects will enjoy the blessings of the opposite future—a society at peace and enjoying the fruits of prosperity.

Psalm 145

I will exalt (145:1). The first letter of this psalm is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beginning an “acrostic” (see the sidebar “Acrostic Psalms” at Ps. 111).

Glorious splendor (145:5). See comment on 104:2.

Everlasting kingdom (145:13). A parallel idea is found in the words of the servant deity Kothar wa-Hasis to Baal: “So assume your eternal kingship, your everlasting dominion.”661 The Ugaritic expressions mlk ʿlm (“eternal kingship”) and dr drk (“your [rule from] generation to generation”) are cognate to the Hebrew malkût kol-ʿōlāmîm (“everlasting kingdom”) and dôr wādôr (“all generations”), respectively.662 An Akkadian expression is illustrated in a decree to build an Akitu House for a god that would last “for generation of generation” (ana dūr dāri).663

In biblical usage, these expressions can simply mean a lifetime or an indefinitely long time period (Ex. 17:16; 1 Sam. 27:12; Ps. 112:6). But in contexts regarding divine rule, the rhetorical force stresses endless time (cf. both terms in Ex. 3:15 regarding the endurance of God’s name).

Lifts up all who are bowed down (145:14). The Great Hymn to Marduk concludes with the recognition: “You set up the weak, you give the wretched room, you bear up the powerless, you shepherd the meek. O Marduk, you extend your benevolence over the fallen, the weakling takes his stand under your protection, you pronounce recovery for him.”664 This benevolent attitude was expected of any good god in ancient Near Eastern culture, and in this Yahweh excels (see comment on 113:7).

Satisfy the desires (145:16). In a challenge between the Canaanite gods Baal and Mot, Baal contests Mot’s claim: “I myself am the one who reigns over the gods, indeed orders for gods and men, who satisfies [Ugar. šbʿ = Heb. šbʿ] the multitudes of the Earth.”665 This concept in Psalm 145 is not associated with bombastic pride, as in the Baal text. Rather, it is the loving kindness of Yahweh that leads him to generosity toward his creatures.

Closer in tone to Psalm 145 is the Great Hymn to Marduk, which praises the god out of “sweetness” of the thought of him, “who makes abundant the [ …] of the broad earth with grain … [who …] bountiful yields to the grain fields.”666 Even here, the ultimate purpose is to provide offerings for the gods, which the ensuing lines of the Marduk hymn indicate.

The attributes of God expressed in verses 14–16 open and close the Marduk hymn (see v. 14). But in Psalm 145 they are coupled with God’s love for his creatures (v. 13b in NIV, NRSV; v. 17), a concept not expressed in Mesopotamian hymns, which speak only in terms of a god’s mercy. One Egyptian hymn is closer to the Old Testament in this regard, echoed in a hymn to Re, the sun god: “Pleasant and sweet, with far-reaching love—when he comes, mankind lives.”667

Psalm 146

Do not put your trust in princes (146:3). This admonition is similar to that of the goddess Ishtar to Esarhaddon: “Do not trust in man.”668 The young Esarhaddon had recently attained the throne after a civil war, and the instability of such a situation would have led to dependence on military leaders and other officials of court. In Psalm 146, the psalmist warns against the temptation to place hope in any human, who ultimately has no control over his own destiny, let alone the welfare of others.

When their spirit departs (146:4). See comments on 104:29–30.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed (146:7). The psalmist lists a series of actions that demonstrate Yahweh’s disposition to help the oppressed. These can be correlated with comments in other psalms: “food for the hungry” (see 145:16), “sets prisoners free” (see 107:3, 10), and “lifts up those who are bowed down (see 113:7; 145:14). The duty of any king to defend the widow and orphan is well known in the ancient Near East (see comments on 72:4).

Psalm 147

He heals the brokenhearted (147:3). The trauma of exile was a painful reality for many war-torn peoples in the ancient Near East (see comments on 107:3). Restoration of people’s suffering from exile was a concern in Mesopotamian religion as well as Israelite. The need for emotional healing and restored personal relationships is expressed in a Babylonian prayer to the gods Shamash and Marduk: “My years have gone by me in numbness and woe…. Grant us togetherness, the ones led into captivity…. Obliterate the unhappiness from our hearts.”669 The psalmist calls those who have regathered in Jerusalem after the exile to praise Yahweh because he is restoring their lives (cf. 126:1).

Exiles

Z. Radovan/www.BibleLandPictures.com

Determines the number of the stars (147:4). Because of its importance in divining the will of the gods, Mesopotamian astronomy attained a high degree of precision and sophistication. Interpreting divine messages from the position of the stars was comparable to reading a text inscribed on a tablet.670 Indeed, the stars and constellations were called “heavenly writing.”671

The goddess Nut swallowed the sun at night and gave birth to it again each morning. Wallpainting on the ceiling of the tomb of Ramesses VI, Valley of the Kings, Thebes

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

The interpretive tradition dates from the third millennium B.C.; by the mid-second millennium, scribes were copying detailed lists of predictive omens based on astronomical observations, which reached a sophisticated literary form in the first millennium.672 An Old Babylonian Prayer to the Gods of the Night (i.e., the constellations) states: “Stand by me! In the extispicy [liver divination] I perform, in the lamb I offer, place the truth!”673

The Babylonian Epic of Creation credits Marduk with setting the stars and constellations of the gods into place in the heavens674 (see comments on 104:2, 19). This text uses technical terminology found in an astrological omen-list organized according to the paths of particular stars in the astronomical calendar.675 Based on the positions of stars relative to one another, Babylonian scholars predicted events on earth, for example: “If the moon is surrounded by a halo and the Pleiades stand in it: in that year, women will give birth to male children.”676 As effective representations of the gods, stars also played a role in magical rituals to invoke divine help.677 While astrological application to individual destinies at birth appears in the Old Babylonian period, only late in the first millennium did this concept become more developed (i.e., personal horoscopes).678

Egyptian religion portrays the stars embodied in Nut, the sky goddess (see comment on 19:1), with stellar maps painted on the ceilings of tombs and the lids of coffins from the third millennium B.C. However, even though astronomy was important for calculating the Egyptian calendar, it did not develop into a science of prediction as it did in Babylon. Stellar maps did not correspond to real astronomy; rather, the depiction of stars and constellations was symbolic within the Egyptian religion of the afterlife, in which the deceased joined the divine stars of the sky.679 Only in the late first millennium do Egyptian texts attest to astronomical omens borrowed from Babylon and the development of horoscopes in a late Egyptian tradition.680

Against this elaborate religious backdrop, the psalmist declares that Yahweh both sets the position of the stars and names them. This affirms his control and ownership of any heavenly object that someone might be tempted to worship. He is the only object of true worship and the only source of help (see comment on 8:3).

Covers the sky with clouds (147:8). While Canaanites worshiped Baal as the god of the clouds and rain (see comments on 104:3), his Mesopotamian equivalent was Adad. A prayer to Adad calls on him “who forms clouds in the midst of heaven … who rains down abundance”; another prayer describes the resulting joy of the mountains and meadows that have become green.681 The psalmist reminds the postexilic community that it is Yahweh, not Adad in Babylon (where they are exiled), who sustains creation and their restored lives in Jerusalem.

Not in the strength of the horse (147:10). See comment on 20:7.

He spreads the snow (147:16). See comment on 148:8.

Psalm 148

All his angels (148:2). In Mesopotamian and Egyptian hymns, other deities are sometimes called upon to praise the god or goddess of the hymn.682 For example, Assurbanipal implores: “May all the gods and every goddess, Anu, Inlil, the constellations, the Abyss, the solid ground [i.e., underworld] … witness the deeds of the lord of the gods, Markuk.”683 An Egyptian hymn to Amun-Re hails him “to whom the gods give praise, who created the lower and upper heavens as he first gave light to the world.”684 Unlike Mesopotamian and Egyptian hymnody, which heaps praise on a variety of deities, the Old Testament reserves such calls to praise for Yahweh alone (see comments on 29:1; 86:8; 97:5; 103:20).

Sun and moon (148:3). See comments on 19:1; 104:19.

Waters above (148:4). See comment on 104:3.

Sea creatures … depths (148:7). See comments on 29:3; 74:13–14; 104:26.

Lightning and hail (148:8). The psalmist uses a figure of speech called personification, by which nonhuman objects are assigned human attributes. Elements of nature associated in the ancient Near East with the domain of other gods are called upon in this psalm to worship a different Master (see comments on 18:12; 29:7).

Snow and clouds (148:8). Snowfall in the southern regions of Israel is unusual, occurring about once every five years in Jerusalem, which is in the hill country. In the low coastal plain or Jordan Valley, snow is rare. But in the mountainous north and eastern plateaus, snow falls every winter and in some places can remain throughout the winter and perhaps year round on Mount Hermon (cf. Jer. 18:14). In ancient times, snow and ice were marvels of creation (Job 37:5–6; 38:22), as were lightning and hail that originated from the divine realm.685 The psalmist calls on all creatures and beings from every classification imaginable (heaven, ocean, earth, and sky) to praise Yahweh. For “clouds,” see comment on 147:8.

Raised up … a horn (148:14). See comments on 18:2; 132:17.

Psalm 149

Dancing (149:3). See the sidebar “Worship and Dance.”

Praise … and a double-edged sword (149:6). The coupling of these two seemingly incongruous ideas is understandable against a historical background such as the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile. Nehemiah was commissioned by both God and the king of Persia to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, yet he and his fellows lived and worked under constant danger of military attack from the surrounding nations (Neh. 4). There is no explicit link between the historical setting of Nehemiah and the origin of Psalm 149; however, it illustrates the sort of conditions under a theocracy when war and worship might be compatible (Neh. 4:14, 20).

Psalm 150

Trumpet (150:3). The šôpār (47:5; 81:3; 98:6; 150:3) is the natural horn of a goat or ram, blown on special religious occasions (Lev. 25:9; 2 Sam. 6:5; Ps. 81:3; Joel 2:1) or as an important military signal (Josh. 6:4; Judg. 3:27; 2 Sam. 2:28). Its material description is indicated in Joshua 6:4–5, where šôpār is identified with the “horn of the ram”; it is not to be confused with the metal trumpet (see comment on Ps. 98:6). Mesopotamian texts mention musical instruments made from the horns of a bull and ibex.686

Egyptian models of harpists

Kim Walton, courtesy of the Oriental Institute Museum

Harp and lyre (150:3). The “harp” (nēbel) and “lyre” (kinnôr) were stringed instruments made of wood (1 Kings 10:12). Iconographic images from Syria-Palestine dating to Old Testament times show that some stringed instruments had sound boxes out of which or over which strings were drawn; they may have been open or closed frame. Others were shaped more like a lute or guitar, but no texts accompany these drawings to indicate their respective names. According to the Mishnah (Jewish oral law recorded ca. A.D. 200), the harp was strung with a sheep’s large intestine, in contrast to the lyre, which was strung with the small intestine. This suggests that the harp carried the deeper tone.

One variety of the nēbel possessed ten strings (33:2; 144:9, inconsistently translated by the NIV as “ten-stringed lyre” instead of “harp,” as nēbel is rendered in 150:3). Since nēbel also means “wineskin” or “storage jar,” some have suggested that the nēbel was akin to a lute, with a bulbous resonating body.

Tambourine (150:4). This instrument (tōp) was a small, handheld drum with leather membrane stretched over a frame; there is no evidence that metal jingles were attached. It is frequently associated with women who played it to accompany their dance in festive processions (Ex. 15:20; Judg. 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6; Ps. 68:25; see the sidebar “Worship and Dance” at Ps. 149:3).687

Strings (150:4). This term (minnîm) corresponds to words in related languages meaning “hair” or “string”; thus, it probably refers generically to stringed instruments.

Flute (150:4). The identification of this instrument (ʿugāb) is uncertain. It may be flute-like, but some evidence points to a stringed instrument.

Cymbals (150:5). This term (ṣilṣelîm) is related to the verb “to resonate, ring,” and with ancient sources it is commonly understood as “cymbal.” Cymbals are well attested in the ancient Near East, being made of bronze and so have endured the ravishes of time until discovered by the modern archaeologist. They are two sizes, the smaller averaging about three inches in diameter and the larger approximately six inches. The difference between cymbals implied in this verse (“clash” and “resounding”) may allude to these two types (higher and lower pitch), or perhaps to the different manner in which cymbals can be played (single clash or allowed to resonate).

Bronze cymbals

Rama/Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of the Louvre

Bibliography

Braun, J. Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine: Archaeological, Written, and Comparative Sources. Trans. D. W. Scott. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. Although the original music is lost, this work summarizes what can be known at present of Israel’s ancient music that was an integral part of the psalms.

Brown, W. P. Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002. Brown explores in depth the textual and iconographic background and its implications for numerous metaphors used frequently in the psalms.

Bullock, C. H. Encountering the Book of Psalms: A Literary and Theological Introduction. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001. This general introduction to the book of Psalms frequently discusses and illustrates ancient Near Eastern background relevant to the understanding of psalms.

Dalglish, E. R. Psalm Fifty-One in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Patternism. Leiden: Brill, 1962. This older work focuses specifically on only one psalm; nevertheless, it cites a breadth of ancient Near Eastern parallels applicable to the general class of laments, which comprise nearly half of Psalms.

Ferris, P. W. J. The Genre of Communal Lament in the Bible and the Ancient Near East. SBLDS 127. Atlanta: Scholars, 1992. Ferris sets forth a survey of the Mesopotamian lament tradition as the background for communal lament psalms.

Hossfeld, F.-L., and E. Zenger. Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51–100. Trans. L. M. Maloney. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005. Although only the second volume of this projected three volume set is currently published, it offers the richest discussion of background material of any commentary, with frequent illustrations.

Keel, O. The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms. New York: Seabury, 1978. No other book provides as broad an introduction into the visual world of the ancient Near East, illustrating and interpreting the pictorial background of the psalms.

Klingbeil, M. Yahweh Fighting from Heaven: God as Warrior and as God of Heaven in the Hebrew Psalter and Ancient Near Eastern Iconography. OBO 169. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999. The theme of divine warrior is prominent in psalms, and this monograph gives a comprehensive discussion of the imagery.

Kraus, H.-J. Psalms 1–59. Trans. C. O. Hilton. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988. Psalms 60–150. Trans. C. O. Hilton. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989. Perhaps more than any other complete commentary on Psalms, these two volumes frequently cite ancient Near Eastern textual parallels helpful to interpretation.

Miller, P. D. They Cried Out to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994. Miller attends carefully to the dynamics, form, and content of biblical prayer, especially in the Psalms, offering extensive illustrations from ancient Near Eastern texts and cultural background.

Toorn, Karel van der. Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia: A Comparative Study. Assen/Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 1985. Van der Toorn compares the ethical values of Israel to its Mesopotamian neighbors as well as the practical outworking of these beliefs in the worship practices of these respective cultures.

Walton, J. H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006. This book provides a helpful interpretive framework for understanding many of the common ancient Near Eastern cultural ideas so frequently alluded to in the poetic imagery of the psalms.

Chapter Notes

Main Text Notes

1. Å. W. Sjöberg and E. Bergman, The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns (Texts from Cuneiform Sources 3; Locust Valley, N.Y.: Augustin, 1969).

2. Ibid., 6–7.

3. E.g., J. L. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs: An Anthology of Ancient Egyptian Lyric Poetry (SBLWAW 8; Atlanta: Scholars, 1995), nos. 30, 31, 33, 39, 40, 80.

4. For an overview, see K. L. Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2005), 84–126; J. H. Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural Context (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 135–68; and P. D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 5–31. See also the sidebars “Laments of Individuals” at Ps. 3, “Community Lament in the Ancient Near East” at Ps. 44, “Hymns to Holy Cities” at Ps. 48, “City Laments” at Ps. 74, and the comments on vows as a form of thanksgiving at 56:12.

5. See 2 Sam. 23:1–2; 1 Kings 4:32; 1 Chron. 15:16–22; 16:4–7; 25:1–8; 2 Chron. 29:25–26; 35:15; Ezra 2:41.

6. On the development and internal structure of Psalms as a whole book, see G. H. Wilson, “The Structure of the Psalter,” in Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and Approaches, ed. D. Firth and P. S. Johnston (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2005).

7. For a balanced discussion on the question of Israel’s uniqueness, see R. P. Gordon, “ ‘Comparativism’ and the God of Israel,” in The Old Testament in Its World, ed. R. P. Gordon, and J. C. de Moor (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005).

8. W. W. Hallo, Origins: The Ancient Near Eastern Background of Some Modern Western Institutions (SHCANE 6; Leiden: Brill, 1996), 223–27.

9. P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50 (WBC 19; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1983), 32.

10. Extended discussions can be found in J. Braun, Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine: Archaeological, Written, and Comparative Sources, trans. D. W. Scott (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 37–42; H.-J. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, trans. C. O. Hilton (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988), 21–32; and C. H. Bullock, Encountering the Book of Psalms: A Literary and Theological Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 24–30.

11. L. McFall, “The Evidence for a Logical Arrangement of the Psalter,” WTJ 62 (2000): 223–56.

12. For Egypt, see K. A. Kitchen, Poetry of Ancient Egypt (Documenta Mundi: Aegyptiaca 1; Jonsered: Paul Åströms, 1999), 471–81; for Mesopotamia, see M. E. Vogelzang, “Repetition as a Poetic Device in Akkadian,” in Mesopotamian Poetic Language: Sumerian and Akkadian, ed. M. E. Vogelzang, and H. L. J. Vanstiphout (Cuneiform Monographs 6; Groningen: STYX-Publications, 1996); for Ugarit, F. M. Cross, “Prose and Poetry in the Mythic and Epic Texts from Ugarit,” HTR 67 (1974): 1–15.

13. See the agricultural map in J. N. Postgate, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History (London: Routledge, 1992), 175.

14. O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (New York: Seabury, 1978), 353–54, illus. 479 and 480.

15. COS, 1.177:570.

16. AEL, 2:150–51, vi 1–6; COS, 1.47:117.

17. AEL, 2:151, vi 8–12; COS, 1.47:117.

18. COS, 2.119:300 and 119B:303 (cf. 2 Kings 20:12–20; Isa. 39).

19. S. Parpola, and K. Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths (SAA 2; Helsinki: Univ. of Helsinki Press, 1988), no. 7.

20. See S. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies (SAA 9; Helsinki: Univ. of Helsinki Press, 1997), nos. 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 2.4. Oracle no. 7 shares many features in common with Ps. 2, including the prophetic flavor of the psalm.

21. G. Beckman, “Royal Ideology and State Administration in Hittite Anatolia,” CANE, 536; W. L. Moran, ed., The Amarna Letters (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1992), 122, EA 51; S. E. Thompson, “The Anointing of Officials in Ancient Egypt,” JANES 53 (1994): 15–25.

22. M. Nissinen et al., Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (SBLWAW 12; Atlanta: SBL, 2003), 22, no. 2, A.1968 lines r. 5–6. See also N. Wyatt, “Arms and the King: The Earliest Allusions to the Chaoskampf Motif and Their Implications for the Interpretation of the Ugaritic and Biblical Traditions,” in “Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf”: Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient, ed. M. Dietrich, and I. Kottsieper (AOAT 250; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1998), 841–42.

23. T. N. D. Mettinger, King and Messiah: The Civil and Sacral Legitimation of the Israelite Kings (Lund: Gleerup, 1976), 212–32.

24. See the Sumerian King List (ANET, 265–66).

25. See the prologue to Hammurabi’s laws in M. Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 2nd ed. (SBLWAW 6; Atlanta: Scholars, 1997), 76–81, and his commemoration of building construction at the city of Sippar (COS, 2.107A:256; RIME, 4.3.6.2).

26. G. von Rad, “The Royal Ritual in Judah,” in The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (Edinburgh, London: Oliver & Boyd, 1966), 225–26. Not all of his suggested parallels are cogent.

27. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 3.3, 3.4; A. Laato, A Star Is Rising: The Historical Development of the Old Testament Royal Ideology and the Rise of the Jewish Messianic Expectations (University of South Florida International Studies in Formative Christianity and Judaism 5; Atlanta: Scholars, 1997), 92.

28. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 7. See H. Ringgren, “Psalm 2 and Bēlit’s Oracle for Ashurbanipal,” in The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday, ed. C. L. Meyers and M. O’Connor (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1983), 91–95.

29. B. J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (London: Routledge, 1991), 206–8.

30. D. B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1992), 89.

31. B. Becking, “ ‘Wie Töpfe Sollst Du Sie Zerschmeißen’: Mesopotamische Parallel zu Psalm 2, 9b, ” ZAW 102 (1990): 78–79.

32. Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands in the Light of Archaeological Discovery (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963), 13–14, 64–65, 83–84, 294–96.

33. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 1.6 iv 19.

34. M. S. Smith, “The Near Eastern Background of Solar Language for Yahweh,” JBL 109 (1990): 34–36.

35. KTU 2.16.9–10 cited from D. Pardee, “Ugarit,” AfO 31 (1984): 220. See also COS, 3.45A:89.

36. P. J. King, and L. E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (Louisville, London: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 99–101; C. E. Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel (HSM 60; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 181–86.

37. King, and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 363–72; J. B. Payne, “Burial,” ISBE, 1:557–58.

38. J. H. Walton, V. H. Matthews, and M. W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 516.

39. Foster, Before the Muses, 625, lines 189–90.

40. COS, 1.179:574, line 100.

41. Foster, Before the Muses, 623, line 116.

42. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 13, CAT, 1.14 i 28–30.

43. COS, 1.179:574, lines 71–72.

44. AEL, 1:106, line 135.

45. The problem of innocent suffering is the subject of a major Mesopotamian text, The Babylonian Theodicy (COS, 1.154).

46. COS, 1.151:485; 1.153:490; Foster, Before the Muses, 592, no. III.26.

47. Foster, Before the Muses, 217.

48. M. Klingbeil, Yahweh Fighting from Heaven: God as Warrior and as God of Heaven in the Hebrew Psalter and Ancient Near Eastern Iconography (OBO 169; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999), 158–267.

49. Foster, Before the Muses, 599, 601.

50. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 34, illus. 30; or 36, illus. 32.

51. For the text, see Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 76–77.

52. KAR, 307 line 33, cited in W. Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 4 (cf. The Epic of Creation in COS, 1.111:397, 399).

53. Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 15 (cf. CAD, E, 347).

54. COS, 1.111:400, lines vi 5–8; 1.130:450–51.

55. COS, 1.130:452; 1.132:460; Foster, Before the Muses, 251, lines iv 30–39.

56. Foster, Before the Muses, 253, lines vi 45-vii 7.

57. D. J. A. Clines, “The Image of God in Man,” TynBul 19 (1968): 83–85.

58. AEL, 1:106, The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare; COS, 1.35:65 (see comment on 104:29–30).

59. COS; 2.21:125; 2.31:149.

60. AEL, 2:98; COS, 1.28:46.

61. Foster, Before the Muses, 406, The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer; COS, 1.153:491.

62. O. Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times (Archaeology and Biblical Studies 5; Atlanta: SBL, 2003), 13–15, 26.

63. Yadin, The Art of Warfare, 6–7.

64. J. Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, trans. T. L. Fagan (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2001), 94.

65. Postgate, Early Mesopotamia, 301.

66. CAD, N/1, 26.

67. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 1.1 i 27; possibly no. 7 r. 1.

68. J. D. Muhly, “Mining and Metalwork in Ancient Western Asia,” CANE, 1503–4.

69. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 172–74.

70. P. R. S. Moorey, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 233.

71. Foster, Before the Muses, 398, ii 4; COS, 1.153:488. See also van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 136.

72. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 15 lines 9–11.

73. Foster, Before the Muses, 724. See also 613, lines 105–06.

74. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 123–27; R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 54–55.

75. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 126, illus. 165.

76. For the Hebrew word šēkar as “brandy,” see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 101–2.

77. For Egypt, see AEL, 2:151, vii 11–19; for Middle Assyrian and Hittite laws, see Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 178–79, MAL B §§8–9; p. 234, §168, respectively.

78. M. Dietrich, “Babylonian Literary Texts from Western Libraries,” in Verse in Ancient Near Eastern Prose, ed. J. C. de Moor and W. G. E. Watson (AOAT 42; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Butzon & Bercker, 1993), 63–66, lines 13–14, 39–41. See also COS, 1.152:486.

79. Foster, Before the Muses, 767.

80. M. Streck, Assurbanipal und die Letzten Assyrischen Könige bis zum Untergange Niniveh’s, 3 vols. (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichssche Buchhandlung, 1916), 2:78, col. ix line 78.

81. M. E. Cohen, Sumerian Hymnology: The Eršemma (HUCASup 2; Cincinatti: Hebrew Union College, 1981), 59, no. 184 lines 25–27.

82. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 78.

83. RIMA, 2:41, A.0.87.4 lines 8–9.

84. For this pervasive theme of the divine warrior in Psalms, see M. Brettler, “Images of YHWH the Warrior in Psalms,” Semeia 61 (1993): 135–65.

85. COS, 1.99:315.

86. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 3.3 ii 14–21.

87. Foster, Before the Muses, 602.

88. ANEP, illus. 689.

89. Foster, Before the Muses, 458, iv 35–39 (The Epic of Creation); COS, 1:111:397.

90. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 2 line 19.

91. Ibid., no. 37 line 11.

92. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 215.

93. AEL, 2:66.

94. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 1 lines 22–25, no. 3 lines 6–7.

95. R. Borger, Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Königs von Assyrien (AfOB 9; Osnabrück: Biblio-Verlag, 1967), Nin A i 53.

96. D. D. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1924), 23, col. i 12, 15 (cf. Streck, Assurbanipal und die Letzten Assyrischen Könige, 2:211, K2867 line 14).

97. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 3 r. 4–5, 18.

98. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 256, illus. 356 and 357.

99. RIMA, 2:24, A.0.87.1 vi 5–9.

100. COS, 2.22A:127.

101. COS, 2.218D:296.

102. K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), 2:4 §13; COS, 2.5A:33.

103. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 167–68. For ancient geographical notions, see comments on 24:2.

104. AEL, 2:87.

105. Foster, Before the Muses, 628.

106. ANET, 391. See N. Sarna, “Psalm XIX and the Near Eastern Sun-God Literature,” Studies in Biblical Interpretation (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2000), 365–75, who surveys the comparative literature and the associated theme of divine justice.

107. Foster, Before the Muses, 631–32.

108. ANEP, illus. 246 and 515.

109. AEL, 2:49.

110. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 9 r. 1–3. The year 650 B.C. places this oracle during the military conflict with Assurbanipal’s brother in Babylon (p. lxxi).

111. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 274, illus. 375.

112. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 224–26; Lete, Canaanite Religion according to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit, 36–37.

113. For a discussion of chariot technology and strategic use in warfare, see M. A. Littauer and J. H. Crouwell, “Chariots,” ABD, 1:888–92. See also Y. Ikeda, “Solomon’s Trade in Horses and Chariots in Its International Setting,” in Studies in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essays, ed. T. Ishida (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1982), 215–38.

114. K. van der Toorn, “L’oracle de victoire comme expression prophétique au Proche-Orient ancien,” RB 94 (1987): 94.

115. COS, 2.35:155.

116. M. Nissinen, References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources (SAA 7; Helsinki: Univ. of Helsinki Press, 1998), 14–34, 43–61.

117. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 17, 67.

118. Foster, Before the Muses, 288.

119. For general discussion of cultural associations of animals, see B. J. Collins, ed., A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East (Handbuch der Orientalistik 64; Leiden: Brill, 2002), esp. comments regarding bulls and lions as images of power and danger in Syro-Palestinian art (220, 223); on the ferocity of bulls, see C. Watanabe, Animal Symbolism in Mesopotamia (Weiner Offene Orientalistik 1; Wien: Universität Wien, 2002), 63.

120. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 87, illus. 105; “Bull,” ISBE, 1:555.

121. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 85–86, illus. 100–102; see Watanabe, Animal Symbolism in Mesopotamia, 42–56 for royal texts incorporating this imagery.

122. M. B. Dick, “The Neo-Assyrian Royal Lion Hunt and Yahweh’s Answer to Job,” JBL 125 (2006): 244–61.

123. Bones represent the innermost core of a person, so they serve as a poetic substitute (“metonymy”) for the whole person, regardless of the details of their suffering (22:14; 31:10; 32:3; 34:20; 38:3; 42:10; 51:8; 102:3, 5; 109:18; Isa. 38:13). Cf. Prov. 18:14 and Neh. 2:2 as indications that the ancients understood psychosomatic illness (see van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 63, 68).

124. Foster, Before the Muses, 401, ii 104–105 (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer); COS, 1.153:489.

125. Foster, Before the Muses, 401, ii 93 (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer); COS, 1.153:489.

126. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 66, no. 16, RS 24.260 lines 1–9.

127. For discussion of Ps. 23 in this light, see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 61–62.

128. B. Tanner, “King Yahweh as the Good Shepherd: Taking Another Look at the Image of God in Psalm 23, ” in David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J. J. M. Roberts, ed. B. F. Batto and K. L. Roberts (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2004), 280.

129. COS, 1.99:317. Compare this to the metaphor of oil pleasing the skin of a god in COS, 1.179:574, line 124, or oil used medically in COS, 1:485.

130. Parpola and Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths, no. 10 lines 8–11.

131. ANEP, illus. 18–24. See Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, 525.

132. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 165–67. For general bibliography, see I. Cornelius, “The Visual Representation of the World in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible,” JNSL 20 (1994): 193–218; Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography; B. Janowski and B. Ego, Das Biblische Weltbild und seine altorientalischen Kontexte (Forschungen zum Alten Testament 32; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001); Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World; L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World: A Philological and Literary Study (AnBib 39; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1970).

133. P. H. Seely, “The Geographical Meaning of ‘Earth’ and ‘Seas’ in Genesis 1:10, ” WTJ 59 (1997): 231–55.

134. Foster, Before the Muses, 551; COS, 1.131:457; see commentary by Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 60–65, 325–26.

135. Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 27.

136. Ibid., 29.

137. COS, 1.123:432–34; Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 3.2 ii 8–9.

138. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 12 r. 13. See also no. 26 r. 13 for a petition to the king Assurbanipal: “Let me not come to shame!”

139. Ibid., no. 13 r. 2; S. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, No 1.6 iv 2.

140. Ibid., 96–97.

141. E. M. C. Groenewoud, “Use of Water in Phoenician Sanctuaries,” JANES 38 (2001): 149–50. For a visual image, see the twelfth-century B.C. model in ANEP, illus. 619.

142. See A. Mazar, “The Fortification of Cities in the Ancient Near East,” CANE, 1523–37; Yadin, Art of Warfare, 32–35 and discussion throughout.

143. L. W. King, Babylonian Magic and Sorcery: Being “The Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand” (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1975), 52, no. 11 line 27; CAD, D, 113.

144. E.g., Foster, Before the Muses, 397, ii 92 (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer); COS, 1.153:488.

145. Foster, Before the Muses, 914, lines 9–11; COS, 1.154:492.

146. S. Paul, “Psalm XXVII 10 and the Babylonian Theodicy,” VT 32 (1982): 490.

147. Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 137–38; W. W. Hallo, “Lamentation and Prayers in Sumer and Akkad,” CANE, 1873; Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 321, illus. 431.

148. ANEP, illus. 4–5 and 45–47.

149. Ibid., 129, CAT, 1.4 v 8–9.

150. J. Day, “Echoes of Baal’s Seven Thunders and Lightnings in Psalm XXIX and Habakkuk III 9 and the Identity of the Seraphim in Isaiah VI,” VT 29 (1979): 144.

151. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 111, CAT, 1.3 iii 38–40, p. 168 n. 67.

152. RIMA, 2:37, A.O.87.3, lines 16–17.

153. AEL, 2:226.

154. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 133, CAT, 1.4 vi 16–21.

155. Ibid., p. 137, CAT, 1.4 vii 40–41.

156. Moran, The Amarna Letters, 233, EA 147.

157. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 213.

158. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 248.

159. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 137, CAT, 1.4 vii 42.

160. COS, 1.130:451–52; 1.132:458–59.

161. Foster, Before the Muses, 458, iv 48 (The Epic of Creation); COS, 1.111:397.

162. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib, 84, line 53; cf. COS, 2.119E:305 for allusion to the Deluge.

163. Foster, Before the Muses, 573, iii 16–19 (Anzu); 713, line 24 (Syncretic Hymn to Ninurta); CAD, A/1, 80.

164. For the relationship between temple, creation, and divine rest, see Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 196–99.

165. Kloos, Yhwh’s Combat with the Sea, 93.

166. Cited in J. Assman, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, trans. D. Lorton (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 2001), 233.

167. Van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 64.

168. Foster, Before the Muses, 397, i 84–85 (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer); COS, 1.153:487.

169. AEL, 1:167; COS, 3.146:324.

170. Van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 64–65.

171. Foster, Before the Muses, 402, iii 1 (The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer); COS, 1.153:489.

172. Kitchen, Poetry of Ancient Egypt, 289; also AEL, 2:106–7.

173. H. A. Hoffner Jr., ed., Hittite Prayers (SBLWAW 11; Atlanta: Scholars, 2002), 36–40, no. 4c.

174. Foster, Before the Muses, 395, i 39, and 407, iv line p; COS, 1.153:487 and 491.

175. COS, 1.15:22–23.

176. COS, 1.14:21.

177. COS, 1.15:22–23.

178. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 89–90.

179. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 183, CAT, 1.10 ii 10–11.

180. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 2.5 iii 27–28. See also no. 2.3 ii 6–7.

181. See F.-L. Hossfeld, and E. Zenger, Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51–100, trans. L. M. Maloney (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005), 71–72; and O. Keel, and C. Uehlinger, God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, trans. T. H. Trapp (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 250, illus. 243.

182. Foster, Before the Muses, 432, no. 24.

183. AEL, 2:152, viii 19–20.

184. COS, 2.59:185.

185. AEL, 2:142.

186. Foster, Before the Muses, 414, line 130.

187. AEL, 2:150–51, vi 1–4 (Instructions of Amenemope); COS, 1.47:117.

188. S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (AOAT 5/2; Kevelaer: Butzon and Bercker, 1983), no. 182. See also the related letter in S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (SAA 10; Helsinki: Univ. of Helsinki Press, 1993), no. 236 and discussion in van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 67–69.

189. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, no. 241.

190. For possible correlations, see J. A. Scurlock and B. R. Andersen, Diagnosis in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine: Ancient Sources, Translations, and Modern Medical Analysis (Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press, 2005).

191. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, no. 242.

192. Van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 62–63.

193. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 2nd ed. (London: United Bible Societies, 1980), 55–56.

194. A. R. George, “Sennacherib and the Tablet of Destinies,” Iraq 48 (1986): 133–46.

195. Foster, Before the Muses, 396, i 57, 69; COS, 1.153:487.

196. Keel and Uehlinger, God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, 184–86 and illus. 200a-d.

197. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 140, CAT, 1.4, end of viii; COS, 1.86:264.

198. Moran, The Amarna Letters, 233, EA 147. See M. S. Smith, “ ‘Seeing God’ in the Psalms: The Background to the Beatific Vision in the Hebrew Bible,” CBQ 50 (1988): 171–83.

199. ANEP, illus. 513, 700, 701; Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 258, illus. 346; 310, illus. 414.

200. Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography, trans. A. F. Rainey, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979), 32.

201. COS, 1.166:538, line 283.

202. Hoffner, Hittite Prayers, 41–42, no. 5.

203. T. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once … (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1987), 464, line 269; COS, 1.166:537.

204. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 320, illus. 429.

205. AEL, 160, §12:5–6 (The Admonitions of Ipuwer); COS, 1.42:97.

206. AEL, 2:168–69.

207. Foster, Before the Muses, 1023.

208. Cowley, Aramaic Pap., 212, i 1.

209. A. Lemaire, “Writing and Writing Materials,” ABD, 6:1003–4.

210. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 142.

211. Ibid., 132.

212. AEL, 2:135.

213. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib, 29, ii 38–39; COS, 2.119B: 302.

214. R. Borger, Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Königs von Assyrien 46, ii 36–37. While the word pairs in this and the above inscription are not the same nor cognate to the Hebrew, they are conceptually parallel.

215. COS, 2.5A: 34, 37.

216. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, no. 207 r. 9–13.

217. AEL, 2:55.

218. For hymns to Pharoah as god, see Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 132–44.

219. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 163, KTU, 1.6 vi lines 28–29.

220. J. Mulder, Studies on Psalm 45 (Netherlands: Offsetdrukkerij Witsiers, 1972), 87–88, 93, 119–20. Mulder discusses extensively the ancient Near Eastern parallels to Ps. 45.

221. M. Zohary, Plants of the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982), 200–204.

222. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib, 96, line 79.

223. D. W. Baker, “Ophir,” ABD, 5:26–27.

224. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 21, ii lines 4–10.

225. COS, 1.122.

226. See C. Schroeder, “ ‘A Love Song’: Psalm 45 in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Marriage Texts,” CBQ 58 (1996): 430–31.

227. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, 1.10 vi 26–28; 2.3 ii 13–14.

228. Streck, Assurbanipal und die Letzten Assyrischen Könige, 2:4–5, i 23–29; cf. Mulder, Studies on Psalm 45, 135.

229. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 137, CAT, 1.2 ii 30.

230. Ibid., 62, CAT 1.17 vi 46–49; p. 127, CAT, 1.4 iv 20–24.

231. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 140 and 150, illus. 202.

232. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 462, line 242; COS, 1.166:537.

233. COS, 1.166:537, line 254.

234. COS, 1.45:108; AEL, 1:141–42.

235. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 2.4, iii 11, 17.

236. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 2 line 26.

237. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 335–36, illus. 447 and pl. XXVII.

238. Murnane and Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, 232.

239. For examples, see ANEP, illus. 371, 460, 463, 518, 529.

240. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 456.

241. For a general discussion, see R. J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and the Old Testament (HSM 4; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1972).

242. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 110, CAT, 1.3 iii 29–31; pp. 112–13, CAT, 1.3 iv 1, 18–20; p. 185, CAT, 1.10 iii 30–31.

243. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain, 32.

244. COS, 1.111:401, vi 55–69; see Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 119–22.

245. COS, 2.47B&C:171–72.

246. CANE, 1533; Yadin, The Art of Warfare, 23–24.

247. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 8 lines 6–7, 15–16.

248. Ibid., no. 10 r. 10–11.

249. For surveys, see D. Kidner, An Introduction to Wisdom Literature: The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 125–41; S. Weeks, Early Israelite Wisdom (Oxford Theological Monographs; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 162–89.

250. For an introduction to wisdom in psalms, see J. K. Kuntz, “The Canonical Wisdom Psalms of Ancient Israel—Their Rhetorical, Thematic, and Formal Dimensions,” in Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of James Muilenberg, ed. J. J. Jackson, and M. Kessler (Pittsburg Theological Monograph Series; Pittsburg: Pickwick Publications, 1974).

251. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 147–48, no. 70. See also the example cited at Ps. 1:6 and the frequent appeal to piety in the Instruction of Amenemope (AEL, 2:146–63, iv 19, viii 14, xi 2, xiii 15-xiv 3, xix 10-xxi 6, xxiii 22-xxiv 20).

252. AEL, 2:229.

253. AEL, 2:149, iii 6–7; COS, 1.47:116.

254. A. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (London: Penguin Books, 1999), p. xiii; W. G. Lambert, “The Theology of Death,” in Death in Mesopotamia: Papers Read at the xxvi Recontre assyriologique internationale, ed. B. Alster (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1980), 53.

255. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh, 95, xi 206–7.

256. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 61–62, CAT, 1.17 vi 35–38.

257. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 156, no. 79.

258. Ibid., 155, no. 78 i.

259. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 140, CAT 1.4 end of viii; COS, 1.86:264–65.

260. Foster, Before the Muses, 408, iv r. 11–12.

261. Ibid., 410–11.

262. J. Baines, “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice,” in Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice, ed. B. E. Shafer (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1991), 46–52.

263. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 94.

264. Foster, Before the Muses, 499, lines 7–9; see also D. Katz, The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources (Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2003), esp. 223–33.

265. CAD, 10/2, 9–10.

266. Foster, Before the Muses, 459, iv 58; p. 454, iii 85–86.

267. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib, 33 (Oriental Institute Prism), iii 38.

268. COS, 2.17A:95, 2.17B:97–98, 2.18:105, 2.82:213. See also D. J. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and in the Old Testament, new ed. (AnBib 21A; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1978), 102–3 n. 54; 191–92.

269. COS, 2.82:214; see M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 196–99.

270. J. W. Hilber, Cultic Prophecy in the Psalms (BZAW 352; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005).

271. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 3.2 i 27.

272. For Mesopotamia, see Foster, Before the Muses, 617 (Hymn to Marduk); 628 (Shamash Hymn). For Egypt, see Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 109 (Hymn and Prayer to Ptah).

273. Foster, Before the Muses, 239 (Atraḫasis), lines 337–39.

274. A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization, rev. ed. (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1977), 183–98; H. te Velde, “Theology, Priests, and Worship in Ancient Egypt,” CANE, 1741–42; F. A. M. Wiggermann, “Theologies, Priests, and Worship in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE, 1863.

275. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh, 94, xi 161–63; COS, 1.132:460. For the Atraḫasis parallel, see Foster, Before the Muses, 251.

276. Hoffner, Hittite Prayers, 50, no. 8. See M. Greenberg, “Hittite Royal Prayers and Biblical Petitionary Psalms,” in Neue Wege der Psalmenforschung: Für Walter Beyerlin, ed. K. Seybold and E. Zenger (HBS 1; Freiburg: Herder, 1994), 16.

277. COS, 1.86:263.

278. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 18, CAT, 1.14 iii; pp. 55–58, CAT, 1.17 i 2–22.

279. In addition to the texts cited at these locations, see E. R. Dalglish, Psalm Fifty-One in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Patternism (Leiden: Brill, 1962).

280. COS, 1.179:574, lines 103–105.

281. W. G. Lambert, “DINGIR.ŠÀ.DIB.BA Incantations,” JNES 33 (1974): 282–83, lines 132–34.

282. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 129–30.

283. For purity issues in Egypt and Mesopotamia, see H. Ringgren, “ ṭāhar,” TDOT, 5:288–90; van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 27–33; I. Shaw and P. Nicholson, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (London: British Museum and Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1995), 281.

284. Pardee, Ritual and Cult of Ugarit, 77–83, no. 22, RS 1.002 lines 22’–24’, 31’–33’, 39’–41’.

285. RIMA, 3:55–56, A.0.102.10 iv 40b-Lower edge 3a.

286. AEL, 2:153–54, x 21-iv 3.

287. COS, 2.32:151.

288. Van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 52–53.

289. CAD, L, 170; Streck, Assurbanipal und die Letzten Assyrischen Könige, 2:28 iii 80–81.

290. T. W. Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup 147; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992), 73–136; T. Z. Abush, “The Promise to Praise the God in Šuilla Prayer,” in Biblical and Oriental Essays in Memory of William L. Moran, ed. A. Gianto (BibOr 48; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 2005), 1–10. For Egypt, see Miller, They Cried to the Lord, 27; ANET, 380–81.

291. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, no. 13, RS 24.266 lines 26’–31’; Lete, Canaanite Religion according to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit, 292–306. Cf. the victory monument of King Zakkur of Syria (ca. 800 B.C.), offering acknowledgement to his god for deliverance (COS, 2.35:155).

292. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 20, CAT, 1.14 iv 36–43; COS, 1.102:336.

293. For Mesopotamia, see Foster, Before the Muses, 192–94, 729–30. In Egypt, spells against snake attack in the afterlife can be found in funerary texts, cf. J. P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (SBLWAW 23; Atlanta: SBL, 2005), 17–18.

294. Foster, Before the Muses, 192.

295. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 219–23, CAT, 1100 lines 4–6; COS, 1.94:295–98.

296. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 88, illus. 107 and 108.

297. ANET, 209; see the discussion in E. Firmage, “Zoology (Animal Profiles),” ABD, 6:1143.

298. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, 42, fig. 15. For other examples, see ANEP, illus. 309; T. W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Traditions: The Typology of Exaltation (Baltimore: John Hopkins Univ. Press, 1977), 265; COS, 2.93:247.

299. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh, 71, ix 38–45; Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 236, 329–30.

300. Foster, Before the Muses, 188, 666–67, 673–74, 695–96, 728–29, 996–99. For Ugarit, see Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 158–59, no. 48, RS 92.2014.

301. G. Barkay et al., “The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation,” BASOR 334 (2004): 41–71.

302. C. Cohen, “The Biblical Priestly Blessing (Num. 6:24–26) in the Light of Akkadian Parallels,” Tel Aviv 20 (1993): 230–31.

303. H. Lewy, “The Babylonian Background of the Kay Kâûs Legend,” Archív Orientální 17 (1949): 52.

304. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography, 37.

305. ANEP, illus. 1, 7, 10, 49–50, 167, 303, 326, 347, 350–58, 366–67, 371.

306. S. M. Paul, “Heavenly Tablets and the Book of Life,” JANES 5 (1973): 345–53.

307. Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 76.

308. Note especially Hammurabi’s pronouncement in the epilogue to his laws, “I am Hammurabi, king of justice, to whom the god Shamash has granted (insight into) the truth” (ibid., 135). Lipit-Ishtar also attributed his laws to Shamash (=Utu; Roth, no. 2 xxi. 5–17).

309. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11. For a thematic and structural comparison between Psalm 72 and this coronation prayer, see M. Arneth, “Psalm 72 in seinen altorientalischen Kontexten,” in “Mein Sohn bist du” (Ps 2, 7): Studien zu den Königspsalmen, ed. H.-J. Klauck and E. Zenger (SBS 192; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2002), 135–72.

310. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 line 8.

311. Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 133, xlvii 9–58.

312. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 lines 9–14.

313. Published by Jan Assmann, Der König als Sonnenpriester: Ein kosmographischer Begleittext zur kultischen Sonnenhymnik in thebanischen Tempeln und Gräbern (Abhandlungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Institut Kairo 7; Glückstadt: Augustin, 1970), cited in F.-L. Hossfeld and E. Zenger, Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51–100, 211; see also R. B. Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (London: British Museum, 1991), 38–40. For further discussion, see J. Baines, “Ancient Egyptian Kingship: Official Forms, Rhetoric, Context,” in King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar, ed. J. Day (JSOTSup 270; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 42–44.

314. AEL, 2:49–50, 91, 93, 99.

315. Baines, “Ancient Egyptian Kingship,” 48–49.

316. W. G. Lambert, “Kingship in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East, 69–79; Launderville, Piety and Politics, 300–303.

317. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 285.

318. The emphasis on a future hope of an ideal king and kingdom is not clearly present in the psalms (S. E. Gillingham, “The Messiah in the Psalms: A Question of Reception History and the Psalter,” in King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East, 209–37). However, the prophetic genre of Ps. 2; 110; and especially 72, opens the way for such a hope as developed in the Old Testament prophets. Hence, a messianic reading is not so much “imposed” (Gillingham, 237) on these psalms as it is adjunct to a broader understanding of the prophetic message.

319. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 41, CAT, 1.16 vi, lines 33–34, 45–50; COS, 1.102:342.

320. AEL, 1:100; COS, 1.35:62.

321. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 line 2.

322. S. M. Paul, “Psalm 72:5–A Traditional Blessing for the Long Life of the King,” JNES 31 (1972): 351–55.

323. COS, 2.21:126; 2.31:150.

324. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 lines 20–22.

325. See these two names used in parallel throughout the Baal Epic (COS, 1.86). Cf. Ps. 74:13, 15.

326. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 21.

327. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 line 3, cf. lines 1 and 17.

328. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 r. 1–2.

329. AEL, 1:28, lines 1–2.

330. See B. Manley, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt (London: Penguin, 1996), 19, 69.

331. COS, 2.119B.

332. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 448.

333. Ibid., 448, lines 2 and 4; COS, 1.166:535.

334. COS, 1.137:467–68.

335. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 462, line 243; COS, 1.166:537.

336. A. Gelston, “A Note on Psalm LXXIV 8, ” VT 34 (1984): 85–86.

337. For examples from Egypt, see R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, 102–239; A. I. Sadek, Popular Religion in Egypt during the New Kingdom (Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge 27; Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1987), 11–84, 168–69.

338. Criteria for assessing the identification of worship sites are discussed by Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 81–84. For a survey of Israelite sacred places, see B. A. Nakhai, Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel (ASOR Books 7; Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2001), 170–93.

339. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 141, KTU, 1.5 i 1–3.

340. Ibid., 111, CAT, 1.3 iii 38–42. This identification between Yamm and the monster tnn is confirmed in KTU, 1.83 (W. T. Pitard, “The Binding of Yamm: A New Edition of the Ugaritic Text KTU 1.83,” JNES 57 [1998]: 279–80; R. E. Averbeck, “Ancient Near Eastern Mythography as It Relates to Historiography in the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 3 and the Cosmic Battle,” in The Future of Biblical Archaeology: Reassessing Methodologies and Assumptions, ed. J. K. Hoffmeier and A. Millard [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004], 340–41).

341. Pitard, “The Binding of Yamm,” 274–75, 280.

342. See J. Day, God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea: Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985).

343. AEL, 1:106; COS, 1.35:65.

344. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 71. See also pp. 60, 81, 84, 86, 89, 96, as well as the iconographic image in Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 55, illus. 55.

345. Foster, Before the Muses, 579–80.

346. Nissinen et al., Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, 22, no. 2, A.1968 r. 3. A seal found at Gezer (seventh-century B.C. Israel), perhaps manufactured in Syria, shows Adad shooting an arrow at a serpent (Keel and Uehlinger, God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, 291 and illus. 284b).

347. See Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 52–54, illus. 48–49, 51–52.

348. R. Frankel, Wine and Oil Production in Antiquity in Israel and Other Mediterranean Countries (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 42, 198.

349. Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel, 203.

350. The image is also used positively (Prov. 9:2, 5), although clearly not so in this psalm.

351. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 334–36; J. Monson, “The New ʿAin Dara Temple: Closest Solomonic Parallel,” BAR 26 (May-June 2000): 26–27; see also comments and notes on Ps. 100:4.

352. AEL, 1:75.

353. J. K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: The Evidence of the Authenticity of the Exodus Traditions (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), 117–19; idem, Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005), 57.

354. M. D. Fowler, “The Israelite bāmâ: A Question of Interpretation,” ZAW 94 (1982): 203–13. For a general discussion, see J. A. Emerton, “The Biblical High Place in the Light of Recent Study,” PEQ 129 (1997): 116–32; E. C. LaRocca-Pitts, “Of Wood and Stone”: The Significance of Israelite Cultic Items in the Bible and Its Early Interpreters (HSM 61; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2001), 127–59; D. L. Petter, “High Places,” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, ed. B. T. Arnold and H. B. M. Williamson (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 413–18. For a survey of possible archaeological identifications, see B. A. Nakhai, Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel (ASOR Books 7; Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2001), 168–200, but there is no consensus as to which of these are actually “high places.”

355. Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 262–63.

356. A. Biran, “Sacred Spaces: Of Standing Stones, High Places and Cult Objects at Tel Dan,” BAR 24 (September–October, 1998): 38–45, 70.

357. Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 191–95.

358. I. Finkelstein, “The History and Archaeology of Shiloh from the Middle Bronze Age II to the Iron Age II,” in Shiloh: the Archaeology of a Biblical Site, ed. I. Finkelstein (Monograph Series of the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University 10; Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1993), 386–89.

359. Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House, 332–34.

360. Foster, Before the Muses, 328, ii 27.

361. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 460–61, lines 211–17; COS, 1.166:536, lines 211–17.

362. COS, 1.166:538, line 410.

363. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 478, line 435; COS, 1.666:539.

364. COS, 2.117C:288 and 2.117G:292.

365. A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (Locust Valley, N.Y.: Augustin, 1975), 73; COS, 2.118A:293 and 2.118D:295; E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 393–98; Bob Becking, The Fall of Samaria: An Historical and Archaeological Study (Leiden: Brill, 1992); K. Lawson Younger Jr., “The Fall of Samaria in Light of Recent Research,” CBQ 61 (1999): 461–82.

366. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 215, no. 58, RS 19.015 line 15; 282–83.

367. J. G. Taylor, Yahweh and the Sun: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sun Worship in Ancient Israel (JSOTSup 111; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 102.

368. Moran, The Amarna Letters, 279, EA 205 line 6. Moran translates the Akkadian word limu (“thousand”) as “peoples.”

369. Ibid., 273, EA 195.

370. CAD, B, 224.

371. Hilber, Cultic Prophecy in the Psalms, 150–61.

372. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 3.

373. T. Jacobsen, “Primitive Democracy in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture, ed. W. L. Moran (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1970), 163–70; E. T. J. Mullen, The Divine Council in Canaanite and Early Hebrew Literature (HSM 24; Chico, Calif.: Scholars, 1980), 120–68; L. K. Handy, Among the Hosts of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1994); Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 92–93.

374. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 98–100, CAT, 1.2 ii 11–35.

375. For the welfare of the Assyrian king Assurbanipal in the divine assembly, see Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 9. The fate of cities is determined by divine assembly (see the sidebar “City Laments” with textual references at Ps. 74). For an example from the region of Israel dating to the eighth century B.C., see the Deir ʿAlla Plaster Inscription, which records judgments on humanity decreed by the divine council (COS, 2.27:142).

376. COS, 1.111:400–401, vi 15–16, 1.130:451, lines 215–24. The council’s decision in the Baal Epic concerns whether or not to turn Baal over to Yamm for destruction by combat.

377. AEL, 2:84.

378. E. Uphill, “The ‘Nine Bows,’ ” Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-egyptish Genootschap Ex Orient Lux 19 (1965–1966): 396–98.

379. COS, 2.6:41.

380. W. Wilfall, “The Foreign Nations—Israel’s ‘Nine Bows,’ ” Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 3 (1981): 120–23.

381. R. L. Roth, “Gebal,” ABD, 2:922–23.

382. Hoffner, Hittite Prayers, 58, no. 11 §2.

383. COS, 1.29:47.

384. For discussion, see M. Tate, Psalms 51–100 (WBC 20; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1990), 353–54.

385. G. McMahan, “Theology, Priests, and Worship in Hittite Anatolia,” CANE, 1985.

386. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 151–63, KTU, 1.6 i 8–15, iii 22-iv 24, vi 22–23, 45–47; Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 172–79, no. 53, RS 24.244.

387. Smith, “The Near Eastern Background of Solar Language for Yahweh,” 29–39.

388. Keel and Uehlinger, God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, 248–77.

389. Taylor, Yahweh and the Sun, 219–20.

390. Foster, Before the Muses, 89.

391. J. P. Allen, Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001), 115.

392. AEL, 1:172. The metaphor associating justice with “smooth sailing” is common in this text (COS, 1.43:100 n. 22). See also the connection between maʿat and social justice in the Wisdom of Amenemope in AEL, 2:158, xx 21-xxi 20.

393. COS, 1.42:97.

394. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 2 lines 1–2, 25–29.

395. Ibid., 2 lines 1–3, 36–38, r. 1–2. See also Foster, Before the Muses, 612 (Literary Prayer to Marduk, lines 35–40).

396. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 3 lines 1–3. See also Foster, Before the Muses, 599 (Great Prayer to Ishtar, lines 3, 7–10).

397. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 56.

398. Ibid., 63.

399. Ibid., 67, 77.

400. W. J. Murnane, “The History of Ancient Egypt: An Overview,” CANE, 705.

401. Murnane and Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, 114.

402. Foster, “The Hymn to Aten: Akhenaten Worships the Sole God,” CANE, 1755.

403. See R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts: Volume 1 (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1973), 249, Spell 321; and AEL, 3:88.

404. CANE, 1754; E. Hornung, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many, trans. J. Baines (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1982), 244–50; J. Baines, “Egyptian Deities in Context: Multiplicity, Unity, and the Problem of Change,” in One God or Many? Conceptions of Divinity in the Ancient World, ed. B. N. Porter (Transactions of the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, 2000), 53–62; J. Assmann, “Theological Responses to Amarna,” in Egypt, Israel, and the Ancient Mediterranean World: Studies in Honor of Donald B. Redford, ed. G. N. Knoppers and A. Hirsch (Probleme der Ägyptologie 20; Leiden: Brill, 2004), 185.

405. Baines, “Egyptian Deities in Context,” 61–62.

406. D. B. Redford, Akhenaten, the Heretic King (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1984), 178.

407. M. L. Barré, “A Cuneiform Parallel to Ps 86:16–17 and Mic 7:16–17, ” JBL 101 (1982): 271.

408. Foster, Before the Muses, 875.

409. A. Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East, 2 vols. (London, New York: Routledge, 1995), 2:610–17; M. Weinfeld, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 102–10.

410. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia, 121; Weinfeld, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East, 106.

411. ANEP, illus. 687, 693; Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 117–18, illus. 153 and 153a; 140, illus. 185; 207, illus. 285.

412. Foster, Before the Muses, 613.

413. Greenberg, “Hittite Royal Prayers and Biblical Petitionary Psalms,” 19.

414. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant,” 189–94.

415. G. N. Knoppers, “Ancient Near Eastern Royal Grants and the Davidic Covenant: A Parallel?” JAOS 116 (1997): 670–97.

416. COS, 1.111:391, 398, 402.

417. COS, 1.86:248–49.

418. CANE, 1869; W. G. Lambert, “The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I: A Turning Point in the History of Ancient Mesopotamian Religion,” in The Seed of Wisdom: Essays in Honour of T. J. Meek, ed. W. S. McCullough (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1964), 3–13.

419. Nissinen et al., Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, 22, no. 2, A.1968 r. 1–6.

420. M. S. Smith, “Myth and Mythmaking in Canaan and Ancient Israel,” CANE, 2033.

421. COS, 1.86:251.

422. R. Arav, “Hermon, Mount,” ABD, 3:158; R. Frankel, “Tabor, Mount,” ABD, 6:305; A. Hector, “Zaphon, Mount,” ABD, 6:1040–41.

423. H. Brunner, “Gerechtigkeit als Fundament des Thrones,” VT 8 (1958): 426; Weinfeld, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East, 59.

424. Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East, 2:521–22.

425. COS, 2.21:126; 2.31:150.

426. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, no. 197, lines r. 5–8. I appreciate John H. Walton’s lead to this citation.

427. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh, 199, line 77.

428. ANET, 265–66.

429. J. Blenkinsopp, “Life Expectancy in Ancient Palestine,” SJOT 11 (1997): 44–55.

430. K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), 4:152 §210:10, line 3.

431. G. Pinch, “Private Life in Ancient Egypt,” CANE, 380; AEL, 3:199.

432. M. Stol, “Private Life in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE, 487.

433. M. A. Dandamayev, “About Life Expectancy in Babylonia in the First Millennium B.C,” in Death in Mesopotamia: Papers Read at the xxvi Recontre assyriologique internationale, ed. B. Alster (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1980).

434. ANET, 561.

435. W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, 1967 corrected ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1960), 109, lines 9–10.

436. H.-J. Kraus, Psalms 60–150, trans. C. O. Hilton (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989), 223; M. Dahood, Psalms II (51–100): Introduction, Translation, and Notes (AB 17; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968), 331–32.

437. L. K. Handy, “Resheph,” ABD, 5:678–79.

438. J. Scurlock, “Physician, Exorcist, Conjurer, Magician: A Tale of Two Healing Professionals,” in Mesopotamian Magic: Textual, Historical, and Interpretive Perspectives, ed. T. Abusch and K. van der Toorn (Groningen: Styx, 1999), 69–79; idem, Magico-Medical Means of Treating Ghost-Induced Illnesses in Ancient Mesopotamia (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 63–65, 75–83.

439. Foster, Before the Muses, 717.

440. M. P. Streck, “Nusku,” RlA, 9:630–31.

441. COS, 1.179:575; CAD, M/1, 343 and Š/2, 257–58.

442. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 160–62.

443. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 221–22, illus. 104 and 105.

444. G. A. Herion, “Forest of Lebanon, House of the,” ABD, 2:831.

445. Foster, Before the Muses, 485, vii 161–62; COS, 1.111:402.

446. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 77.

447. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, 112–13, lines 1–3.

448. Foster, Before the Muses, 466, v 88–89; COS, 1.111:399.

449. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 1 line 5.

450. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 128, CAT, 1.4 iv 8 43–44.

451. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 48.

452. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 309, illus. 412.

453. COS, 2.47D:173. For the important inscriptions and drawings discovered at Kuntillet ʿAjrud, see P. Beck, “The Drawings from Ḥorvat Teiman (Kuntillet ʿAjrud),” Tel Aviv 9 (1982): 3–68; J. A. Emerton, “ ‘Yahweh and His Asherah’: the Goddess or Her Symbol?” VT 37 (1999): 315–37; J. M. Hadley, “Some Drawings and Inscriptions on Two Pithoi from Kuntillet ʿAjrud,” VT 37 (1987): 50–62, 180–213; Keel and Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, 210–48; C. Uehlinger, “Anthropomorphic Cult Statuary in Iron Age Palestine and the Search for Yahweh’s Cult Images,” in The Image and the Book: Iconic Cults, Aniconism, and the Rise of Book Religion in Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. K. van der Toorn (Leuven: Peeters, 1997), 140–47; Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 370–404.

454. COS, 2.53:180. See J. Naveh, “Old Hebrew Inscriptions in a Burial Cave,” IEJ 13 (1963): 74–92; A. Lemaire, “Prières en temps de crise: les inscriptions de Khirbet Beit Lei,” RB 83 (1976): 558–68. For a different deciphering of the orthography, see F. M. Cross, “The Cave Inscriptions from Khirbet Beit Lei,” in Near Eastern Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: Essays in Honor of Nelson Glueck, ed. J. A. Sanders (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 299–306; P. D. Miller Jr., “Psalms and Inscriptions,” in Congress Volume Vienna 1980, ed. J. A. Emerton (VTSup 32; Leiden: Brill, 1981), esp. 320–22; Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 417–27.

455. Frayne, Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 B.C.), E4.1.1 lines 1–2; COS, 2.92:246.

456. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 1 line 5.

457. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 105, ix 5–8.

458. Foster, Before the Muses, 457, iv 28; COS, 1.111:397.

459. Lambert, “The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I.”

460. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 11 line 15.

461. S. W. Holloway, Aššur Is King! Aššur Is King!: Religion in the Exercise of Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (CHANE 10; Leiden: Brill, 2002).

462. B. N. Porter, Images, Power, and Politics: Figurative Aspects of Esarhaddon’s Babylonian Policy (681–669 B.C.) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1993), 139.

463. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 33–35, no. 19.

464. D. M. Howard Jr., The Structure of Psalms 93–100 (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 200–207.

465. K. van der Toorn, “The Babylonian New Year Festival: New Insights from the Cuneiform Texts and Their Bearing on Old Testament Study,” in Congress Volume Leuven 1989, ed. J. A. Emerton (VTSup 43; Leiden: Brill, 1991), 331–44; Bidmead, The Akītu Festival.

466. For illustrations, see ANEP, illus. 416–17, 458, 646–47; Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 169, and illus. 231–36.

467. For a general discussion, consult T. N. D. Mettinger, “Cherubim,” in DDD2, 189–92.

468. For Egypt, see R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, 52–71. For Mesopotamia, see M. Roaf, “Palaces and Temples in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE, 426–30. For the Levant, see W. G. Dever, “Palaces and Temples in Canaan and Ancient Israel,” CANE, 607–11, esp. 608 for discussion of Solomon’s temple.

469. V. Fritz, “Temple Architecture: What Can Archaeology Tell Us about Solomon’s Temple?” BAR 13/4 (1987): 40, 42–43.

470. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 334–36; Monson, “The New ʿAin Dara Temple,” 20–35, 67; idem, “The ʿAin Dara Temple and the Jerusalem Temple,” in Text, Artifact, and Image: Revealing Ancient Israelite Religion, ed. G. M. Beckman and T. J. Lewis (BJS 346; Providence, R.I.: Brown Judaic Studies, 2006), 273–99.

471. For discussion of the practical, political realities involved in the relationship between the divine realm, the human king, and the governed, see D. Launderville, Piety and Politics: The Dynamics of Royal Authority in Homeric Greece, Biblical Israel, and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).

472. R. Mattila, The King’s Magnates: A Study of the Highest Officials of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (SAAS 11; Helsinki: Univ. of Helsinki Press, 2000), 86.

473. D. A. Warburton, “Officials,” OEAE, 2:579.

474. Murnane and Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, 238–39, no. 108.

475. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 287–89, illus. 391.

476. Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House, 169.

477. Walton suggests “symbol,” “echo,” or “shadow” to describe the relationship between an earthly temple and its heavenly counterpart (Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 113–14).

478. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 82–84; Firmage, “Zoology (Animal Profiles),” ABD, 6:1144.

479. For this perspective in Mesopotamia, see Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 196.

480. COS, 1.159:516–17.

481. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 98–100, CAT, 1.2 ii 11, 21–22, 25–26, 30.

482. Ibid., 103, CAT, 1.2 iv 11, 18; 119, CAT, 1.3 vi 21–25.

483. Ibid., 111, CAT, 1.3 iii 32.

484. Foster, Before the Muses, 628.

485. See further, W. P. Brown, Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 84–86.

486. The Aten Hymn declares of the sun, “You are beautiful, great, dazzling” (Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 103.)

487. For the Mesopotamians, perhaps a disk. See Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 264–65.

488. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia, 255: “Half of her he put up to roof the sky.”

489. COS, 1.111: 398–99, lines iv 135-v 54.

490. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 41; I. Cornelius, “The Visual Representation of the World,” 198; Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 262–63; Paul H. Seely, “The Firmament and the Water Above—Part I: The Meaning of raqiaʿ in Gen 1:6–8, ” WTJ 53 (1991): 238; idem, “The Firmament and the Water Above—Part II: The Meaning of ‘The Water above the Firmament’ in Gen 1:6–8, ” WTJ 54 (1992): 31–46.

491. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 103, CAT, 1.2 iv 8, 1.4 v 60.

492. Ibid., 131–36, CAT, 1.4 v 35-vi 38, vii 17–29.

493. COS, 1.111:397.

494. For further discussion, see Craigie, “Psalm 104 and Egyptian and Ugaritic Poetry,” 16–17.

495. COS, 1.111:397–98.

496. Cornelius, “The Visual Representation of the World,” 201.

497. Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 326–27.

498. COS, 1.111:399.

499. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 106, x 9–14.

500. Watson correctly notes that the Old Testament does not describe any equal contest between Yahweh and other forces that can properly be termed “combat” (R. S. Watson, Chaos Uncreated: A Reassessment of the Theme of “Chaos” in the Hebrew Bible [BZAW 341; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005], 368–76; see also D. T. Tsumura, Creation and Destruction: A Reappraisal of the Chaoskampf Theory in the Old Testament [Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2005]). However, humanity experiences a real struggle against evil in which any sense of victory resides only in the eyes of faith (cf. Isa. 27:1; 51:9–11; Ps. 74:13–14 was set in the context of lament over the destruction of Israelite life; Job was to rest in assurances of Yahweh’s victory [Job 9:13; 26:12–13; 41:1–34]). The diverse treatment of these cultural images in the Old Testament need not be viewed as competing with one another (so Watson, 392). Rather, the authors are highlighting different theological truths depending on the application they are relating to their audience’s context.

501. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 62–63, vii 1–2, viii 1–5. See also 59–62.

502. Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, 549; ANEP, illus. 400, 405, 408, 409, 411, 415.

503. COS, 1.15:22.

504. AEL, 1:106 (Instruction to King Merikare); COS, 1.35:65.

505. COS, 1.9:15.

506. COS, 1.111:400–401; 1.130:451.

507. For discussion of particulars, see Aharoni, The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography, 67–77; B. J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody, 1985), 8–10; and DOTP, 102–4. The extension of the land to include the Transjordan was a development not expressed in the original Abrahamic promises. The phrase “to the River Euphrates,” which sometimes qualifies the northern boundary (e.g., Gen. 15:18), is probably a reflection of geopolitical realities at the time of David and Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 4:21, 24; 1 Chron. 18:3; 2 Chron. 9:26).

508. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 148–49.

509. AEL, 1:151; COS, 1.42:94.

510. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 150–51.

511. Chicago Tribune, March 25, 1988, §1, p. 8, cited by Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 148.

512. Hoffmeier, Ancient Israel in Sinai, 75–109.

513. Ibid., 124–48.

514. ANEP, illus. 500–501, 570, 531, 616.

515. If not an image of the Canaanite god El, an Iron I (1200–1000 B.C.) bronze bull found at Dothan may have represented the storm god, Baal, or Yahweh (Keel and Uehlinger, God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, 118 and illus. 142).

516. T. J. Lewis, Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit (HSM 39; Atlanta: Scholars, 1989); B. B. Schmidt, Israel’s Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1996); van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 48–55, 154–168, 206–35.

517. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 123–25, nos. 32–33, RS 6.021 and 6.028; pp. 192–210, nos. 55–56, RS 24.252 and 24.257/94.2518.

518. For citations from classical sources, see J. Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989), 86–91. For archaeological evidence from Phoenician/Punic Carthage, see L. Stager, “The Rite of Child Sacrifice at Carthage,” in New Light on Ancient Carthage, ed. J. G. Pedley (Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1980), 1–11.

519. CAD, 17/2, 256–59.

520. E.g., Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 3 line 16.

521. Ibid., no. 4 r. ii 29, no. 32 r. 4.

522. For iconographic depictions, see ANEP, illus. 10, 167, 360, 367.

523. Frayne, Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 B.C.), 607, E4.6.8.2 lines 92–98; COS, 2.111:260.

524. COS, 2.3:22.

525. COS, 2.117A:286.

526. COS, 2.118D:295.

527. COS, 2.119B:303.

528. Foster, Before the Muses, 757, lines 4, 7.

529. K. van der Toorn, “Prison,” ABD 5:468–69.

530. ANET, 308.

531. Foster, Before the Muses, 630, lines 71–74.

532. Ibid., 729.

533. J. W. Hilber, “Psalm CX in the Light of Assyrian Prophecies,” VT 53 (2003): 353–66.

534. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 3.4, 3.5.

535. Ibid., no. 3; Laato, A Star Is Rising, 88–95.

536. G. von Rad, “The Royal Ritual in Judah,” 224–30; S. Herrmann, “Die Königsnovelle in Ägypten und in Israel: Ein Beitrag zur Gattungsgeschichte in den Geschichtsbüchern des Alten Testaments,” in Gesammelte Studien zur Geschichte und Theologie des Alten Testaments (TB 75; München: Chron. Kaiser Verlag, 1986), 129.

537. L. Bell, “Luxor Temple and the Cult of the Royal Ka,” JNES 44 (1985): 251–94; Kemp, Ancient Egypt, 206–8; D. B. O’Connor, “Beloved of Maat, The Horizon of Re: The Royal Palace in New Kingdom Egypt,” in Ancient Egyptian Kingship, ed. D. B. O’Connor and D. P. Silverman (Probleme der Ägyptologie 9; Leiden: Brill, 1995), 277–78.

538. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, no. 185 lines 5–13.

539. Murnane and Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, no. 106; Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 263, illus. 353.

540. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 1.1, 3.2, 4, and 7.

541. RIMA, 3.2:102–103, A.0.102.28 lines 9b–10a.

542. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 254–55, illus. 341 and 342; Murnane and Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, no. 106.

543. M. G. Hasel, Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, ca 1300–1185 B.C. (Probleme der Ägyptologie 11; Leiden: Brill, 1998), 33, fig. 1; 49, fig. 5; H. Tadmor, The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III: King of Assyria (Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994), 249–56, fig. 12.

544. Translation from J. Baines, “Ancient Egyptian Kingship,” 42. For full text, see Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt, 38–40.

545. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 1.6. iii 31–32

546. The Akkadian word for “priesthood” (šangûtu) is frequently used for the high priesthood of the Assyrian king (CAD, 17.1:383–84), and Egyptian iconography portrays the king as the sole priestly functionary (Kemp, Ancient Egypt, 190). See also the priestly title of the Hittite king (COS, 1.75:193).

547. See Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 2.3, 3.5, where the king is called to account for cultic failures.

548. D. T. Tsumuru, “Kings and Cults in Ancient Ugarit,” in Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East: Papers of the Second Colloquium on the Ancient Near East—the City and Its Life, held at the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan (Mitaka, Tokyo), March 22–24, 1996, ed. K. Watanabe (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 1999), 215–38; Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 238–39.

549. CAD, I/J, 136–37.

550. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 5 and 1.4; cf. Hammurabi’s declaration that the warrior god, Zababa, travels at his right side (Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 138–39, Epilogue to Laws of Hammurabi, lines 81–91).

551. A. Weiser, The Psalms, trans. H. Hartwell (OTL; London: SCM, 1962), 697.

552. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 257–58.

553. COS, 1.172:553.

554. Foster, Before the Muses, 22–26.

555. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 34 line 54.

556. AEL, 1:17, 24.

557. Foster, Before the Muses, 413.

558. Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 16, Prologue to Laws of Ur-Namma, A iv 162–68.

559. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 4 r. ii 11–12. Compare also the Egyptian praise of the deified Nile River in Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 121, no. 52 xi 1–3.

560. Foster, Before the Muses, 979.

561. Keel and Uehlinger, God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, 130–31, 147–54; P. Johnston, “Figuring out Figurines,” TynBul 54 (2003): 81–104. See also M. Stol and F. A. M. Wiggermann, Birth in Babylonia and the Bible: Its Mediterranean Setting (Cuneiform Monographs 14; Groningen: Styx, 2000), 49–89, 217–52.

562. J. Huehnergard, “Semitic Languages,” CANE, 2117–24.

563. A. Loprieno, “Ancient Egyptian and Other Afroasiatic Languages,” CANE, 2135.

564. Baines, “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice,” 181–83, fig. 65.

565. Sadek, Popular Religion in Egypt during the New Kingdom, 261–63 and pls. XXIII-XXVII.

566. See Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 36–56, §§21, 22, 24, 25, 27–30.

567. E. Netzer, “Domestic Architecture in the Iron Age,” in The Architecture of Ancient Israel: From the Prehistoric to Persian Periods, ed. A. Kempinski and R. Reich (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1992), 193–201; King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 28–35; Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times, 16–20.

568. R. Reich, “Palaces and Residences in the Iron Age,” in The Architecture of Ancient Israel, 202–22.

569. For a survey of views, see M. Cahill, “Not a Cornerstone! Translating Ps 118, 22 in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures,” RB 106 (1999): 345–57.

570. Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 135–36, Epilogue to Laws of Hammurabi.

571. M. A. Powell, “Weights and Measures,” ABD, 6:905–6.

572. A. A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms, 2 vols. (NCB; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1972), 2:830.

573. R. H. Smith, “The Household Lamps of Palestine in Old Testament Times,” BA 27 (1964): 2–32.

574. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 1.6 iii 25.

575. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 100.

576. D. W. Baker, “Meshech,” ABD, 4:711.

577. N. P. Heessel, Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik (AOAT 43; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2000), 49–54; Scurlock and Andersen, Diagnosis in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine, 491–94. However, for evidence that special dangers were associated with exposure to the moon, see M. Stol, Epilepsy in Babylonia (Groningen: Styx, 1993), 126–30.

578. Ibid., 494.

579. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 143, no. 44, RIH, 78/14 lines 2–3.

580. Biran, “Sacred Spaces,” 41–44.

581. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 53, no. 13, RS 24.266 line 27’; COS, 1.88:284–85. For this idiom in Mesopotamia, see COS, 1.179:574, line 98.

582. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 89–91, illus. 112.

583. For the Persian policy, see COS, 2.124:314–16.

584. Crow, The Songs of Ascents, 68–70.

585. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 18; Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House, 332–34.

586. A. Falkenstein, and W. von Soden, Sumerische und Akkadische Hymnen und Gebete (Zurich: Artemis, 1953), 66–67, cited from Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 455.

587. Yadin, The Art of Warfare, 6–8, 295–96.

588. I. Jacob and W. Jacob, “Flora,” ABD, 2:807–08.

589. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 41.

590. Foster, Before the Muses, 847.

591. COS, 2.59:185.

592. D. R. Clark, “The Four-Room House: What It Took to Get It Built,” BAR 27 (March/April, 2001): 43; Borowski, Daily Life in Biblical Times, 20.

593. M. I. Gruber, “Breast Feeding Practices in Biblical Israel and in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia,” in The Motherhood of God and Other Studies (South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 57; Atlanta: Scholars, 1992), 92–96.

594. For general discussion, see Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House, esp. 58 and 302–3.

595. D. O. Edzard, Gudea and His Dynasty (Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia: Early Periods 3/1; Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1997), 72 and 79, E3/1.1.7.CylA vi 11 and xvii 7–9; COS, 2.155:421, 426; and Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House, 324–25.

596. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 17.

597. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 149, KTU, 1.5 vi 11–14. See also the relationship between throne and footstool in CAT, 1.4, i 33–35.

598. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Traditions: The Typology of Exaltation.

599. For Egypt, the portable boat shrine was common (Kemp, Ancient Egypt, 205). In Mesopotamia, portable shrines of some kind were used for festivals involving the procession of divine statues (CANE, 1862), such as Akitu festivals (ANET, 342) or the Zukru festival at Emar in Syria (COS, 1.123:435).

600. Nissinen et al., Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, 18–19, no. 1, A.1121+A.2731 lines 21–27.

601. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 1.2, 1.6, 1.10, 2.3.

602. Ibid., no. 3; Laato, A Star Is Rising, 88–92.

603. Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House, 156.

604. See, e.g., R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, 192–93; M. Roaf, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (New York: Facts on File, 1990), 186.

605. Such mutual welfare is announced in Assyrian prophecy (Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 3.1 i 9–12; Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 3 lines 4–12).

606. Van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 130.

607. R. J. Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1965), 3:2–14; A. Lucas and J. R. Harris, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 4th ed. (London: Histories & Mysteries of Man, Ltd., 1989), 85–90; M. Dayagi-Mendels, Perfumes and Cosmetics in the Ancient World (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1989), 89–112.

608. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 317–08, illus. 411; CANE, 1875; ANEP, illus. 18–24.

609. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 147, KTU, 1.5 v 6–8; COS, 1.86:267.

610. Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 65, 116–17.

611. Foster, Before the Muses, 888 (Erra and Ishum), i 149–161; COS, 1.113:407–8.

612. For a map of Babylon with river and canals, see J. Oates, Babylon, rev. ed. (London: Thames & Hudson, 1986), 148.

613. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 170; I. and W. Jacob, “Flora,” ABD, 2:806.

614. Arad Ostracon 24 (and possibly no. 40); COS, 3.43K and L:84–85; J. M. Meyers, “Edom and Judah in the Sixth-Fifth Centuries B.C.,” in Near Eastern Studies in Honor of W. F. Albright, ed. H. Goedicke (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1971), 377–92; for a view that the biblical data have been overinterpreted in this regard, see J. R. Bartlett, “Edom and the Fall of Jerusalem, 587 B.C.,” PEQ 114 (1982): 13–24.

615. The Assyrians left the most visual evidence, for which see ANEP, illus. 204, 362, 368, 373.

616. Oates, Babylon, 138–43.

617. Foster, Before the Muses, 484 (The Epic of Creation), vii 151; COS, 1.111: 402.

618. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 1 lines 2, 4, 10, no. 3 r. 17, no. 44 lines 5–6.

619. Ibid., no. 4 r. ii 1–20.

620. Ibid., no. 44 lines 18–19, r. 7.

621. For example, Anzu’s trickery toward Enlil (Foster, Before the Muses, 563–64); Enki’s treachery against the divine plans to destroy humanity (ibid., 239–48); or similar deception between Egyptian gods (AEL, 2:197–99, 214–23). These examples tell against any notion of divine omnipotence among the Mesopotamian or Egyptian deities as well, affirmations of incomparability in hymns and prayers notwithstanding (see comments on 86:8).

622. One finds in Assyrian prophetic texts the recollection of past promises fulfilled as a basis for present faith (Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 1 i 11–17; M. Weippert, “ ‘Das Frühere, siehe, ist eingetroffen …’ Über selbstzitate im altorientalischen Prophetenspruch,” in Oracles et prophetéties dans l’antiquité: Actes du colloque de Strasbourg 15–17 juin 1995, ed. J.-G. Heintz [Travaux de Centre de Recherche sur le Proche-Orient et la Grèce Antiques 15; Paris: Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg], 147–69). However, this is much different from long-term prediction as argued in Isaiah. A better example might be “literary-predictive texts” from both Mesopotamia and Egypt; but the origin, form, function, and content of these texts also differ from Old Testament prophetic writings (M. deJong Ellis, “Observations on Mesopotamian Oracles and Prophetic Texts: Literary and Historiographical Considerations,” JCS 41 [1989]: 127–86; N. Shupak, “Egyptian ‘Prophecy’ and Biblical Prophecy: Did the Phenomenon of Prophecy, in the Biblical Sense, Exist in Ancient Egypt?” Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap: Ex Oriente Lux 31 [1989–1990]: 5–40).

623. Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 90–95.

624. Foster, Before the Muses, 569, lines 40–41.

625. For a general discussion of divine attributes in comparative perspective, see Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 99–111.

626. Foster, Before the Muses, 585, line 48; Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, 557.

627. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, 40–41, lines 46–47; English translation from Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 348.

628. Moran, The Amarna Letters, 313, EA 264; Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 516.

629. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 67.

630. Ibid., 71.

631. Brown, Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor, 210.

632. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 104, v 1–2. Murnane translates the first line, “(O you) who brings into being foetuses in women” (Murnane and Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, 114).

633. AEL, 3:112–13.

634. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 2 line 23. An Assyrian prophetic text calls the king “the creation of their hands” (S. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 9 line 5).

635. Ibid., no. 13 line 15.

636. Hallo, “Individual Prayer in Sumeria: The Continuity of a Tradition,” 85; see also Stol and Wiggermann, Birth in Babylonia and the Bible, 9, 13.

637. George, The Epic of Gilgamesh, 87, x 319–22. See also Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 4 r. ii 20, no. 32 lines 24, 33, and no. 44 line 19; Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 61 (Laws of Eshnunna), §18.

638. Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 104–6; J. N. Lawson, The Concept of Fate in Ancient Mesopotamia of the First Millennium: Toward an Understanding of [NA]îmtu (Orientalia Biblica et Christiana 7; Weisbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994).

639. W. von Soden, ed., Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1965–81), 3:1239 D.

640. United Bible Societies Committee on Translations, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 72.

641. Foster, Before the Muses, 193.

642. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 90–92, illus. 115–117.

643. Ibid., 93, illus. 118.

644. Parpola and Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths, no. 6 line 533.

645. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 3.3 ii 21.

646. Streck, Assurbanipal und die Letzten Assyrischen Könige, 2:36 iv 50–52.

647. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 141, KTU, 1.5 i 6–8; COS, 1.86:265, note 215.

648. Lambert, “DINGIR.ŠÀ.DIB.BA Incantations,” 279, line 100.

649. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 92.

650. Abusch, “Ghosts and God,” 374–75.

651. Streck, Assurbanipal und die Letzten Assyrischen Könige, 2:56 vi 74–75.

652. D. A. Dorsey, “Roads,” OEANE, 4:431–34.

653. M. C. Astour, “Overland Trade Routes in Ancient Western Asia,” CANE, 1402; B. J. Beitzel, “Roads and Highways,” ABD, 5:776–82.

654. M. Roaf, “Palaces and Temples in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE, 439–40.

655. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib, 97–98, lines 87–90.

656. Ibid., 97, lines 82 and 84.

657. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 204, illus. 278a.

658. COS, 2:150.

659. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 460, line 212; COS, 1.166:536.

660. K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 301–2.

661. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 103, CAT, 1.2 iv 10; COS, 1.86:248.

662. For the text, see ibid., 131, CAT, 1.2 iv 10.

663. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 32 r. 24.

664. Foster, Before the Muses, 620.

665. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 137, CAT, 1.4 vii 49–52; COS, 1.86:263.

666. Foster, Before the Muses, 617.

667. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 61, iii 14–15.

668. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 1.4 ii 27.

669. Foster, Before the Muses, 757, lines 10, 12–13.

670. F. Rochberg, The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press., 2004), 1–3.

671. CAD, B, 345.

672. U. Koch-Westenholz, Mesopotamian Astrology: An Introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian Celestial Divination (The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies 19; Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 1995), 32–53. The shift from observation to prediction of astral phenomena may also have developed in the mid-first millennium B.C. (D. Brown, Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-Astrology [Cuneiform Monographs 18; Groningen: Styx, 2000]).

673. Foster, Before the Muses, 208.

674. Ibid., 463 lines 1–8; COS, 1.111:399.

675. Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 114–15.

676. H. Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings (SAA 8; Helsinki: Helsinki Univ. Press., 1992), no. 5 lines 8-r.1.

677. E. Reiner, Astral Magic in Babylon (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1995), 15–24.

678. Koch-Westenholz, Mesopotamian Astrology, 172–76; H. Hunger and D. Pingree, Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia (Handbuch der Orientalistik 44; Leiden: Brill, 1999), 26–27.

679. G. Robins, “Mathematics, Astronomy, and Calendars in Pharaonic Egypt,” CANE, 1811–12; L. H. Lesko, “Ancient Egyptian Cosmogonies and Cosmology,” in Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice, 99–100, 102, 118; S. Quirke, Ancient Egyptian Religion (New York: Dover, 1992), 50.

680. Hunger and Pingree, Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia, 31; T. Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), 19–21, 23–29.

681. Foster, Before the Muses, 637, lines 17–20 and p. 639.

682. D. R. Hillers, “Study of Psalm 148, ” CBQ 40 (1978): 332–33.

683. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 2 lines 36–38.

684. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 59.

685. D. A. Baly, “Snow,” ISBE, 4:557.

686. CANE, 2603.

687. C. L. Meyers, “Of Drums and Damsels: Women’s Performance in Ancient Israel,” BA 54 (1991): 16–27.

Sidebar and Chart Notes

A-1. For a comparison between Israelite and Egyptian kingship, see J. K. Hoffmeier, “The King as God’s Son in Egypt and Israel,” Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 24 (1997): 28–38; O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 248–49. Even Egyptian divine kingship must be qualified by the human portrayal ascribed in Egyptian texts. For a balanced assessment of “divine kingship” in Egypt, see D. P. Silverman, “The Nature of Egyptian Kingship,” in Ancient Egyptian Kingship, ed. D. B. O’Connor and D. P. Silverman (Probleme der Ägyptologie 9; Leiden: Brill, 1995). For Mesopotamia, see J. N. Postgate, “Royal Ideology and State Administration in Sumer and Akkad,” CANE, 395–411.

A-2. W. J. Murnane and E. S. Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (SBLWAW 5; Atlanta: Scholars, 1995), 233, no. 107-A. See also the procreation of Hatshepsut in J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt III (Ancient Records 3; Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1906), 80–89. For Mesopotamia, see COS, 1.172:553.

A-3. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, no. 2.5.

A-4. A. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea (SAA 3; Helsinki: Univ. of Helsinki Press, 1989), no. 3.

A-5. The practice by some late third millennium B.C. kings to adopt divine titles and receive worship was a rare exception for Mesopotamia (see J. N. Postgate, CANE, 401; idem, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, 266–67; and W. W. Hallo, “Texts, Statues and the Cult of the Divine King, Congress Volume: Jerusalem 1986, ed. J. A. Emerton [VTSup 40; Leiden: Brill, 1988], 58–59). In spite of the rhetorical encouragement to King Kirtu on his deathbed (S. B. Parker, ed., Ugaritic Narrative Poetry [SBLWAW 9; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997], 34, CAT, 1.16 ii 40), Ugaritic kings were only divinized after death (D. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit [SBLWAW 10; Atlanta: SBL, 2002], 192–210, nos. 55–56, RS 24.252 and 24.257/94.2518; G. del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion according to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit, trans. W. G. E. Watson [Bethesda, MD: CDL, 1999], 168–207). The same was true among the Hittites (see G. Beckman, CANE, 531).

A-6. F. C. Fensham, “Father and Son as Terminology for Treaty and Covenant,” in Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William Foxwell Albright, ed. H. Goedicke (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1971), 121–35.

A-7. For discussion of similar categories, see K. van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia: A Comparative Study (Studia Semitica Neerlandica; Assen/Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 1985), 58–67.

A-8. K. van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 130–32. For examples, see B. R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature, 3rd ed. (Bethesda, Md.: CDL, 2005), 215–19. Similarly, letters to deceased relatives or gods were also employed in Egypt (see E. Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt [SBLWAW 1; Atlanta: Scholars, 1990], 210–20).

A-9. W. W. Hallo, “Individual Prayer in Sumeria: The Continuity of a Tradition,” JAOS 88 (1968): 77–78, 81.

A-10. Miller, They Cried to the Lord, 14–20.

A-11. E.g., the inscriptions of King Mesha of Moab (835 B.C.; COS, 2.23) and King Zakkur in Syria (800 B.C.; COS, 2.35:155) are monuments of thanksgiving for deliverance and victory.

A-12. E.g., Assurbanipal, the Assyrian king’s Hymn to Ishtar (ca. 650 B.C.; Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 3) summarizes the goddess’s deeds to exalt the king over his enemies.

A-13. For detailed discussion of the relationship between Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. Dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), which is rich in references to the ancient Near Eastern background imagery of the psalm as well.

A-14. COS, 2.5:32.

A-15. For general discussion, see Z. Zevit, “The Common Origin of the Aramaicized Prayer to Horus and of Psalm 20, ” JAOS 110 (1990): 213–28; idem, The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches (London, New York: Continuum, 2001), 669–74.

A-16. Z. Zevit, “Aramaicized Prayer and Psalm 20, ” 216; COS, 1.99:318.

A-17. For extensive citation of texts referring to various aspects of the divine and royal shepherd metaphor in the ancient Near East, see P. Porter, Metaphors and Monsters: A Literary-Critical Study of Daniel 7 and 8 (Toronto: Porter, 1985; orig. ConBOT 20; Lund: Gleerup, 1983), 69–118.

A-18. Foster, Before the Muses, 620, r. 14. For the text, see comment on 145:14.

A-19. Ibid., 628, lines 25–26.

A-20. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 57.

A-21. D. Frayne, Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 B.C.) (Early Periods 4; Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1990), E4.3.6.7 lines 32–37; COS, 2.107B:257.

A-22. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 44 lines 11–12.

A-23. Ibid., no. 11 r. 18.

A-24. B. Alster, Proverbs in Ancient Sumer: The World’s Earliest Proverb Collections, 2 vols. (Bethesda, Md.: CDL, 1997), 1:102, no. 3.134. I thank John H. Walton for drawing my attention to this parallel.

A-25. For God as shepherd in the Old Testament, see J. W. Vancil, “Sheep, Shepherd,” ABD, 5:1189.

A-26. Saul M. Olyan, “Honor, Shame, and Covenant Relations in Ancient Israel and Its Environment,” JBL 115 (1996): 204.

A-27. D. A. de Silva, “Honor and Shame,” DOTP, 432.

A-28. Van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 103.

A-29. L. M. Bechtel, “Shame as a Sanction of Social Control in Biblical Israel: Judicial, Political, and Social Shaming,” JSOT 49 (1991): 47–76; van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 40.

A-30. For an extensive list of the types of shaming sanctions in the Old Testament, see Bechtel, “Shame as a Sanction of Social Control in Biblical Israel,” 72. Some of the language of physical mistreatment may be metaphorical.

A-31. Van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 88.

A-32. For brief introduction and translation of these myths, see Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. For a general survey of Ugarit studies, including religious beliefs, see W. G. E. Watson and N. Wyatt, eds., Handbook of Ugaritic Studies (Handbuch der Orientalistik; Leiden: Brill, 1999).

A-33. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 129, CAT, 1.4 v 6–7; p. 157, KTU, 1.6 iii 4–9.

A-34. Ibid., 141, KTU, 1.5 i 1–4.

A-35. H. L. Ginzberg, Kitve Ugarit (Jerusalem: Mosad Byalik, 1936), 129–31; T. H. Gaster, “Psalm 29, ” JQR 37 (1946–47): 55–65; F. M. Cross, “Notes on a Canaanite Psalm in the Old Testament,” BASOR 117 (1950): 19–21; A. R. W. Green, The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East (Biblical and Judaic Studies 8; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 261.

A-36. B. Margolis, “The Canaanite Origin of Psalm 29 Reconsidered,” Bib 51 (1970): 332–48; P. Craigie, “The Poetry of Ugarit and Israel,” TynBul 22 (1971): 15–19; idem, “Psalm 29 in the Hebrew Poetic Tradition,” VT 22 (1972): 143–51; C. Kloos, Yhwh’s Combat with the Sea: A Canaanite Tradition in the Religion of Ancient Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1986), 98–112; Y. Avishur, Studies in Hebrew and Ugaritic Psalms (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1994), 39–110.

A-37. For general discussion, see L. H. Lesko, “Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egyptian Thought,” CANE, 1763–74; S. Quirke, Ancient Egyptian Religion (London: British Museum Press, 1992), 141–71.

A-38. AEL, 2:119–32.

A-39. For general discussion, see J. A. Scurlock, “Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamian Thought,” CANE, 1883–93; Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 105–10; T. Abusch, “Ghosts and God: Some Observations on a Babylonian Understanding of Human Nature,” in Self, Soul and Body in Religious Experience, ed. A. I. Baumgarten (Leiden: Brill, 1998).

A-40. S. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, rev. ed. (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000), 155 (The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld).

A-41. V. Haas, “Death and the Afterlife in Hittite Thought,” CANE, 2021–23.

A-42. For an overview, see P. S. Johnston, Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2002).

A-43. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 196–205, CAT, 1.20–22; p. 164, KTU, 1.6 vi 45–47; Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 85–88, no. 24, RS, 34.126.

A-44. 1 Samuel 28 might describe a divine accommodation to magical superstition. Also, the use of the term repā ʾîm in Psalms and other poetic texts is different from the use of this term as an ethnic-geographical designation in the historical books of the Bible, see S. Talmon, “Biblical and Ugaritic RPU/I(M),” in Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible: Form and Content (Leiden: Brill, 1993).

A-45. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 87–88, no. 24; RS 34.126 lines 2, 9, 21–22; see also Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 195, CAT, 1.114, line 22. For the same use of “earth” as “underworld” with the Akkadian cognate (erṣetum), see Dietrich, “Babylonian Literary Texts from Western Libraries,” 65, line 41.

A-46. Hallo, Origins, 226–27. For discussion of Mesopotamian laments and their characteristic elements, see P. W. J. Ferris, The Genre of Communal Lament in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (SBLDS 127; Atlanta: Scholars, 1992), 17–61; W. C. Bouzard Jr., We Have Heard with Our Ears, O God: Sources of the Communal Laments in the Psalms (SBLDS 159; Atlanta: Scholars, 1997), 53–99.

A-47. Hoffner, Hittite Prayers, 40–43, no. 5.

A-48. Ibid., 47–69, nos. 8–14.

A-49. Roth et al., ed., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 77–81.

A-50. Postgate, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, 109.

A-51. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 123–27.

A-52. See Jacobsen, The Harps That Once …, 377–85; Sjöberg and Bergman, The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns for examples from Sumer; for Assyria, see Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, nos. 8–10. For Egypt, see Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 70, and ANET, 470–71.

A-53. V. Hurowitz, I Have Built You an Exalted House: Temple Building in the Bible in Light of Mesopotamian and Northwest Semitic Writings (JSOTSup 115; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992), 335–37.

A-54. For general discussion of sacrifice, see S. I. Johnston, ed., Religions of the Ancient World (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2004), 325–48; M. Selman, “Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East,” in Sacrifice in the Bible, ed. R. T. Beckwith and M. J. Selman (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995), 88–104; and references cited below.

A-55. J. Bidmead, The Akītu Festival: Religious Continuity and Royal Legitimation in Mesopotamia (Gorgias Dissertations Near Eastern Studies 2; Piscataway: Gorgias, 2002), 73–74.

A-56. While cleaning the pollution of sin on holy objects and the people takes place on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:16), the notion of appeasement is illustrated in the use of the term for “atone” (kpr) in other texts (e.g., Prov. 16:14; Gen. 32:20 with 33:10) and is inherent in the theology of removing sin and divine anger in the Old Testament.

A-57. Baines, “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice,” 128.

A-58. For a list of offenses regarded by Egyptians as immoral, see the declaration of innocence in chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead (AEL, 2:124–26).

A-59. AEL, 2:104–110.

A-60. Baines, “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice,” 152–53.

A-61. See van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, 10–39.

A-62. Foster, Before the Muses, 399, ii 34–35; COS, 1.153:488. On the other hand, the “Babylonian Job” affirms that deeds such as robbery are an offense (COS, 1.154:494).

A-63. Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 165–69; W. G. Lambert, “Donations of Food and Drink to the Gods in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in Ritual and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East, ed. J. Quaegebeur (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 55; Leuven: Peeters en Departement Oriëntalistiek, 1993), 193.

A-64. G. Beckman, “How Religion Was Done,” in A Companion to the Ancient Near East, ed. D. C. Snell (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2005), 350; B. J. Collins, “Animals in the Religions of Anatolia,” in A History of the Animal World, 321.

A-65. See, e.g., Hoffner, Hittite Prayers, 38, no. 4c § 10; p. 52, no. 8 §7; p. 98, no. 21 §§3–4; p. 108, no. 24 §1.

A-66. J. Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 3A; New York: Doubleday, 1991), 174–75.

A-67. Lete, Canaanite Religion According to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit, 41.

A-68. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 225–26 and 237; pp. 79–83, no. 22, RS 1.002 lines 22’–23’.

A-69. R. H. Smith, “Arabia,” ABD, 1:325.

A-70. D. W. Baker, “Tarshish,” ABD, 6:331–33.

A-71. S. D. Ricks, “Sheba, Queen of,” ABD, 5:1170–71.

A-72. W. W. Müller, “Seba,” ABD, 5:1064.

A-73. For general discussion, see CANE, 1871–74.

A-74. Jacobsen, The Harps That Once … , 447; COS, 1.166:535. A second lament for Ur is translated in ANET, 611–19.

A-75. CANE, 1879.

A-76. F. Rochberg, “Mesopotamian Cosmology,” in A Companion to the Ancient Near East, 326; Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 172; Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 123–29, 196–99.

A-77. Foster, Before the Muses, 467–68, v 117–130; see also Marduk, Creator of the World, 488, lines 9–19.

A-78. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 70 (The Leiden Hymns—The Primacy of Thebes).

A-79. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, 36–38.

A-80. Postgate, Early Mesopotamia, 25; Kemp, Ancient Egypt, 70.

A-81. Z. Zevit, “Preamble to a Temple Tour,” in Sacred Time, Sacred Place: Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, ed. B. M. Gittlen (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 76–79, 81.

A-82. E. Block-Smith, “Solomon’s Temple and Its Symbolism,” in Scripture and Other Artifacts: Essays on the Bible and Archaeology in Honor of Philip J. King, ed. M. D. Coogan, J. C. Exum, and L. E. Stager (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 18–31; V. Hurowitz, “Inside Solomon’s Temple,” BRev 10 (April 1994) 24–37, 50; L. Stager, “Jerusalem as Eden,” BAR 26 (May-June 2000): 36–47, 66.

A-83. For Ps. 89 in particular, see H. U. Steymans, “ ‘Deinen Thron habe ich unter den großen Himmeln festgemacht’: Die formgeschichtliche Nähe von Ps 89, 4–5.20–38 zu Texten vom neuassyrischen Hof,” in “Mein Sohn bist du” (Ps 2, 7): Studien zu den Königspsalmen, ed. H.-J. Klauck, and E. Zenger (SBS 192; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2002), 184–251; Hilber, Cultic Prophecy in the Psalms, 115–17. For the specific Assyrian terms cited, see Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, nos. 1.6, 2.5, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 and no. 9.

A-84. For more discussion, see A. D. Kilmer, “Music and Dance in Ancient Western Asia,” CANE, 2604–8.

A-85. COS, 2.119B:303; V. H. Matthews, “Music and Musical Instruments,” ABD, 4:933.

A-86. The text cited here is ibid., 102–7.

A-87. For helpful discussions, see Foster, “The Hymn to Aten: Akhenaten Worships the Sole God,” CANE, 1759; AEL, 2:100; L. C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (WBC 21; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1983), 29–30; P. C. Craigie, “The Comparison of Hebrew Poetry: Psalm 104 in the Light of Egyptian and Ugaritic Poetry,” Semitics 4 (1974): 12–15.

A-88. For the merging of Aten allusions with imagery from the Canaanite storm god in this psalm, see P. E. Dion, “YHWH as Storm-god and Sun-god: The Double Legacy of Egypt and Canaan as Reflected in Psalm 104, ” ZAW 103 (1991): 43–71.

A-89. HALOT, 1341.

A-90. D. P. Hansen, “The Fantastic World of Sumerian Art: Seal Impressions from Ancient Lagash,” in Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Papers Presented in Honor of Edith Porada, ed. A. E. Farkas, P. O. Harper, and E. B. Harrison (Mainz: Philipp von Zebern, 1987), 58–61 and Pl. XIV-XV, esp. figs. 17b and 18. See also ANEP, illus. 678, 681, and 696.

A-91. E. Reiner, “Magic, Figurines, Amulets, and Talismans,” in Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, 30–31.

A-92. C. Traunecker, The Gods of Egypt, trans. D. Lorton (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 2001), 69.

A-93. W. Farber, “Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia,” CANE, 1896–98; Bottero, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, 63–64, 186–87; J. Black and A. Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary (London: British Museum Press, 1992).

A-94. For these developments, see DDD2, 235–40.

A-95. Other examples are Ps. 14:1–7 and 53:1–6; 31:1–4 and 71:1–3; 40:13–17 and 70:1–5.

A-96. Foster, Before the Muses, 22–26, see introductions to III.26 (p. 592) and III.29 (p. 611) as well as compare the older and newer versions III.27.

A-97. For an example from Egypt, with some variant stanzas listed, see R. B. Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt, 118–20, §41.

A-98. Foster, Before the Muses, 853, line 6; 854, lines 40–44, 49.

A-99. Livingstone, Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea, no. 2, 997; see also 735–37.

A-100. Ibid., no. 2. See also Foster, Before the Muses, 849–51 (Acrostic Hymn to Nabu); 876–77 (Sublime Holy Place); a lengthy sentence acrostic adorns The Babylonian Theodicy (COS, 1.154:492 n. 3).

A-101. J. F. Brug, “Biblical Acrostics and Their Relationship to Other Ancient Near Eastern Acrostics,” in The Bible in the Light of Cuneiform Literature: Scripture in Context III, ed. W. W. Hallo, B. W. Jones, and G. L. Mattingly (Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies 8; Lewiston: Mellen, 1990), 297–99.

A-102. These psalms share several other features in common as well. See L. D. Crow, The Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120–134): Their Place in Israelite History and Religion (SBLDS 148; Atlanta: Scholars, 1996), 130–58.

A-103. Bullock, Encountering the Book of Psalms, 79.

A-104. See m. Sukkah 5.4; Mid. 2.5.

A-105. Foster, Hymns, Prayers, and Songs, 145 (Longing for Memphis).

A-106. For this citation and further discussion, see C. Walker and M. B. Dick, “The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mīs pî Ritual,” in Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East, ed. M. B. Dick (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 65–66; A. Berlejung, “Washing the Mouth: The Consecration of Divine Images in Mesopotamia,” in The Image and the Book, 45–72.

A-107. Ibid., 99.

A-108. D. Lorton, “The Theology of Cult Statues in Ancient Egypt,” in Born in Heaven, Made on Earth, 123–210.

A-109. Y. Garfinkel, “The Earliest Dancing Scenes in the Near East,” NEA 66 (2003): 84–95. See ANEP, illus. 200, 209.

A-110. P. Spencer, “Dance in Ancient Egypt,” NEA 66 (2003): 117.

A-111. J. N. Tubb, “Phoenician Dance,” NEA 66 (2003): 122–25.

A-112. A. Mazar, “Ritual Dancing in the Iron Age,” NEA 66 (2003): 126–32.

A-113. CANE, 2609–10; see also R. D. Anderson, “Music and Dance in Pharaonic Egypt,” CANE, 2555–68; S. de Martino, “Music, Dance, and Processions in Hittite Anatolia,” CANE, 2661–68.

A-114. Most of the discussion of specific instruments here follows Braun, Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine. Other helpful discussions include I. H. Jones, “Music and Musical Instruments,” ABD, 4:934–39; CANE, 2601–4; and an issue of Biblical Archaeology Review devoted to musical instruments (Vol. 3 [January–February 1982]).