Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel

This volume in the SBL Symposium series grew out of a panel on “Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature and Its Legacy in the Ancient Near East” at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2004 at San Antonio, Texas. Panelists PaulAlain Beaulieu, Karel van der Toorn, Peter Machinist, and Victor Avigdor Hurowitz — biblical scholars as well as distinguished Assyriologists—gave papers on Mesopotamian wisdom literature. The editor of this volume, Richard Clifford, was chair of the SBL panel. Though primarily concerned with Mesopotamia, the panelists adduced parallels to other cultures and literatures, including ancient Israel. One paper was on the
intellectual and social setting of Babylonian wisdom literature; another was on the development of the concept of wisdom especially in the Old Babylonian and Standard Versions of the Gilgamesh Epic. Two papers were fresh studies of important though difficult wisdom texts, one long known and the other recently published. So well
attended was the meeting and so stimulating the discussion that the panelists and chair decided to publish the papers and invite other scholars to contribute to the volume. The result is before you. Since all the papers focus on specific issues or texts, a general guide to the publication of Mesopotamian wisdom literature in its relationship to biblical literature is called for.

 

В Сборнике представлены эссе известных библеистов и ассириологов о взаимопроникновении и взаимовлиянии учительных литератур Месопотамии и Израиля. Особо подчеркивается оригинальность и своеобразие библейской мудрости в сравнении с учительными литературами других культур.

 

Коллектив авторов (ред. Р.Клиффорд)

edited by Richard J. Clifford

Society of Biblical Literature
Atlanta

2007. - 120 p.

ISBN 978-1-58983-219-0 (paper binding : alk. paper)
 

Abbreviations
Introduction Richard J. Clifford
Part One: The Context of Wisdom in Mesopotamia
1. The Social and Intellectual Setting of Babylonian Wisdom Literature
Paul-Alain Beaulieu
2. Why Wisdom Became a Secret: On Wisdom as a Written Genre
Karel van der Toorn 
Part Two: Studies in Babylonian Wisdom Texts
3. An Allusion to the Šamaš Hymn in The Dialogue of Pessimism
Victor Avigdor Hurowitz
4. The Wisdom of Šūpê-amēlī—A Deathbed Debate between a Father and Son
Victor Avigdor Hurowitz
Part Three: Comparisons of Mesopotamian and Biblical Texts and Motifs
5. Sages with a Sense of Humor: The Babylonian Dialogue
between the Master and His Servant and the Book of Qoheleth
Edward L. Greenstein
6. Cosmos, Temple, House: Building and Wisdom in Mesopotamia and Israel

Raymond C. Van Leeuwen
Part Four: Biblical Wisdom Literature
7. Beginnings, Endings, and Life’s Necessities in Biblical Wisdom
James L. Crenshaw
Contributors
Index of Ancient Documents
Index of Modern Authors Cited