Genesis, Exodus, Job
Honors 2101, Fall 2006
Unit 1: Mesopotamia and Ancient Near East
“Old Testament”
• Hebrew Torah
– Pentateuch (5 Books)
– Tanak: Law, Prophets, Writings
• Authorship?
–
–
–
–
4 narrations: “J”, “E”, “D”, “P”
“J” (Yahweh) is ~900 BCE
“P” is ~500 BCE
Official organization ~ 400 BCE (School of Ezra)
What is the Torah?
• Literary Collection of a People
– Hebrew myth, folktales, history, poetry, biography,
philosophy, prophecy, history, etc.
• “1st” Monotheism: Yaweh, an all-powerful, dualnatured god.
– A god of violence, vengeance, and destruction
– A god of covenants, blessings, protection
• A nationalist or founding story (of Israel)
– From a loose tribal collection of people
– To a national identity of a chosen people
The Hebrew Bible read as living literature is a tragic
epic with a single long plot: the tale of the fall of a
hero through his weaknesses. The hero is Israel, a
people given a destiny almost too high for human
beings, the charge of God’s law… Unlike all other
epic tragedies, it does not end in death. The hero has
eternal life, and the prospect of ages of pain, in which
to rise at long last to the destiny which he cannot
escape.
– Herman Wouk
This is My God
Genesis & Exodus
Genesis
Story of creation, rebellion, universal flood, razing
of the unrighteous (1-11); and a story of tribal
fathers, conflicts between sons and fathers, and
convenants with Yaweh (11-22).
Exodus
Story of the search for the promised land, the
escape from Egypt, and the formation of a nation
under God’s laws.
Influences
• Canaan/Palestine between Egypt and
Mesopotamia. (e.g., flood, eternal life, laws)
• Stories of Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph) represent migration of Semitic tribes
from Arabian peninsula into Fertile Crescent
between 1900-1300 BCE.
– Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees ~1900
– Canaanite/Amorite tribes move to Egypt ~1700
– Come out of slavery in 13th cent. BCE, during
rules of Seti and Ramses II.
Break into groups
• Using the texts as sources, answer the
questions given to your group.
• You will have ~30 minutes.
• You will then have to report to the class
your answers.
Question A
Gilgamesh (& Enkidu), as well as Abraham, Moses
and others in the Old Testament (assignment) are
all considered “heroes”. Pick one “hero” from each
text and then, using specific textual references,
answer the following questions:
1. What is a hero?
2. In what way are the figures in each literature
similar?
3. In what ways are they different?
4. What contemporary figures parallel these Epic
and Old Testament heroes?
Question B
Both the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis contain a
Flood Story. Using specific textual references,
answer the following questions regarding these
stories:
1. In what way are the stories similar?
2. In what way are they unique/different?
3. What role does the Flood Story play in each
text? (Is it the same, different?)
4. Are there any modern versions of the Flood
Story that suggest interesting parallels?
Question C
In both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Old
Testament (assignment) the relationship between
humans and god(s) play a prominent role. Using
specific textual references, answer the following
questions:
1. In what way is the human-god(s) relationship
in each text similar?
2. In what way is the relationship different?
3. How do the god(s) communicate with humans
in each text?
4. What do the god(s) represent in each text?
Job
A dialogue on the nature of God, divine
justice, human suffering and obedience.
Considered a masterpiece of literature.
Influences
• Dated from the 6th cent. BCE
– Unique among “wisdom literature” because of its
questioning of conventional wisdom.
• Babylonian captivity 586 BCE
– Nebuchadrezzar II, King of Babylon destroys
Jerusalem, takes 40,000 Jews.
• Compare Psalm 137
– Written after Babylonian captivity, c. 400-100 BCE.
Psalm 137 (KJV)
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat
down, yea, we wept when we
remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in
the midst thereof.
For there they that carried us away captive
required of us a song; and they that
wasted us required of us mirth, saying,
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a
strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its her cunning.
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief
joy.
Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom
in the day of Jerusalem; who said,
Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation
thereof
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be
destroyed; happy shall he be, that
rewardeth thee as thou hast served
us.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth
they little ones against the stones.
(*539 BCE Cyrus the Great of Persia
destroys Babylon; end of last
Mesopotamian empire)
Psalm 137
• Expresses the suffering, and injustice of the
Hebrews while captive in Babylon.
• Also, the prophecy and hope for retribution:
– “O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed;
happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou
hast served us.”
• Represents conventional wisdom about a just
God…
Justice in Job
• Conventional wisdom:
– Goodness, piety, is rewarded with
prosperity
– Evil, blasphemy, is punished
• But, experience tells us differently
– Goodness is not always rewarded
– Evil often prospers
Justice in Job
• What does this mean for a just God?
• And, what does this mean for human
suffering?
• Job explores these questions…
Plot
• Job introduced: pious, blameless man.
• God and Satan “wager” on Job’s piety.
• Job is deprived of prosperity, family, and
health. (1-2)
• Job complains, cursing the day he was
born. (3)
• His three companions (Eliphaz, Bildad,
and Zophar) console him…
Several Solutions Offered
• Job suffers because he had done
something wrong. (4-5)
• Job suffers because he has some
inward fault not readily observable.
• Job suffers because we are all sinners
(“original sin”)
• Job suffers because God has some
purpose for his suffering (Elihu)
God speaks for Himself
• Job demands an answer from God (31)
• God replies…(38-42)
– What is God’s answer to Job?
– How does Job reply to God?
– What happens in the end?
Questions
• What does the book of Job recommend to the
faithful? To the suffering?
– If God (and his law) is transcendent (beyond
human understanding), how can humans be
expected to follow?
• If God is indeed just, what kind of justice is
this? What kind of piety is recommended?
– Is justice = power? Is justice = fairness?
– Is piety reasonable?Is it nothing but Fear? Is it
irrational?
Points to Consider
• Consider Job’s answer to his wife (2.10)
“…shall we receive good at the hand of God,
and shall we not receive evil?” What does this
mean for conventional wisdom?
• Consider Chapter 9: “but how should man be
just with God?” What is Job talking about
here?
And More…
• Consider God’s reply “Will you ever put me in
the wrong? Will you condemn me that you
may be justified?” (40.8) Explain.
• God rewards Job and reprimands his friends
because, “you have not spoken of me what is
right, as my servant Job has.” (42.7ff.) Does
this mean God prefers questioning His
justice? If so, how does this jive with God’s
answer to Job?
Some Paper Topics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Compare the Biblical and Gilgamesh versions of the flood story. What are the most striking
similarities and differences? Explain using specific examples from both stories. What
contemporary parallel sheds light on your comparison?
Human suffering is a central theme in both the Hebrew Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Compare Job and Gilgamesh as suffering heroes, as they search for understanding, and
come to accept the limits of their human condition. Use specific examples from both stories
to support and illustrate your ideas.
Compare the story of “The Fall” in the Hebrew Bible with the episode in the Epic of
Gilgamesh in which Enkidu becomes fully human. In both stories a woman is instrumental in
the process of becoming fully human, endowing reason or knowledge in the process. What
is the fate of those who have become fully human? Discuss the similarities and differences
that reveal insights into the human condition. Use specific examples from both stories to
support your ideas.
Compare the nature of the gods/God as they are expressed in the Epic of Gilggamesh and
the Hebrew Bible. If we assume, Mesopotamian gods predate the monotheism expressed in
the Hebrew Bible, does this comparison show a type of “progress” in ideas about the divine?
What about the degree of concern the gods/God have toward humans (all or a select few)?
Use specific examples from both texts to support and illustrate your ideas.
Discuss the fall of Babel, Sodom, and/or Babylon as examples of God’s justice. How does
Job’s acquiescence to God provide an answer? It might be interesting to compare Job’s
response with Jonah’s.
Discuss the role of dreams or the role of women in the asigned texts from Genesis, Exodus
or Job. How does it compare with other texts, including The Epic of Gilgamesh and the liad
or Odyssey.