ANE Literature

Pig’s blood, crushed bird heads, animal fats, and fine oils were all used to mark the doorposts and thresholds in the ancient Near East, to protect against a host of dangerous supernatural powers. The Torah repurposes this ritual as a practical sign allowing YHWH to distinguish between Israelite and Egyptian households. An anthropological lens points to yet another layer of meaning in this ritual, carried out on the very night before Israel leaves Egypt.

Saul hurls his spear in rage. David refuses to seize it. Two centuries later, David’s spear appears in the Temple at Joash’s coronation. In the ancient Near East, the king’s spear is more than a weapon—it is a symbol of royal authority and judicial responsibility.

In the Ugaritic Aqhat Epic (ca. 14th cent. B.C.E., Syria), Danel laughs with unrestrained joy at El’s promise of a son. Why do Abraham and Sarah respond with nervous, uneasy laughter when YHWH makes the same promise?

Unlike human kings, YHWH does not need witnesses and enforcers. However, Moses in Deuteronomy draws on formulations found in ancient Near Eastern treaties.

The creative exegetical methods of reading texts both literally and non-literally are not limited to the interpretation of the Bible. Commentaries on ancient cuneiform literature from Mesopotamia have been found dating all the way back to the end of the 8th century B.C.E.

Homosexuality is a modern construct, and using it to interpret the very few biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts that speak of male-to-male sexual interaction would be anachronistic. Masculinity and the male role in society provide a better lens to examine male relationships.

The young women in the Song of Songs (2:15) repurpose a bucolic ditty to suggestively beckon young men. The key to their entendre is in the Arabic cognate for the verb לְחַבֵּל.

Does a woman simply receive and nourish a man’s seed? Or does she also produce her own seed to conceive a child?

Deuteronomy refers to the central cult site as the place where YHWH chooses לְשַׁכֵּן שְׁמוֹ שָׁם,  an unusual phrase often translated “to cause His name to dwell there,” and interpreted to mean that an abstracted aspect or hypostasis of YHWH takes up residence in the Temple. A parallel phrase found in many Akkadian inscriptions refutes this understanding, offering us a critically important correction to our reading of Deuteronomy.

Tears abound in Lamentations: the poet cries, the people cry, even the city cries, but God does not. In contrast, the gods and goddesses of ancient Near Eastern city laments, cry along with their people. Midrash Eichah Rabbah, seemingly uncomfortable with such a callous depiction of God, rereads Lamentations to include God weeping.

The theme of a divine creator’s right to assign territory to his people is pervasive in the Bible and ancient Near Eastern literature. Perhaps the rabbinic midrash which suggests that the Torah begins with creation to defend Israel against the accusation they stole the land of Canaan were onto something.

In the book of Esther, the name for the holiday Purim derives from Haman’s pūr (פּוּר, “lot”) to determine what day to attack the Jews. The name Purim predates the story of Haman’s lot, and may originate in a forgotten Assyrian calendrical celebration, when the new year was named with a pūru.

A closer look at the thematic and verbal parallels between the accounts of the flood and the destruction of Sodom, as well as comparison with other ANE flood/destruction stories, helps us better understand the genre and function of the Sodom story.

The ancient Near East had many versions of the flood story, such as Atrahasis, Ziusudra, Utnapishtim, etc., most of which predate the Torah’s account of Noah’s flood. But what is the earliest extant version of the releasing birds motif?

In the ancient Near East, laments were written to mourn past destructions or to prevent future destructions. With which type of lament were the authors of Lamentations familiar?

Unlike the other four chapters where the author speaks for the community, the third chapter of Lamentations is written as an individual lament. The chapter begins with “I am the man who has known affliction,” but who is he?

The Song of the Sea begins with defeat of the Egyptians and ends with YHWH’s enthronement in His temple. Comparison with the Epic of Baal and Enuma Elish clarify the genre and purpose of such hymns, and a striking parallel with Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8 offers a clue to the original context of this ancient song.

Commentators have struggled with this question for centuries, but ancient cosmology offers a compelling solution.

How subversive literature becomes normalized.

Reading Deuteronomy in light of ancient Near Eastern treaties, we learn that the commandment to love God entails both action and affection. We further learn about the nature of God’s love for Israel, described also in the prophets and in the rabbinic reading of Song of Songs.

The protocols of ancient Near Eastern courts shed light on the danger Mordechai faces in reporting a conspiracy. A case in point: An Assyrian official, who tried to save Sennacherib from being assassinated by his son Arda-Mullisi, ends up being killed by the assassins himself.

Before Noah became the protagonist of the Israelite flood story, his original place in Israelite historiography was as the ancient farmer who discovered wine, bringing the world relief from the toil of work caused by God’s cursing the soil.

A Historical-Critical Reading 

Reading Shir HaShirim in Its Original Sense

The details of Moses birth story do not entirely cohere. By examining the midrash, and sifting through layers of the Torah text itself, we uncover a series of problems and solutions in the story which help to elucidate the way the text and its traditions evolved over time.

An Explication of Deuteronomy 29:28