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Worship
1 Mesopotamian worship is identified with service that consists of precise ritualization: the gods are the beneficiaries and do not take part. In the Biblical concept of divine service, God is perceived as an agent who transcends the role of object and responds actively.
2 In Mesopotamian religion, sacrifice is viewed as having value to the divinity because of its usefulness. In the Bible, sacrifice has value because it reveals an inner attitude of one who offers it to someone, God, who is not at all the object of a transaction, but a subject who responds in unpredictable ways.
3 In Mesopotamia, the concern is to guarantee the quality of the offering, whereas in the Bible it is to ensure the disposition of the one who offers.
4 Sacralizing a phenomenon means attributing to it specific qualities that elevate it to a level different from the human level. The procedure by which this happens is a special ritual by which the nature of the phenomenon itself is changed: in Mesopotamia, on human initiative; in the Bible it is a divine prerogative.
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Time
5 In Mesopotamia, the codification of time in the calendar had a religious significance in the awareness that the cycle of the seasons is not established by man, and also in the emphasis on beginning: the New Year begins a cycle.
6 In the Biblical perception, the cycle of time is broken by unique divine interventions that are perceived as historical. Control over time as such is offered and received, and maintained through worship that celebrates its memory.
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Processions
7 In Mesopotamia, deities visited the territory iconically through processions of statues. Processions were impossible in official, aniconic Biblical worship.
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The Afterlife
8 The Mesopotamian idea of the afterlife normally consisted of an otherworldly landscape that reflects the dark stillness of the grave: these dead could participate in their family’s funeral banquet. Dead who were not buried properly might wander as ghosts. Gilgamesh looked for immortality viewed as an extension of life as lived in this world.
9 The Biblical idea of the afterlife is similar to the Mesopotamian one, although there were no sacrifices or rituals for the dead after burial, no references to spirits of the dead, and no description of protracted eternal life. Over time, the concept of the resurrection emerged.
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Technicians and Culture
10 In Mesopotamia, it is typically cultural elements, which have been made by human hands, which are sacralized.
11 Neither in Mesopotamia nor in the biblical world do priests offer counsel regarding the interior life or the psychological needs of individuals. Their function seems to be exhausted in their ability to conduct ceremonies according to rules.