Notes to Chapter 12. Meditation

Giorgio Buccellati, “When on High…”

August 2023

12.1 The Concept
12.2 The Sapiential Tradition
12.3 Explanations of Religiosity in Mesopotamia
12.4 The Biblical "Non-Theodicy"
12.5 The Social Context
12.6 The Biblical "Writings" as "Scripture"

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"Buccellati1972Teodicea.d": duplicate bibliography "Buccellati1972Teodicea" for site "Mes-lit".
"Cauvin2000Birth.d": duplicate bibliography "Cauvin2000Birth" for site "Mes-rel".
"DMB.d": duplicate bibliography "DMB" for site "Mes-rel".
"Edzard2003Sumerian.d": duplicate bibliography "Edzard2003Sumerian" for site "Mes-rel".
"Oshima2014Sufferers.d": duplicate bibliography "Oshima2014Sufferers" for site "Mes-rel".
"Trinkaus1983Shanidar.d": duplicate bibliography "Trinkaus1983Shanidar" for site "Mes-rel".

12.1 The Concept

About a specific Judaean meditation or private prayer, see also the entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia concerning the devotional literature/teḥinnah.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
See Flannery 2012 Temples Inequality for an interpretation of the temple as part of a development toward hierarchical injustice.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]

12.2 The Sapiential Tradition

For a discussion about Mesopotamian religion and its relationships with wisdom literature, see Buccellati 1972 Beatitudini.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For a discussion about Mesopotamian wisdom literature, see Buccellati 1972 Teodicea.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For ‘wisdom literature’ in Mesopotamia, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
About Judaean wisdom literature, see the entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia concerning the Hebrew literature. On the possible psychological interpretation for creating a specific wisdom literature as elaboration of traumatic experiences, see e.g. Boase 2016 Trauma; cf. also Houck- Loomis 2018 Trauma.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
About Ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature, see the entry Weisheitsliteratur in the RlA 15, pp. 51-53, presenting wisdom literature in the Mesopotamian and Hittite realms (also available on Academia).
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For bibliographical reference to Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite wisdom literature, see mostly: Alster 1975 Proverbs; Alster 2005 Wisdom; Beaulieu 2007 Wisdom; Civil 1994 Farmer ( Sumerian text on ETCLS); Clifford 2007 Wisdom; Cohen 2013 Wisdom; Fechner 2015 Proverbial; Foster 1974 Humor; Frahm 2011 Commentaries; Gammie 1990 Sage; Greenstein 2007 Dialogue; Gurney 1956 Tale; Gurney 1972 Tale (updating of the previous entry); Kleinerman 2011 Epistolary; Lambert 1960 Wisdom; Oshima 2014 Sufferers; Reiner 1982 Fürstenspiegel; Streck 2011 Dialogues; Streck 2014 Wisdom; Streck 2016 Wolves. On the possible psychological interpretation for creating a specific wisdom literature as elaboration of traumatic experiences, see e.g. Boase 2016 Trauma; cf. also Houck- Loomis 2018 Trauma.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the text of the “Mesopotamian Theodicy”, see Foster 2005 Before, pp. 914-922]. Cf. supra 7.10.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
About theodicy in Ancient Near East, see the entry Theodizee in the RlA 13, pp. 629-632, exploring theodicy in the Mesopotamian and Hittite spheres.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For Sumerian texts referring to Erra, see ETCSL. Specifically, on the poem Erra and Ishum, see Foster 2005 Before, pp. 880-911.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For a comparison of wisdom texts in Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece, see Johnston 2019 Knowledge.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, November 2020]

12.3 Explanations of Religiosity in Mesopotamia

While not common, there are examples of a “Job-like” personality in Babylonian texts too. (Buccellati 2020 Job)
– [ Jonah Lynch, March 2020]
For the episode of Gilgamesh repelling Ishtar, see George 2000 Gilgamesh, pp. 47-54 = Table VI (cf. supra 7.10 and 11.2).
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the text of the “Babylonian Theodicy”, see Foster 2005 Before, pp. 914-922. Cf. supra 7.10.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the text of the Dialog of Pessimism, see Foster 2005 Before, pp. 923-926. Cf. Lambert, Wilfred G., “The Dialogue of Pessimism” in Lambert 1960 Wisdom, pp. 139-149.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
In his analysis of the same two texts investigated by Buccellati in this section (plus a third one, The Instructions of Shupe-ameli), Fink comes to the conclusion that such texts mirror not doubts, but rather an ancient feeling of uneasiness regarding the status quo. Cf. Fink 2017 Opposition, p. 177.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, November 2020]

12.4 The Biblical "Non-Theodicy"

It is interesting that Egypt lacks an emphasis on theodicy, but for reasons diametrically opposed to Israel’s. Whereas the Bible poses the question of innocent suffering, receives no response, and ends by situating YHWH above any justification, Egypt avoids the radical problem by associating evil with disorder. There is thus no “innocent” suffering, even when the exact cause of the disorder is unknown. (Bricker 2001 Innocent).
– [ Jonah Lynch, March 2020]
An extended meditation on the book of Job as a microcosm expressing the essence of the Tanakh, especially in the sense that a personal relationship with the Absolute is possible, can be found in (Buccellati 2020 Job).
– [ Jonah Lynch, March 2020]
Roberts’ assessment does not fully account for the difference between the Babylonian theodicy and biblical texts like Job: there is certainly suffering on both sides, and the search for relief, but the latter texts ultimately do not bargain with God. They seek to explain suffering, but God remains above the justifications. This is in stark contrast to a Babylonian text that concludes with a transactional treatment of divinity—such that one can teach one’s personal god to run after one’s self like a dog! (see also 12.3). See Roberts 1975 Divine Freedom.
– [ Jonah Lynch, April 2020]
For a discussion about Mesopotamian Theodicy, in contrast with Bible, see Buccellati 1972 Teodicea.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
For the Hebrew text and the English translation of the Book of Job see here.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the doubts of Jeremiah, see e.g. Jer. 1, 7-10, Jer. 20, 1-8, and Jer. 32, 11-26.

Many blogs offer a discussion on faith and doubts in the book of Jeremiah: see e.g. Raymond Brown, Bible Study 2020; Explaining the Book – Bible Study Guide; Bible Study; Ray Stedman.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the English text of the Book of Wisdom, see here; the Greek version can be retrieved here.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the Hebrew text and the English translation of the Lamentations see here.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the Gospel’s passage reporting Jesus’ exclamation lamâ sabahtāni, see Mt. 27, 46 and Mk. 15, 34; cf. Ps. 22, 1.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For a reading of theodicy in Mesopotamia, see Cohen 2015 Problem Of Theodicy.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
For a reading of theodicy in Mesopotamia, see Cohen 2015 Theodicy.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]

12.5 The Social Context

For the biblical passages mentioned by G. Buccellati in Chapter 12, Section 5, see here:

Ex. 20, 8-11;

Ex. 31, 12-17;

Ps. 1, 2.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the Hebrew expression לְקַדְּשֹׁו, l^eqadd^ešô, ‘make it holy’, see e.g. Ex. 20, 8; cf. Deut. 5, 12.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
For the Hebrew expression בְתֹורָתֹו יֶהְגֶּה, b^etôratô yehgeh, ‘in his law he meditates’, see e.g. Ex. 20, 8; cf. Deut. 5, 12.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]

12.6 The Biblical "Writings" as "Scripture"

About כְתוֹבִים, k^etûbîm, the third part of the Hebrew Bible (the ‘Tanakh’), see e.g. the related entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
See Lambert 1957 Ancestors on the question of canonicity.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]