[OT] Early Middle Eastern Chronology

Selected Chronology of Middle Eastern up to the establishment of the kingdom of Israel

Maps through time

• Sumer
  

• 3450 BCE - The world's first cities appear along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers just north of what is now the Persian Gulf (near presumed location of Eden).  Collectively, these cities make up the Uruka.  No unified government links these cities, and they remain independent for almost one thousand years.

• 3200 BCE - Sumerians invent the wheel

• 3100 BCE - Writing invented by Sumarians. recording the first epics in world history, including Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and the first stories about Gilgamesh.

• 2700 BCE - The Sumerian King, Gilgamesh, rules the city of Uruk, which has now grown to a population of more than 50,000. Gilgamesh is the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian "Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World" and the later Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh."

• Akkadia (c.2350-2200 BCE)
  

• 2320 BCE - Sargon conquers the independent city-states of Sumer and institutes a central government. But by 2130, Sumer regains its independence from Akkadian rule, though it does not revert back to independent city-states. At this time, Sumer is ruled from the important city of Ur.

• 2320 BCE - Sargon conquers the independent city-states of SUMER and institutes a central government. But by 2130, Sumer regains its independence from Akkadian rule, though it does not revert back to independent city-states. At this time, Sumer is ruled from the important city of Ur.

• 2100 BCE - The Sumerian King List is written, recording all the kings and dynasties ruling Sumer from the earliest times. According to this list, Eridu is named as the earliest settlement, a claim that seems to be confirmed by archeological evidence.

• Babylonians / Amorites (c.2000-1600 BCE)
  

• 2000-1600 BCE - The Old Babylonian period begins in Mesopotamia after the collapse of Sumer.  The Sumerians are conquered by the Amorites, who are situated in Babylon.  The Amorites introduce their Semitic language, an early ancestor to Hebrew, into the region.

• 1900 BCE - The Epic of Gilgamesh is redacted from Sumerian sources and written in the Semitic language. Thus, though Gilgamesh was Sumerian, his Epic is Babylonian.

• 1900-1500 BCE - Sometime between these dates a Semitic group of nomads migrate from Sumer to Canaan and then on to Egypt. They are led by a caravan trader, the Patriarch Abraham, who will become the father of the nation of Israel.

• 1800 BCE - The Old Babylonians are employing advanced mathematical operations, such as, multiplication, division and square roots. In addition, they are using a duodecimal system (a system based on 12 and 6) to measure time. We still use their system for counting minutes and hours.

• 1763BCE - The Amorite King, Hammurabi, conquers all of Sumer. Around the same time, he writes his Code of Laws containing 282 rules including the principles of "an eye for an eye" and "let the buyer beware." It is one of the first codes of law in world history, predated only by the Laws of Lipit-Ishtar.

•  Kassites and Hittites (c.1600-717 BCE)
  

• 1595 BCE - The Hittites, another non-Semitic people who speak an Indo-European language, capture Babylon and retreat, leaving the city open to Kassite domination. The Kassites remain in power for about three hundred years, maintaining the Sumerian/Babylonian culture without offering innovations of their own.

• Assyrian  (c.1350- 612 BCE)
  

• 1300-612 BCE - The Assyrians, a Semitic people, establish an empire spreading out from the town of Assur in northern Mesopotamia. By 1250, they commit themselves to conquering the Kassite Empire to the south.

• 1286 BCE - The HITTITE  empire falls in 1185, to the "Sea People," an invading group coming from the West whose precise identity is unknown.

• 1250-1200 BCE - The Hebrews, who migrated from Canaan to Egypt several hundred years earlier, return from Egypt after wandering for several years in the Sinai desert and begin the 100-year long conquest of Canaan. 

• 1225 BCE - The Assyrian ruler, Tukulti-Ninurta, captures BABYLON and the region of southern MESOPOTAMIA, but Assyrian control does not last long.

• 1200-1020 BCE - The Hebrews are ruled by the Judges during a period of relative stability that will be upset with the Philistine invasion of 1050.

• 1050 BCE - The Philistines invade Israel from the North. Facing the threat of annihilation, the Hebrews ask Samuel, the last of the judges, to select a king.

• 1020 BCE - Samuel selects Saul to be king of Israel thereby unifying the tribes of Israel into a nation. Facing many losses against the Philistines, Saul eventually commits suicide. Around the same time, David, undertaking his own campaign against the Philistines, proves victorious.

• 1004 BCE - David becomes king of Israel. As such, he begins to build a centralized government based in Jerusalem, implementing forced labor, a census and a mechanism for collecting taxes. The First Temple period of Hebrew history begins with the rule of David

[OT] Days of Creation

Days of Creation

Akkadian and Ugaritic literature indicate seven consecutive periods are considered a perfect period of time to do an important work, with action lasting six days and reaching it's conclusion/outcome on the 7th. [UC 13]  In their traditions,  6 days of labor were divided into three pairs, 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 with completion occurring in the 7th period.  Genesis does this a bit differently with 1&4, 2&5, 3&6 periods being related. 

Stationary Creation	Animated, Moving Creations
1; Light	4; Luminaries (sun , moon & stars)
2; Sea and Heaven	5; Fish and fowl
3; Earth (with it's plants)	6; Land creatures and Man

[UC 17]

Note the conceptual relationship in the symmetric pairs (rows).  The 1st column has the static phenomena or place, while it's parallel (2nd column) occupies and moves through the 1st [UC 42].

Some have felt the need to reconcile the order of the 6 "periods" of creation with a scientific understanding of creation.  This is difficult when the sun (4th day) is created after the plants (3rd day).  But this is not a scientific description of creation, but a literary parallel, and should be understood that way.

[OT] Rahab & Pre-biblical poetic epics

Rahab & Pre-biblical poetic epics

• There appear to be intermediate links bridging the gap between the poems of the non-Israelites and their myths alluded to in the Bible. [UC 9]
• The Old Testament contains evidence of pre-biblical poetic epics.  For example, the story of Rahab, prince of the sea who rose up in revolt against God, who subdued and slew him [UC 8].  Rahab, referred to in biblical and rabbinic literature, infers there were earlier ancient poetic stories about him.  The Old Testament refers to Rahab as if the reader were already aware of him.  Rahab, was the lord of the sea who opposed the will of God, and would not confine his waters within given limits until God subdued and slew him and fixed a boundary for the waters of the sea that they should never be able to pass. 
  

Genesis uses a simple prose style without embellishment of poetic metaphors or figures of speech, and avoids  making use of the legendary poetic material.  This is done as a voice of protest against the pagan myths.  So when the Torah simply says "God said 'Let the waters be gathered together,' the Mesopotamian stories of Tiamat & Rahab are trivialized, and the supremacy of the Hebrew God is emphasized simply by saying only "it was so." The following are biblical & rabbinic references to Rahab [UC 36-37]: 

• Isa. 51: 9-10

  9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

  10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

• Jer. 5: 22

  22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

• Prov. 8: 27-29

  27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

  28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

  29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

• Job 7: 12

  12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

• Job 9: 13

  13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him (or "beneath Him bowed the helpers of Rahab")

• Job 26: 10-12

  10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

  11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

  12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.

• Job 38: 8-10

  8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

  9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

  10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

• Psalms 89:10

  9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

  10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

• See also here
  

• Hagiga 12a. Resh Lakish said: When the Holy One, blessed by He, created the sea it continued to expand until the Holy One, blessed by He, rebuked it and caused it to dry up.

• Baba Bathra 74b: R. Judah said in the name of Rab: When the Holy One, blessed by He, desired to create the world, He said to the lord of the sea: "Open thy mouth and swallow up all the waters of the world."  The latter answered: "Sovereign of the universe, I have enough with my own!"  Thereupon God instantly trod him down and slew him as it is said: By this power He stamped down the sea; by His understanding He smote Rahab.  R. Isaac said:  From this you may infer that the lord of the sea is called Rahab.

• Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, V: 'Thereupon the waters immediately became turbulent and rose up to cover the earth as in the beginning, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked them and subdued them, placing them under the soles of his feet; and He measured them with His palm so as not to augment or diminish them, and He made the sand the boundary of the sea, like a man who makes a fence for his vineyard; and when they [the waters] rise up and see the sand before them, they turn back, as it is said: Do you not fear Me? says the Lord; do you not tremble before Me?  I placed the sand as the bounds for the sea, (Jer. v22)

[OT] References to Mesopotamian gods in Genesis 1:2

References to Mesopotamian gods in Genesis 1:2

  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Hebrew transliteration here).

• Form and Void in Hebrew: "Tohu" and "Bohu"
  

• "Void" (Hebrew "bohu")  - possible reference to the  goddess Ba'u or Ba-u. [UC 22]

• Bau was a Sumerian/Akkadian Goddess, daughter of An and Ninurta's wife who had seven daughters

• The oldest king of Ur known to us is Ur-Ba'u (servant of the goddess Ba'u ).

• According to Philo of Byblus, Ba'u, was a Goddess of the primal night, mother of the 1st mortals . But it is doubtful this reference is related to the Canaanite Goddess Ba-u.

• Deep = "Tehom"  [UC 23-24]

• Tehom belonges to the poetic creation epic tradition of the area.  It does not have a definite article ("the" or in Hebrew "ha").  It is not "The Deep" but simply "Deep" or "Tehom."  The definite article does not occur in Canaanite writings, and rarely in Hebrew poetry.
  

• 'Tehom" is missing the feminine ending "t" but is still a feminine word in the context of this sentence.  It might have been rendered "Tehomat."

• "Tiamat" was the Akkadian name of the goddess of the primeval World-Ocean, who had always existed and was the mighty foe of the creative god.

• Her name seems ultimately to have been a Sumerian one, as in that language ti = Life, and ama = Mother, t = feminine ending, suggesting her original name may have been "the mother of all life" (compare Gen 3:20, Eve is the "mother of all living."  Tiamat is depicted as  a  dragon, and is shown rearing herself on two legs.  There could be parallels with Eve and the serpent).

• Isaiah 51, 9-10 refers to tehom ("deep") saying regarding YHWH "was it not thou that didst cut rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?  was it not Thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great DEEP...?"

• The Babylonian epic Enuma Elish begins "When above" the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater ocean was there, "the first, the begetter", and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, "she who bore them all"; they were "mixing their waters".

This "mixing of the waters" is a natural feature of the middle Persian Gulf, where fresh waters from the Arabian aquifer mix and mingle with the salt waters of the sea. This characteristic is especially true of the region of Bahrain (whose name means in Arabic, "twin waters"), which is thought to be the site of Dilmun, the original site of the Sumerian creation.

• Tiamat was the "shining" personification of salt water who roared and smote in the chaos of original creation. She and Apsu filled the cosmic abyss with the primeval waters.

• Slicing Tiamat in half, he made from her ribs the vault of heaven and earth (compare to firmament). Her weeping eyes became the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates. With the approval of the elder gods, he took from Kingu the Tablets of Destiny, installing himself as the head of the Babylonian pantheon.  Kingu was captured and was later slain with his red blood mixed with the red clay of the Earth to make the body of humankind (see discussion of Adam below) created to act as the servant of the younger Igigi

• "Ruah" (Hebrew for "spirit," "breath" or "wind") of God could be a strong wind that divides the upper waters from the lower water.  Using "wind" for ruah, "and the Wind of God moved upon the face of the waters."  (compare Moses parting the red sea: "the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.").

• A possible connection between "Ruah" and "Lilith" exists.  In Mesopotamian literature, Lilith is a 'dark maid' who flies off on her wings to the desert.  In Akkadian tradition she is the goddess of the South wind. Rabbinic literature mentions her as the 1st wife of Adam.
• "Lilith" is connected with two root words - LayiI, Hebrew for night, and Lil, Sumerian (c. 3000 BCE) for 'wind' or 'breath' or 'spirit'.
• The possible connection to this verse is Ruah/Lilith, connotating darkness and/or wind, where she is a winged goddess hovering over Tiamat in darkness.
  
• "Lilith" occurs once in the bible, in Isaiah 34:14, translated variously as 'night hag,'  'screech owl,` 'night-jar,' 'night monster,'  'vampires,'  a spirit or goblin, and "Lilith" (in the New American Bible, NRSV and The Message Bible).
• Another possible translation of Genesis 1:1-2 is:
'In the beginning, a number of gods ("Elohim") began to give birth to the heavens and the earth. The earth still belonged to Tohu and Bohu (goddesses of formlessness and ultimate space), and darkness was on the face of the mother creator goddess Tiamat, and a huge wind flapped its wings over the face of the water.

[OT] Firmament

Firmament (Gen 1:6) (jumping ahead to the concept of firmament to provide context for v.2)

6 ¶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  

• The Hebrews conceived the universe as water, with a bowl shaped "firmament" over the flat earth holding back the waters.  the Stars, sun and moon were placed in the firmament.  Rain came through the "windows of heaven," and the fountains of the deep"  came from the universal waters below the earth.
  

•  Hebrew Cosmology diagram.  See also here or here.
  

• The root of "firmament" means "hammer out", implies a horizontal area [UC 31]

• Mesopotamian mythology shows after Marduk (or other various deities from other times/places) vanquished Tiamat, goddess of the world-ocean, depicted as a great sea-monster and other monster-like creations she made to help her in her combat. After he had slain his chief enemy, he cut her carcass horizontally, dividing it into two halves, one on top of the other, and out of the upper half, he formed the heavens, and out of the lower half, the earth, including the sea/"deep."  [UC 32-33, 49-50]
  

• From the Babylonian account of creation (Tablet IV, 137-140):

He split her like a fish into two parts;
The one half of her he set up and laid therewith the beams of the heavens*
He pulled down a bar and stationed a watch,
He enjoined them not to let her waters go forth

*(cf. Psalms 104:3 "Who hast laid the beams of thy chambers on the waters."  Note the  psalm is about the creation).

• Genesis recognizes the Canaanite myth, but refutes it.  No weapons, no carved body or segments, just physical unfolding taking the place of the mythical train of events

[OT] Extra-Genesis biblical creation references

Extra-Genesis biblical creation references

• Other references to the creation exist in other books of the bible. Note the similarities of these two, including laying foundations, measurements, line, bases, cornerstones and the allusions to a tent: [UC 9-10]

• Job 38: 4-7

  4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

  5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

  6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

  7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

• Isa. 40: 12, 21-22

  12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

  21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

  22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

[OT] Monotheism in the middle east

This is the first in a series of post based on my notes (mostly) from  Cassuto, Umberto., "A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part 1, from Adam to Noah (Genesis 1-6:8) translated form Hebrew by Israel Abrahams" , Jerusalem, The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1944.  I'll refer to this as "[UC]" below.

Monotheism

• Monotheism is the idea that there is one, single God.  Polytheism is the idea that many gods exist.  Most primitive are polytheist. 
• Some early middle eastern religions began to approach monotheism, such as Amenhotep IV [UC 8], who attributed the creation to one of the gods, the sun-god Aten.  It appears that some of his predecessors held the same idea. 
• Most Middle Eastern polytheistic religious texts begin with a theogeny, or the story of the origin of the gods, couched in epic poems [UC 7].  There is evidence of the bible responding to these earlier texts, and that knowledge of these texts were common at the time Genesis, Isaiah, Psalms & Job were written. 
  
• Yahweh is not included in a theogeny -- because he always existed, a key concept of monotheism.  Nor do the Israelites have festivals commemorating events in Yahweh's life -- because he is non-changing, so there is nothing to commemorate.  Festivals are about historic events of Israel