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October 18, 2007
Psephomancy?
Does this remind you of anything?
Judgment is nigh. O pure Shamash.
The word hastens, hear the ut[terances of my mouth(?)]
Your will judge me, O Bel, whose brothers are [ ]
The whi[te waters(?)] and the black waters in which I am learned, may [ they ]
. . .
In the hem of my garment [
In the pure hem of my garment [
I have drawn on the ground seven god[s
Sin, Shamash, Adad, Marduk, Uraš-g[ub-ba],
Dagan and Nab[u]
I have drawn them and now I am lifting up a st[one(?)]
If (your) judgment is nigh, (and my) plea is accepted,
(If) Bel, in your heart, there is judg[ment]
(If) Shamash, in your heart there is revelat[ion]
May a stone of desire jump up and may the hands cat[ch it].
If (your) judgment is not nigh, (and my) plea[a] is not accepted,
(If) Bel, in your heart, there is not judg[ment],
(If) Shamash, in your heart, there is not revela[tion],
May a stone of no desire jump up and may the hands cat[ch it].
A second time for judgment, a third time for decis[ion].
Incantation for oracular decisions with alabaster and hematite.
Well, it reminded Wayne Horowitz and Vector Avigdor Hurowitz of the Urim and Thummim that the Hebrew Bible mentions as part of a divination rite in several passages. The above quotation is from their translation of LKA 137:9-29. They offer a detailed comparison but end with a properly modest conclusion,
If our analysis of LKA 137 and Urim and Thummim is accurate, we may cautiously come to the conclusion that the Urim and Thummim of ancient Israel, even if not entirely identical to the psephomancy stones described in LKA 137, are highly similar and perhaps somehow related.
Yep, "perhaps somehow related." Here we have one of many occasions where a cognate ancient Near Eastern text seems to inform Hebrew literature and/or the other way around. But lacking clear historical or literary connections we can do little more than suppose how they are related.
One thing in the Akkadian text is of special interest: the second and third "reading." Horowitz and Horowitz, 104, indicate that this is to assure "the validity of the results." Modern statistics aside, validity of results was an important matter in divination. Three identical readings seem, in many but not all, cases to validate the results. Remember, "The third time is the charm." But this expression has a somewhat different meaning and likely a different origin (another research project, but not for today or even the month).
Anyway, I discovered this paper among the host of papers now available free online from the Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society. I've found about 20 other papers that I what to work my way through. There's a wealth of material in this journal and it's great that it is now openly available.
Reference:
Via Iyov
Posted by Duane Smith at October 18, 2007 2:57 PM | Read more on Hebrew Bible |
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