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March 12, 2008
That Which Cheers Gods and Men
Gods drinking wine and even getting intoxicated is a theme in many literatures. It even shows up in a fable in the Hebrew Bible. Judges 9:13 reads
הֶחֳדַלְתִּי אֶת-תִּירוֹשִׁי
הַמְשַׂמֵּחַ אֱלֹהִים וַאֲנָשִׁים
וְהָלַכְתִּי לָנוּעַ עַל-הָעֵצִים
Then the vine said to them,
"Shall I stop producing my pressings
that cheers up gods and men
and then go off to shake over the trees?"
This verse is part of a fascinating poetic fable that the Hebrew Bible puts on the lips of Jotham. The poem is strongly antimonarchical. But the allusion to the gods finding cheer in the pressings of the vine has caused problems for both teetotalers (or at least those who think it unseemly for God or the gods to drink wine) and monotheists. The Old Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible tried to gloss these problems. The LXX B text, based primarily on Codex Vaticanus, resolved the monotheistic problem by translating אֱלֹהִים, θεòν, God. This is, of course, a possible understanding. Such a possibility is somewhat enhanced by the lack of a definite article in the Hebrew but I wouldn't put too much weight on that point. The LXX A text, based primarily on Codex Alexanderinus, solves both problems, "Am I to neglect my wine, the good cheer of men which comes from God and go to rule the trees? (NETS)"
Satterthwaaite's discussion of this passage in "To the Reader of Judges" in A New English Translation of the Septuagint, reminded me, perhaps only by word association, of the Ugaritic text KTU 1.114. KTU 1.114 more than alludes to the gods drinking. Even the host of a marzeah gets so wasted he falls down in own urine and feces. This perplexing tablet reflects a myth about a banquet (marzeah) that El, the head of the pantheon, throws for the other gods. But the tablet's real purpose seems to have a very practical application, curing a hangover or, perhaps, as Ed Cook of Ralph the Sacred River suggested a couple of years ago, curing the damaged caused by having been "gored or butted by a horned animal." Ed's abnormally interesting post on the tablet is well worth reading. One thing that Ed didn't mention is that that tablet is a palimpsest with some few letters of the underlying text still visible. I find palimpsest tablets of abnormal interest but that is for another post on another day. Today I want to look at just a couple of lines from the "top" text.
[If you see squares, rectangles or something else that doesn't look right, please install the Charis SIL font.]
KTU 1.114:2b-4a
tlḥmn / ilm . w tštn .
tštn y
trṯ . ʿd ˹škr˺
The gods eat and drink.
They drink wine until satisfied,
pressings until drunk
I'm not sure how much this text can be used to inform our understanding of Judges 9:13. 1) The contexts and genres are extremely different. 2) In Judges 9:13, wine only cheers the gods; in KTU 114, they are "over served." 3) There is, at best, a several hundred-year gap between these texts. But I do think that both reflect a common cultural climate in which the gods enjoy human pleasures.
Update:
Fixed a stupid error (thanks Chris) and added link to Ed's post.
Posted by Duane Smith at March 12, 2008 12:52 PM | Read more on Ugarit |
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Comments
Very nice, Duane. Jdg 9:13 is usually interpreted in relation to 9:9 - rightly so, I think. So far as I can see, there are two possibilities here.
(1) That the reference in both 9:9 and 9:13 is to the experience of satisfaction that God and human beings shared in the communio of the cultus in which gifts of oil and wine were given to the deity concomitant with enjoyment thereof among the offerers. One gets a sense that this way of undertanding the cultus was once typical in ancient Israel from a few frozen phrases such as the one about God smelling the pleasing odor of barbecue and thinking all is well after all, or at least, why fight it (Gen 8:20-22 interpreted somewhat irreverently).
(2) That a humorous element is built into the parable which is not functional to the point of it per se. I like this idea, because stories tend to serve more than one purpose at the same time. A good laugh is always worth throwing in, even while making a serious point. Geez, even preachers know that. How would that work here? In that case, I suggest Judg 9:9 and 13 should be translated:
Should I stop producing my rich oil, by which gods and men are fattened . . .?
Should I stop producing my new wine, by which gods and men become merry . . .?
Just a thought.
Posted by: John Hobbins at March 12, 2008 8:55 PM
John,
Thanks for the very instructive comment. I have no argument with your interpretation of the fable. I don't think where two possibilities are mutually exclusive. There is surely and underlying humor in this and I agree with your observation about the relationship between 9:9 and 9:13. And your translations are clearly better than mine are. No surprise there. I will say that I chose "pressings" to highlight the cognate relationship between the Hebrew and Ugaritic word that you translate quite correctly "new wine."
Posted by: Duane at March 12, 2008 9:08 PM
You might like to correct the typo (spell checker induced error?) "the illusion to the gods finding cheer" it may be an illusion to talk of gods, but here you mean allusion.
Posted by: tim bulkeley at March 13, 2008 5:23 PM
Tim,
Thanks but I fixed that yesterday. Perhaps you came to the post via an RSS feed which was not corrected. However, I sure do wish there was an intention checker as well as a spell checker.
Posted by: Duane at March 13, 2008 7:33 PM
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