Episode Transcript
Carey Griffel: [00:00:00] Welcome to Genesis Marks the Spot, where we raid the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel, and today I am with Cindy Beaver for our third episode on the worship series. Today, we are going to get into the question of theodicy. Which is the question of evil and what we do with that with a good God. And we're going to be exploring that from the context of the ancient Near East by exploring ancient Near Eastern texts that talk about this kind of a subject.
So the question is why do bad things happen to good people? And this question is important to our worship series because the answer impacts why we even worship. Like if things go badly for us, then Where is our [00:01:00] hope? Why should we hope when things go bad? And why should we worship a God who allows this? That's a question that I think many of us have kind of pondered, and we're often faced with this when we talk about people who are not Christian, or who are struggling with their faith in some way.
This is the question of theodicy, and it's a very important question. And we're not trying to really understand that and unpack it in total here, but we want to look at this question from the perspective of the ancient Near East. How would they answer this question?
So welcome again, Cindy.
Cindy Beaver: Hi Carey. Hi everybody.
Once again, I hope you're not getting tired of me yet.
Carey Griffel: I'm so excited to have you here. We're going to be reading some texts together and talking about what those mean . And how we can view those from both an ancient Near Eastern perspective, as well as a biblical perspective.
Cindy Beaver: We're [00:02:00] definitely going to learn a lot about worship practices or the line of thinking. Again trusting that the translations are accurate enough. You know, words can be translated in many different ways, but you definitely get a sense of what these people were going through and what they believed was happening to them.
And the attempts that they are making to change their situation and whether or not that works.
Carey Griffel: We've talked about that before, but we've really done it in very general ways. And so we really want to look at what they actually said, what did they actually write about and how did they describe these things?
How did they think about them? Because just like today, they worked through thoughts through writing just like we do. Now, we don't really know if these texts were necessarily written just because somebody sat down and was thinking about this one day, Or [00:03:00] perhaps they were written because they were part of a genre that we don't have a whole lot of examples of. We only have some examples of them. A lot of times these texts were written because they were commissioned by the rulers of the time.
Cindy Beaver: Yes, or it was a scribe that was trying to work through some thoughts and it wound up being saved in the repository.
Most of these documents have been found, you know, in collections that. Are associated with ancient cities the libraries of significant Kings or temple premises. So we know that it would have been the rich and powerful that would have had these. They would have been the only ones that would have had people that could write.
And read, but I do believe that, you know, because we find these documents in multiple places, it wasn't just isolated to one area. They did get copied. They did
Carey Griffel: get shared, right? And I [00:04:00] think it's also been suggested that some of these things were to be read aloud to people. So either they were performance pieces.
Like people would gather together, kind of like a theater situation, and they would hear them read. Or they would be used in some sort of festival situation. So
Cindy Beaver: correct. Like the Akidu festival that happened every day in Babylon or every year annually, where , they would literally have a parade of the idols.
Then they would take them out and take them around the town. And it was a week long festival with, , you know, food and, wanting to get on the God's good side for the prosperity of the year. But. Lots and lots of things going on. It was actually interesting to see on YouTube some of the festivals that they do in India.
And they have giant size statues that they're toting around. And I am like, Oh my gosh, that is still the Aikidu festival [00:05:00] taking place in India. And these vestiges are still happening even to this very day.
Carey Griffel: I know it's been suggested that the Book of Job, which we are going to be getting into as part of a comparison here today, may have also been this kind of a text where it was presented in a theater setting for people to listen to, because you have the two dialogue partners, or, in the case of Job, there's multiple dialogue partners.
So that's the kind of a text where it would be entertaining for people to watch these actors on the stage performing the different parts and really kind of interacting so I think that's, that's very interesting way to read it, as opposed to it being more of a historical account of something.
Not to say it's not necessarily historical, but if it was a performative piece, then to me, when I'm sitting down to read it, I'm going to read it in a different way than I would if it was [00:06:00] some other kind of a writing.
Cindy Beaver: And it also then goes to demonstrate that the writers and the audience were intended to think about these things, and how does it apply to me, and are these people on the right track, or are they totally on the wrong track, you know, is this meant to be?
It helped me build my own faith and my own understanding of how things are through a series of examples of this is the stance that this person takes. This is the stance that that person takes, which one is correct. I mean, , we come away. Even today from Job asking those questions of, well, which way is it?
I mean, we get the answer that Job is the one that was faithful. He is the one that was restored. And the opinions of his friends were stereotypical thoughts of the day, but not necessarily Yahweh's way.
Carey Griffel: And also there's a difference [00:07:00] between a scholar writing a text for the establishment, so to speak, and the scholar writing a text for the people so this isn't just a philosophical thing that the people in the ivory tower were thinking about and talking about just amongst themselves, but rather it was a thing that, the average everyday person would also be thinking about and would be pondering and struggling with.
So, there are several texts, , I want to describe , just to show how prevalent this kind of thinking was, and how similar in thinking some of it was, and there is a little bit of difference in the pagan literature as well, I'm going to read some descriptions from Kenton Spark's book, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible, a guide to the background literature. . The first text he mentions is called A Man and His God, the Sumerian Job.
And he says, [00:08:00] quote, This Sumerian text is the earliest Mesopotamian exemplar to explore the problem of pious suffering. Although its protagonist proclaims his innocence, the bulk of his monologue is a penitential lament that leads to restoration and healing by the gods. So, unlike Job, in this text, resolution was reached when the sufferer embraced conservative orthodoxy.
In other words, never has a sinless child been born, is what he admits to, and he confesses his sins committed in ignorance, when he says, I, the young man, shall publicly declare my sins before you. Hence, the poetic monologue does not challenge traditional retributive theology, so much as it explains why life seems to deviate from this pattern.
The text's viewpoint is retrospective, since it not only ends, but also begins with an optimistic charge.[00:09:00] Let man utter constantly the exaltedness of his God. Winefield has noted that the structure and viewpoint of this piece, which is praise, lament, restoration, and then praise again, parallels closely the Biblical Thanksgiving Psalms.
For example, Psalm 34. And I'm going to go ahead and read Psalm 34 while we are here. Psalm 34 says, Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord.
Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their [00:10:00] faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. O fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? . Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out [00:11:00] of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemed. End quote.
So sometimes we can read a psalm like that and we go, well, this seems pretty obvious that the righteous are supposed to be blessed and the wicked are supposed to be not blessed. As we all know, that doesn't always pan out.
Cindy Beaver: Well, it even says in verse 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of all of them.
It doesn't mean that being righteous is going to be an easy life, but the Lord will be by your [00:12:00] side. What I find incredibly interesting is that at the end of the Eastern Orthodox Liturgy, This is the very last song that is sung, always. It is the last thing that we say before we leave.
Carey Griffel: Oh, that's fascinating.
Cindy Beaver: Mm hmm. So it's, meant to be, you know, encouragement and a reminder of this is how we are to live and this is how we should be. We should bless the Lord at all times. Look to him and be radiant. The Lord is good and blessed is that man. And those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
You know, all of these things you know, , , it is like a blessing. It's a doxology blessing of, here you've been here, you are blessed. Stay in, on this path.
Carey Griffel: And always a message of hope for that deliverance.
Cindy Beaver: [00:13:00] Right. But again, it's also realistic in that there is going to be adversity.
The world is always going to be against us because the world wants to hide in darkness and the world wants to be what's in it for me, not what can I do to praise the Lord and show his goodness to others? Glory be to God that this was accomplished, I don't take credit for it.
All of it goes to God. God gifted me with these abilities and he gifted me with this opportunity to use those abilities, but it's all to his glory. That is how we're supposed to be thinking about it. That is how we're supposed to be living every minute of our life. Not just when you go to church on Sunday.
Or Bible school on Wednesday night or whatever it is that you're doing. This is a 24 seven thing. And so many people forget that, but I'm not perfect at it either, but, but, [00:14:00] you know, to be mindful of it and, spending time in the word is going to help you.
Carey Griffel: Well, and just this confidence that it is God who delivers us and that it is God who is going to ultimately grant us that good.
However, that ends up looking in the end, even through our sufferings, we can still hold on to that hope.
Cindy Beaver: Yes. And that's the hard part and it is a test. Can you endure? But your reward, it's not about now. It's about , the eternal rewards and what will you get in the next life.
Carey Griffel: Well, and, that's part of our, discussion when we can get into some more of these texts as well.
The second one that I'm going to mention that Kenton Sparks lists in his book is called Dialogue Between a Man and His God. And that's one of the hard things about some of these older texts is that we don't always have great titles [00:15:00] for them. That's not super descriptive. But he says, quote, This fragmentary Akkadian text from the Louvre dates to the Old Babylonian period.
It relates the conversation of a suffering man with his god in which the god responded with this admonition. Your disease is under control. Let your heart not be despondent. You must never, till the end of time, forget your god, your creator, now that you are favored. The text concludes with the sufferer speaking the words, May your servant's supplications reach your heart.
But it is not clear how this supplication relates to the text itself. The original editor interpreted the sufferer as a Job like righteous sufferer, but this is not at all clear. End quote. So here we have a text that's very similar to what we were talking about, and actually quite similar to Job. And it seems to have [00:16:00] this idea that the gods are going to be faithful and you just have to just kind of trust the gods, right?
And again, this text is very fragmentary and that's also a part of the problem that we have with old texts, unfortunately, is we don't have the whole thing. So we might not be even interpreting it quite right. But it's quite interesting to me how this is... Like, we tend to think of pagan literature as always being some sort of grab to get the good from their gods.
And I think sometimes it was just that they really wanted to have faith in their gods, protecting them just like anybody.
Cindy Beaver: Even though they were probably being influenced by , the lesser Elohim who... May not have had their best interests at heart, who may not have been trying to point them towards God almighty.
Carey Griffel: And this one just kind of says, well, look, we've got it under control. You just have to trust us. It's not giving a firm reason as [00:17:00] to why it's just saying, do it.
Cindy Beaver: Yeah. And it's interesting, you know, the gods are always presupposed. Again, it's that whole spiritual worldview that they had that we have lost. They don't ever question if the gods exist. They may question why the God is doing something. And they also see that there's a hierarchy, but I still don't think that they see one as all powerful the way we've been raised.
Carey Griffel: Right, so the, the question then is, does that god actually have as much power, is he being prevented by other gods as well, you know, it's a very complex system for them.
Cindy Beaver: I mean, yeah, just look at the showdown with Elijah and the prophets of Baal, you know, and is he sleeping? What's he doing? You know? Where is he?
Carey Griffel: Okay. So now I'm going to read Kenton Spark's description of what we're going to call the Babylonian Job that we will be reading [00:18:00] portions of. He says, quote, this Akkadian text from the Kassite period, the 14th to the 12th century BC. He is generically and thematically similar to the Sumerian Job, which we've already talked about.
It is a four tablet, or a five tablet, depending on what you're looking at, poetic monologue, entitled, I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom, that begins and ends with praise for the god Marduk. The chief protagonist of the text was a prosperous public figure named, I'm not really going to try and say his name, who appealed to the gods for help when he lost his post, his wealth, his family, and his health.
Despite intense suffering, he praised Marduk and encouraged other sufferers to do the same, because his appeals to Marduk were eventually answered when the gods sent an exorcist to expel the demons that oppressed him. This outcome suggests [00:19:00] that the text was not a philosophical treatise on theodicy, so much as a work of propaganda on behalf of Marduk, the chief Babylonian god and patron deity of exorcists and diviners. The meaning of the name of the sufferer, embodies the text's theology. May Marduk's temple declare the righteous pure. As in the case of the Sumerian Job text, the structure and viewpoint of this piece is praise, lament, restoration, and praise.
And this parallels closely the Biblical Thanksgiving Psalms, as we've mentioned already.
All right, well, we are actually going to dive in and read a bit of this. Did you have anything to put in front of that before we do that, Cindy?
Cindy Beaver: Just the only other thing is that some, some books will call this the poem of the righteous sufferer. There are going to be some strange names in here that we're gonna stumble over, but we'll do our best in our readings.[00:20:00]
The one thing also is to look at as we're reading and going through this, some of the, way they're writing, the terms and the symbols that they're using You can get that whole ancient Near East feel. It talks about bulls, it talks about cows and things like that. These are symbols that are used in the Bible as well.
So , there's reasons why we're drawing these connections, . So, beginning with tablet one, I will praise the Lord of Wisdom, Solitious God, furious in the night, growing calm in the day. Marduk, Lord of Wisdom, Solitious God, furious in the night, growing calm in the day, whose anger is like a raging tempest, a desolation, but whose breeze is sweet as the breath of morn.
In his fury, not to be withstood, his rage, the deluge. Merciful in his feelings, his emotions [00:21:00] relenting. The skies cannot sustain the weight of his hand. His gentle palm rescues the dead. Marduk, the skies cannot sustain the weight of his hand. His gentle palm soothes the dead. He it is in the brunt of whose anger graves are dug.
At the same moment, raise the fallen from disaster. He glowers. Protective spirits take flight. He regards. The one whose God forsook him returns. His severe punishment is harsh and speedy. He stops short and quickly returns to his natural state. He is bullheaded. When cherishing his beloved, like a cow with a calf, he keeps turning around, watchful.
His scourge is barbed and punctures the body. His bandages are soothing. They heal the doomed. He speaks and makes one incore many sins. On [00:22:00] the day of his justice, liability and guilt are dispelled. He is the one who afflicts with demons of shaking disease, through his sacral spells, chills and shivering are driven away.
This is broken, something about him, the flood of Adad and the blow of era, who reconciles the wrathful god and the goddess. The lord divines the god's most inner thoughts, but no god understands his behavior. Marduk divines the God's most inner thoughts, which God understands his mind. As heavy his hand, so compassionate his heart.
As brutal his weapons, so life sustaining his feelings. Without his consent, who could cure his blow? Against his will, which one would stay his hand? I, who touched the bottom like a fish, will proclaim his anger. He quickly granted me favor as if . Reviving the dead. I will teach [00:23:00] the people that his kindness is nigh.
May his favorable thought take away their guilt. From the day the Lord punished me, and the warrior Marduk became furious with me. My own god threw me over and disappeared. My goddess broke rank and vanished. He cut off the benevolent angel who walked beside me. My protecting spirit was frightened off to seek out someone else. My vigor was taken away.
My manly appearance became gloomy. My dignity escaped and lit on the roof. Terrifying signs beset me. I was forced from my house. I wandered outside. My omens were confused. They were contradictory every day. Even with diviner and dream interpreter, my course was undecided. What was said in the street portended ill for me.
When I lay down at night, my dream was terrifying. The king, incarnation of the gods, son of his peoples. His heart hardened [00:24:00] against me, turning tolerance to ill will. Courtiers who were plotting hostile action against me. They mustered themselves to instigate base deeds. If the first, I will make him end his life, says the second, I ousted him from his command.
So likewise the third, I will get my hands on his post. I'll come into property, vows the fourth, as the fifth subverts the mind of fifty, sixth and seventh follow on his heels, the clique of seven have massed their forces, merciless as fiends, the likeness of demons, So one is their body, but seven their mouths.
Their hearts fulminate against me, ablaze like fire. Slander and lies, they try to lend credence against me. My eloquent mouth they checked as with rains. My lips, which used to discourse, became those of a deaf man. My resounding call struck dumb, my proud head [00:25:00] bent earthward, my stout heart turned feeble for terror, my broad breasts brushing aside by a stripling, my far reaching arms were pinned by my clothing.
I, who walked proudly, learned, slinking, I, so grand, became servile. To my vast family, I became a loner. As I went through the streets, I was pointed at. I would enter the palace, eyes would squint at me. My city was glowering at me like an enemy. Belligerent and hostile would seem my land. My brother became my foe.
My friend became a malignant demon. My comrade would denounce me savagely. My colleague kept the taint to his weapons for bloodshed. My best friend made my life an aspersion. My slave cursed me openly in the assembly of gentlefolk. My slave girl defamed me before the rabble. An acquaintance would see me and make himself scarce.
[00:26:00] My family set me down as an outsider. A pit awaited anyone speaking well of me. While he who was uttering defamation of me forged ahead. One who relayed these base things about me had a God for his help. For the one who said, what a pity about him, death came early. The one of no help, his life became charmed.
I had no one to go at my side, nor saw I a champion. They parceled my possessions among the riffraff. The sources of my watercourses they blocked with muck. They chased the harvest song from my fields. They left my community deathly still like that of a ravaged foe. They let another assume my duties and appointed an outsider to my prerogatives.
By day, sighing. By night, lamentation. Monthly, depression, despair the year. I moaned like a dove all my days. [00:27:00] Like a singer, I moan out of my dirge. My eyes endure constant crying. My cheeks scald from tears as if eroded. My face is darkened from the apprehensions of my heart. Terror and panic have jaundiced my face.
The wellsprings of my heart quaked in unremitting anxiety. I was as changeable as a flickering fire. Prayer was disorder like an exploding flame. My entreaty was like the fracas of a brawl. My sweet lipped discourse was murky and obscure. When I turned a biting comment, my gambit was stifled. Surely in daylight good will come upon me. The new moon will appear. My sun will shine.
Tablet 2. One whole year to the next. The normal time passed. As I turned around it was more and more terrible. My ill luck was on the increase. I could find no good fortune. I [00:28:00] called to my god. He did not show his face. I prayed to my goddess. She did not raise her head.
The Diviner with his inspection did not get to the bottom of it, nor did the dream interpreter with his incense clear up my case. I beseeched a dream spirit, but it did not enlighten me. The exorcist with his ritual did not appease divine wrath. What bizarre actions everywhere I looked behind persecution, harassment like one who had not made libations to his God nor invoked his goddess with food offering.
Who was not want to prostrate, nor seem to bow down from those whose mouth supplication and prayer were wanting, who skipped holy days and despised festivals, who was neglectful, omitted the God's rights, who had not taught his people reverence and worship. Who did not invoke his God, but ate his food offering.
Who snubbed the goddess, brought her no [00:29:00] flower offering, like one possessed who forgot his Lord. Who casually swore a solemn oath by his God. I indeed seemed such a one. I, for my part, was mindful of supplication and prayer. Prayer to me was the natural recourse, sacrifice my rule. The day for reverencing the gods was a source of satisfaction to me.
The goddess's procession day was my profit in return. Praying for the king. That was my joy. His senate was as if were my own good omen, I instructed my land to observe the God's rights. The goddess's name, I did drill my people to esteem. I made my praises of the king like a god's, and taught the populace reverence for the palace.
I wish I knew that these things were pleasing to a god. What seems good to oneself could be an offense to a god. What in one's own heart seems abominable could be good to one god. [00:30:00] Who could learn the reasoning of the gods in heaven? Who could grasp the intention of the gods of the depths? Where might human beings have learned the way of a god?
He who lived by his brawn died in confinement. Suddenly one is downcast, in a thrice full of cheer. One moment he sings in exultation, in a thrice he groans, like a professional mourner. People's motivations change in a twinkling. Starving, they become like corpses. Full, they would rival their gods. In good times, they speak of scaling heaven.
When it goes badly, they complain of going down to hell. I have pondered these things, but I have made no sense of them. But as for me in despair, a whirlwind is driving me. Dehabilitating disease is let loose upon me. An evil vapor has blown against me from the ends of the earth. Head pain has surged up upon me from the breasts of hell.
A malignant specter has come [00:31:00] forth from its hidden depth. A relentless ghost came out of its dwelling place. A she demon came down from the mountain. Ague set forth with the flood and sea. Debility broke through the ground with the plants. They assembled their hosts, together they came upon me. They struck my head.
They closed around my pate. My features were gloomy and my eyes ran afloat. They wrenched my muscles and made my neck limp. They thwacked my chest, pounded my breast. They afflicted my flesh, threw me into convulsions. They kindled a fire in my... epigastrium. They churned up my bowels. They twisted my entrails.
Coughing and hacking, infecting my lungs. They infected my limbs and made my flesh pasty. My lofty stature, they tumbled like a wall. My robust figure, they flattened like a bulrush. I was dropped like a dried fig. I was tossed on my face. [00:32:00] A demon has clothed himself in my body for a garment. Drowsiness smothers me like a net.
My eyes stare. They cannot see. My ears prick up. They cannot hear. Numbness has spread over my whole body. Paralysis has fallen upon my flesh. Stiffness has seized my arms. Debility has fallen upon my loins. My feet forgot how to move. A stroke has overcome me. I choke like a fallen one. Signs of death have shrouded my face.
If someone thinks of me, I can't respond to the inquirer. Alas, they weep. I've lost consciousness. A snare is laid on my mouth and a bolt bars my lips. My way is barred. My point of slacking blocked. My hunger is chronic. My gullet constricted. If It be of grain, I choked it down like stinkweed. , beer, the sustenance of mankind is sickening to me.
Indeed, the malady drags [00:33:00] on. For lack of food, my features are unrecognizable. My flesh is waste, my blood has run dry. My bones are loose, covered only with skin. My tissues are inflamed, afflicted with gangrene. I took to bed, confined. Going out was exhaustion. My house turned into my prison. My flesh was a shackle.
My arms being useless. My person was a fetter, my feet having given way. My afflictions were grievous, the blow was severe. A scourge full of barbs thrashed me. A crop lacerated me, cruel with thorns. All day long, Tormentor would torment me. Nor at night would he let me breathe freely a moment. From writhing, my joints were separated.
My limbs were splayed and thrust apart. I spent the night in my dung like an ox. I wallowed in my excrement like a sheep. The exorcist roiled from my symptoms, while my omens have perplexed the diviner. The exorcist did not clarify the nature of my [00:34:00] complaint, while the diviner put no time limit on my illness.
No god came to the rescue, nor lent me a hand. No goddess took pity on me, nor went to my side. My grave was open, my funerary goods ready. Before I had died, lamentation was done for me. All my country said how wretched he was. When my ill wisher heard, his face lit up. When the tidings reached her, my ill wisher, her mood became radiant. The day grew dim for my whole family, for those who knew me. Their sun grew dark.
Tablet three is rather broken, but I'll start reading a bit of that. , heavy was his hand upon me. I could not bear it. Dread of him was oppressive. His fierce punishment like the deluge. His stride was something. Harsh, severe illness does not Something my person.
I lost sight of alertness. It made [00:35:00] my mind go stray. I groaned day and night alike. Dreaming and waking, I am equally wretched. A remarkable young man of extraordinary physique, magnificent in body, clothed in new garments. Because I was only half awake, his features lacked form. He was clad in splendor, robed in dread.
He came in upon me. He stood over me. When I saw him, my flesh grew numb. The lady has sent me, he says. I try to tell my people. It's broken here. They were silent and did not speak. They heard me in silence and did not answer. A second time, I saw a dream. In the dream, I saw at night, a remarkable purifier.
Holding in his hand a tamarisk rod of purification. Lara Lurlima, resident of Nippur, has sent me to cleanse you. He was carrying water. He poured it over me. He pronounced the resuscitating incantation. He [00:36:00] massaged my body. A third time, I saw a dream. In my dream, I saw at night, a remarkable young woman of shining countenance, clothed like a person, being like a god, a queen among peoples.
She entered upon me and sat down. She ordered my deliverance. Fear not, she said ,
she ordered my deliverance most wretched indeed is he, whoever he might be the one who saw the vision at night in the dream was. Or Nidhuga, a Babylonian something of a, a bearded young man wearing a tiara. He was an exorcist carrying a tablet. Marduk has sent me., so then there's quite a bit of broken text, and then it goes, He applied to me his spell, which binds debilitating disease.
He drove back the evil vapor to the ends of the earth. He bore off the head pain to the breast of hell. He sent down the malignant specter to its hidden depth. The relentless ghost, he [00:37:00] returned to its dwelling. He overthrew the she demon, sending it off to a mountain. He replaced the ague in flood and sea.
He eradicated debility like a plant. Uneasy sleep accepts the drowsiness. He dissipated like smoke, filling the sky, the turning towards people with wo and alas, he drove away like a cloud, the tenacious disease in the head, which was heavy as a millstone. He raised it like dew of night.
He removed it from me, my be clouded eyes, which were wrapped in the shroud of death. He drove the cloud a thousand leagues away. He brightened my vision, my ears, which were stopped and clogged like a deaf man's. He removed their blockage. He opened my hearing. My nose, whose breathing was choked by its symptoms of fever, he soothed its affliction so I could breathe freely.
My babbling lips, which had taken on a hard, crust. He wiped away their distress and undid their deformation. My mouth, which was muffled so that proper speech was [00:38:00] difficult. He scoured like copper and removed its filth. My teeth, which were clenched and locked together firmly. He opened their fastening, freed the jaws.
My tongue, which was tied and could not converse. He wiped off its coating and its speech became fluent. My windpipe, which was tight and choking as though on a goblet, he made well and let it sing its song like a flute. My gullet, which was swollen so it could not take food, its swelling went down and he opened its blockage.
The Lord, the Lord took hold of me. The Lord set me on my feet. The Lord revived me. He rescued me from the pit. He summoned me from destruction. He pulled me from the river of death. He took my hand. He who smote me, Marduk. He restored me. He smote the hand of my smiter. It was Marduk who made him drop his Weapon.
It was Marduk who, and then it stops. But obviously Mard And then even more fragmentary, it talks [00:39:00] about In prostration and supplication, I who went down to the grave have returned to the gate of sunrise, and in the gate of prosperity, prosperity was given me. In the gateway of the guardian spirit, a guardian spirit drew nigh with me.
In the gate of well being, I beheld well being. In the gate of life, I was granted life. And it just goes on. There's many gates, the gate of sunrise, the gate of splendid wonderment, the gate of release from guilt, the gate of petition, the gate of release from sighing, the gate of pure water, gate of conciliation, the gate of joy.
So. Very much an upturn and wonderfulness that is now being experienced.
, you can kind of tell that he was very you know, wealthy and influential, had a high position and in a city. administration, and it all went to heck.
Carey Griffel: Well, just listening to that, it's like, wow, I feel [00:40:00] really bad for this guy.
At first, , he sounded kind of whiny to me because he was talking primarily about his job, and losing his job, and how he's , losing respect amongst people, and things like that. But then it gets into all of the physical stuff, and it's like, holy cow, he's really not doing well here, and ...
I just picture listening to this as somebody from the ancient world, and that's just such a raw kind of imagery, and it's kind of beautiful language as well, which is part of why I wanted to read it. Because ancient literature really can be just such a beautiful thing to picture and listen to, even besides the Bible.
Like the Bible is amazing literature, but there's other literature in the ancient world that is equally as beautiful. We should really be drawing our hearts out to the people who are suffering and the people who are in these kinds of situations. I
Cindy Beaver: [00:41:00] agree. And I also just think that when reading this, you can see how, you know, when the , Babylonian exile was taking place, I mean, the, the Jewish people were exposed to poetry and , these writings, and that would have an influence on what they were writing, even if it was a polemic, you know, where a polemic, meaning an argument against, it's not really this way, but you can see where they would take this imagery but then apply their understanding of God Almighty to it , and turn it.
So, but, but also I just think you see the cultural stream that was flowing through the ancient Near East, how they understand, stood what was going on. And definitely it is a Heavily spiritual in that what was going on was being incurred because of either displeasing a God or some demon spirit or something else.
You see multiple [00:42:00] times he is going to a diviner. He is going to a dream interpreter. I mean, those were the doctors, those were the physicians that he was looking and the omens didn't look good and nothing was coming and he tried and you can even see and hear where. He does hold steadfast, he continues to teach, he continues to have faith that his gods will turn around, and it does eventually happen.
So this is very, very similar , to Job in that respect.
Carey Griffel: I found it very interesting, the dreams that he had. He didn't have those dreams that told him about his... Deliverance until after he had gone and done the checklist of things that he was expected to do.
Cindy Beaver: Right. And then it was, you know, different entities coming to heal him.
It wasn't a correction or he's lamenting his condition. He's never blaming at all He's never questioning. I mean if this is just all [00:43:00] you know This is what happened and this is getting it's getting worse and worse and worse and worse It's not like in Job where Job is going.
Why did you make this happen? And where you know, God then comes and says who are you? Where were you when the foundations of the world we're being laid , and my ways are, higher than, your ways. He's just accepting whatever's coming. He's accepting it.
Carey Griffel: That's an interesting comparison.
Like , there's many similarities to the book of Job and there's these differences as well. It's like maybe the Israelites thought it was okay to take their complaints to God. Whereas the Babylonians thought. We better not do that because we might further make them mad.
Cindy Beaver: Exactly. And I do think that that was part of the relationship that the Israelites had.
I mean, you look at the Psalms, there's a lot of whining and even, wishing bad things on other people in the Psalms.[00:44:00]
Carey Griffel: There's a lot of that.
Cindy Beaver: Yeah. Yeah, it's very honest and upfront , it always turns around and there's always a blessing or you know, a praise at the end.
But they're very forthright with This isn't right and we're not happy about this. And you do not see that here , in the Mesopotamian works at all,
Carey Griffel: right. Instead of actually pleading to their gods to say, take this from me. It's, more like we hope you will.
So we're going to do this list of things. I'm going to pray and I'm going to sacrifice and I'm going to go to all of the festivals and I'm going to try and do everything absolutely right. Because I hope that I'm going to be blessed in the end. Whereas what you see in Job, there is that real back and forth wrestling.
Cindy Beaver: Yes, it's definitely a significant contrast there. And it's intentional.
Carey Griffel: Yeah, and I think that we can take that into our own lives, in our [00:45:00] own circumstances. The modern church has kind of a hard time with this idea of lament.
And taking our problems to God and saying, look, I'm suffering here, God, what's going on? What are you going to do about it? We don't see that kind of discomfort in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, we see we're going to complain to God because this isn't right. And God, you know, God doesn't take that as an offense.
He's not offended because if you are taking real suffering and real evil to God, He's not gonna say, well, you guys just have to suck that up because I just told you to. Sometimes there's that idea that, you know, you are suffering something because you did something you knew you weren't supposed to do and here's the consequences.
But when there's unjust suffering, the suffering that we didn't do anything wrong, so why are we suffering here, God? You can bring that to God, and you can genuinely dialogue with Him [00:46:00] on that.
Cindy Beaver: Agreed. And even then, the answer may be, No, my child. I'm not going to change it. Look at how Paul had some kind of infirmity and he was received the, my grace is sufficient for you.
There, God can use anything. And many times it is, I mean, unfathomable. We don't understand why, , but He makes use of all sorts of adversity for good things. Look at Joseph going to Egypt and look at how God answered the prayers of Israel when they were crying out, you know he does come, he does hear.
It's just that he does it in his own time, according to his plans, which we have no idea. But and if you kind of segueing a little bit, but when you think about people that are, you know, have cancer and have died, I had a very close friend the [00:47:00] where we prayed and prayed and it looked like something might happen and then they took a different approach with the medication and it wound up not being the right choice.
And he, He passed away and he had young children two young boys, but, you know, I just look and it's like my life was still enriched by knowing him and his wife and kids. Yeah, it's been hard, but. I just have to know that God took him or something happened for reasons that we can't understand but on the flip side, we all benefited from the time that we did have together.
Carey Griffel: I want to read a little bit from the book of James in the first chapter, in James chapter one, starting in verse two, it says, quote, count it all joy my brothers. When you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces [00:48:00] steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all, without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.
He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, And the rich in his humiliation. Because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat, And withers the grass. Its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away In the midst of his pursuits.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which [00:49:00] God has promised to those who love him, end quote.
Cindy Beaver: Yes, isn't that nice? It's reassuring.
Carey Griffel: It is, even if we have no idea in the end why we're suffering this, what it's building us up to, we can be sure that it is, and that whatever it is that , it's building us up to in the end is so much better than what we would have had without it.
Cindy Beaver: Yes, that's one of the things that I'm learning as I explore orthodoxy is that our life here on earth is intended to give us time to repent. And repentance doesn't mean confess my sins, although confession is, you know, part of it, but repentance as in the metanoia turn towards God , and working to turn yourself and orient yourself towards God in this world that is so oriented against him. And so there may be trials and [00:50:00] tests, but they look at it and they view it that as opportunities to cling even more dearly to him.
And I mean, they venerate the martyrs and all the martyrdom , and tell the stories of the saints and the triumphs and tragedies that have occurred to them and how those saints have prevailed and how that is building the church of God, as well as you know, sustaining the faith , and there's such wonderful learning lessons for all of us that even through adversity that love can shine and empower you and you can become the beacon on the hill that attracts others to it. That's how Justin Martyr came to faith. It was by watching the Christian martyrs in the arena and going, what is it that they have?
How is it that they're able to still be joyful and do all these things so courageously? and he was just [00:51:00] astounded by that.
Carey Griffel: Well, and think about how much more closely together we become when we help each other in suffering, when we are suffering, and we have to turn to another person when somebody else is suffering, and they turn to us, and they want our help.
That's something that's just, it's deeply personal, and it can be hard to do. Especially here in America in the West, we're like, we just gotta suck it up and deal with it, and we don't want to ask for help from people. But think about the kind of community building that happens when you are able to ask instead of just isolating yourself into your own little worlds and saying, well, it's okay, I'll just kind of deal with it on my own. Where as if you open your heart to other people, you open your own sufferings to other people and say, Can you help me? I'm having a hard time.
I don't even know if you can help me, but can I just explain what's going on? Can I tell you about what's happening [00:52:00] to me? And in that kind of confession and that kind of opening of yourself up in a relational and in a vulnerable way, there is nothing that can happen that is like that in order to build relationships and situations between people.
Like, you cannot build a community without that kind of thing.
Cindy Beaver: And that's exactly what the church is intended to be. It's to be that family, those people that you go to. You know, we're so focused on mission and outreach, but we really also need to be focused on, are we good inside? Is our church family healthy?
Is everybody got what they need and then look to the outside again, it's to have that healthy whole community that you can then do the outreach from, but without that foundational base and support and love for each other. You're not going to be nearly as successful as what you want [00:53:00] to be. I think that's incredibly important and yes, you can help your neighborhood and stuff like that.
But it should all stem first from having internally you are as whole , as you can be and healthy and you're ready to take on more. You look at those early Christians who had, you know, they could no longer participate in the feasts and the guilds and things like that. They lost their jobs and yet everybody was sharing with each other.
Paul was collecting money from Philippi that was not very affluent and sending it off to Jerusalem to help those people. You know, those are the types of things that, again, they were focused not on just healing everybody, but just, let's take care of our family.
I mean, God even said it to the people as they were gonna go into the land. You're gonna move into houses that you didn't build and, reap fields that you didn't sow and drink wine that you didn't make and your bellies are going to get fat and you're going to forget [00:54:00] about me.
That is a reason for why adversity can be used to keep us mindful , of the fact that just because it's good I need to continue this relationship because , that is where the blessings come from. He is the source of blessings.
Carey Griffel: It's hard to see that there is such a beauty that comes from such difficulty, and it's amazing to see people who are going through suffering, who can not just succumb to it, and who can hold on to that hope.
, it's such a hard thing sometimes, and we cannot blame people for the situations where they start losing that hope. And that's why they need the other people. That's why we need such a strong body. To help lift those people up who are struggling to the point where they are at their wit's end and they don't know what they're doing.
And I'm just so grateful that we know that we can have a God that we can fully trust . Who has not only [00:55:00] provided himself, but his body. the church and other people around us who can actively work on the things that we're suffering. And that we can... Be built up as his body in these kinds of situations and that can happen in good situations, too I'm not saying that it's only bad situations that builds up the body because that's not the case but it's the bad situations that are harder to deal with
All right, and so, for those of you who are more interested in these texts, who maybe want to go research a bit , I want to mention another one before we end, just because this is confusing.
Because you have the text that Cindy read, which is usually called the Babylonian Job, then you have the other text that I mentioned that... are very similar, and they can also be called parallels to Job. But there's also another text called the Babylonian Theodicy, which you might get confused with the Babylonian Job.
And I just want to mention this and point it out, [00:56:00] because if you're looking into it and you go, this text doesn't say what that text says, well, it might be a different text. So, the Babylonian Job that Cindy read, he's a righteous sufferer, and this is just kind of a one person narrative.
In the Babylonian Theodicy, there's the sufferer, and he's talking with a dialogue partner known as a sage. And so, just like in Job, Job has dialogue partners, in the Babylonian Theodicy, the sufferer also has a dialogue partner. The difference might be in this book is that the sufferer in the Babylonian Theodicy, he's probably not the righteous sufferer like what we had Cindy read and what we have in Job.
Because in the Babylonian Theodicy, the sufferer ends up going, Well, I don't know why I'm suffering, so I'm just going to turn to a life of petty crime. So, there's that difference, and what I wanted to point out there was that there can be that [00:57:00] difference in our lives when we're talking about the way we suffer, the way we approach it, and the way we think about it.
Because our suffering can lead us into that healthy relationship with other people, and lamenting to God in a healthy way, or we can also have that choice of turning away from God and going, well, I don't know what's going on, so I'm just going to turn into this nihilistic person who just does whatever I want because I don't know why they're suffering.
So there's that very real difference between those two things.
And then also there's a fifth text that I will mention. It's called the Dialogue of Pessimism. And I'm just going to read this from Kenton Sparks here.
He says,
This dialog composed near the beginning of the first millenium BC is more cynical than the similar Babylonian theodicy. Here, a master and slave engage in a sarcastic discussion from [00:58:00] which they conclude that life's activities are pure vanity. In successive rounds, the master announces his intention to engage in an activity. After his wise slave concurs, the master decides not to take the action, to which the slave responds with words of agreement.
Among the master's possible courses of action are chariot drives, The pleasures of dining, having a family, leading a revolution, sex, worshiping God, becoming a money lender, and undertaking public benefits for his country. Particularly striking is the text impiety. When the master decides not to sacrifice to the gods, the slave responds, Do not sacrifice, sir. Do not sacrifice. You can teach your god to run after you like a dog. Equally telling is the slave's response to the master's decision not to undertake a public benefit for his country. Do not perform, sir. Do not perform. Go up on the ancient [00:59:00] ruin heaps and walk about. See the skulls high and low. Which is the malefactor and which is the benefactor?
The text concludes with the master asking his slave what is worth doing. The slave answers that death is the only suitable end for this meaningless life. Modern scholars originally interpreted the dialogue as a serious philosophical composition until Spicer argued that it was humorous and sarcastic.
Lambert has suggested in retrospect that there is some truth in both of these views. The dialogue's author has proffered a serious message. in sarcastic and humorous tones. Whoever the author was, the uniqueness of his impiety marks him as unusual, if not an extraordinary person. There are obvious similarities between the views of life espoused in this text and those espoused by the author of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible.
The two works differ primarily in their conclusions. With Ecclesiastes affirming that life's [01:00:00] transient joys are an end in themselves, whereas the dialogue rejects life's transient in favor of death. The fact that Ecclesiastes seems to have known the pessimistic Gilgamesh epic makes it more likely that he was also familiar with the dialogue of pessimism, end quote.
So I find it quite interesting how nihilism is not a new thing. In the end, I think what we can say is that in the pagan literature, it was so often the case that it was this material wealth and health kind of idea that people were really focused on. I just want a good life with lasting goodness.
the Bible certainly has some sort of emphasis on that sometimes because God is seen as the deliverer and as the benefactor of humanity. But in the Bible, we have this idea that we are meant to become something better, that we are meant to be growing in maturity God is [01:01:00] actively wanting us to become something, rather than just us serving God in order , for God to have His cushy life, so that He is fed by our sacrifices and that kind of a thing. It's a very different kind of a view. But it can be hard for us to read when we see all of these very similar parallels, and we go, Hey, it's saying the same thing, but is it really?
I don't think it is.
Cindy Beaver: No, I think, it was very clear, even from the covenant with Abraham that God's people were meant to be a blessing to the rest of the world. They turned it upside down. Oh, we're the elect, and you can see how this kind of got a misunderstanding along the lines and Jesus had to come and basically say, no, the first shall be last. And all of these things, because they got this perspective that, oh, God chose us, so we're the righteous ones and we're the good ones. And. All the money will come to us and all the wealth of the nations [01:02:00] will come to us. So they wanted the blessing in their eyes had turned into, you know, we're going to be the rich and wealthy, powerful ones.
But really that was never the point as Jesus made incredibly clear. No, no, no, no, no. What is it even in the old Testament? Take care of the orphans and the widows and watch out for , the sojourners in your land treat each other fairly. You know don't go after revenge. Don't make interests on loans and things like that.
Do things for the benefit , and the health . of your community. And so I think those are the things that we need to take away from and I think that was a great observation, Carey, of what the pagan literature is really telling us is, yeah, everybody wants to aspire to the good life and they would do everything they could to hedge their bets and have multiple gods, but also keep in mind that , Even with these relationships with God, they really [01:03:00] never clearly understood what was it that the gods wanted.
They weren't ever clear if, if what I'm doing was the right thing. And if they'll like it today, that they didn't like it yesterday. The blessing that we have is that we have a God that did communicate to us, that did provide us with writing. And he has a mission for us as well.
Carey Griffel: Yes, absolutely. I also noticed in the poem of the Righteous Sufferer, everybody just kind of stands around and goes, Oh, I'm so sorry that you're suffering. That, that's terrible. , they don't do anything for him. , there's no community there.
Cindy Beaver: Well, either that or they're throwing more rocks on him.
You know, it's like everybody wound up ganging up against him. If I even say anything good about him, I'm going to get into trouble. So, you know, whatever happened to you, you're, the plague , and I don't want to have anything to do with you.
The other thing is, is Carey, you can put links in your show notes to some of these resources that are free [01:04:00] online, or the different books that we've been looking at in the summer of my Mesopotamian deep dive reading through these things as well as others really did open my eyes more to what that culture was like.
What were they thinking? And using it to familiarize myself more with that culture so that I could come back to the Bible with fresh eyes and then also see and detect what's different because the Bible is inspired. It does come from God. And so what is it teaching us in contrast to what the general world is thinking?
Carey Griffel: Absolutely. Yes. Thank you so much, Cindy. Thank you, Carey. See you again.
I hope you guys enjoyed this third episode in the Worship series. I do have another episode out where I did address the topic of Theodicy, and that was in my third episode on the Curses. [01:05:00] So if you want to go and check that out, it's episode number 29. Now, on my website, I do have a tab that says Episodes, and you can click that, and it will give you a drop down menu, and it groups episodes together according to the series that they appear in. So I'm going to put this episode in both the Worship Series section, as well as the Ancient Near Eastern Literature episode series, because this fits under both categories.
And I want to thank Cindy once again for reading that selection. That was pretty awesome. I suggest if you're interested in doing a more direct comparison of that literature with the Book of Job, You can read the Book of Job, and you can listen to that, and you can kind of compare and make your own contrasting notes that relate both texts.
You can also go into Ecclesiastes and Lamentations and Psalms. There's a whole lot of connections you can make from that.
All right, well, I appreciate you [01:06:00] listening, as always. I appreciate you sharing these episodes , and letting others know about the podcast. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to my Patreon and PayPal supporters, and thank you for all of the kind words that you guys offer me and Cindy.
I hope you all have a blessed week, and we will see you later.
