Digging Up the Bible: A Congregation of Idols

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Sumerian Congregation of Idols
(Early 3^rd millennium BC)

The Iraq expedition of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago discovered these statues in ancient Eshnunna (modern Tel Asmar, 75 miles northeast of Babylon). The figures date from the early 3^rd millennium B.C. and represent Sumerian idols around the time of Job. (Sumerians were the largest non-Semitic group in Mesopotamia at this time, although they differed from other groups primarily in language rather than in customs.)

 

Sumerians worshiped a pantheon of gods (and goddesses), and their representation of them as idols contradicted the LORD's repeated prohibition:

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below (Exod 20:4).

Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. (Lev 19:4)

Do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape. (Deut 4:16)

Nevertheless, they believed it possible to have an intimate communion with a single deity. Thorkild Jacobsen, author of The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion, explains it this way (p. 147):

The religious individual sees himself as standing in close personal relationship to the divine, expecting help and guidance in his personal life and personal affairs, expecting divine anger and punishment for his sins, but also profoundly trusting to divine compassion, forgiveness, and love for him if he sincerely repents. In sum: the individual matters to God, God cares about him.

The Sumerian document, "A Man and His God" from Nippur (c. 2000 B.C.), offers an example of this connection to the divine and parallels the book of Job. Both texts address the issue of suffering (theodicy), a topic that concerned the sages of many cultures. The main character, once prosperous and healthy, suffers with a painful disease and laments his misfortune:

 

	A Man and His God	Job
Friends	My companion says not a true word to me. My friend gives the lie to my righteous word.	A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends.... But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams. (Job 6:14-15)
Intercessor	Let not my mother who bore me cease my lament before you.	If only there were someone to arbitrate between us. (Job 9:33)
Despair	For me the day is black.	My days...come to an end without hope. (Job 7:6)
Anguish	Tears, lament, anguish, and depression are lodged within me.	If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! (Job 6:2)
Disease	The malignant-sickness demon bathes in my body.	My body is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin is broken and festering. (Job 7:5)
Plea	How long will you neglect me?	I cry out to you...but you do not answer. (Job 30:20)
Sin	[The sages say:] Never has a sinless child been born to its mother.	[Eliphaz says:] What is...one born of a woman that he can be righteous? (Job 15:14)
Confession	My god, now that you have shown me my sins.... I would confess my sins before you.	Tell me what charges you have against me.... though you know that I am not guilty. (Job 10:2,7)
Restoration	He turned the man's suffering into joy.	The LORD made him prosperous again. (Job 42:10)

 

Despite their similarities, "A Man and His God" and the Book of Job differ in a way that distinguishes the pagan view from the scriptural view. In Mesopotamian theology, man's sin is the cause of suffering, and the remedy is clear: Man must confess his guilt and repent of his sin, which may sound like a proper response, at least on the surface. But in biblical theology, man's sin may not be the cause of suffering—that was Job's initial and erroneous assumption. The cause is not necessarily singular.

 

Such contingency demands confidence that even undeserved suffering is not out of the true God's control. So Jesus answers the disciples' query about a man born blind:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." (John 9:2-3)

The pagan view is far too simplistic. While all suffering is the consequence of living in a fallen world, all suffering is not the direct result of a person's sin. Theodicy requires a more comprehensively nuanced treatment of the problem.

 

Significance for Biblical Studies: A Sumerian Congregation of idols illustrates the stark contrast between worship of the one true God by those who are His people and worship of the many false gods by those who are not His people. Despite any seeming similarities between them, they are not the same, and Israel must recognize the difference. So He commands, "Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves.... I am the LORD your God" (Lev 26:1).

 

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