Journal for Semitics - Volume 22, Issue 1, January 2013

Journal for Semitics has been priviledged to publish the annual Van Selms Memorial Lecture since 2010. The lecture is the keynote address at the annual congress of the South African Society of Near Eastern Studies (SASNES). In 2012, the lecture was read by H.F. van Rooy, and is published in this volume. Professor van Rooy also penned this brief biographical essay on the life and work of Adrianus van Selms.

Ezekiel 18 is one of the most important chapters in the book of Ezekiel. The chapter contains a number of textual problems, but the ancient versions, the Septuagint, Peshitta, Vulgate, and Targum can help the reader to solve these textual problems. The Septuagint demonstrates the existence of two textual traditions of Ezekiel. The Targum has a number of examples of the way in which this chapter was interpreted in a Jewish context. The Vulgate contains some indications of the interpretation of the text in an early Christian context. The Peshitta confirms many of the readings of the Masoretic Text against the Greek, but also demonstrates the way a translator transformed his text to simplify it for his readers.

The ancient Near Eastern social values of honour and shame are textually portrayed through the behaviour and beliefs of characters in a narrative. An example of the narrative and textual portrayal of these social values is made evident in a critical reading of the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36), based on the values identified by John Pilch and Bruce Malina (1998:xv-xxix), in order to compare the models of honourable and shameful behaviour as portrayed by a watcher (Semjaza), and by an archangel (Michael). This comparative reading shows that the values of the ancient Near Eastern people are represented in narratives of religious texts, and are embodied by the deities in whom they believed. This demonstrates the ancient cultural conceptions of the duality of honour and shame as portrayed by a fallen angel and an archangel, respectively; and shows the consequences of honourable and shameful actions.

Inanna/Ishtar is regarded as the most important goddess of the Sumerian pantheon, yet she disrupted the social order and distorted the normative boundaries of Mesopotamian society. The classification of Inanna/Ishtar has proven to be problematic. This article attempts to assess the extent to which the trickster archetype can be applied to the goddess Inanna/Ishtar, and how this aspect can illuminate her entire personality. Two myths are studied, namely the myth of Inanna and Enki, and the narrative in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh which depicts an altercation between Ishtar and Gilgamesh. The portrayal(s) of the goddess in these myths hold true to the paradoxical nature of the goddess, which can be identified with the trickster archetype. It can be argued that Inanna/Ishtar's identification with the trickster reflects the progressively marginalised position of females in the ancient Near East, although it was recognized that they had some power with which to obtain their goals.

In Old Babylonian Nippur, the family division agreement from a deceased estate is an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole ownership by re-allocating and trading their rights to the inherited deceased estate assets. This article is concerned with some of the unique solutions found in the Nippur division agreement where deceased estate assets are divided meticulously into equal portions of sole ownership. Special attention is given to the in-na-an-búr-clause balancing the value of each deceased estate asset awarded to a beneficiary as a quid pro quo in conjunction with the rule of preference-portion of the eldest brother (^gišbanšur zag-gú-lá síb-ta mu-nam-šeš-gal-šè) and casting of lots (^giššub-ba-ta in-ba-eš).

Comparative studies of ancient Near Eastern prophecy in recent years have focussed on the distinction between inductive forms of divination, such as extispicy and astrology, which involve the so-called "scholarly" interpretation of natural phenomena and non-inductive, or mediumistic, forms of divination, usually associated with various forms of shamanism, including prophecy. Using Isaiah 14:28-32 as a test case, this article questions the epistemological distinction between inductive and intuitive divination in the ancient Near East on the basis of recent anthropological theory that claims a combination of inductive, intuitive, and interpretive techniques wherever divination is practiced.

The absence of the evaluative formula on the second day of creation in the Genesis 1:1-2:4a creation narrative necessitates the question: Why is the r?qîa' not pronounced "good"? In this paper, it is argued that the r?qîa' is not pronounced "good" due to its function as a separator between heaven and earth - God's dwelling being heaven, and humanity's dwelling being earth. This is particularly so taking into consideration that the Genesis 1:1-2:4a creation narrative depicts creation as a temple. From this perspective, the temple is a microcosm of creation and therefore the parallelism between temple and creation is the key to understanding why the r?qîa' is not pronounced "good". The r?qîa' correlates with the parōket, the inner veil of the temple, which functioned as the barrier of the Most Holy Place, Yahweh's dwelling. Thus, the establishment of the r?qîa' anticipated a dualism of creation, which, from a canonical perspective, has to be overcome.

The problematic structure of Psalm 47, on which there is no consensus, comes under scrutiny in this study as it makes interpretation of some key themes in the psalm difficult. The main concern of this study is an analysis that will determine a working structure as the structure would in turn form the framework for the socio-historical interpretation of the text. The objective of this study is to determine a structure based on an analysis that takes as its point of departure the poetic techniques found within the psalm, followed by a syntactical, stichometric, and structural analysis of the poem. The poetic techniques within the psalm will be emphasised as they are key to understanding the structural layout of the poem.

Depictions of bull-leaping are found in Middle Bronze Age art of the late third- to the mid-second millennium BCE in Egypt, Anatolia, the Levant, and on Minoan Crete. Four main types of bull-leap can be identified: the "classic type", the "schema of the diving leaper", the "schema of the floating leaper", and a fourth type which involved passing beneath the bull. The bull-leaping depictions are compared to the recortes (a type of bull-sport practised in some parts of modern-day Spain) in order to identify which of the visual representations could have been executed by ancient Near Eastern leapers. These depictions will further be analysed and compared to determine if the peoples of the ancient Near East were familiar with and had first-hand knowledge of bull-leaping, and whether it ever occurred as a practice in any area of the ancient Near East.

By making smoke offerings to the bronze/copper serpent נחשׁתן the Israelites aligned themselves with the "abominable" practices of their pagan ANE neighbours. Jonker (2008:132) suggests that in the rewriting of the Deuteronomic history, the omission of the destruction of נחשׁתן during Hezekiah's reforms derived from the Chronicler's desire to harmonize "the different traditions without compromising himself by introducing associations that would jeopardize his programme of forming a new identity". Apparently for theological reasons, some priestly factions were concerned with camouflaging the practice of magic and divination in Israelite history. However, the definition of magic depends on the "religio-cultural framework for which and within which it is defined", and in the Jewish tradition, magic and mystic are firmly tied together (Mach 2000:235). In Ezekiel 1, in the text which became a foundation of merkebah mysticism, חשׁמל contributes to the description of some sort of "to and fro" communication emanating from God's throne (Evans 2007). By considering the biblical references to, and the lexicography of נחשׁתן, נחשׁ, נחשׁמ and חשׁמל (all of which are associated with bronze/copper and share two consonants), this investigation explores the possibility that the connection of the perceived magical qualities of נחשׁתן to חשׁמל may have contributed to the omission, especially in view of the rabbinic prohibition of unauthorised reading of the merkebah chapters Ezekiel 1 and 10.

This article enquires to what extent there might or might not be "good news" in the message of this so-called "one-theme-prophet". To do this the multi-dimensional/layered socio-rhetorical methodology of Robbins is followed. Attention is paid to the inner texture, inter-texture, and ideological texture of the book of Nahum. Firstly it was shown that the "good news" in Nahum appears in many of the textures of the text. Sometimes the messenger brings news of a fallen city (Nah 1:15) and people rejoice and are encouraged to fulfil their vows. On another occasion there is no news (Nah 2:13), and this becomes "good news" and finally people hear that Assyria (Nineveh) has fallen and they applaud (Nah 3:19). This good news depended on the positioning of the person who hears (שׁמﬠ) this news. Secondly, an inter-textual reading with Isaiah and Lamentations strengthened the case for the "relativity of good news". These inter-textual readings showed that Judah does not only rejoice over fallen cities, but also laments. It all depends on your positioning. Finally it is shown that Nahum is clothed with ideology and that this ideology affects the way God is portrayed.

Applying cognitive linguistics to the text of Psalm 2 is shown to be indispensable for a more comprehensive understanding of this psalm. Studying the poet's use of cognitive concepts such as "heaven" and "earth", as well as his reference to Zion and certain body-parts, makes it possible to reconstruct the psalm as a form of "body-cosmology". In this exegetical structure, Psalm 2 can be described as a liturgical poem which was possibly recited during the anointing ceremonies of the Judean kings. Here, a mere human being is re-created as the "son of Yahweh" to rule as an extension of Yahweh's "god-space" over "that-which-is-below". Any rebellion from within "earthly space" will be dealt with by Yahweh himself.

This paper offers a philosophical clarification of the sense and logic behind the concept of goodness as it occurs in Genesis 1. Many readings of the chapter either bracket these issues or assign it what is thought to be an obvious utilitarian, moral, legal, aesthetic, or theological connotation. The contention of this article is that these views fail to take seriously the metaphysical riddles inherent in the narrative's ontology and beg the question as to the sensibility and folk-philosophical context of the concept of goodness in Genesis 1. Following an initial overview of the relevant data and an outline of the problematic, G.E. Moore's open question argument suggesting the indefinable nature of goodness as a non-natural property is brought to bear on the discussion. The presentation concludes with a philosophical clarification of the axiological assumptions in the text via categories in value theory.

Prior to the discovery of the Ugaritic texts at Ras Shamra in 1929, the Hebrew Bible was considered the leading authority on the Canaanite religion. An abundance of tablets were uncovered at Ras Shamra, disclosing that Ugaritic is of great significance for research on the development of the Canaanite script and literature. Although belonging to the Canaanite family, the Ugaritic cuneiform alphabetic and consonant script is closer to biblical Hebrew. Both in context and language, epics in the Ugaritic and the biblical literature have much in common. The majority of these texts are of mythological character, furnishing information on the cults of, inter alia, the deities Ba'al, El, and Asherah. The Ugaritic texts evince certain cultural similarities with early Israelite material and thus provide some background regarding the development of the Israelite religion. The aim of this article is to indicate that the Canaanite cult and the gods of the Ugaritic pantheon played a significant role in the religion of Israel. Knowledge of this role contributes to our understanding of the history of the Hebrew Bible.