by Brian Godawa
[62] The Return of Ninurta to Nippur, Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-. < http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/ninurta/nippurninurta.htm> [63] “Ugarit,” Avraham Negev, The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. 3rd ed. New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1996.
[64] Wyatt, RTU2, pp 69-70.
[65] In Wyatt, RTU2, pp 79. Charioteer of the Clouds also appears in these texts: KTU 1.3:4:4, 6, 26; 1.4:3:10, 18; 1.4:5:7, 60; 1.10:1:7; 1.10:3:21, 36; 1.19:1:43; 1.92:37, 39.
[66] KTU 1.2:4:27-32.
[67] Though this verse is spoken by the goddess Anat, Baal’s sister, as if she accomplished these exploits, it is described as Baal’s actions in other texts (KTU 1.5:1:1-35) that lead scholars to conclude that Anat’s claims are a kind of sympathetic unity of action between her and Baal.
[68] KTU 1.5:1:1-4. Wyatt RTU2, p 115.
[69] Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. The Ugaritic Pantheon (dissertation). Ann Arbor, Mich: Brandeis University, 1973, p 212.
[70] Michael Fishbane, Biblical Myth and Mythmaking, Oxford University Press, 2003, 39.
[71] Mitchell Dahood S.J., Psalms II 51-100 The Anchor Yale Bible (Yale University Press, 1995) 24.
[72] Odes of Solomon 22:5. James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament, Volume 2: Expansions of the "Old Testament" and Legends, Wisdom, and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Works (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1985).
[73] See also Isa 51:9; Ezek 32:2; Rev 12:9, 16, 17;
[74] An Akkadian equivalent of “Rabu” can be found on the Babylonian Map of the World describing a sea serpent. Wayne Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, Winona Lake; IN: Eisenbrauns, 1998, 35; “Rahab,” DDD, 684.
[75] Psalm 18, 29, 24, 29, 65, 74, 77, 89, 93, and 104 all reflect Chaoskampf. See also Exodus 15, Job 9, 26, 38, and Isa 51:14-16; 2Sam 22.
[76] John Owen, Works, 16 vols. (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965-1968), Vol. 9 134.
[77] See also Psa. 77:16-20; 136:1-22.
[78] N.T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992), 306-307.
[79] James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Volume 1, 1 En 18 (New York; London: Yale University Press, 1983).
[80] The book that opened my mind to the Mesopotamian cosmography in the Bible was Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution by Denis O. Lamoureux, Eugene; OR, Wipf & Stock, 2008. I owe much of the material in this essay to Mr. Lamoureux’s meticulous research on the ancient science in the Bible. But one need not accept his evolutionary presuppositions to agree with his Biblical scholarship.
[81] Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, Winona Lake; IN: Eisenbrauns, 1972, 1997, 16-59.
[82] Wayne Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, Winona Lake; IN: Eisenbrauns, 1998, xii-xiii.
[83] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 25-27.
[84] Photo is public domain (Courtesy of the British Museum). Illustration is my own based on Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 21.
[85] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 320, 334. This interpretation continued to maintain influence even into the Greek period of the 6th century B.C. (41).
[86] A Sumerian hymn to the god Enlil, Lord of the Wind, represents these ends of the earth within the context of the god’s rule over all the earth: “Lord, as far as the edge of heaven, lord as far as the edge of earth, from the mountain of sunrise to the mountain of sunset. In the mountain/land, no (other) lord resides, you exercise lordship. Enlil, in the lands no (other) lady resides, your wife, exercises ladyship.” Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 331.
“Circle of the earth” in Egyptian understanding meant the disc of the earth unto the horizon
“(These) lands were united, and they laid their hands upon the land as far as the Circle of the Earth.” “Inscription on the second pylon at Medinet Habu,” J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, University of Chicago, 1906, p 64.
[87] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 195-97, 334.
[88] “ḥûg” Harris, R. Laird, Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. electronic ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, p 266-67.
[89] Even the Septuagint (LXX) does not translate the Hebrew word into the Greek word for sphere. “Isaiah 40:22,” Randall Tan, David A. deSilva, and Logos Bible Software. The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint. Logos Bible Software, 2009.
[90] “The Firmament And The Water Above: Part I: The Meaning Of Raqia In Gen 1:6-8,”
Paul H. Seely, The Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991) 227-40.
[91] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 98, 124, 308-12, 336-37.
[92] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, p 348-362
[93] “Sheol,” DDD, p 768.
[94] “Abaddon,” DDD, p 1.
[95] “Hades,” DDD, p 382.
[96] “They then conducted them [the Titans] under the highways of the earth as far below the ground as the ground is below the sky, and tied them with cruel chains. So far down below the ground is gloomy Tartarus...Tartarus is surrounded by a bronze moat...above which the roots of earth and barren sea are planted. In that gloomy underground region the Titans were imprisoned by the decree of Zeus.” Norman Brown, Trans. Theogony: Hesiod. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1953, p 73-4.
[97] 1.25 ταρταρόω [tartaroo] Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains. electronic ed. of the 2nd edition. New York: United Bible societies, 1996. Bauckham, Richard J. Vol. 50, Word Biblical Commentary : 2 Peter, Jude. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002, p 248-249.
[98] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, p 334-348.
[99] The Epic of Gilgamesh XI:40-44. The Ancient Near East an Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Edited by James Bennett Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958, p 93.
[100] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, p 337.
[101] “[Leviathan] regards the netherworld [Tartauros] of the deep [Abyss] like a prisoner. He regards the deep [Abyss] as a walk.” Job 41:34, Tan, Randall, David A. deSilva, and Logos Bible Software. The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint. Logos Bible Software, 2009.
[102] “The Firmament And The Water Above: Part I: The Meaning Of Raqia In Gen 1:6-8,”
Paul H. Seely, The Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991) 227-40. http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/Seely-Firmament-WTJ.pdf [103] Quoted in The Science in Torah: the Scientific Knowledge of the Talmudic Sages By Leo Levi, page 90-91.
[104] Seely, “The Firmament,” p 236.
[105] Robert G. Bratcher, and William David Reyburn. A Translator's Handbook on the Book of Psalms. Helps for translators. New York: United Bible Societies, 1991, p 280. Psalm 29 takes place in heaven amidst God’s heavenly host around his throne.
[106] Seely, “The Firmament,” p 228.
[107] Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography.
[108] Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, Winona Lake; IN: Eisenbrauns, 1972, 1997, 56-57.
[109] John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (Downers Grove: IL, InterVarsity Press, 2009), 23-36.