Table Of Content‘I HAVE WRITTEN TO THE KING, MY LORD’
Hebrew Bible Monographs, 1
Series Editors
David J.A. Clines
J. Cheryl Exum
Keith W. Whitelam
‘I HAVE WRITTEN TO THE KING, MY LORD’
Secular Analogies for the Psalms
Roger Tomes
SHEFFIELD PHOENIX PRESS
2005
Copyright © 2005 Sheffield Phoenix Press
Published by Sheffield Phoenix Press
Department of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2TN
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Printed on acid-free paper by Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
ISBN 1-905048-092
CONTENTS
Abbreviations vii
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xii
Chapter 1
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PSALMS 1
Chapter 2
OLD TESTAMENT PRAYERS AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN LETTERS 10
Chapter 3
PROTESTATIONS OF LOYALTY AND CONFESSION OF FAULTS 31
Chapter 4
DESCRIPTION OF PLIGHT 44
Chapter 5
APPEAL TO KING’S OR GOD’S OWN INTERESTS 52
Chapter 6
QUOTATION OF ENEMY’S REPROACHES 56
Chapter 7
DIRECT REPROACHES 59
Chapter 8
EXPRESSIONS OF DEPENDENCE 64
Chapter 9
IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS 96
Appendix
THE AMARNA LETTERS AND CANAANITE HYMNS 108
Bibliography 116
Index of References 126
Index of Modern Authors 137
Index of Subjects 140
Index of Names 143
1
ABBREVIATIONS
ABL R.F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters (14 vols.; London:
British Museum; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1892–
1914)
AEM Archives Épistolaires de Mari (Archives royales de Mari, XXVI;
Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1988)
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
AnBib Analecta biblica
ANET James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to
the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1950)
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
AOTS D. Winton Thomas, Archaeology and Old Testament Study
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967)
ARAB D.D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (2
vols.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926–27)
ARE J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt (5 vols.; Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1906–1907)
ARM Archives royales de Mari
ARW Archiv für Religionswissenschaft
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Before the Muses B.R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian
Literature (2 vols.; Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2nd edn, 1996)
BM Egyptian Holdings in the British Museum
BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW
CAD Ignace I. Gelb et al. (eds.), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago: Oriental Institute,
1964–)
CAH Cambridge Ancient History
CH Code of Hammurabi
CoS W.W. Hallo and K.R. Younger (eds.), The Context of Scripture. I.
Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World (Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1996); II. Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World
(1997); III. Archival Documents from the Biblical World (2000).
CT Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British
Museum, 1896–
1
viii ‘I have written to the king, my lord’
CTH E. Laroche, Catalogue des textes hittites (Études et commentaires
75; Paris: Éditions Klincksieck, 1971)
DEPM J.-M. Durand, Les documents épistolaires du palais de Mari
(Littératures anciennes du Proche-Orient, 16-18; Paris: Cerf; I,
1997; II, 1998; III, 2000)
DOTT D. Winton Thomas (ed.), Documents from Old Testament Times
(London: Thomas Nelson, 1958)
EA Amarna tablets
ET English translation
FOTL The Forms of the Old Testament Literature
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
HAT Handbuch zum Alten Testament
HDT Gary Beckman, Hittite Diplomatic Texts (SBL Writings from the
Ancient World, 7; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2nd edn, 1999)
HKAT Handkommentar zum Alten Testament
HPD M.-J. Seux (ed.), Hymnes et prières aux dieux de Babylonie et
d’Assyrie (Littératures anciennes du Proche-Orient, 8; Paris: Cerf,
1976)
HTR Harvard Theological Review
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
Int Interpretation
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series
KBo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, I–VI (Wissenschaftliche
Veröffenlichungen des deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 30 [1916];
36 [1921])
LAS S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings
Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (AOAT, 5; Neukirchen–Vluyn:
Neukirchener Verlag, I [Texts], 1970; II [Commentary and
Appendices], 1983)
ND Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud
OBO Orbis biblicus et orientalis
OECT Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts
OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
OTL Old Testament Library
Prosopography Karen Radner et al. (eds.), The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire I.1: A; I.2: B-G; II.2: L-N; III.1: P-S (Helsinki: Neo-
Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1998–)
PRU Le palais royal d’Ugarit
RB Revue biblique
1
Abbreviations ix
RS Ras Shamra texts
SAA State Archives of Assyria
SAHG A. Falkenstein and W. von Soden, Sumerische und akkadische
Hymnen und Gebete (Die Bibliothek der alten Welt; Zürich:
Artemis-Verlag, 1953)
SBL Society of Biblical Literature
SBLDS SBL Dissertation Series
SJT Scottish Journal of Theology
TBü Theologische Bücherei
THAT Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (eds.), Theologisches
Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament (2 vols.; Munich: Chr.
Kaiser Verlag, 1971–76)
TynBul Tyndale Bulletin
VAB Vorderasiatische Bibliothek
VT Vetus Testamentum
WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament
ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZDMG Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft
ZThK Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche
1
Description:The psalms in the Hebrew Bible have often been compared with the religious texts of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Canaan. Roger Tomes shows, in this incisive monograph, how the letters of the ancient Near East, from Mari, Amarna, Ugarit, Nimrud and Nineveh, are an equally rewarding analogue. In them we fin
