World Civilizations - Mesopotamia, Part 4 | Babylonian Theodicy & Biblical Book of Job

In Part 1 of this series on world civilizations, we explored the political history, language situation, writing system and the lexicographic tradition of the Mesopotamian civilization. In Part 2 of this series, we explored the gods and temples of Mesopotamia. In Part 3, we examined its creation stories and epics. In this part, we will examine their philosophy and study a very important part of life in the Ancient Near East - theodicy and the Biblical Book of Job.

Why Am I Suffering?

In this section, we will study a genre of literature with which the Mesopotamians have left us. Traditionally they have been referred to by two names - “wisdom literature” and “philosophy”. But both of these names are not internal to the tradition and are retrojections from other, much later traditions. The name “wisdom literature” originally referred to four books of the Bible (Job, Proverbs, Songs of Solomon & Ecclesiastes). Philosophy is of course a Greek designation that means “love of wisdom”. However, for the want of a better term, I will continue using the term “wisdom literature”. It is true that this Babylonian wisdom literature greatly influenced the biblical wisdom texts and also ancient Greek philosophy itself. The Greeks themselves acknowledge their indebtedness to Egypt and Babylon - civilizations older than them. The Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily writing in the first century BC wrote that he found the Chaldeans (Babylonians) interesting not because of their military feats but because “being assigned to the service of the gods, they spend their entire time philosophizing¹”. Later Neo-Platonist philosophers used what they called as the Chaldean oracles - texts that originated in Babylonia. So, it is important to understand them so that we later get a clear idea as to where exactly the later Jewish, Greek & Christian thinkers would get their ideas. However, the biblical authors in the Abrahamic Jewish tradition never credit Babylonia even though the wisdom books in their Bible are modified rip-offs from the Babylonian wisdom books² (like their creation account in Genesis Chapter 1 is a monotheistic modification of the Babylonian Enuma Elish creation story which we saw in Part 2.

One of the greatest questions that every civilization has struggled to deal with is:

Why do the good people suffer and the wicked people prosper?

In my opinion, this question can never be answered perfectly. Even if it is indeed answered to any level of satisfaction - it still would not alleviate the pain experienced during the actual process of suffering. But - the way any civilization tries to answer this question, intimately influences and is influenced by its worldview and psyche. This question is technically called as theodicy in philosophy - derived from two Greek words theos (meaning: god) and dice (meaning: justice). It basically tries to address the question of why would God/gods allow the wicked to prosper and the good to suffer. Some traditions deal with this question by denying the proposal and instead answering that God/the gods for sure does indeed make the good prosper and the wicked suffer - hence the suffering of the good that we see, is not actually suffering at all at a deeper level and is just an illusion. Christianity and Islam solve this problem by positing an afterlife where the good who suffer in this life are compensated by an eternal reward in the afterlife. The Indic traditions use the worldview of the cosmic moral order of karma to solve it, by postulating that our own deeds are responsible for our suffering and prosperity - if we suffer now, it is due to the bad deeds that we did in a previous life, and hence makes us accept it. Buddhism shifts the focus entirely and takes suffering as an intrinsic characteristic of human life and existence. It makes us shift our focus to nirvāṇa- the cessation of desire to escape from it. The Greek tragedians imply that suffering is a medium to teach us a lesson and gives wisdom. We will see how various other traditions answer this question as we move about in this series but we shall focus here on a Mesopotamian answer to this question.

This poem called Babylonian Theodicy tries to address this issue in the form of a story that involves a dialogue between a suffering person and his friend. There is another Akkadian poem called Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi that has a very similar theme; but we will focus in this article only on the Babylonian Theodicy text (BT), abbreviated from here on as BT for short. We will also see later how the book of Job in the Jewish Bible deeply parallels this BT text by placing them side by side. The BT text is missing at places due to damage to the tablets and hence some parts in between are blanked. Let us first sample the BT text. If you want to read the text in full, it is contained in a textbook by W.G. Lambert ^{3, 4}. The BT begins with a person who is suffering and is not named - hence we shall call him as the sufferer. He is addressing his friend who is also not named - hence we shall call him as the friend. The entire book is a dialogue between the sufferer and the friend. The text begins with the sufferer recounting his suffering to the friend where he says that he lost his parents after his birth, he had no inheritance as he was the youngest child, his health has wrecked, his property has gone, and that his fields are not yielding:

I am finished. Anguish has come upon me. I was a youngest child ; fate took my father ; O My mother who bore me departed to the Land of No Return. My father and mother left me without a guardian.

…

My body is a wreck, emaciation darkens [me,] My success has vanished, my stability has gone.

My strength is enfeebled, my prosperity has ended, Moaning and grief have blackened my features. The corn of my fields is far from satisfying [me,] My wine, the life of mankind, is too little for satiety. Can a life of bliss be assured ? I wish I knew how!

BT I: 8-11, III: 27-33

The friend then responds by trying to console him by saying that everything will eventually be alright, death is inevitable and that a humble person who worships god will indeed be protected and accumulate wealth. He exhorts him to keep worshiping the gods who would then give him justice and asserts that a life of piety will not go unrewarded. Then, the sufferer begins to ask his usual share of expected questions after pointing out various examples where the people who did bad things were prosperous and who did good, suffering. He says that the gods have forsaken him.

Sufferer: Just one word would I put before you. Those who neglect the god, go the way of prosperity, while those who pray to the goddess are impoverished and dispossessed. In my youth I sought the will of my god; With prostration and prayer I followed my goddess. But I was bearing a profitless corvée as a yoke. My god decreed instead of wealth destitution. A cripple is my superior, a lunatic outstrips me. The rogue has been promoted, but I have been brought low.

BT VII: 69-77

The friend then tries to reason with him by saying that it is blasphemous to think like that about the gods. It is unclear what the sufferer replies as the tablet containing the text is intermittently damaged. The friend says something else and then the sufferer says that he is fed up and that he will abandon everything and roam like a beggar (BT XIII) to which the friend replies and the text becomes unclear again due to the damage to the tablets. Then in BT XVII, the sufferer remarks how powerful fate is and how easily the rich can become poor and the poor can become rich. The text again is unclear but we get that the friend again exhorts the sufferer to become pious. Then the sufferer and friend have last rounds of intense discussions on this same issue. Let us look at them a little closely.

Friend: Unless you seek the will of the god, what luck have you? He that bears his god’s yoke never lacks food, though it be sparse. Seek the kindly wind of the god, What you have lost over a year you will make up in a moment.

BT XXII 239-242

Sufferer: I have looked around society, but the evidence is contrary. The god does not impede the way of a devil…How have I profited that I have bowed down to my god? I have to bow beneath the base fellow that meets me; The dregs of humanity, like the rich and opulent, treat me with contempt.

BT XXIII 243-244, 251-253

Then, the friend seems to finally give a sort of answer to the question of theodicy by espousing that the gods’ ways are mysterious. Perhaps, humans can never know why the gods act the way they do - like why they make one man to be born fortunate while the other one crippled.

Friend: O wise one, O savant, who masters knowledge, In your anguish you blaspheme the god. The divine mind, like the center of the heavens, is remote; Knowledge of it is difficult; the masses do not know it. Among all the creatures whom Aruru formed, the prime offspring is altogether [text is damaged here] …In the case of a cow, the first calf is lowly, the later offspring is twice as big. A first child is born a weakling, but the second is called an heroic warrior. Though a man may observe what the will of the god is, the masses do not know it.

BT XXIV 254-264

To this, the sufferer again responds by describing the evils of this world one last time.

Sufferer: People extol the word of a strong man who is trained in murder, but bring down the powerless who has done no wrong. They confirm the wicked whose crime is .[…text damaged here…..], yet suppress the honest man who heeds the will of his god. They fill the [storehouse] of the oppressor with gold, but empty the larder of the beggar of its provisions. They support the powerful, whose … is guilty, But destroy the weak and drive away the powerless. And as for me, the penurious, nouveau riche is persecuting me.

BBT XXV 267-275

The friend actually in response accepts the claim of the sufferer. He seems to have accepted that lies and false witness are part of human nature because the gods should have themselves made it and agrees to the possibility that the gods, though mysterious, did indeed endow mankind with injustice and unfairness.

Friend: Narru, king of the gods, who created mankind, and majestic Zulummar, who dug out their clay, and mistress Mami, the queen who fashioned them, gave perverse speech to the human race - with lies, and not truth, they endowed them for ever. Solemnly they speak in favor of a rich man, “He is a king,” they say, “riches go at his side.” But they harm a poor man like a thief, they lavish slander upon him and plot his murder, making him suffer every evil like a criminal, because he has no protection. Terrifyingly they bring him to his end, and extinguish him like a flame.

BT XXVI 276-286

The conclusion however is optimistic; wherein the friend says that he will continue to worship the gods and is still hopeful that they would alleviate his suffering because he seems to have accepted that no matter what, it is ultimately the gods who are his only refuge and it is only them who can release him from suffering.

Sufferer: You are kind, my friend; behold my grief. Help me; look at my distress; know it. I, though humble, wise, and a suppliant, have not seen help and succor for one moment. I have trodden the square of my city unobtrusively. My voice was not raised, my speech was kept low. I did not raise my head, but looked at the ground, I did not worship even as a slave in the company of my associates. May the god who has thrown me off give help. May the goddess who has [abandoned me] show mercy, For the shepherd Šhamaš (remember the god of sun and justice?) guides the people like a god.

BT XXVII 287-297

Again, we see the overall pessimistic mindset of the people from the geography of Mesopotamia (unpredictable floods remember?) reflected in the skepticism of this story - yes, the gods are the only hope but their ways are too mysterious and unpredictable for humans to comprehend.

Another similar work comes from a piece of tablet now referred to as Counsels of a Pessimist(CP). It is a part of a larger work - only a single tablet survives. This recognizes the transitory nature of all human activity but still exhorts the reader to continue with tasks like to continue the duties of religion, and not to neglect the agricultural tasks.

[Whatever] men do does not last forever. Mankind and their achievements alike come to an end. [As for] you, offer prayers to (your) god, let your free-will offering be constantly before the god who created you. Bow down to your city goddess that she may grant you offspring. Take thought for your livestock, remember the planting. For your first-born son and daughter [… text missing… . .]. Cause your [first-born] son and daughter to […text missing….]. Do [not] let evil sleep affect your heart. Banish misery and suffering from your side. Misery and suffering produce a dream, though the dream makes bad [ . . .text missing…] your heart. Let [your] heart be quit of [. . .text missing . .. ]. Remove [. . text missing… ]. Your countenance [ … text missing… . . ] may [make your face] smile.

These Babylonian tales of suffering definitely had an influencing hand on one of the books of the Hebrew Bible - the book of Job. This is my most favorite book from the Hebrew Bible because theologically it is the most deviant among all the other books in the Biblical canon. When we study the Abrahamic Israelite civilization in a future article, we will soon see that its religion is based on a idea called deuteronomistic theology - which roughly means that:

A nation prospers if it keeps up the laws that are issued by God and it fails if it disobeys the laws that are issued by God.

We will see a more precise definition of it in the respective article. But if you read the initial books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), the stories have you believe that the people of Israel prosper if they are faithful to God and suffer if they are disloyal to God. But the book of Job directly confronts this question head on by telling the story of a righteous man named Job who is tested by God and suffers a lot. Some of the most memorable quotes from the Bible are from that book but at once you will realize when you read it that the Babylonian hand is at play. The Israelites were constantly interacting with the Middle East through trade and diplomacy and the Jews were also exiled in Babylon in the 6th century BCE after the Babylonians conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem. The book begins with Job - who is described as a righteous man and faithful to God and is endowed with all riches. Then, a character referred to as “the accuser” comes to God.

Note: The Hebrew word for “the accuser” is “ha-satan” from which we get our word “Satan”, standing for the Devil but in Judaism, there is no Devil. This character is simply an accuser. Later, Christians and Muslims would turn him into a cosmic enemy figure of God. But since the King James Bible uses “Satan” to refer to “the accuser”, I will call him by that name only assuming that you will remember that this is not the Devil that developed later in Christianity. I will be quoting the King James version (KJV) because the verses from it are so popular in English literature! Since the KJV is archaic, I will in square brackets include a modern rendition for difficult phrases.

God says to Satan (Job 1:8):

Hast thou [have you] considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Then, Satan says to God that Job is faithful simply because God has endowed him with all the choicest riches and blessings. He tells God that Job will stop being faithful to God the moment he removes all of Job’s blessings. A memorable verse is:

Satan says to God (Job 1:11):

But put forth thine [your] hand now, and touch all that he hath [has], and he will curse thee [you] to thy [your] face.

Then, God agrees to the bet and allows Satan to inflict upon Job anything he’d like - the only condition is that Job himself should not die. First, Job loses his wealth, cattle, camels, servants and his children and grandchildren are all killed in a storm. But we are told that Job is still faithful to God. He mourns in the traditional Israelite fashion after which he says the following memorable verse in English literature:

Job says (Job 1:21):

Naked came I [I came naked] out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither [there]: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Now, Satan begins to inflict damage on Job’s physical health to see if his faith withers away. He inflicts Job with nasty diseases and boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot and nobody even wants to come near him as he is diseased and looks disgusting. His wife asks him to curse God and die. Then, three friends come and visit Job (remember the sufferer and his friend from BT?). First, they sit silently with him for seven days and then they begin to talk. Job is angry and he lets out his outrage. He wishes he had never been born. Over the next 35 chapters, Job keeps asking the same question - why me? His friends tell him that if Job is suffering, it must be because he has sinned - that is the standard Deuteronomistic theology assumed in the rest of the Bible. But both the text and Job himself makes it clear that he was righteous and faithful. Finally in Chapter 38, we have God himself speaking to Job. Note that in BT, the gods don’t talk to the sufferer but in another Babylonian story of the same genre (which I made mentioned as Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi), this indeed happens and hence this is also a Babylonian influence in the Bible. But instead of God answering Job’s question, God bombards Job with his own questions! God asks Job something like⁵ “Where were you when I laid down the foundations of the earth?”, “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and made the dawn know its place?” etc. God keeps pushing Job and tells him that he has existed forever and that he rules over the universe while on the other hand Job is a mere mortal and hence his questions have a limited significance and scope in the grand scheme of things. Finally in Chapter 42, Job is completely humbled and thoroughly chastised by God’s almighty power and confesses his ignorance. Early on, Job had complained that he did not understand why God allowed these tragedies to happen to him but at that time, he was completely absorbed in his experience. But in Chapter 42, Job realizes that he was all too focused on himself and confesses his ignorance about the nature of his life and as a creature of God and accepts that he has only finite ability to understand the knowledge of God and his universe.

To quote from the Bible:

Job says (Job 42:1-6): I know that You [God] can do all things, and that no plan is impossible for You. ‘Who is this who conceals advice without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I do not know. ‘Please listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You will instruct me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, and I repent, sitting on dust and ashes.

But is it a satisfactory answer? That in the grand scheme of things, it does not matter and the gods/God work(s) in mysterious ways which cannot be understood by humans who have a limited capacity? (Job 11:7 - “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”). This is the best solution that the authors of BT and Job seem to offer.

References

1. Diodorus II 29.2
2. Clarke, Benjamin ”Misery Loves Company: A Comparative Analysis of Theodicy Literature in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel.” Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 2, no. 1 (2010).
3. William G Lambert, “Babylonian Wisdom Literature”, Oxford University Press 1963
4. To view the BT text online, refer this.
5. Job 38