Invoking the God: Interpreting Invocations in Mesopotamian Prayers and Biblical Laments of the Individual

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) Since the earliest comparative analyses of biblical and Mesopotamian materials, scholars have noted a striking difference between the form of the Psalter's laments of the individual and the Akkadian suilla-prayers.1 The latter begin with an invocation and hymnic prologue; the former have only a very brief invocation, often consisting of nothing more than a word or two. Several influential biblical interpreters have attached great significance to this difference, making comparative and even theological generalizations that inevitably exalt Israel over its imperial Mesopotamian neighbor. Although this difference between the Hebrew and Akkadian prayers is unmistakable, I argue in this brief study that the comparison is illformed. Based on a well-known social model of prayer and an idea formulated in ritual studies that the level of formality in ritual is often directly related to the social distance or proximity between the parties involved, I offer a more anthropologically grounded explanation for each form of invocation and the comparative contrast noted above. Turning to the observation that the brief invocation in the Hebrew laments of the individual is actually more comparable to the invocation in the Akkadian dingir.sa.dib.ba-prayers-supplications for the abatement of a personal god's wrath,2 I suggest that the invocations in both the Hebrew laments of the individual and the Akkadian dingir.sa.dib.ba-prayers are brief because both reflect a more familiar connection between the supplicant and the deity entreated than do the suillas. This interpretation provides further support for seeing a personal aspect to the god presented in the Psalter's laments of the individual. Besides countering improper comparative generalizations and thereby contributing another example for the critical assessment of theological bias in the history of our field, this brief study exemplifies a methodological paradigm that may prove fruitful for future comparative work. I. PRAYER INVOCATIONS AND PAST INTERPRETERS In most laments of the individual in the Hebrew Psalter the invocation is simply ..., "O Yahweh" (see, e.g., Pss 3:2; 6:2) or, as would be expected in the Elohistic Psalter, ...), "O God" (see, e.g., Pss 43:1; 51:3). Other invocations are just as short, consisting of a single word (Ps 59:2, ...), "O my god"), or only slightly longer, made so by placing two very brief invocations in parallel in the opening line or two (see Pss 28:1, ..., "O Yahweh/my rock"; 70:2, ...), "O God/O Yahweh"; 25:1-2, ..., "O Yahweh/my god"; and 130:1-2, ..., "O Yahweh /my lord"). The longest invocations consist of only three words: Ps 5:2-3, which places ... in parallel with ..., "my king and my god"; Ps 22:2-3, showing ..., "my god, my god," in parallel with ..., "O my god"; and Ps 88:2 and its questionable formulation, ..., "O Yahweh, god of my salvation."3 Put simply: the invocations in the Hebrew laments of the individual are brief and direct. Suilla-prayers in Mesopotamia, on the other hand, the prayers to which the Hebrew laments of the individual are most frequently compared, typically have a very different, extended hymnic invocation. For example, a prayer to Ea begins with the following: O wise king, perceptive creator, Lofty prince, ornament of the Eabsu, Enlilbanda, artful, venerated one, Hero of Eridu, sage of the Igigi, Lord of the E[engur]ra, protection of the Eunir, Bringer of the high waters (that cause) abundance, who makes the rivers joyful, In oceans and in reed thickets you make plenteous prosperity, In the meadows you create the livelihood of the peoples. Anu and Enlil rejoice because of you, The Anunna-gods bless you in their holy places, The peoples of the land extol your weighty command, You give counsel to the great gods. O Ea, the moribund need not die, thanks to your life-giving spell. …