Tool Alpha
The ANE Desk
Old Testament passages beside the ancient Near Eastern texts they are compared with, and what Israel does with what it shares.
The word of the assembly
In the Mesopotamian flood stories the flood is voted in the assembly of the gods, and one goddess regrets her vote. In Genesis 6 the Lord sees, grieves and decides, and there is no assembly in the scene.
Genesis 6:5-8, in every translation this tool compares.
The real question: who decided on the flood? The decision came down from the board. That can mean a vote nobody wants to own, or one person deciding with everyone else watching. When something terrible is decided, it matters which. Who decides in Genesis 6?
By our hand(?) a flood . . . (. . .) will be (sent). / To destroy the seed of mankind (. . .) / Is the decision, the word of the assembly (of the gods) / The commands of Anu (and) En(lil . . .)
In all these stories the flood is decided in heaven against all of humankind, and one man is let in on it. Walton lists the decision to send the flood among the business of the Mesopotamian assembly: in Gilgamesh the council decides, and in Atrahasis both the flood and the earlier attempts to cut the population come out of the assembly. King notes that in Gilgamesh the goddess Ishtar had agreed to the destruction in the assembly and then reproached herself. In Atrahasis the birth goddess weeps, "However could I, in the assembly of gods, / Have ordered such destruction".
Genesis 6 has no vote. The Lord sees the wickedness, grieves, and decides, and the same verse that announces the end turns to Noah, who found favor. No god regrets having been outvoted, and no god has to sneak a warning past an oath. Walton describes the Israelite council in general: the Lord is the sole authority, and the plurals of Genesis 1:26, 3:22 and 11:7 suggest deliberation without any sharing of power.
This contrast rests partly on silence: Genesis 6 does not mention a council, and silence is not denial. The Jewish Study Bible reads the plurals at Genesis 1:26 and 11:7 as addresses to the divine council, so Genesis knows the council and simply does not use it here. The contrast is drawn here from the texts; Walton's general description supports it but does not discuss Genesis 6:5-8 by name.
Not a claim that the flood was arbitrary in Mesopotamia and just in Genesis. Mesopotamian texts give the flood a cause too. The difference here is who decides, and how many.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/genesis-1-26-27\/","n":"Genesis 1:26-27","s":"Let us make man in our image, and then a singular verb does the making.","r":"Genesis 1:26-27"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/genesis-11-1-9\/","n":"Genesis 11:1-9","s":"Babel, the scattering, and the moment the nations are set aside.","r":"Genesis 11:1-9"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/bene-elohim\/","n":"Bene elohim","s":"Sons of God: a group of lesser divine beings who show up at God's throne.","r":"Genesis 6:2"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/the-holy-ones\/","n":"The holy ones","s":"A name for the beings who make up God's court.","r":"Deuteronomy 33:2-3"}
- L. W. King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition, Schweich Lectures 1916 (Project Gutenberg eBook 2030), Lecture II, sections III and IV
- Stephanie Dalley, trans., Myths from Mesopotamia (Oxford), Atrahasis, Tablet III, column iii
- John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, 2nd ed. (Baker Academic, 2018), ch. 4, Divine Assembly and Comparative Exploration 4.3: Yahweh's Council
- The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press), notes on Genesis 1:26-28 and 11:7
