Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament

In this ground-breaking study, Robin Baker investigates the contribution ancient Mesopotamian theology made to the origins of Christianity. Drawing on a formidable range of primary sources, Baker's conclusions challenge the widely held opinion that the theological imprint of Babylonia and Assyria on the New Testament is minimal, and what Mesopotamian legacy it contains was mediated by the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish sources. After evaluating and substantially supplementing previous research on this mediation, Baker demonstrates significant direct Mesopotamian influence on the New Testament presentation of Jesus and particularly the character of his kingship. He also identifies likely channels of transmission. Baker documents substantial differences among New Testament authors in borrowing Mesopotamian conceptions to formulate their Christology. This monograph is an essential resource for specialists and students of the New Testament as well as for scholars interested in religious transmission in the ancient Near East and the afterlife of Mesopotamian culture. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Epigraph 8 Contents 9 List of Figures and Tables 13 Preface 15 List of Abbreviations 19 Prolegomena 31 Beginnings 31 Methodology 45 On Avoiding Anachronisms, Defining 'Influence' 49 1 The Religious Landscape of the Near East at the Turn of the Era 55 The Mesopotamia-Palestine Nexus and the Jewish Diaspora 55 Mesopotamian Learning and Its Afterlife 62 Hellenism 68 'Sentiments of Affinity': Babylon and Israel 77 2 Channels of Transmission 87 Babylon and Jerusalem 87 Israel's God in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon: Abandonment, Exile, Restoration 90 Judah in Babylonia 104 Josephus, Berossus and The Babyloniaca 108 The Significance of Matthew's Gospel for this Investigation 114 The Compositional Background of Matthew's Gospel 116 3 New Testament Epistemology: A Reappraisal 120 Omens, Parallel Worlds and Midrashic Reasoning: Introduction 120 Times and Signs 127 Double yet Opposite and the Ambiguity of the Cross Symbol 135 Time Conceived as Operating in Two Forms 143 Myth, History and the Flood as Cosmic Turning Point: Apkallus and Fishers of Men 145 Past as Parable 164 Analogic Interpretation of Data 166 Modes of Reasoning 176 Summary 181 4 Kingship Models and the Dying-Rising King 183 Kingship in the Ancient Near East 183 Kingship and Divinity 194 Kingship, Assyrian-Style 204 King of Kings, Lord of Lords 213 The Character of Jesus' Kingship and the bit sala' me 225 Istar-Inanna as Dying-Rising Goddess 234 Tammuz-Dumuzi, the Divine Shepherd-King, Fisher-King 235 Conclusions 248 5 Ninurta, Nimrod, Abimelech and Christ: A Case Study of Mediated Influence 250 Ninurta Redivivus 250 Abimelech ben-Jerubbaal 255 Babel, Nimrod and Intertextuality in the Gideon-Abimelech Series 255 The Ninurta Cult and Its Reach 265 Abimelech as Ninurta Parody 271 Evidence for Akkadian-Hebrew Bilingualism in the Abimelech Pericope 283 Antithesis and Simulacrum: Jesus and Abimelech/Ninurta Compared 285 The Tenacity of Literary Motifs and Devices 295 Ninurta's Legacy and the Colossians Hymn 298 6 Marduk, Istar and Nabû, and New Testament Christology 308 Marduk, Istar Lady of Babylon and the Figure of Babylon in the Book of Revelation 308 Enuma elis and the New Testament 326 The Cult of Nabu Compared with the New Testament Presentation of Christ 332 Father and Son: Jesus and the Father, Nabu and Marduk 341 Wisdom Personified and Glorious Bridegroom: Jesus, Solomon, Nabu 355 Summary 373 7 Bloodlines, Omens and Festivals 375 The Matthean Genealogy: Its Structure and Significance 375 King Uzziah 381 Josephus' Account of Uzziah's Sin 391 The Treatment of Omens in Ezekiel and Matthew 398 Jesus' Final Passover in light of the Babylonian Akitu Festival 403 8 Conclusions on the New Testament's Mesopotamian Legacy 409 Bibliography 417 Index of Biblical References 471 Index of Modern Authors 487 Index of Subjects 489 "In late seventh-century Jerusalem, as Judah found itself perched precariously between allegiance to Egypt and a looming threat from Babylon, Yahweh's people took solace in the conviction that Yahweh's city was inviolable. Solomon's temple was the visible guarantee of their God's presence and protection. Whatever happened, they would be safe. Jeremiah came to the temple to fulminate against this belief: "Do not trust in deceptive words, 'This is Yahweh's temple, Yahweh's temple, Yahweh's temple!'" (Jer 7:4). In denouncing their confidence, Jeremiah uses the phrase hêkal YHWH "Yahweh's temple" three times. The repetition both caricatures an incantation and morbidly parodies the Trisagion of Isaiah's vision of Yahweh's hêkāl (Isa 6:1-3), the prophet who promised that Jerusalem would remain inviolate against the last acute threat of obliteration the nation faced from Mesopotamia. The triadic pattern is pregnant for the context; so too is the word hêkāl in light of what follows in Jeremiah"-- Provided by publisher. Redefines conceptions of the New Testament's origins by illuminating the East's contribution to the formation of early Christology. This book provides a missing link between scholarship on the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East and scholarship on the New Testament and early Christianity.