Prof. Scott B. Noegel Chair. Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization University of Washington

"Job iii 5 in the Light of Mesopotamian Demons of Time."

First Published in: Vetus Testanzentum 57 (2007), 556-562.

B R I L L

Job iii 5 in the Light of Mesopotamian Demons of Time

Scott B. Noegel Kkshington, DC

Abstract This brief communication examines two cruces in lob i i i (i:: '-?-33 i t 1 i i i 5 and i':-'-,:~ in i i i 8)

in the light of Sumerian, Xkkaciian, and later Mandaic perforniativc texrs ivlvhich idenrih ele-

ments of time ,LS cosn~ic. and pote~ltially cicmonic, entities. After establishing the shared contexts

and features of the texts (i.e., afflicrion by the Sar.in/a demon, an illocu~ionary pronouncement

against personified elcments of rime, anci an associarion hetween demtlns and warfare), I argue

char rhe rendering ofi:. '-':D> in Job iii 5 as "day-demons", propobed already by Rashi and Ibn

Ezra, is ro be prrferreci, and that one should understanci iT-.-17k '1s "those who curse a ciay".

Keywords Job, demon, time, hlandaic, curse

Christa Miiller-Kessler recently has drawn ;ittention to [he presence of'

"demons" in a Mandaic magic text (RM 135794 11) that are identified as units

of time.' The charm, one of several belonging to the fanlily archive of Mah-

Adur Gubnap, is incised 011 a lead sheet and appears as the third illcantation of

the series iapta &piha d-ainia, "incantation of solving eyes.'' The text contains

a demon narrative reported by an anonymous speaker and is too long to cite

in its entirety, but suffice it to say that in a rather repetirive way it aims to

subdue and destroy along with a number of named demons, the "dark season"

(11. 3-4 'd'il' h' ik ' ) , "minute" (I. 6 pyg' k y k ' ) , "half-minute" (1. 8 p ' ~ ' ~ ' pyk ' ) , "hour" (1. 24 f'yy ' t ' ) , "days and daytimesfi (11. 33-34 ywmy' zuywrn'my'), "nights"

(1. 36 lyly<w>'t'), "first day of the months" (1. 39 vy j yhry'), and "montl~s"

(1. 42 yhry'), each ofwhich is also labeled "the perverted, cruel and evil one of

I' C. Miiller-Kesslcr, "A Charm against Demons of'l'ime (wirli an Appendix by W. G. Lamberr)",

in Cornelia Wunsch ied.), Mining tlir Archives: Fe~,ari~riftf ir (7~ristopher IElker on the Orcirriun of His 60til RirthdLzj -i October2002 (Babylonian Archive i; Dresden, 2002), pp. 183-189.

war" (q?yA'A w&' d-qr 'b I ) . Also subdued and destroyed are the "stars" ( I . 6 1 kwkbyJ) along with "their commands and words" (1. 64 p q d ' t w ~ l ~ i p t u ~ d ' n h ~ o ~ l ) .

The text concludes by driving ou t said forces with the help of rhe archangel

Gabriel a n d the Mandaic Supreme Being "Life".

I n a n appendix to the same article, W G . Lambert pointed our two earlier

examples of the phenomenon from the Near East.2 The first appears in a

Sumerian zi-pi ("be exorcised by") bili~lgual text in which certain topographi-

cal features (e.g., mountains, rivers) are also invoked. It reads:

zi ud sakar-ud (sic! collared) mu-a h i nif ui-mu dr-[7, tl h-ti

Bc (cxorcised) by day, 111011th. and year! PRS 112 11 5 oh\. 1 13- 14

The second example is a n Akkadian llymn ro Marduk. The lines found on

obverse 8 and 10 read respectively as follows:

"fmnai ana hiriiarduk ku-ur-uh 'en-lil aria 6cl i-sag-i[l ktri.rrhl S a n d , bless hlarduk. Enlil. [hlcssl the lord of Esagil.

LL,-mu arhu(iti) 11 ; ~ l t t u ( n l i ~ - ~ ~ ~ - ~ l a ) and be/-id ku-ur-t~h x[ . ] Day. nlonth and war, bless Rd. [. . .]

HA4 68593 (82-9-18, 8592)

7 1 o u g h the units o f time are presented ;is malevolent in the Mandaic test and

bene\.ole~lt in the cuneiform text, the notions are fundamentally equivalent.

Both evidence the long-standing belief in the cosmic power of elements of

time (to positive o r negative effect), a concept represenred also in hemerolo-

gies of the ancient Near East.' As personified entities, they are to be feared,

and if necessary, placated."

" hliiller-Kessler, "A Charm ag.lin\r Demons ofTirne.. .", p. 189. ' See, e.g., A. Livingstone, "The Case of rhe Hen~erulogies: Official Cult, Learned Fomidarion and I'op~llar Pracriu.". in E. Manl~\hin~a (ed.), Oficial Cz11t ,1r7dl'1pulilr. k~/i,io77 i r~ tl7eA77cient /War Ei~.it: fbjrers oj'r/ie Fir~t ( .o lhqrr~~r~n 077 t h ~ Ancient Near Ed.:n.it--7Jitr C i 0 i r r d Itr L@, HLJM n t the Midrib. Er7~tc.m C'tlltrtir (.enter iiwJ7pm (Mitilkiz, Iikyo) (Heidelhcrg. 1393), pp. 97-1 13; "The Magic ofTimen, in 1. T. Abusch and K. van iier?hol.n (eds.), Mesopotan7i,rrz Mt~gic: Ilxtz~itl, Historical, andlwte~prctiw I'c.xrpcctiuts (Srrldieh in Ancienr Magic and Divi~iatioli i; Groningen, 1998), pp. 13 1-1 37; "The Use of Magic in rhc Assyri'm and R.lbylonian Hen~erologies and Me~iologies", SEL 15 ( 1 998). pp. 5'147. " 'lhe deification of llay and Nighr is attested in an Ugaritic God list. beverd Sun~erian,

Though biblical pardllels were beyond the scope of the contributions by Miiller-Kessler and Lambert, one biblical passage appears especially appropri-

ate for comparison: Job i i i 1-10. Moreover, I would propose that reading this

rext in Job within the light of the Mandaic, Sumerian, and Akkadian exem-

plars elucidates two cruces in Job iii that have posed particular problems for

interpreters.

Before moving on to rhe cruces in iii 5 and iii 8, it will be useful to establish

the comparative context ofJob iii. It is wich this text that the two-chapter nar-

rative about the Satan afflicting Job ends and the poetic dialogues with Job's

companions begin. Chapter rhree represents Job's first words, and they are

expressly said to be composed in the form of a "curse". Therefore, like the

Mandaic text, the passage intertextually responds to a "demon" narrative and

an affliction, 2nd it records an attempt to alleviate the afliction by means of a

performative curse. The text of Job i i i 1-10 reads:

1. fi'cerward, Job began to sprak and cursed his day.

2. Job spoke up and said:

3. Perish the day on which I was born,

And the night in which one said,

"A tnale was conceived!"

4. That day. Ict it he darkness;

May God ahove not seek it;

May light not shine upon it;

5. hlay darkness ant1 death's darkness reclain~ it;

hlay a pall rest over it;

May f:: ';';n= rcrrify it.

6 . That night, let the gloom take it;

May it not unice with the days of the year:

May it not entcr thr number of thc months;

7. Behold that night; let ic be desolate;

Mav 110 jubilation be heard in it.

8. May those who cast spells upon a day curse it,

Those prcpared to rouse Leviathan;

9. May its twilight srars be dark;

Baby-lonian, Assyrian, and Hitrite rcxrs, as well as in [he Aramaic Sefil-e rrraries and Hesiud's 7heugurv. Srr conve~~icnrl~, B . Becking. "Day", in K. van dcr Toorn, H. Recking and I? W. van der Horst (eds.). Dictionnry ufDrities atzd Lle7nun~ in the Bibk (Leiden. 1999), pp. 221.223; and M. L. Barrc, "Nighr", in Dirtionnr~: oflleities 'rnd Demons in the Bible, pp. 621-024.

sp!laia,, palap

-ual .iq IOUUF~ 2~311 PJOM hja~qa~ arp ley1 s1sa43n~ .<sl!linii .~aia,, d,d a1ru5o3 3!1!.1e4n aq~. ,- .(,PI xx ~a[) yv!rua.~a[jo 11'2 J~!UI!S 5111 pnmiaq sao2 VII!~ <!qj~ ,it~ a~] 3~~113 01 ~p CC[OI 's!qi r11 :q

'(0~ !!!.% '£1 !!.cca <d :PC 'OE !XX yaza :O L !AXX cuts 1 :I$ ';z 1.121 '.%s) qieap io Ialses!p

jo am!] e st ..dtp,, s<a~ro OI asuara+?.r ,!lr!wsqdna 2q1 ILIJO~~I! 1q21u1 os1e ja!laq F q3nS .cTa.wr ~sil

-runu aq1 01 parlxllr ~~UFIIO~~U! ~>!.1p~ra[e3 ~ip st T~M SP *sl(ep .Qoq sno!le.r arp 11! pur 'qa.~qt~

jo .<?(I zcp jo ~dasuos arp rr! p2l3aual sq .iew os~s s,iep u!tuaJ jo la~od ayl u! jalpq au -- -

ccsu!l!~~n,, jo a~qrden aq 01 p!es s! lqs!u aql '9 !!! u~ .(g !!!) "ayel,, ues urools

let11 su!qiaruos s! <ooi 'qi~!q s!q jo 1q3!u aru :'(q~ !!!) UMO s1! jo ,,~l!dr~d,, SYtI qn!qM 'UMep at11 ,,ass,, LIE3 prrr :(eG !!!) ,,auou aAeq puE 1q%1 Jot adoq,, UF3

iiep aql MO~ pue :(< !!!) *'ur!e13a~,, ue3 SsarryJep s'qleap put: ssauy~ep IE~I Su!qi

-auras se paqp3sap aq ue3 drp aql ~oq <aldurexa ~oj &u!eldxa pInoM s!y~ .jlas]!

u! di!~ua pay!uos~ad ne se drp leql ~ap!suo? 01 '1nj"sn aJoru an%e PITIOM 1 pur

alq!ssod s! I! spJalew a~!~e~eduror, parro!iuamaJoie aql to aaq~ LI! '~a~a

-MOH .LIJO~ SEM qo[ LI~~M luaurow aql suo!1n3o~wn3.1!3 3!1aod se Xla~aur ado3pad s!q~ u! sa3uaJafaJ aruy sno!Jei\ aq] poolsJapun 2uo1 aAeq sa~asaxg

.(lxal 3!epuel/y aql u! pa~a~~~~ed osle) 6 !!! LI! sms ~qs!]!~, s&t:p jo 2u!uay~ep aqi prrt? 8 !!! u! rreyJe!i\aT su!sno~e sI!elua snql 11 ;soeqo

qsealun 01 ~lr' e sa1n1!1suo3 osle Inq '(1 !!! rr! "Xep s!q,,) ql~!q s!y jo dcp arlljo ~ro!1auurapuo3 e se XIUO IOU SPLIPIS ~uaurasrrno~ro~d s'qo['Xep 1e3!.1pua1es paxy

e ISLI!E% asms e sy .+a!Iaq awes aqi salensnlp oo~ arl '(HLL IOLI 2;~ '.a.!) 1 !!! u! "asJti3,, ~oj (LJJal luaJajj!p e sasn qol rlsnoql 'paap~11 ;aur!l jo sl!un uodn

sl~ads Su!lst:~ 40 X~!~!q!ssod alp u! faqaq ~LI!IS~~-~LI~I aql anrl aas Xeur a,N asla[

-1t:.led aAoqe aql jo lqkl!~ aql u! 'ssalaql~a~a~ .qs!~s ~U!MOIIO~ aql U! "ueqle!i\aT

asrIoJt: ol pa~eda~d asorl],, 01 ~a~~r~ed a~e!~do~dde aJow E: sayeru 'pans~e s! I! 's!ru ,;E~s,, '-3 01 I! '~u!isa~~o~,, paisa22ns aAeq s~a~a~d~alu! auros <mvm .rzmo!~

-.Y .ugm ICCIJ~ILI! aql $u!pnpu! '.:z se 8 asJaA u! p.10~ p~!ql arli pall!rusueJ] sty e~ose~,q arp q%noq~w ".Xsp e jo sJasJnn,, 'q~~.-::z Xq iueaur s! IP~M pue~s

-Japun 01 di!q!qeu! cs~a~a~d~a~rr! u! saq auq s!q~jo X11n3yt!p ayL ..&i: H--,-:L~

rro!ssa~dxa aql :g !!! rr! xn~3 e s! uraql ~UOLLIP IsowaJod .uos!~eduros pueurap s~ua~aja.~ aurp ~arl~o IeJaAas .~a~oa~ol/y .I~~!LI prre Xt:p sypads e 'ase? S!I~

u! 'aw!l $0 SI!U~ jo uo!l3nJlsap aql ,104 s[[e3 asJns s!ql 'lxal 3!epueJ,q aql ayq

.sah dor ruoq a(c1no.11 aq~ apq puy 'qoroM (~~raqlorrr) liiu y>olq IOU p!p I! asuumg .01

-rrMep to spdnd aq~ aau IOU IT irw rauou aAt:q prru 1qY!1 ~oj adoq I! LEN

with the days of the year and "entering" the number of the months, a line whose polysemous nature also allows us to see the night as capable of"rejoic-

ing" and "desiring".8 In Fact, the reason that Job gives for pronouncing the

curse against "his day" is that it d id not "hide affliction" from his eyes (iii 10). Job's "day" is therefore in a way similar to the elements of time in

the Mandaic, Sumerian, and Akkadian texts.

Such parallels in context a11d detail simil,~rly shed light o n a second crux in

Job iii, the word --~--a i l l the phrase El' '-'-I,?X 17fi92' in verse 5 . Typically

the word has been seen as a noun derived from a root :,:= meaning "blach". Hence, the following translations:

hlay what blackens the day rerrit; it (Jl'S) May blacklless ovcrwllelm its lighr (NIV) Let the blacli~less of the day rerrib i t (kp) I,et all that nlakerh black the day terri6 it (ASV)

Yiough the context of the passage certainly allows for u~lders ra~ ld ing the word .-.- 1, ,!D? as suggesting darkness, this reading is based solely o n the Syriac cog-

nate :,:= "black." The biblical Hebrew root -IC=, which appears only in the

niphnl, rypically rneans "be warm, tender" (e.g., Gen xliii 30, Lam v 10). The

Akkadian lexemes knnziru, "overthrown, lay prostrate", and k,zmriru, "net,

snare", account for the Hebrew terms :n3 "(foreign) priest" (2 Kgs xxiii 5 , H o s x 5 ) a n d ;i22~ "net, snare" (Isa li 20, Ps cxivlo), respectively. Thus, in order to understand --,-:n: Job i i i 5 as referring to blackness, o n e must posit

that it is both the only attestation of a p resu~ned root TDZ, "b lack , and a

peculiar form o f thar root as well.

Other exegetes have urlderstood ' 7 . 7 ~ 3 in line with the MT, as if derived

from the root -,-I=, "be bitter".]' M . Pope, for example, argues that the

--

"' G. A. Kendsbu~-g, "Double I'olvst.my in Gen 49:6 and Job i:h". C B Q 4 4 (1982), pp. 48-51.

" O n the LISC of the Syriac cognate for our Hcbrew crux. see J. Rarr. "l'hilology and

Exe~esis. Some General rcmarks, with Illustrations from Iob", in C. Brekelmans (ed.), Q~/~~xrions Dicpzrriex dxncirnt 7ixtirrnent: h1c;rl~ode et 7h~'ologie IHETL, XXYII I ; Leuven, 1989), pp. 39-6 1.

especially pp. 55-56, !"' This ~nrerpretdtion requi1.e~ one rcad the lerrcr 2 as a prcposirion . ~ n d repoint rhc word

accordingly. 11QTardoh translates Job iii 5: "may it terrify it like the r.8' '-,'-a, the grief which

troubled !eremiah at the Jesrruction of the sanctuary. and Jonah when he was thrown into the sea of Tarshish" (2::;:37 w;.: :'n:i35.~~2 -1:': 37;3:: ,J': ;=-,',n 5;. ;l'?l;' 733SK7 STS L;' '7';:).

O n the surface, this rranslarion appears to understand the Hebrew tern1 as if derivcd from --2

"be hitter", hut since the Aramaic ret;iins the expression exactly, this cannot be cerr'rin.

expression is roughly eq~~ivalent to the idiom -$? GI.=, "as on a bitter day",

found in Amos viii 10, a Cairo Genizah text of Ben Sira xi 4, and a Thanksgiv-

ing Hymn at Qumran (1 QH,' XI11 34). Since these passages appear to use this idiom in reference to a cosmological event. Pope renders ri: -r77;1,? as

"eclipse"." Indeed, the cosmological import oft-: 'T-D? in Job iii 5b is sug-

gested by the fact that it appears in parallelism with j : ~ , "cloud", in iii 5a (the related expression 5 ~ 7 3 ' ~ jjy f?', "day of cloud and gloom", often refers to the

Day ofYahweh, e.g., Ezek xxx 3, xxxiv 12; Zeph i 15). A third way of understanding the passage was provided already by Rashi

and Ibn Ezra. They understood ri: ':.'?n? in Job i i i 5 as "like demons that rule

by day". Cited in slipport is Deut xxsii 24, where the expression '-I'X 233, I

"destruction of (the demon) Meriri", parallels 7d7 .DZ';~I, "warfare of Reshef ". l 2

English translations often render these references fig~~ratively as "deadly pesti-

lence" and "ravaging plague", respectively. Nevertheless, Rashi and Ibn Ezra

here, too, preserve the tradition that they refer to demons." Note also that 737 'n:'jl, "warfare of Reshef", povides yet another parallel for the Mandaic

text's repeated description of every time demon as "the perverted, cruel and evil one of war" (qfy " ' A wbyi' _d-qr'b').'4

One thus has a number of striking parallels: a context of affliction by the

Satanldemon, an illocutionary curse against personified elements of time, and an association between demons and warfare.15 Given such parallels, I argue

" ' M. H . Pope, job (ABC XT: New York, 1973), p. 29. "! This reading was adopted by I<. Gordis, "11s ;ltseverarivc Kaph in Iigariric and Hebrew", JAOS 6 3 (1943), pp. 1'6-178. If this study is accepted, it will be necessary to re~sisir Gordis' suggcsrion and revise ths findings of K. van der Toorn. "Xlsriri", in Dictiotzary cffleitia R ~ I ( /

Demo7,s in the Bible. pp. 568-569. li' In Deut x n i i 74 Rashi compares rlis reference ro Reshef in Job v 7. Note alzo that the demo~~izing of a foreign god, in this case, Reshcf, is A well-arrested phenomenon in the Near East and greater bleditcrranean world. " ' 'Ihe military connotation of the expression 737 'rink is ~lnderscored in Deut mii 23 where Yahweli refers to thc destruction of Meriri and Reshep as "My arrows". Are these demons to be ~llldersrood as Yc~hwell)s weapons in a w.1~ similar to the weapons of Baal at LJgarit? Comp;u-e also Yahweh's "Destroyer" (r'nor?) in Exod xii 23 and 1 Chr xxi 15. O n Reshep and Qeteb as divini- tiez, see 1'. Xelln, "Reshep", in Dictio,~ary of Dciriex and Deinons in the Bible, pp. 700-703; N . Wyatt, "(>etebV, in Dicriorray ofDeitiei and Demons i w the Bible, pp. (173-674. Cf. 1's xci 5-6. "' 1s ir nlcaningfi~l also that the Mandaic rrxt is part of ~n "incantation ofsolving eyes" and that in Job i i i 10, Job justifies his curse by saying that the ciay did nor hide affliction from his eyes?

[hat t?: -Y77n? in Job iii 5 should be rendered as "day-demons" and that, aug-

menting the reading of Pope, they should be understood as present during an eclipse. The association of demons with darkness (whecher brought on by

night or an eclipse), of course, is well-arrested and widespread in antiquity.16

Thus, just as the Mandaic text calls for the subduing and destruction of "demonized" units of time, so too does Job, realizing that the day of his birth

brought tiim to a cirne of suffering, call for the utter destruction of his day, a

day \~ltimately afflicted by the Satan.

'"' Rarri., "Night", in Dictionary ofDcities drndDmronJ rn the Bible, p. 024.