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8 - Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy and the Study of Isaiah

from Part II - Isaiah in Its Cultural World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

By
Jonathan Stökl
Edited by
Christopher B. Hays
Christopher B. Hays
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, California
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Summary

“Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy and the Study of Isaiah” by Jonathan Stökl approaches the study of the Book of Isaiah from the perspective of other ancient Near Eastern texts attesting to prophecy, including material from the second and first millennium bce. The attested texts support the idea that prophecies of doom and of peace are very much part of the religious literary imagination. The chapter also enquires whether the Neo-Assyrian compilations can act as empirical examples of the early stages of the evolution of the Book of Isaiah as literature. The third complex area discussed is that of gender and prophecy as attested in ancient Near Eastern sources, with relevance also for the portrayal of prophecy in the book of Isaiah.

Keywords

ancient Near Eastern prophecyprophecy and genderoracle of doomoracle of salvationliterary development of Isaiahcomparative evidence for prophecy
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Book of Isaiah , pp. 119 - 133
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Aster, Shawn Zelig. Reflections of Empire in Isaiah 1–39: Responses to Assyrian Ideology. ANEM 19. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2017.Google Scholar
Becker, Uwe. Jesaja – von der Botschaft zum Buch. FRLANT 178. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997.Google Scholar
de Jong, Matthijs J. Isaiah Among the Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Earliest Stages of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo-Assyrian Prophecies. VTSup 117. Leiden: Brill, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamori, Esther J. “Verification of Prophecy at Mari.” WO 42 (2012): 1–22.Google Scholar
Hilber, John W. “Prophetic Speech in the Egyptian Royal Cult.” Pages 39–53 in On Stone and Scroll: Essays in Honour of Prof. Graham Ivor Davies. Edited by Aitken, James, Dell, Katharine and Mastin, Brian. BZAW 420. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machinist, Peter. “Assyria and its Image in the First Isaiah.” JAOS (1983): 719–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machinist, Peter. “The Question of Distinctiveness in Ancient Israel: An Essay.” Pages 196–212 in Ah Assyria: Studies in Assyrian History and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Hayim Tadmor. Edited by Cogan, Mordechai and Eph’al, Israel. ScrHier 33. Jerusalem: Magnes Press Hebrew University, 1991.Google Scholar
Mouton, Alice. “Portent Dreams in Hittite Anatolia.” Pages 27–41 in Perchance to Dream: Dream Divination in Biblical and Other Ancient Near Eastern and Early Jewish Sources. Edited by Hamori, Esther J. and Stökl, Jonathan. ANEM 21. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2018.Google Scholar
Nissinen, Martti. References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources. SAAS 7. Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Corpus Project, 1998.Google Scholar
Nissinen, Martti. Ancient Prophecy: Near Eastern, Biblical, and Greek Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nissinen, Martti. Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East: With Contributions by C.L. Seow, Robert K. Ritner, and H. Craig Melchert. Edited by Machinist, Peter. 2nd edition. WAW 12. Atlanta: SBL, 2019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parpola, Simo. Assyrian Prophecies. SAA 9. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Peled, Ilan. “assinnu and kurgarrû Revisited.” JNES 73 (2014): 283–297.Google Scholar
Schneider, Thomas. “A Land without Prophets? Examining the Presumed Lack of Prophecy in Ancient Egypt.” Pages 59–86 in Enemies and Friends of the State: Ancient Prophecy in Context. Edited by Rollston, Christopher A.. University Park, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2018.Google Scholar
Stökl, Jonathan. Prophecy in the Ancient Near East: A Philological and Sociological Comparison. CHANE 56. Leiden: Brill, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stökl, Jonathan. “Gender “Ambiguity” in Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy? A Re-Assessment of the Data Behind a Popular Theory.” Pages 59–79 in Prophets Male and Female: Gender and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East. Edited by Stökl, Jonathan and Carvalho, Corrine L.. AIL 15. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svärd, Saana and Nissinen, Martti. “(Re)constructing the Image of the Assinnu.” Pages 373–412 in Studying Gender in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Svärd, Saana and Garcia-Ventura, Agnès. University Park, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2018.Google Scholar
Williamson, Hugh G. M. The Book Called Isaiah: Deutero-Isaiah’s Role in Composition and Redaction. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, Hugh G. M. “Isaiah: Prophet of Weal or Woe?” Pages 273–300 in ‘Thus Speaks Ishtar of Arbela’: Prophecy in Israel, Assyria and Egypt in the Neo-Assyrian Period. Edited by Gordon, Robert P. and Barstad, Hans M.. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zsolnay, Ilona. “The Misconstrued Role of the Assinnu in Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy.” Pages 81–99 in Prophets Male and Female: Gender and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East. Edited by Stökl, Jonathan and Carvalho, Corrine L.. AIL 15. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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