Brown Judaic Studies 354. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

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1 RBL 03/2014 Matthew Neujahr Predicting the Past in the Ancient Near East: Mantic Historiography in Ancient Mesopotamia, Judah, and the Mediterranean World Brown Judaic Studies 354 Providence, R.I.: Brown Judaic Studies, Pp. xvi Cloth. $ ISBN Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom This monograph, the slightly rewritten version of the author s doctoral thesis, deals with the phenomenon of mantic historiography. More specifically, it looks at so-called ex eventu texts, that is, texts that combine the notion of foretelling with a review of history. Neujahr argues that, although there is little in terms of direct influence between the various texts, and although they cannot be categorized as one specific literary genre, it is nevertheless fruitful to study them together. As a group, these texts testify to the tendency to express a historiographically oriented message in mantic dress. Neujahr s study is devoted to four different sets of ex eventu texts. The first three chapters explore five Akkadian compositions: (Prophecy) Text A, the Marduk Prophecy, the Shulgi Prophecy, the Uruk Prophecy, and the Dynastic Prophecy. Neujahr mentions their history of reconstruction, translation, identification, publication, and interpretation. He then discusses each of the five texts in more detail. He gives a brief introduction to the discovery of the tablets and their physical condition, accompanied by a short bibliography. He also offers a transliteration of the cuneiform texts, his own English translation of the Akkadian, and textual notes that discuss the chosen reading of a cuneiform sign as well as matters of grammar. He further discusses the historical references in the text: which historical events are referred to and when the text ceases to predict past events and begins to speak of events still in the future, seen from the

2 author s perspective. Neujahr evaluates different scholarly proposals regarding the origin of the given text and determines the most likely circumstances of its composition. He also seeks to establish the function of the text and its intended audience. Neujahr concludes his exegetical discussion by noting the conservative nature of the five texts. They all uphold the view that kingship is given to humankind by the gods and that it resides with one king at the time. Neujahr also anticipates the conclusion of his monograph by noting the combination of historiographical and mantic concerns. These texts are interested in the progression of past events, yet they also simultaneously predict the future. Neujahr subsequently turns to matters related to literary genre. To what extent can we really speak of an ex eventu genre? Neujahr surveys pertinent form-critical studies, as well as studies that discuss genre from both author-oriented and reader-oriented perspectives. He also discusses the perceived importance of genre for understanding the meaning and message of a given text, and he touches upon some of the challenges involved in adopting modern literary approaches when studying poorly preserved texts in partially understood, extinct languages, copied in a three-dimensional written medium (82). As a result, Neujahr chooses to focus on elements of form and structure for his ensuing genre analysis. Against this background, Neujahr compares the five Akkadian ex eventu texts with other Mesopotamian texts in order to see whether they fall into one established genre. After surveying seven different types of cuneiform literature (the omen literature, the so-called historical omens, Prophecy Text B, the Fürstenspiegel, historiographical texts, prophecies, and first-person narrative compositions), Neujahr concludes that the ex eventu texts cannot be categorized in this manner. They are not omen literature. The lack of conditionality in the ex eventu texts, in the sense that history progresses steadily toward its goal and that that goal cannot be changed, also sets them apart from the so-called historical omens and Prophecy Text B. The ex eventu texts are also not easily comparable with the Fürstenspiegel, which lacks their predictive elements. They are also different from the Mesopotamian historiographical traditions, in that they use the present-future tense to describe past events. The ex eventu texts also differ from the prophetic texts in both origin and aim. According to Neujahr, prophecy is a social phenomenon, not a literary genre, and we have no reason to believe that the ex eventu texts are the products of prophets. Finally, Neujahr notes that a first-person narrative voice is unlikely to be a defining factor for determining their genre, given that only two of the five ex eventu texts are written in the first person. Neujahr proceeds to discuss whether or not the ex eventu texts can be categorized as apocalypses. On the basis of the definitions of apocalypse by Carol Newsom, John J. Collins, and Christopher Rowland, Neujahr notes that neither definition fits the ex eventu

3 texts fully. It is thus incorrect, contra several scholars, to connect these texts with the literary genre of apocalypse. Ultimately, Neujahr concludes that the ex eventu texts do not belong to one specific genre. What causes them to be categorized together is neither their form nor their manner of narration; rather, it is the very presence of an ex eventu prediction that allows the reader to connect them. The next three chapters are devoted to comparative texts. The first of these chapters explores the ex eventu predictions in Daniel and 1 Enoch. Neujahr surveys the content of Dan 8 and concludes that there is little reason to assume that this text is a modified Hebrew version of the Akkadian ex eventu texts. While they share the same deterministic view of history, they share neither a common structure nor a common literary form. The same is true for Dan 9 and 10 12, as well as for the schematic predictions in Dan 2 and 7. The only thing that the biblical texts share with the Akkadian ex eventu texts is the concept of predictions ex eventu! Neujahr discusses the Animal Apocalypse and the Apocalypse of Weeks in 1 Enoch in a similar manner. He again highlights the formal literary differences between these two texts and the five Akkadian ex eventu texts. They share neither a narrative framework nor mode of revelation with the Akkadian texts, and their focus (the functioning of the cult) differs from the focus on monarchs and successive empires in the Akkadian texts. It is thus highly unlikely, Neujahr argues, that the Akkadian ex eventu texts influenced the writing of Judean apocalypses. What they have in common, however, is the fact that both sets of texts seek to reveal matters of the future to their audience while, at the same time, also enumerating past events that have led up to the audience s present situation. The next chapter looks in a similar fashion at ex eventu predictions in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Given the physical conditions of the Qumranic documents, Neujahr spends a lot of ink discussing their origin, composition, and translation. As a result, the discussion is often not very tightly focused on the ex eventu aspects of the text. Neujahr begins by looking at the material associated with the Daniel tradition: Pseudo-Daniel (4Q ), the Son of God Text (4Q246), and 4QFour Kingdoms (4Q ). Although these texts share aspects with the ex eventu material in both Daniel and the Akkadian texts, Neujahr concludes that the Qumranic texts should not be categorized as ex eventu texts. In contrast, the nonsectarian texts 4QJeremiah and Ezekiel Pseudoepigrapha (4Q ) contain clear examples of ex eventu predictions. Turning to the sectarian texts, Neujahr discusses the Damascus Document, the pesharim, and 11QMelchizedek (11Q13) in a similar fashion. While he notes that they cannot be called ex eventu texts in the strictest sense of the name, they share certain important aspects with such texts. In particular, the pesharim employ mantic techniques in order to make predictions about the future, and

4 the authority of these predictions is tied up with claim that the pesharim have successfully predicted past events. Finally, Neujahr discusses the ex eventu predictions written in Greek, with focus on books 1 4 of the Sibylline Oracles. After a fairly in-depth discussion of the concept of sibylline prophecy in the ancient world, Neujahr explores the ways in which book 3, books 1 2, and book 4 present history as a consecutive sequence of events and how they deal with future predictions. He also discusses how the structure and content of these texts agree with and differ from the earlier apocalypses in Daniel and 1 Enoch. He concludes that the earlier material, although probably known to the authors of the Sibylline Oracles, did not constitute an important source of literary influence. The conclusion brings all the material together. Neujahr proposes that we cannot speak of any direct influence between the different texts that feature ex eventu prediction and that these texts furthermore do not share literary genre. Rather, they are part of a new type of mantic text that combined historiographic and mantic practices. This type of prediction emerged in the first millennium BCE and is attested in a wide variety of texts from west Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. They betray structural and thematic differences, draw from diverse literary traditions, and adhere to different ideological viewpoints. In fact, Neujahr points out that the ex eventu texts adhere to the literary conventions and expectations of the culture in which they originated. For example, the Akkadian ex eventu texts are reminiscent of the Mesopotamian omen literature, while the Judean texts are steeped in the ideologies and language of the prophetic literature. At the same time, they all share the notion that the author and his audience are situated at a crucial point in history from which they can learn from the past and predict the future. As to why this type of literature emerged, Neujahr suggests briefly that its appearance was triggered by and connected with social factors, such as loss of native political autonomy and military defeat. These factors together led to a fatalistic view of history, which predicted that history would culminate in the ultimate redemption of the scribe and his community. This is an interesting and well-researched book that deserves a full hearing. In a sense, its findings are negative, in that Neujahr does not detect any evidence of direct literary dependency between the various texts. Instead, he postulates a more general affinity triggered by social events. In view of this, I would have appreciated a significantly longer discussion of these social events and how they led to the creation of the various texts featuring ex eventu predictions (rather than the very brief note on 249). In addition, the discussions of the various texts often included material not strictly relevant for the understanding of the ex eventu predictions. At times this makes it difficult to follow the

5 main thread of the arguments. For example, the discussion of the Jewish and Christian textual layers of book 3 of the Sybilline Oracles have, as far as I can tell, no direct relevance to the topic at hand. The same is true of the extended discussion of the different fragments of 4QJeremiah and Ezekiel Pseudepigrapha. These aspects, however, are minor points of critique that should not deter the reader from appreciating Neujahr s fresh approach to these texts.