Commenting
on the negation “there is none” (Hebrew: אין . . . כ), one scholar wrote the
following about how it is applied to persons and objects in the Old Testament,
showing that the phrase and other like-expressions does not mean one belongs to an ontologically unique category per se, but instead, denotes
incomparability:
When Samuel presented Saul to the people, he
asked them (I Sam. 10:24), ‘Do you see
him whom Yahweh has chosen?’ and continued: כי אין כמהו בכל העם ‘Well, there is none like him among all the people’.
According to 1 Sam. 10:23 Saul was taller than any of the people and in I Sam. 9:2
it is said that there was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome
than he. The question, however, arises whether when he described him as
incomparable, Samuel had in mind merely the handsome figure of the king. It is,
of course, not impossible, but it is very doubtful, for he must have known that
outward appearance is of relative importance, and I Sam. 16:7 cannot be used to
support an argument to the contrary. Most significantly Samuel closely linked
the king’s election by Yahweh to his incomparability, which can only mean that
the kind had no rival among the people because of his election by Yahweh, that
nobody else had a claim to the throne. We may even suppose that this particular
pronouncement by Samuel became a standard formula used at the coronation
ceremonies of the Israelite kings. This, however, cannot be proved, but there
are definite reminiscences of the phrase in I Ki. 3:12, 13 and Neh. 13:26
(referring to Solomon), in II Ki. 18:5 (referring to Hezekiah) and in II Ki. 23:25
(referring to Josiah). As part of the coronation ritual this proclamation could
have served to protect the new king from possible rivals claiming the throne
for themselves. For our purpose it is of importance to note that the
newly-elected king is called incomparable, because only he, to the exclusion of
all others, has a claim to the throne. Incomparability, therefore, presupposes
uniqueness and implies the exclusion of rivals.
The second example of a person being called
incomparable is to be found in Job. 1:8 and 2:3, where Yahweh, after asking
Satan whether he had considered Job, said: כי אין כמהו בארצ ‘well, there is none like him on the earth’. Job’s incomparability
is characterized as ‘a man blameless and
upright, who fears God and turns away from evil’. In this case particular
qualities are mentioned, which cause him to be incomparable, denoting that in
respect of these characteristics he has no equal.
A third example of the comparative negation
used in a conversation is David’s comment on Goliath’s sword: אין כמוה תננה לי-- ‘There is none like that; give it to me’
(I Sam. 21:10). The sword of Goliath was the only one available at the time,
according to Ahimelech (‘there is none
but that here'). ’Apart from the fact that this particular sword belonged
to Goliath and was therefore a unique weapon, David called it incomparable
because it was invaluable to him, being the only one available. (C.J. Labuschagne,
The Incomparability of Yahweh in the Old
Testament [Pretoria Oriental Series Vol V; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1966], 9-10)
As Labuschagne
noted elsewhere, the incomparability of deity was not limited to Israel; indeed,
“it occurred also in the polytheistic religions of the nations surrounding
Israel. While in respect of its God Israel’s faith declared that ‘there is none like Him’, the Egyptians,
Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians held a similar view regarding quite a
number of their gods” (ibid., 31). One example of such is that of Marduk. As Labuschagne
writes:
According to the texts available to us, it
was to Marduk that incomparability was by far the most frequently applied. For
more than a thousand years, from Hammarubi’s time, Marduk, the god of the city
of Babylon, occupied an important position and enjoyed great veneration. In
several hymns he is hailed as the incomparable one. In one, praising his fighting
power and his role as a storm god, it is said:
Mighty god,
who has no equal among the great gods,
and in another:
Lord, thou
art exalted! Who equals thee?
Marduk, among all the great gods thou art exalted!
Marduk, among all the great gods thou art exalted!
A hymn celebrating his wisdom (as the son of
Ea), also proclaims his incomparability:
Which god in
heaven or on earth equals thee?
In a prayer from an incantation text it is
said:
Prince of
heaven and earth, who has no equal,
and in another prayer with reference to his
power he is extolled as:
Lord, who as
to his might has no equal.
Finally, we call a most interesting hymn
addressed to Marduk and Nabu which according to EBELING ("Quellen zur
Kenntnis der Babylonischen Religion," 78) was recited when Nabu travelled from
Borsippa to the temple of Marduk in Babylon. In this hymn the attribute of
incomparability is bestowed on both of these gods. Marduk is called ‘King of all, without peer . . . ‘, while
Nabu is hailed as ‘scribe without equal
. . . ‘. As far as this application of the attribute to two different gods in
the same hymn is concerned we may compare this hymn with the ‘Hymn on the supremacy
of the sun god’. Here, too, the attribute is not bestowed on one god at the
expense of the other, or it is nothing more than an epithet expressing
abounding praise to both gods.
While the incomparability of Marduk occurs in
many hymns and prayers, it is conspicuously absent in personal names, at least
in those containing Marduk as the theophorous element. Because this may be mere
coincidence, we ought not to draw any conclusions on the strength of an argumentum e silentio. Moreover, names
such as Man-kī-bēli—‘Who is like my lord?’—and Manum-šāninšu—‘Who is his equal?’ may, for all we know, refer to Marduk. We do,
however, find a name expressing the incomparability of Bel, viz. Mīnū-ana-ilBēl-dāni—‘What is strong (enough) against Bel?’. (Ibid.,
40-41)
