Thursday, August 8, 2019

C.J. Labuschagne on the language of "incomparability" in the Old Testament and Literature of Surrounding Cultures


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 העםWell, 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!

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)