He Will Repay Him With Good': The Relationship Between Wealth and Piety in Mesopotamia and Ancient Israel
This dissertation develops an understanding of the metaphysics underlying depictions of wealth in the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian literature. The study reveals a shared theological grammar of wealth and piety which surfaces in three forms: the dangerous or illusory quality of wealth, economic generosity as a form of piety, and economic metaphors for piety. In identifying these features of the relationship between wealth and piety the study explores the conceptual ancestry of Second Temple Jewish and early Christian theologies of wealth and almsgiving.
The dissertation proceeds first by means of six case studies in Akkadian literature. The illusory quality of wealth arises in the depiction of the profit lost by the deceptive merchant in the Šamaš Hymn; the characterization of the impious, rich bēl pāni in the Babylonian Theodicy; and the foolishness of trust in wealth in several Neo-Assyrian letters and inscriptions. The connection between economic generosity and piety appears with the generous merchant in the Šamaš Hymn, the repayment of generosity by Šamaš in the Counsels of Wisdom, and the notion that economic assistance reaches Marduk’s “basket” in the Dialogue of Pessimism. Economic metaphors for piety feature throughout the case studies, especially in the Dialogue, which employs the language of commercial lending or consignment (qīptu) for sacrifice.
The final two chapters apply and compare the results of the case studies to the Hebrew Bible. Psalms 49, 52, and Job view wealth not only as illusory or transient but also as a great danger, lest it become an object of the trust and piety one should reserve for God. Psalms 37, 112, and Job display the comparatively central significance of economic generosity––including generous lending––as a form of piety. Notably, as in the Akkadian texts, these wisdom compositions praise economic generosity for its divine rewards rather than its social utility.
The dissertation concludes with a consideration of the extent to which the Hebrew Bible inherits and develops a theological grammar of wealth. An appendix shows the trajectory of this grammar as it appears in the Qur’an in relation to loans, usury (riba), and almsgiving (zakāt/ṣadaqa).
History
Date Modified
2017-06-05Defense Date
2016-11-28Research Director(s)
Gary A. AndersonCommittee Members
James C. VanderKam Abraham Winitzer Gabriel Said ReynoldsDegree
- Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Level
- Doctoral Dissertation
Language
- English
Program Name
- Theology