Dust or Dew: Immortality in the Ancient Near East and in Psalm 49

270 Pages·2012·3.25 MB·English

by  Janet K. Smith

DDuusstt oorr DDeeww
D
u
s
t

o IImmmmoorrttaalliittyy iinn tthhee AAnncciieenntt
r

D
NNeeaarr EEaasstt aanndd iinn PPssaallmm 4499
e
w

J
a
n
e
t

S
m
JJaanneett SSmmiitthh
i
t
h
C
Dust or Dew

Dust or Dew
Immortality in the Ancient
Near East and in Psalm 49
Janet Smith
C
James Clarke and Co
James Clarke and Co
P.O. Box 60
Cambridge
CB1 2NT
www.jamesclarke.co
[email protected]
ISBN: 978 0 227 68021 6
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A record is available from the British Library
First published by James Clarke and Co, 2012
Copyright © Janet Smith, 2011
First Published, 2011
This edition is published by arrangement
with Pickwick Publications
All rights reserved. No part of this edition may be reproduced, stored
electronically or in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without prior written permission from the Publisher
([email protected]).
This book is dedicated to my fi rst Hebrew
teacher, Rabbi Bernard Schwab, who taught me
Hebrew in his home in Lexington, Kentucky, for a year.

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
1 Introduction 1
2 A Review of Literature on the Afterlife 15
3 Who Were the Korahites? 54
4 A Pilgrimage through the Korahite Psalter 82
5 Psalm 49: A Translation and Commentary 107
6 The Grim Afterlife of the Ancient Near East 142
7 The Path of Death or Life in the Hebrew Bible 190
8 Conclusion 238
Bibliography 243
Index of Ancient Documents 253
Index of Authors 267
Index of Foreign Gods and Goddesses 270

Preface
In his book Cosmopolitanism, K. A. Appiah1 shared a parable in which
ultimate reality here on Earth is represented as a mirror. The mirror
is accessible to us sentient and mortal humans, but it has fallen and is
broken into pieces. The shards lie about, to be discovered by different
groups and individuals at different times. We each have a shard or two,
but we do not have enough to see the whole picture. We all tend to
think that our shard is fairly representative of the whole. Because we are
relatively simple beings, we must hope that the universe is sufficiently
simple for us to fully grasp, even though we have the capacity to under-
stand that it may be complex beyond our comprehension.
This parable can be aptly applied to the realm of theology and
biblical studies. Any number of approaches can be employed in the
academic investigation of the Hebrew Bible: a historical/archaeologi-
cal approach; an ethnological study of the origins of Israel; a literary
explication of dialogic techniques, puns, mythopoeic iconography, and
connectedness of texts; a heuristic exploration of one’s own spiritual
journey; or a theological reflection. No matter which approach one
chooses, there will be divisions and shards and references to anatomical
parts of elephants investigated by blind sages.2 Archaeologists cannot
agree on whether the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and
Job) were historical characters (most would say not), whether Israel
really came out of bondage in Egypt (most would dismiss the notion),
whether David was a tenth century Israelite king (some say David never
1. Appiah, Cosmopolitanism, 8.
2. John Godfrey Saxe’s poem about the blind men and the elephant can be re-
viewed at http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/blind_men_elephant.html or in
Linton’s Poetry of America, 1878.
ix