Context of Scripture, The

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2004 by Howard, David M Jr

COS uses four criteria for inclusion, all things being equal: (1) newer texts, whether newly discovered or newly reedited; (2) complete texts; (3) well-preserved texts; and (4) texts shown to be relevant to biblical studies. In practice, the preference for newer texts means many texts from ANET are missing, although all of the most famous "standards" are included, such as the great creation or flood myths, the important law codes (Eshnunna, Lipit-Ishtar, Hammurapi, and others), the tale of Sinuhe, the Baal myths, the Assyrian royal annals (Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and others), the Babylonian Chronicle, the Babylonian Theodicy, and many more. Two disappointments for me nevertheless were (1) the inclusion in COS only of Tablet 11 of the Gilgamesh Epic-vs. all 12 tablets of the epic in ANET-rendering a contextual understanding of the Babylonian flood story more difficult; and (2) the omission in COS of the administrative documents listing the provisions given to Jehoiachin in Babylonian captivity (see ANET 308), seemingly minor texts but with important connections to 2 Kgs 25:27-30.

How is COS organized? Volume 1 contains what Hallo calls "canonical compositions," a term that has confused some reviewers. By this, he does not mean "holy" or "religious" texts like the Bible, but rather works belonging to the Mesopotamian or Hittite "canon," i.e., those compositions intended for long-term preservation, studied, copied, and preserved in the scribal schools (2,xxi). (The term is used today in such phrases as "the Shakespearean canon" or "the Western canon," i.e. a standard, bounded corpus of works that is preserved and studied. Likewise, scholars of Mesopotamia often refer to the "Ashurbanipal canon" to refer to the great collections of works this king assembled in the library at Nineveh.)

Under the five geographical headings mentioned above, the canonical compositions in volume 1 are further classified in terms of their "focus": divine, royal, and individual. Under "Divine Focus" are found cosmologies, myths, hymns, prayers, rituals, incantations, divinations, lamentations, even certain songs and love poems. Under "Royal Focus" are grouped historiographical texts, biographies and autobiographies, epics, royal hymns, oracles, and certain instructions. Under "Individual Focus" are found narratives, "prophecies," instructions and school texts, love poems, proverbs and other wisdom texts, even disputations, fables, and humor. Needless to say, not every one of these categories is attested in every geographical area.

The monumental inscriptions in volume 2 consist of everything from great building inscriptions and royal annals, which are relatively lengthy, to short seal impressions and inscriptions on bowls, ivories, etc. Some of the categories overlap those in volume 1, particularly some of the Hittite inscriptions. For example, in this volume, the "Bilingual Edict of Hattusili I (2.15)" and "The Ten Year Annals of Great King Mursili of Hatti (2.16)," both monumental texts, are very similar in genre to the "historiographical" texts in vol. 1, the "Deeds of Suppiluliuma (1.74)" or "Suppiluliuma II's two inscriptions telling of "The Hittite Conquest of Cyprus (1.75)."