Ancient Near Eastern Patterns in Prohetic Literature

Abstract

Almost every one of the literary types of the Old Testament has its prototype in the ancient Near Eastern literature. Law, epic, historiography, psalms, wisdom, all of them are established literary genres in the civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Furthermore in some cases it is even possible to prove direct dependence of the Biblical creation upon foreign sources as for example in the case of Prov. xxii 17-xxiii 11 which is dependent on the Proverbs of Amenem-opet. The only exception is Classical Prophecy which has always been considered an original creation of ancient Israel. Indeed there is no doubt that the religious moral pathos pervading classical prophecy as well as the prophetic ideas about the end of idolatry, universal peace and world salvation, reflects the genuine spirit of classical prophecy. The question is whether the literary conventions out of which classical prophecy has been formed were unique. Now, close investigation and constant follow-up of the ever growing literature of the ancient Near East show that basic forms as well as