The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology

by Daniel I. Block

Daniel I. Block here explores the relationship between ancient Near Eastern nations and their respective deities. He demonstrates how this relationship was expressed in everyday life, national identity, and history. Israel’s theocratic culture is illuminated in comparison to other Near Eastern cultures.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Nonfiction, Old Testament

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1989

About the author

Daniel I. Block (DPhil, University of Liverpool) is Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He is the author of several books and numerous essays and has written commentaries on Deuteronomy, Judges-Ruth, and Ezekiel. He has also been involved in the production of the New Living Translation of the Bible and lectures and preaches around the world.

Reviews

[Jonathan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slim but informative treatment of an important theme in ancient religions: the nexus between a deity, the land, and the people. Daniel I. Block, a quite accomplished scholar, treats his material well and thoroughly. The exploration of national theology among numerous ancient Near Eastern societies was fantastic, particularly in his analysis of theophoric names and in his detailed investigation of the various ways in which one might describe the land's relationship to a deity.

What Block finds is that, for most of these societies, the primary tie was between a nation's (non-exclusive) patron deity and the land; the identity of the land's inhabitants was thoroughly secondary. (But "ancient Near Easterners appear to have had difficulty contemplating a politically unified people without at the same time recognizing that people as being under the protective supervision of a particular god" [73].) The estate was central; the identity of the vassals was not. The territorial borders were viewed as divinely determined (though expandable), with lands divvied up by higher deities either as rewards or by random allotment.

There was a belief that divine anger could result in an abandonment of the land by the patron deity, but very few texts offer explanations of the cause of divine anger, and those that do usually pertain to cultic offenses (see, e.g., the Curse of Agade text where destruction of a temple in another city is the offense, and the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic where the king's failure to keep an oath to the gods is the offense) or to simple divine decree (see, e.g., the Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur) - though the Middle Babylonian Seed of Kingship, as well as Esarhaddon's later reconstruction account, does tersely mention human evil as the cause for Marduk temporarily abandoning Babylon.

Block observes, on the whole, an "intense insecurity," in that ancient Near Eastern pagans "were keenly aware of their own sinfulness, but assurance that they had been favorably received often eluded them" (110).

For ancient Israel, in spite of some common themes and conventions with their neighbors, it was the relationship between their (exclusive) patron deity and themselves as his people that was primary, and the land, while very important, took a secondary position. They rejected territorial expansion of the original divine patrimony: "Whereas in Israel the deity was perceived to determine the national boundaries, in Assyria the kings in effect defined the limits of the territory of the god" (84).

But they agreed with other nations that a patron deity should defend his land/people under ordinary circumstances, and should have a role in establishing leaders. And, of course, Israelites famously believed in the prospect of divine abandonment of the land - but unlike elsewhere in the ancient Near East, their texts go into great detail in specifying the offenses, in which ethical components outweigh the ritual. They also emphasized that spoliation was never a factor (as it was with Marduk, whose 'abandonment' of Babylon was consistently related to his cultic statue being taken captive to other lands); they stressed the clarity of their God's requirements; and their God remained faithfully concerned for his covenant with the people.

And so Daniel Block has produced a valuable treatment on the parallels and divergences between Israel and her neighbors in the ancient Near East regarding the deity/land/people relationship.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Block presents a short discussion of Near Eastern theology focusing on the relationship between deity, land, and people.

Looking at the similarities and differences of the Israelites and their neighbors, Block examines many facets of study to help the modern reader interpret the relationship of YHWH to his people correctly. Ezekiel is one example Block gave where an understanding of the Near Eastern relationship between the land, people, and deity must be understood to correctly interpret.

The strength of his work lies in his use of Near Eastern literature. I especially found his focus on the linguistic and grammatical analysis in chapter 2 beneficial. Though Block focuses the majority of his time on the understanding of the relationship between deity, land, and people of the Near East, his comparison of mlk, ’Adon, Ba‘al, Melek, Mare’, and Ro‘eh in the biblical canon and throughout Near Eastern literature was particularly informative.

Though his work may not be as easily accessible to all, Block presents an understanding of the relationship of deity, land, and people which is beneficial to all reading the Hebrew Text.

[James Ordonez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This academic book takes an in-depth look of the deity-association-land relationship of the Yahwist group and its neighbouring ancient Eastern neighborhoods. I grew up in the East, and I agree with Block's conclusion that there's too much Western smokescreens in our present-day biblical theology right now.

It was a pleasure to read the translations of ancient texts: it gives flesh to their history that sometimes we just tend to overlook. For example we tend to misunderstand that the root cause of the kingdom of Israel's decimation is on their choice to serve other "gods" which then lead to immoral practices. Nevertheless, Yahweh is indeed different from the other gods, He is faithful to his promise even if his chosen people were not.

This is a technical book that has somehow still managed to encouraged me and keep on anchoring with the "now and not yet" take on the kingdom.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful synchronic analysis of how aNE nations conceived their relation to their patron deities. Block shows where Israelite orthodoxy fell in line with the theology of the surrounding nations and where it differed. Perhaps the most interesting difference is that most aNE patron gods were tied primarily to the territory than to the people who lived there, which was obviously not the case in OT thinking. The one criticism I can think of off the top of my head is that (like in his book on covenant) he overpersonalizes the land itself, going as far as to make it part to agreements and participant in the relationship.

[William Schrecengost · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book on the ancient near-eastern views of national gods and the ways they interacted with their people and the land. He compares his findings to the descriptions of the Bible's descriptions of how Yahweh interacts with the Israelites and the results are quite interesting. This is really helpful for understanding how the different nations interacted with one another in regard to their different gods and theologies.

[Adam Benner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid treatment of Near-Eastern religious practice and how it compares to and contrasts with ancient Israelite religion. I'll admit, though, that I prefer 'Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament' (actually written by a colleague of Block's, John Walton) for its depth and organisation - but I might think differently if I'd read Block's book first.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some helpful, though rather technical, background to the Old Testament.

[Andrzej Stelmasiak]

Useful review by ELIAS BRASIL DE SOUZA here https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cg...

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Block gives a comprehensive overview of the gods of the ANE.

[Devon Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of near eastern theological practice. Great little book for paring with a study of Deuteronomy and or Joshua.