Theodicy & the Righteous Sufferer
Centuries before Job: a righteous man broken by suffering, asking gods whose justice he cannot fathom.
Why does a faithful person suffer? Mesopotamian thinkers wrestled with this hard question centuries before the book of Job. A Sumerian poem, 'A man and his god,' has a sufferer lament his abandonment and finally be restored. The Akkadian Ludlul bel nemeqi ('I will praise the lord of wisdom') tells of a righteous man struck by every misery, baffled because the gods' standards are inscrutable, until Marduk at last delivers him. The Babylonian Theodicy stages a debate between a sufferer and a friend over divine justice. None offers an easy answer; their shared insight is that the gods' ways exceed human understanding — and that one must keep faith even so.
Key passages(9)
One year and the next, the appointed time has passed. I turned round: (everywhere was) evil, it was evil indeed. My misfortune keeps increasing; I will not find righteousness. I called out to my (own)
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A person should steadfastly proclaim the exaltedness of his god. A young man should devoutly praise the words of his god; the people living in the righteous Land should unravel them like a thread. May
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(As for) the city Arbela, the abode of the goddess Ištar, the house of festivals and [ joyous celebrations ], whose (inner) wall had not been built (and) [ whose ] o [ uter wall ] had not been complet
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[... ] lord of wisdom, thoughtful god, [... ] calming [... ]. [... ] lord of wisdom, thoughtful god, [... ] calming (by) daytime. [... ] his fury is a storm, a deserted land; (yet) [... ] his strength
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Quickly, he is favourable to me as [... ] Let me teach the people [... ] is close. His favourable understanding [... ]. From the day the Lord [... ] and the hero Bel got angry [... ] my (own) god reje
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