RBL 08/2013 Jonathan Stökl Prophecy in the Ancient Near East: A Philological and Sociological Comparison Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 56 Leiden: Brill, 2012. Pp. xvi + 297. Cloth. $151.00. ISBN 9789004229921. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, United Kingdom This monograph, the author s revised doctoral thesis, takes a thorough look at the phenomena of prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East, with focus on the prophetic personnel and their social roles: Who is a prophet, and what does she or he do? The book falls into five main categories. The introduction contains a relatively short discussion on the methodology involved in comparative studies. Stökl then defines the boundaries of his study. He uses the term diviner to denote a person who receives messages from the divine. A diviner can be either a technical diviner or an intuitive diviner. Prophets and dreamers form two subcategories of the latter. Stökl further notes that, from the perspective of socio-anthropology, prophecy can be categorized as a type of possession. Stökl also surveys key secondary literature and evaluates their suitability for discussing ancient Near Eastern prophecy. Ultimately, he decides to understand prophecy as a phenomenon whereby a deity acts through a prophet (thus emphasizing the deity s agency). Finally, Stökl discusses briefly his selection of texts the Old Babylonian prophetic oracles from Mari, the Neo-Assyrian oracles from the imperial archives, and the biblical prophetic material and gives compelling arguments as to why he excludes material from Greece, Egypt, the Hittites, and Ugarit, as well as the Aramaic Inscriptions from Deir Alla, the Ammon Citadel, and Zakkur.
The second part deals with the Old Babylonian prophetic material from Mari. After surveying the available texts, Stökl examines the different words that denote the different types of prophets, with the aim of determining the prophets professional role as well as their role in society. In his discussion Stökl differentiates between professional prophets and lay prophets. This distinction has little to do with their significance and/or their impact in society. Instead, it serves to demarcate their diverse social roles. Beginning with the professional prophets, Stökl discusses in depth the Akkadian term āpilum. He looks at its etymology, the ways in which it is spelled (phonetically or using a Sumerogram), and what these different spellings can tell us about its exact meaning. He concludes that both lú GUB.BA and A.BIL denote the Akkadian term āpilum. Turning to translation, Stökl follows Fronzaroli s and Merlo s lead and translates āpilum as spokesperson. An āpilum was sent out by the deities and functioned as their emissary. As to social role, after surveying a wide range of primary and secondary literature germane to the topic, Stökl concludes that the āpilum was the only real professional prophet at Mari (43). Further, contra several scholars who maintain that the āpilum was a cult prophet, Stökl upholds that the āpilum was a royal agent, directly responsible to the king and at times sent out on missions to retrieve answers to queries to the gods at remote temples. There is no evidence to suggest that the āpilum was an ecstatic or went into a trance. In the same way, Stökl investigates the etymology of the lay prophets titles, as well as their social roles: the muhḫ ûm, the assinnu, and the qammatum. Stökl demonstrates that the muhḫ ûm was a type of ecstatic cultic official who had a relationship with a specific deity (mostly Ištar) but not with a specific temple. The muhḫ ûm s main social role was to go into trances, primarily in a cultic setting. As such, the muhḫ ûm was linked primarily to the temple administration and only secondarily to the king. Although the muhḫ ûm prophesied from time to time, this was secondary to the ecstatic function, which defined the muhḫ ûm s social and cultic role in the society at Mari. Stökl argues that the assinnu was a cult official lacking a prophetic role. In the case of the qammatum, the limited information about her makes it impossible to determine her social role. Stökl concludes the discussion with some brief comments on prophetic groups and the significance of gender in prophecy. Stökl proceeds to look at the relationship between the prophets and those who transmitted their message to the king. What authority was assigned to the prophetic communication? Furthermore, in what literary form was this communication conveyed? In this context, Stökl suggests that the āpilum, in as a court official, may have had direct
access to the king. As a result, the āpilum s oracles were delivered orally and thus not preserved for posterity. He further proposes that, although it is improbable that the extant recorded prophecies were conveyed verbatim, it is likely that they are fairly close, given that they contain important information. In this context, Stökl contests the common view that the word egerrûm is a technical term for prophetic utterances, and he disputes that the expression DN išpuranni ( DN sent me ) indicates that the Mari prophets were aware of being sent by a particular deity. As only three out of fifty texts speak of the prophet being sent by a deity, it is unwarranted to claim that the prophets in Mari in general understood themselves as being sent. Stökl also discusses the habit of sending hair and hem alongside the prophetic message and argues that the message, rather than the prophet, was being tested. The hem and the hair determined, through ritual, the importance of the message, not its truthfulness. In the chapter Further Aspects of Old Babylonian Prophecy, Stökl looks at the geographical origin of prophecy. Noting that the oldest available evidence comes from Uruk, Ešnunna, and Mari, he points out that a Western origin of prophecy is unlikely. He also presents some scholarly views as to how prophecy worked. These discussions, as implied by the chapter heading, are only loosely connected to the preceding discussion. The next chapter looks in the same way at prophets and prophecy in the Neo-Assyrian sources. As in the preceding section, Stökl begins by surveying the available texts and then discusses, in dialogue with the appropriate dictionaries and secondary literature, the etymology of the different terms denoting prophets. The terms mahḫ û appears to denote people who fulfilled the same role as the Old Babylonian muhḫ ûm. Both appear in cultic contexts. Stökl suggests that the mahḫ û was a cult ecstatic who at times prophesied, what he labels a lay prophet. In contrast, the term raggintu (the feminine singular participle form of the G stem ragāmu [ to call out ]) undoubtedly denotes a prophet. What is less clear is her exact social role in the Neo-Assyrian society. She probably held a relatively high standing in society. Stökl rejects Parpola s suggestion that the raggintu fulfilled the same social function in the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the aforementioned Old Babylonian muhḫ ûm. In particular, Stökl sees no evidence to suggest that the raggintu was an ecstatic prophet. Rather, the muhḫ ûm/mahḫ û and the raggintu were two related types of religious personnel with different social functions who co-existed in Neo-Assyrian society. Stökl offers the conjecture that the raggintu refers to a prophetic position akin to that of the Old Babylonian āpilum. Both were closely related to the court. Stökl ends with a discussion of the significance of gender in prophecy. He rejects firmly the common view that the Neo-Assyrian prophets displayed gender ambiguity, and he also discards the idea of genital self-mutilation among the prophets.
Turning to the literary form of the Neo-Assyrian prophecies, Stökl focuses his discussion on the physical shape of the tablets upon which they are recorded and how that has a bearing on our understanding of the transmission of and redaction of the prophetic oracles. He shows, for example, that oracles were sometimes transmitted in a manner different from their original setting. They may appear as parts of a collection of prophetic oracles (on so-called Sammeltafeln), they may be cited in a letter in order to support a certain claim, or they may appear in Esarhaddon s and Assurbanipal s royal inscriptions. These occurrences suggest that the oracles were imbued with a certain authority. They also provide important points of comparison with the production of biblical prophetic books. They represent development: from (oral) prophetic oracle to prophetic literature. Stökl concludes with a brief discussion of the relationship between the Neo-Assyrian prophets and the cult. The mahḫ û was closely linked with temples and the cult. In contrast, although the raggintu had a temple connection, any connection with the temple worship and the cult appears to have been incidental. The next chapter deals with prophets and prophecy in the Hebrew Bible. In contrast to the preceding chapters, this section is rather brief. Stökl restricts his study to three Hebrew terms:,נביא,חזה and.ראה In his discussion, he upholds the distinction between professional and lay prophets. For instance, he suggests that Amos may fall into the latter category. Stökl begins by investigating the use of the term nabī at Ebla and at Emar and concludes that there is no evidence of prophecy at either place. Rather, the term nabī refers to some form of ancestor worship. Likewise, the appearance of the term nb in the Lachish letters appears to denote a member of the royal administrations. Turning to the biblical evidence, Stökl outlines the various ways in which the term נביא is employed. It can be a title of an individual prophet; the plural form can denote a band of prophets; and it appears in the formula prophet(s) of X (e.g., prophet of YHWH, prophet of Ba al). Stökl concludes that there were at least three different types of prophets in ancient Israel: the נביא ecstatic groups, the technical diviners, and the writing prophets. As to how the term came to denote all three groups, Stökl suggests tentatively that it originally denoted broadly a diviner. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the roles of the diviner and the role of the ecstatic prophet were combined. This combined form appears in most of the writing prophets. At the same time, (other) ecstatic prophets metamorphosed into temple singers (cf. 1-2 Chronicles). Stökl also discusses what historical information we can glen about the prophets of ancient Israel from the Pentateuch and the prophetic writings. In general, Stökl doubts that these texts can tell us much about the reality in preexilic Israel. Rather, they shed more light
upon the understanding of the term נביא in postmonarchic Yehud. He also argues that there were more female prophets in ancient Israel than what the biblical records account for. As to the term חזה and ראה and the social role of the bearers of these titles, Stökl concludes that the חזה was associated with the royal court. As to whether the חזה had any connection with the temple and/or the cult is more uncertain. It is furthermore likely that the חזה originally received divine communication through visions, as the name implies. Yet, the title later became a generic term for prophecy/divine foreknowledge. Finally, Stökl highlights that the biblical evidence does not allow us to draw any conclusions concerning the meaning and social role of the.ראה It is possible that it denoted a diviner who was not employed by the royal administration. The final chapter is brief in character. Stökl surveys areas in the study of the prophets in ancient Israel upon which his monograph sheds new light: prophetic groups, cultic prophecy, music and prophecy, intercession, female prophets, transmitting prophecy, deities of prophecy, being sent, divine council, and ecstasy. Stökl s monograph is carefully researched and his conclusions well supported. He relates to a wide range of primary and secondary sources, all read in the original languages. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in prophecy in Israel and the ancient Near East. In a few cases it is possible that Stökl errs on the side of caution. In fact, his findings are on the whole more negative than positive. For instance, he demolishes Parpola s suggested distinction between horizontal tablets (reports for immediate use) and vertical tablets (archival collections) and concludes that all we can say is that we have at least two shapes, horizontal and vertical tablets (131). He also argues against any comparisons between the ecstatic lay prophets at Mari and in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and those mentioned in the Bible (211). Only in a few, in my view rather surprising, cases is he is more adventurous. On very slim textual support, he upholds a distinction between vision reports and dreams reports (79 81). He also states, on the basis of the absence of contradictory evidence, with uncharacteristic certainty that more female prophets existed than the biblical texts might suggest. These minor points of critique should not, however, detract from the real value of Stökl s monograph.