RT Article
T1 Nebuchadnezzar’s Affliction: New Mesopotamian Parallels for Daniel 4
JF Journal of Biblical literature
VO 133
IS 3
SP 497
OP 507
A1 Avalos, Hector
LA English
PB Scholar's Press
YR 2014
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/180163534X
AB In an article in this journal, Christopher B. Hays argued that Nebuchadnezzar’s affliction is best understood in the context of netherworld imagery (“Chirps from the Dust: The Afflictions of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:30 in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,” JBL 126 [2007]: 305–25). On the other hand, Matthias Henze believes that Nebuchadnezzar’s affliction follows the trope of the uncivilized man akin to Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh (The Madness of King Nebuchadnezzar [1999]). Hays appealed to the supposed lack of evidence that such a primal status could result from the curse of a deity. But magico-medical Mesopotamian texts known as the dingir.šà.dib.ba incantations do provide clear evidence that a primal earthly status could result from a divine curse. Accordingly, those texts support Henze’s interpretation while validating Hays’s argument that Mesopotamian prayer genres can illuminate Daniel 4.
DO 10.1353/jbl.2014.0029