Dear davidf,

Thank you for your Sumerian summary. It is a pity more hasn’t survived from that age.

I do find the story of Upnapishtim telling Gilgamesh of ”a secret thing, it is mystery of the gods” powerful.

“There is a plant that grows under the water, it has a prickle like a thorn, like a rose; it will wound your hands but if you succeed in taking it, then your hands will hold that which restores his lost youth to a man.”

Gilgamesh intended to take it back to Uruk and “there I will give it to the old men to eat. Its name shall be “The Old Men Are Young Again”; and at last I shall eat it myself and have back all my lost youth”. However on his way a “serpent sensed the sweetness of the flower. It rose out of the water and snatched it away, and immediately it sloughed off its skin and returned to the well”.

Gilgamesh sits and weeps “is it for this I have wrung out my heart’s blood?” “I have found a sign and now I have lost it.”. In a way he is being punished for his selflessness, something he hadn’t exhibited much of up till then.

I’m not sure I can see much of Ishtar in Esther. Ishtar ‘The Queen of Heaven’ seemed on relatively equal footing in the ‘congress of gods’ while Esther smacks of Sarah in that she was given over to the king for his harem. Ishtar was beautiful but her lovers where certainly the worse for wear after she was done with them many paying a very high price. As Gilgamesh says;

“Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, … an engine of assault set up in the enemies land”.

“You have loved the shepherd of the flock; he made meal cake for you day after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned him into a wolf; now his own herd boys chase him away, his own hounds worry his flanks.”

Cont…

Cont…

Ishtar had real power. The period the Jews were in exile saw the city of Babylon at the height of its might, the largest in the world. Its main entrance was the Ishtar Gate including massive stone carvings of dragons, some of which can still be see today in the ruins.

I tend to see Ishtar being more represented in Eve. The downfall of her lovers, the serpent - dragon pairing, and Eve being cursed with “thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee”. One can really sense the powerful, promiscuous, female Ishtar being brought under control, or, along with the serpent, to heel so to speak.

I find it fascinating that “thy desire shall be to thy husband” should be considered a curse unless it was accepted that the men folk would take concubines etc.

At the risk of stirring the untoward in UOG may I relate where my thoughts went upon my first completion of Esther in a sitting. I had been reading about Madaleine Albright from a book or article by Chomsky and thinking about her ancestry, known to the Israeli government (hidden even from herself it is reported), coupled with her statements as US ambassador to the UN "We simply do not support the description of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 War as occupied Palestinian territory.", to later quotes as Secretary of State that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children were ‘worth it’ all served to have the whole saga drip for me at the time with Estheresque connotations. Madeleine was of course Esther, Israel was Mordecai, the USA was Ahasuerus, while finally Haman could be seen as Iraq, once a friend of the US in its efforts against Iran.

I did not feel there was any conspiracy or reality in this, but the similarities presented by my reading cycle were arresting at the time.

On a further note it seems the Book of Esther was the only one of the Tanakh not present in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dear csteele: I posted the following by mistake to "How do we define human being?"

I was horrified by Albright's remark about the deaths of the children being 'worth it'. In addition to being callous Albright was all stupid.

According to Harry Gersh's 'Sacred Books of the Jews' the book of Esther took its final form around 200 BCE although it could have been around in some form much earlier. That would explain it not being in the Dead Sea Scrolls since their date is uncertain and may have been before 200 BCE.

At one time the middle east was well watered with forests. Increasing population resulted in deforestation and more arid conditions. As a result settled hunter gatherers or farmers became nomadic. In a nomadic society the roles of men and women become more sharply differentiated and women have less status. Thus the change from the independent Vashti to the subservient Esther. In addition to not being herd animals pigs need more water and shade than sheep, cattle or goats. The land became unsuitable for independent women and pigs except for the male chauvinist kind.

There can be the same explanation of both the change in the role of the goddess and the prohibition of eating pork.

By the waters of Brisbane I sat and wept. I miss the USA.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 8 September 2009 1:53:17 AM

I am very sorry to read of you feeling so depressed, David f.
How can I help?

Dear Grim,

The United States is Bush, Obama, a great military power, an oppressive presence casting a shadow over the globe, a tower of freedom and a lot of other things. To me it's just home, and I am in Australia. Did you have to learn "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" in school?

“Breathes there the man with soul so dead…”

I feel better now. My older son is in Brazil doing field work as he is an anthropologist so I wouldn't be able to see him even if I were home. Just got an email from him. Generally there is a line or two in every email that makes me laugh. "Even a bad cold didn´t slow me down too much. The cold is history now and that´s relief, especially because it is so extremely hot that mucus seems to run at about twice the usual speed." The foregoing was in the email I just got.

He thought it's mucus, but it's not. Say it quickly.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and your beer is diluted.

You have helped by reading the above.

Dear davidf,

I was saddened to see the ‘black dog’ had been for a nibble (he has taken the odd piece out of me recently) but I am very relieved to read you are on the up.

The life of an ex-pat can be very different from the commonly held view of ‘beer and skittles’. Let me know if I can be of assistance.

I have thoroughly enjoyed dissecting Genesis a little with you and I thank you for your patience in replying to my questions.