Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan

“Solomon who is Greater than David”-Solomon's Succession in 1 Kings 1-2 in the Light of the Inscription of Kilamuwa, King of Y'DY-Sam'al

Tomoo ISHIDA

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 1-12
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_1

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The concluding section of the “Succession Narrative” in 1 Kings 1-2 is an apologetic composition from the early days of Solomon, aiming at legitimatizing not only his irregular succession but also his purge of his adversaries. Two conflicting elements in the Solomonic legitimation are blended in the congratulation offered to David by his servants on the occasion of Solomon's accession:“May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne” (1 Kings 1:37, 47). The words imply that, though Solomon legitimately succeeded to the throne of David, he assumed a critical attitude toward the old regime of David. We can find a comparative analogue of this double structure of the Solomonic legitimation in a propagandistic inscription of Kilamuwa, king of Y'DY-Sam'al, in the latter half of the ninth century B. C. It offers a close parallel to the Solomonic legitimation in the following three items: a) the emphasis on the father's throne as the foundation of the legitimate kingship; b) the negative evaluation to his father; c) the establishment of the kingship based on the restoration of social justice or order. Besides, a historical analysis of the Kilamuwa inscription shows that the pattern of the royal succession in the early monarchies in Y'DY-Sam'al provides us a remarkable parallel to that of transfer of the royal throne in early Israel. The characterization of the first five kings in both kingdoms is summarized as the following chart. The comparison indicates that there were common features in the political development in the early, inexperienced monarchies in the national kingdoms of Syro-Palestine at the beginning of the first millennium B. C.

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On the Concept of Taqwa in the Qur'an

Yoshiko ODA

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 13-29
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_13

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The term taqwa is usually taken to mean “fear of God, ” or “piety.” The pre-Islamic meaning of taqwa was “self-defense against some destructive force coming outside.” Prof. Izutsu analyzes that this original meaning of taqwa, brought into the Qur'anic world, changes into “fear of God.” By contrast, Prof. Rahman emphasizes the ethical meaning of the concept of taqwa, which he translates as “conscience.” He insists that “self-defense, ” the original meaning, is the basic meaning of the Qur'anic concept of taqwa.
In order to elucidate the concept of taqwa, the Qur'anic usages of taqwa and other forms of the same Arabic root W-Q-Y are analyzed on the one hand. On the other hand, some of the basic themes in the Qur'an are briefly explained: “the personal relation between God and man, ” “the Day of Judgment, ” and “the crucial importance of man's deed based on the idea of the Islamic community.”
The terms tagwd, iman (faith) and islam (surrender) mean one and the same total response of man to the One God, but each term shows a different modality of the whole. In the modality of taqwa, man confronts God as mysterium tremendum, which implies more than “fear of God.” While the modality of faith is related to the inner peaceful, static self, that of taqwa is related to the active self who acts in historical situations. This is due to the preservation of the original meaning of taqwa “self-defense.” The direct self-defense is impossible against God. Within the modality of tagwd, man is already surrendered. A new meaning is given to “self-defense, ” that is, “to follow the divine guidance and not to follow man's selfish desires.”

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Note on d'l in Ayddgdr i Zareran, §25

Yoshitaka SHIMIZU

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 30-34
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_30

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One of the lexical problems of the text Ayadgdr i Zareran (The Memorial of Zarer) is that centering about the word d'l which has not satisfactorily been elucidated. The word d'l is attested two times in the 25th paragraph of which the first word d'l has been interpreted in various ways by various scholars. But it seems rather strange that each word d'l in one and the same paragraph has a meaning quite different from each other.
In this paper, I would like to assert that the word d'l is of common base with 'd'ly (tidal ‘fetter’<*a-derez (a)-) treated by Prof. G. Ito in his paper “Karder's Inscription of the Ka'be-ye Zardošt”, Orient, Vol. XVII (1981), p. 55 & 64, n. 15. And moreover he kindly informed me that it might also be possible to take adal for ‘prisoner’ and accordingly pad adal for ‘as prisoner’.
As a conclusion, both d'ls from derez (a)- ‘fetter’, have one and the same meaning ‘fetter’.
pad dal abar framayem kardan may therefore be translated: ‘We order to (or let) hang up (him) fettered (pad dal, lit. ‘with fetters’)’.

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On Divine Wedding Ceremonies found in Akkadian Documents

Eiko MATSUSHIMA

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 35-50
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_35

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Divine wedding ceremonies, well known in the Sumerian literary texts, are also attested in some Akkadian documents, particularly that of the 1st millennium B. C. We have previously studied on the marriage rite of the god Nabû and his spouse, Tašmetu or Nanaja. In this paper, we are trying to present further examples of the same sort of cermonies in Babylonia and in Assyria.
A wedding ceremony of Marduk and Zarpanîtu in the temple Esagil in Babylon is now well attested by some of the inscriptions of Assurbanipal in Assyria. A couple of evidences concerning the marriage rite of Anu and Antu at Uruk are found in texts written in Late Babylonian period. We can also cite a few examples which describe the wedding of Šamaš and Aja at Sippar of that later period. Some other materials which may be related to the ceremony in question are also known to us.
With these evidences, we may have to reconsider the nature and the object of these divine wedding ceremonies in ancient Mesopotamia, which have been considered until now by many specialists to call for fertility or fecundity from the land.

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Noah and his Sons

Tetsuo YAMAGA

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 51-68
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_51

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The story of Noah and his sons (Gen. 9: 18-27) has been known as a text with many inconsistencies and discrepancies both in itself and with its surrounding context. These phenomena must be seen as the result of the gradual growth of the material. We will consider this process broadly in three stages.
At first, this story was an independent tradition which originally had nothing to do with the Flood, nor with Noah and his sons. In this stage, there appeared an anonymous father and his two sons. It was a family narrative with the edifying intention of teaching a son's proper attitude and filial duty toward his father. It was told that the elder son who was pious and thoughtful toward his father was blessed, while the younger son, who disrespected his father, was cursed.
On the second stage of the history of this tradition, the two sons of the original story were identified with the forefathers of the Israelites and the Ganaanites respectively. Thus, on this stage, the story for the first time acquired the character of an ethnological etiology which gives an account of the relationship between those two nations, i. e., the superiority of Israel over Canaan. This stage reflects not the situation of the Davidic-Solomonic era, but that of the age before the founding of the monarchy.
Finally, on the third stage (J), this story of the father and his two sons was combined with the scheme of Noah and his three sons of the Flood story. At the same time, by being put in the framework of primeval history, this narrative obtained its universal, human meaning, and thus, became one of those texts which describe sin and its curse in the social existence of human beings and which prepare the necessity for the mediation of blessing which begins in Gen. 12:3.

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The Decline of Silk Production and the Agricultural Changes in Late 19th Century Gilan, Iran

Shoko OKAZAKI

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 69-82
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_69

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Round Structures in the Ancient Mesopotamia

Yayoi KOIKE

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 83-98
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_83

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The Anthropologists' Image of Muslim Women

Yoshimi SHIMIZU

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 99-107
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_99

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Historical Studies on 'Urabi Movement

Hiroshi KATO

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 108-117
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_108

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F. Tinnefeld, Shoki Bizantsu Shakai, Japanese Translation of Die frühbyzantinische Gesellschaft by T. Yuge, Iwanami-Shoten, Tokyo, 1984

Hiroshi WADA

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 118-123
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_118

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[title in Japanese]

[in Japanese]

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 124-125
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_124

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[title in Japanese]

[in Japanese]

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 125-126
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_125

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[title in Japanese]

1984 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 131-147
Published: 1984
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/jorient.27.2_131

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