Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Greenspahn, Frederick E.

Titel

A Mesopotamian Proverb and Its Biblical Reverberations

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1994-01, Vol.114 (1), p.33-38

Ort / Verlag

Ann Arbor, MI: American Oriental Society

Erscheinungsjahr

1994

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A Mesopotamian proverb, "The tallest man cannot reach heaven; the widest man cannot cover the mountain (or 'earth')," uses themes and phrases found throughout cuneiform literature to express the limitations of human existence. Traces of this saying, which corresponds to the Biblical view that heaven is accessible only to God, can be found in several parts of the Hebrew Bible, including Deut. 30: 11-13 and the story of Jacob's dream. However, its most notable relevance is to the account of the Tower of Babel, which includes language derived from this tradition. This thematic connection supports those who have contended that the builders' "sin" was their effort to reach heaven, precisely the kind of hubris against which the proverb warns.