Thus Speaks Ishtar is a collection of essays about prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East during the “Neo-Assyrian Period.” This was the time when some of Israel’s greatest prophets emerged, and we also have from the same general period a number of prophetic texts found on the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. The book examines the basic idea of prophecy and how this is shaped by the way we study the subject, and it then presents a number of fresh insights on a range of prophetic topics. These include the relationship between Israelite and other forms of prophecy in Assyria and Egypt and the relationship between what prophets said and the written forms in which their words were passed on. Other topics of contemporary interest include what these prophetic texts have to say about the environment, the place of intercession in Israelite and Assyrian religion, and whether the message of the trailblazing Israelite prophets of the eighth century was basically about judgment and community ruin or about hope and community well-being.
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
Prophecy as Construct: Ancient and Modern Martti Nissinen, University of Helsinki
Prophecy in the Mari and Nineveh Archives Robert P. Gordon, University of Cambridge
Prophecy in K1285? Re-evaluating the Divine Speech: Episodes of Nabû Jason Atkinson, University of Edinburgh
Hosea and the Assyrians Hans M. Barstad, University of Edinburgh
Micah in Neo-Assyrian Light Bob Becking, University of Utrecht
Ištar and the Motif of the Cosmological Warrior: Assurbanipal’s Adaptation of Enuma Elish C. L. Crouch, University of Nottingham
The Post-722 and Late Pre-exilic Compositions Underlying the Amos-Text Graham Hamborg, Diocese of Chelmsford, England
Royal Cultic Prophecy in Assyria, Judah, and Egypt John W. Hilber, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary
Ecology, Theology, Society: Physical, Religious, and Social Disjuncture in Biblical and Neo-Assyrian Prophetic Texts Hilary Marlow, University of Cambridge
The Prophet Micah and Political Society David J. Reimer, University of Edinburgh
Prophecy in Israel and Assyria: Are We Comparing Apples and Pears? The Materiality of Writing and the Avoidance of Parallelomania Joachim Schaper, University of Aberdeen
“I Have Rained Stones and Fiery Glow on Their Heads!” Celestial and Meteorological Prophecy in the Neo-Assyrian Empire Jonathan Stökl, University of Leiden
Were the Neo-Assyrian Prophets Intercessors? A Comparative Study of Neo-Assyrian and Hebrew Texts Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, University of Aberdeen
Isaiah: Prophet of Weal or Woe? H. G. M. Williamson, University of Oxford
