The Nuzi Texts 4.11.21 4/12/21

The Nuzi Texts And Their Bearing on Understanding the Patriarchs

Sir Lawrence Woolley (1880-1960) Excavated what he believed to be the City of Ur from 1922-1934

Cyrus Gordon (1908-2001)

• Dug with Woolley in the 30’s • Disagreed with him and believed Ur to be in Upper Mesopotamia NW of Haran.

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Gen 12:1-4

And the L-rd said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing. 3And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you." 4And Abram went, as the L-rd had spoken to him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran.

Joshua 24:2-3

…”Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river from earliest time…” 3 “And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, “…

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The Nuzi Dig Site 1925-1931

About 7,000 priceless tablets were found.

What are the Nuzi Tablets?

• Clay tablets (paper/Abraham’s time) • Inscribed by a stylus (pen) • Hardened by baking • Language: Hurrian or Babylonian written in Cuneiform • Property deeds, lists and government documents (very detailed)

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• Adoption for childless What The Tablets Reveal couples (Gn 15:2 • Children by proxy (Gn 16; 21:1, • Inheritance rights (Gn 25:29, • The power to sell one’s birthright for relatively trivial property (Jacob & Esau), • Marriage arrangements (Gn 28 • A levirate marriage (Gn 38; Dt 25:5.

What The Tablets Reveal (cont.)

• Demonstrate significance of the deathbed blessing (Gn 27; 48) • Importance of household gods (Gn 31:14 30.) • Some Nuzi tablets, called 'tablets of sistership,

Genesis 12:13 Say, I pray thee, thou “Say art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul That shall live because of thee. Thou Art My And moreover, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father – Sister” but not the daughter of my mother – and so she became my wife (20:12).

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Isaac

And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. And the men of the place asked him of his wife – and he said: ‘She is my sister,’ for he feared to say: My wife – lest the men of the place should kill him for Rebecca -because she was fair to look upon (26:7).

Hurrian Custom

With the discoveries at Nuzi has it become clear that Abraham and Isaac were not involved in any trickery but were endeavoring to protect their respective wives from molestation by invoking the Hurrian custom or law of wife- sistership.

According to the Nuzi tablets a woman having the status of a wife-sister rather than that of just an ordinary wife, enjoyed superior privileges and was better protected.

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The Possessor of My House Will Be Eliezer

And Abram said: ‘O L-rd G-d, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and he that shall Where did this be possessor of my house is Eliezer concept of adopting of Damascus?’ And Abram said: ‘Behold, to me Thou hast given no an heir come from? seed, and lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.’Genesis 15:2–3

Dozens of adoption tablets Adoption have been found at Nuzi. At Nuzi, it was customary, if a man had no children, to adopt someone to carry on his name and inherit his property. This seems to be reflected in the statement of Abraham, before Isaac was born, that unless the L-rd should give him a child, Eliezer of Damascus would be his heir (Gen 15:2).

“The tablet of adoption belonging to Ehelteshup, son of Puhiya, who adopted Zigi, son of Aknya. Accordingly, all my lands, my buildings, my earnings, my domestics, one (part) of all my property, I have given to Zigi. In case Ehelteshup has sons (of his own), they shall receive a double portion and Zigi shall be second. If Ehelteshup has no sons then Zigi shall be the (principal) heir…. As long as Ehelteshup is alive, Zigi shall serve him; he shall provide him with garments.”

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Daughter Adopted as a Son

Teraphim The incident of the Teraphim (Gen 31:17-35) was extremely puzzling before the discovery of the Nuzi documents.

Why did Rachel Steal Them?

The tablets from Nuzi show that according to Hurrian custom at that early time, if a man desired to appoint a son-in-law as his principal heir he would turn over to him his household gods. After the man’s death, appearance in court with the household gods would be accepted as proof of such a disposition.

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The Nuzi documents show that what occurred was exactly in line with the “Go in, I pray customs at Haran. In the thee, unto my Hurrian society, where the handmaid son was so very important, Hagar.” if a wife did not have a son, it was regular practice for her to provide her husband with a “slave wife” for this purpose.

One Nuzi tablet reads:- “Kelim-ninu has been given in marriage to Shennima…. If Kelim-ninu does not bear children, Kelim-ninu shall acquire a woman of the land of Lulu (i.e., a slave girl) as wife for Shennima.”

The Nuzi tablets go on to say that the wife continues to have the legal right over the handmaid -though now a secondary wife – and over the child born from this union as well.

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The Nuzi tablets reveal that at the time of Jacob, it was The customary in a marriage Maidservants of agreement for the bride’s Leah and father to give the bride a Rebekah. handmaid. The names of these ‘gifted’ handmaids were regularly specified in many of these tablets.

Nuzi Tablets and Marriage Customs Mentioned in the Nuzi tablets is the scenario that if a man worked over a period of time for the father of a girl whom he wished to marry, then he would have the right to take the girl as his wife. This exactly mirrors the Biblical account of Jacob’s working for his uncle Laban in order to marry Rachel (Gen. 29:15–30).

When Abraham’s servant was negotiating to take Rebekah to be a wife for Isaac, the “And principal negotiator representing the family was Laban, her brother, whose name precedes Laban and that of Bethuel, her father, in the Biblical text Bethuel (Genesis 24:50). answered Precedence is also given to the brother over his and mother in the account (Genesis 24:53, 55), and no further mention is made of the father. said…” Furthermore, the description of the family farewell hints that the system of fratriarchy was being practiced in Rebekah’s home:

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“And they called This account of Rebekah being Rebekah, and said given a choice is reflected in the unto her: ‘Wilt Nuzi tablets where it mentions a thou go with this bride consenting to her brother man?’ And she Akkuleni giving her as wife to Hurazzi. said: ‘I will go.’” (Gen. 24:58)

Details on Nuzi Tablets

One of the Nuzi tablets records that a person by the name of Akkuleni, son of Akiya, contracted with one Hurazzi, son of Ennaya, to give to Hurazzi in marriage his sister Beltakkadummi.

Another tablet records that the same Akkuleni sold his sister Beltakkadummi as sister to the same Hurazzi.

The Authenticity of Biblical Accounts The Nuzi records demonstrate that the cultural practices recorded in the book of Genesis are authentic.

The accounts are not fictional stories written at a much later time, as some critics claim, since the customs were unknown in later periods.

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Bibliography

• Dor Le-Dor, 29a Keren Hayesod, Jerusalem, Israel. Vol. 13 (1985), No. 4, pages 216–219.

• Understanding Genesis – The Heritage of Biblical Israel by Nahum M. Sarna, published by Schocken Books, New York (1970). • • Biblical Personalities and Archaeology by Leah Bronner, published by Keter Publishing House Ltd., Jerusalem (1974). • • The World History of the Jewish People – Patriarchs Vol. II, edited by Benjamin Mazar, published by Massada Publishing Co., Tel Aviv (1970). • • The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible edited by George Ernest Wright and Floyd Vivian Filson, published by the S. C. M. Press Ltd., London (1946). • • The Making of the Old Testament edited by Enid B. Mellor, published by Cambridge University Press (1972). • • Encyclopaedia Judaica Vols. 8 & 12, published by Keter Publishing House Ltd., Jerusalem (1971).