Book of Job and “Moby-Dick”

by Damien F. Mackey The well-known tale of ‘Moby Dick’ appears to have been inspired by the Bible. I have already suggested, following others, that it was inspired by the Book of Jonah: ‘Moby Dick’ inspired by Book of Jonah? (3) ‘Moby Dick’ inspired by Book of Jonah? | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Some, though, prefer to liken it - in its Leviathan description - to the Book of Job. William A. Young, for instance, has written an article entitled, “LEVIATHAN IN THE BOOK OF JOB AND "MOBY-DICK"” (JSTOR, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Winter 1982), pp. 388-401), which begins as follows: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BIBLE as a source for Herman Melville’s novels has long been recognized … and the crucial impact of the Book of Job on Melville’s masterpiece, Moby-Dick, has been widely observed and discussed. …. Although some interpreters dismiss Melville’s us of the Book of Job as casual and occasional, others have concluded that “the influence of Job [is] pervasive and controlling, basic and thematic, the most informing single principle of the book’s composition”. …. The present study focuses on Melville’s use of the mysterious Leviathan of Job in Moby-Dick. However, unlike other studies of Melville’s use of the Book of Job in Moby-Dick, the primary purpose is not to further the interpretation of the novel. The chief aim of this work is to add some insights to the question of Melville’s Biblical hermeneutic. What does Melville’s use of the Book of Job, especially the Leviathan symbol in Moby-Dick, suggest about this fundamental approach to the interpretation of the Bible? …. [End of quote] Nathalia Wright had earlier considered both Jonah and Job in her article, “Moby Dick: Jonah’s or Job’s Whale?” (JSTOR, Vol. 37, No. 2 (May, 1965), pp. 190-195). The two prophets, Jonah and Job, were actual contemporaries, if I am right in identifying Job as Tobias, son of Tobit, during whose exile in Nineveh the prophet Jonah (variously Nahum) made his appearance there. Thus old Tobit tells his son, Tobias (Job): ‘… I surely believe those things which Jonah the prophet spake of Nineveh, that it shall be overthrown …’ (Tobit 14:4). Nathalia Wright begins her article: THAT MELVILLE MADE SIGNIFICANT USE in Moby-Dick of both the Book of Jonah (containing the most celebrated account of a whale in the Bible) and the Book of Job (the classic Hebrew presentation of the problem of evil in human existence) is obvious enough and has often been commented upon by critics. ….

Whale-hunting Nebuchednezzar visited by man-in-a-whale, Jonah

by Damien F. Mackey “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty dish; he has swallowed me like a sea monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has vomited me out”. Jeremiah 51:34 Why did the prophet Jeremiah choose to describe King Nebuchednezzar by using a metaphor so obviously inspired by the true story recorded in the Book of Jonah? According to what will emerge in this article, there may be several major reasons for this: - Nebuchednezzar was such a Babylonian (Chaldean) total devourer of Judah; - Nebuchednezzar was also a hunter of whales; - Nebuchednezzar was Jonah 3:6’s “king of Nineveh”. Although I was aware that Assyrian whale-hunting in the Mediterranean Sea had occurred during the reign of Tiglath-pileser so-called I – {who, in my revision of ‘Middle’ Assyrian history, belongs as late as the siege of Samaria, this Tiglath-pileser being the same as Shalmaneser so-called V} - I had no idea whatsoever, until very recently, that Nebuchednezzar ‘the Great’, a later king, had indulged in this form of marine hunting activity. Paul Haupt tells, in his article “Jonah’s Whale” (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 46, No. 185, Jan. - Apr., 1907), about the involvement of Tiglath-pileser in a whale hunt, and of the reception by Ashurnasirpal of a tribute gift of ivory whale teeth. He also tells us what sort of whale it must have been (pp. 155-156): Sperm-whales are found in the Mediterranean, although they are not frequent. In a cuneiform inscription of the Assyrian king Assur-nâçir-pal [Ashurnasirpal] … we find the statement that his predecessor Tiglath-pileser I … boarded Phoenician ships at Arvad (near the N. E. end of the Mediterranean) and slew a blower …. The Greek name of the sperm-whale, physeter, means blower, i.e., spouting up water. …. In a paper on the cuneiform name of the cachalot … I showed that the blower (Assyr. Nâkhiru) slain by the ancient Assyrian king … must have been a sperm-whale … because in a passage of the cuneiform annals of Assur-nâçir-pal we read that this king received, as tribute from Tyre, Sidon, Arvad … ivory teeth of the blower, the creature of the sea. This blower with ivory teeth cannot have been a narwhal … or walrus … these animals are not found in the Mediterranean. The sperm-whale has, on each side of the lower jaw … from 20 to 25 conical (slightly recurved) teeth which consist of the finest ivory. [End of quote] If Paul Haupt was correct in all of this back in 1907, then we learn some most interesting things that may have a strong bearing upon that fascinating, but little agreed upon, Book of Jonah. We learn that the kings of Assyria not only knew about whales, Sperm Whales, but that at least one of the kings had hunted the great sea creature. We learn in what Sea they moved, and that they were not only hunted, but captured, and commercially (or politically) exploited. I also deduce from Paul Haupt’s article that, if Ashurnasirpal (I/II) referred back to Tiglath-pileser as a predecessor king, then Ashurnasirpal must (contrary to any text books) post-date Assyria’s siege of Samaria (c. 722 BC, conventional dating). That makes Ashurnasirpal very late, indeed. We know of at least one other Assyrian king who engaged in – or claimed to – the hunting of blower whales. For in my recent article: Ashur-bel-kala as Ashurbanipal (DOC) Ashur-bel-kala as Ashurbanipal | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu it became apparent that Ashur-bel-kala, already known to have been a keen hunter, had boasted of capturing blower whales. Thus I quoted from the Wikipedia article, “Ashur-bel-kala”: Aššūr-bēl-kala’s interests were not solely zoological as he enjoyed hunting and boasts killing wild bulls and cows “at the city of Araziqu which is before the land of Ḫatti and at the foot of Mount Lebanon.” …. He “rebuilt from top to bottom the storehouses of my lordly palace, which are at the fore part of the enclosure” … and Aššur-nādin-aḫḫē's terrace of the New Palace at Nineveh, placed gate guardians inspired by the nāḫiru he had supposedly hunted. …. Now Ashur-bel-kala who was Ashurbanipal, as I went to some trouble to show in that article, was the same, again, as the great king Nebuchednezzar, according to my identification of the latter as Ashurbanipal (compare with Nebuchednezzar: grandiloquent; 43-year reign; conquest of Egypt): Ashurbanipal the Mighty King (3) Ashurbanipal the Mighty King | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu The great fish (דָּג גָּדוֹל), dag gadol, of Jonah 1:17, a real creature, is clearly also a symbol of the mighty Chaldean king, Nebuchednezzar, devouring Judah. Jeremiah obligingly makes that connection for us: “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon … like a sea monster …”. Jeremiah uses a word for the creature, tannin (תַּנִּ֔ין), different from that used in the Book of Jonah, dag. {We know, of course, that a whale is not actually classified as a fish}. Jonah’s father, Amos, will earlier use another Hebrew word, again, when predicting what could happen if one tries to flee from the Lord (Amos 9:3): “Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them”. The Hebrew word used here for “sea serpent” is nahash (נָּחָ֖שׁ). - Nebuchednezzar was such a Babylonian (Chaldean) total devourer of Judah; We know from the Scriptures about King Nebuchednezzar’s all-encompassing, God-given power (e.g. Daniel 2:37-38): ‘Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold’. - Nebuchednezzar was also a hunter of whales; And we have just determined that Nebuchednezzar, as Ashur-bel-kala, had boasted of having hunted blower whales. But what about our third ‘major reason’?: - Nebuchednezzar was Jonah 3:6’s “king of Nineveh”. Well, I have already shown at some length that King Nebuchednezzar, particularly in his guise as Esarhaddon, was Jonah 3:6’s “king of Nineveh”: De-coding Jonah (7) De-coding Jonah | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu even right down to: The ‘Jonah incident’ historically identified (7) The 'Jonah incident' historically identified | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu The Ninevites and their king had heard all about the Jonah miracle, not least from those exemplary sailors and captain on board the ship, who had watched the sea grow calm after they had tossed Jonah overboard at his request, and had converted before the Ninevites had had a chance to (Jonah 1:12-16). ‘For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation’. Luke 11:30 When the man-in-a-whale, Jonah, visited the city, Nineveh, of the whale-hunting King Nebuchednezzar, causing that king’s decree of repentance (Jonah 3:7-9), it is almost certain that the two celebrities did not meet. The out-of-sorts prophet Jonah, having briefly spoken his words, had then skulked off to the east of Nineveh to see what the Lord was going to do (4:1-5).

‘Nahum’ another of Isaiah’s names

by Damien F. Mackey “Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion”. Isaiah 8:18 Isaiah, the prophet of meaningful names, both he and his children (Isaiah 8:18). These names could evolve in accordance with the socio-political situation in Israel, as in the case of Hosea’s children (cf. Hosea 1:4-9; 2:22-23). For Isaiah and Hosea were one and the same person. On this, see e.g. my article: Did Isaiah and Hosea ever meet? (3) Did Isaiah and Hosea ever meet? | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Now, if I am correct in my view that Isaiah was also, by another one of his alter egos, the brilliant prophet Nahum: Not so obscure prophet Nahum (3) Not so obscure prophet Nahum | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu then could it be that the explanation for why Isaiah might have been given this other name was that it reflected one of those developments in the history of Israel for which Yahweh may again have bestowed upon the prophet Isaiah a fitting name? And, if so, what was that particular stage of development? Well, I think that it is abundantly reflected in the later part of the Book of Isaiah, when Israel, having served its period of hard “service” is about to be comforted. This is reflected, for instance, in Isaiah 40:1-11 and, again, in 51:3, where the Hebrew word for Comfort, naḥămū (נַחֲמ֥וּ), is of the very same root as the name, Nahum, naḥūm (נַח֖וּם), also meaning “comfort”. Thus: Isaiah 40:1-11: Your God says, ‘Comfort, comfort my people. [Cf. Hosea 2:23] Speak kindly to the people of Jerusalem. Tell them that their time of service is finished. Tell them that they have paid for their sins. Tell them that the Lord has punished Jerusalem twice for every sin they did’. This is the voice of a man who calls out: “Prepare in the desert the way for the Lord. Make the road in the dry lands straight for our God. Every valley should be raised up. Every mountain and hill should be made flat. The rough ground should be made level. The rugged ground should be made smooth. Then the glory of the Lord will be shown. All people together will see it. The Lord himself said these things.” A voice says, “Cry out!” Then I said, “What shall I cry out?” “Say all people are like the grass. And all their strength is like the flowers of the field. The grass dies, and the flowers fall. This is because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are like grass. The grass dies, and the flowers fall. But the word of our God will live forever.” Jerusalem, you have good news to tell. Go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, you have good news to tell. Shout out loud the good news. Shout it out and don’t be afraid. Say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God.” Look, the Lord God is coming with power. He will use his power to rule all the people. Look, he will bring reward for his people. He will have their payment with him. The Lord takes care of his people like a shepherd. He gathers the people like lambs in his arms. He carries them close to him. He gently leads the mothers of the lambs. Isaiah 51:3: The LORD will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.