Near Eastern Roots: Wisdom Literature in the Ancient Near East

One of the most common genres of literature from the ancient Near East that employs poetry is called wisdom literature. The term includes hymns, fables, disputations and most prominently, proverbs. This shared literary experience is illustrated here with examples from the Egyptian late second millennium B.C.E. text, "The Instruction of Amenemope" and the Old Testament's Proverbs both of which are divided into 30 parts.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Egypt
• Israel
• ancient
• Near
• East
• history
• God
• religion
• Amon
• Re
• Yahweh
• Giza
• Proverbs
• literature
• Jews
• Christians
• Bible
• Old
• Testament
• Hebrew
• Apocrypha
• Asherah
• Canaan
• Mesopotamia
• Babylon

[john832thetruth]

Awesome video! I just recently found about Amenemope a few days ago. I printed out all of his Proverbs. I discovered this guy from reading the bible. In King Solomon's Proverbs 22:19 it says, "That your trust may be in the Lord, I make known to you the words of Amen-em-ope." I took that name and did some research and found all of his Proverbs online. I then found your video. God says to seek knowledge and understanding of wisdom as if it's hidden treasure. So that's what I do these days.

[helvis213]

@fair2share

The Old Testament gives several names for God: El Elyon-God most high, El Shaddai-God Almighty, El Olam-Everlasting God, El Roi-All-Seeing God, El Gibbor-God of Strength, as well as Elohim. The Babylonian and Sumerian pantheons are quite large but in an overall sense, you've got the right idea, though these gods were incorporated into various forms in the various societies that adopted them.

[fair2share]

@Will224000  You got it brother. We interpret the same. So Enki and Enlil and their sister are the Elohim (plural form for lord or most high)?

[Will224000]

...the roots do indeed grow deep... the 10 Commandments comes from the Egyptian Book of the Dead... the creation story and the Flood comes from Sumerian texts... Wisdom is much older than we allow ourselves to believe...