two and an offering,
28. [Day] three and an offering,
[Day] four and an offering,
29. [Day] five and an offering,
[Day] six and an offering,
30. [Day] seven and an offering:
You shall present a bird.
31. Shalom!
Shalom, Ammurapi!
32. Shalom (to) his house, as well!
Shalom, Tharyelli!
33. Shalom (to) her house!
Shalom, Ugarit!
34. Shalom (to) her gates!27
This is a remarkable document. In lines 2–12 the departed ancestors and kings are “summoned/called” ten times and invited twice to participate in this ritual. The furniture of Niqmaddu’s throne room weeps, the sun (Shapshu) must locate those who have been summoned, and offerings are presented in a seven-day ritual. The occasion for this ritual seems to be just after the death of Niqmaddu and during the succession or coronation rituals for the new king (Ammurapi) and his queen (Tharyelli). They seek the blessing of the departed ancestors and kings. They do this in order that their line may continue. I have compared this text on several occasions to the Babylonian kispu or mortuary offerings of food and drink for the dead kings who are invoked by name in a ritual. The Genealogy of the Hammurapi Dynasty, which contains a king list and other helpful comments, was written for such an occasion.28 There is also a king list from Ugarit which was no doubt used in the same way, i.e., in the context of the Ugaritic funeral ritual.29
One of the most interesting facts that comes out of comparing these texts (including the Assyrian King List) is that the Did/tanites (see lines 3 and 10 in the funeral ritual) have been related to each group. The Babylonians and Assyrians both go back to the Didanites in their genealogies, and the Ugaritians witness to that same Amorite ancestry in their ritual and epic.30 In the Keret Epic from Ugarit, we have the story of the patriarch Keret. The later kings of Ugarit looked back to him as their father, an ancient father from North Mesopotamia. He was related by story and ritual to Ugarit in the same way that Abraham (also from North Mesopotamia) was related to Jerusalem. In the Keret Epic,31 Keret is blessed with these words:
Be most exalted, O Keret,
In the midst the Raphaim of the netherworld,
In the gathering of the assembly of the Didanites. (UT 128:III:13–15)
In our funeral text, the “Raphaim of the netherworld” and “the assembly of the Didanites” are summoned for the ritual. At Ugarit the most important ancestor of that assembly would be Keret.32 Therefore, I think that there is a real possibility that the Keret Epic was used on such occasions.
The sons of Joseph were to summon Jacob, Abraham, and Isaac at the tomb. By doing this they would be blessed; they would become a multitude. Now it is my guess that at some point in the observance of such rituals, the stories of the ancestors were told. I do not think that we can get back to the earliest forms of these stories, but the stories that we have may be based on such stories, and they were used by the kings of Israel.33
Genesis 48:16 is not the only place where the burial ritual is implied. In Gen 21:12b it says,
Whatever Sarah demands of you,
listen to her voice,
because through Isaac,
descendants will call forth to you.
In other words, Isaac’s descendants will care for you at the tomb, and you will bless them. We will see other examples in Genesis when we discuss the structure of these stories of the ancestors. Outside of Genesis this sort of thing is mentioned in Ruth 4:14. Concerning Boaz (David’s ancestor) it says, “May his name be called forth in Israel.” Perhaps the most revealing passage is Isa 14:4–21. Here the king of Babylon is shown to be the most horrible of all the kings. All the great kings are glorified in their tombs, but this one has no grave, no place to lay his head! “You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you destroyed your land; you murdered your people. Let the descendants of evildoers nevermore be called forth” (v. 20). He will not receive proper burial and neither will his descendants. His line is finished. This reminds one of a passage from an Assyrian text, Assurbanipal’s campaign against Elam, VI 70–76:34
The sepulchres of their ancient [and] recent kings, who did not fear Ashur and Ishtar, my masters, who harassed the kings, my fathers, I ravaged, destroyed, and exposed to the sun.35 I took their bones to Assyria. I made their shades insomniacs; I deprived them of funerary offerings36 and libations of water.”37
So the kings of Israel were certainly interested in genealogies and the stories of their ancestors, because they used these materials in rituals wherein they would receive a blessing and their line would endure. The book of Genesis contains royal literature.38
There are many other reasons for seeing in Genesis royal literature, and these items will be mentioned in the notes to the translation. But now, I want to turn to the structure of Genesis, and this will show some additional evidence as to the royal nature of the material.
The Structure of Genesis
At the end of this introduction there is an outline of Genesis titled “The Final Form of Genesis.” This outline will be helpful, because in this section on structure and in the notes to the translation, I will refer to the section numbers of this outline.
Most studies of Genesis divide the book into the Primeval History/Events (as seen in Genesis 1–11) and the Patriarchal History (Genesis 12–50). This way of looking at the book is not very helpful, and it is the invention of modern times. In this translation, Genesis is viewed as divided by the final editor. In other words, we take seriously the titles or division markers between the eleven segments (S 1–11 in the outline) of the book. If one wants to make another kind of division, it could be helpful in some situations, but it would probably have to do with pre-flood stories and post-flood stories. Even so, it is necessary to note that due to parallel literature, Genesis 1–10 should be seen as a unit.39 It may be useful to briefly state the main content of Genesis 1:1—11:26, because I do want to deal in some detail with the structure of the following chapters. So note the following:
1. Elohim brought order out of Chaos (Gen 1:1—2:3).
2. All humans and the other animals are mortal. The humans have a special vocation and have obtained all knowledge. This made the development of
