Bible Review

Maurice Lambert, “Les ‘Reforms’ d’Urukagina,” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archeologie orientale 50 (1956), pp. 169–184.

Dominique Charpin, “Les Decrets Royaux à l’Epoque Paleo-babylonienne, à Propos d’un Ouvrage Recent,” Archiv für Orient forschung 34 (1987), pp. 36–44.

Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), p. 22.

As throughout the Bible, the Deity of the early chapters of Genesis often behaves parentally: feeding his creatures (2:16), giving them opportunities to confess (3:9, 4:9), chastising them and then relenting (3:16–21, 4:11–15).

God’s concern to separate the human and divine realms also underlies the Tower of Babel story (Genesis 11) and the strange account of humanity interbreeding with deities or angels (Genesis 6:1–4).

The Tree of Life is associated with healing in Proverbs 3:16–18, 13:12, 15:4; see Ralph Marcus, “The Tree of Life in Proverbs,” Journal of Biblical Literature 62 (1943), pp. 117–120.

Arthur Burkhard, Matthias Grünewald—Personality and Accomplishment (Cambridge, MA: 1936), p. 25.

This, too, betrays a Near Eastern origin. Our day, of course, begins at midnight, but the Babylonian and Jewish calendars begin the day at sunset.