Texts in Conversation
The Dream of Gudea shows the Sumerian ruler a stone tablet on which a god draws the plan of a temple. In 1 Chronicles, David hands Solomon a written plan for the Jerusalem temple that he received from God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gudea Cylinders A v 3
The Dream of Gudea; Building of Ningirsu's Temple
Ancient Near East, Sumerian
1 and she was consulting it internally. 2 Second, there was a warrior: 3 he flexed his arm; a tablet of lapis lazuli he held in his hand, 4 and for the temple a plan he made. 5 Before me a holy carrying-basket was placed; 6 a holy brick-mold was set in order, 7 and the brick of destiny was placed for me in the mold. 8 In a fine sacred vessel standing before me, 9 bird-men passed the time pouring water ceaselessly; 10 and a donkey stallion at the right hand of my lord kept pawing the ground for me.”
Date: 2125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
1 Chronicles 28:19
Hebrew Bible
18 and for the refined gold of the incense altar. He gave him the blueprint for the seat of the gold cherubim that spread their wings and provide shelter for the ark of the Lord’s covenant. 19 David said, “All this I put in writing as the Lord directed me and gave me insight regarding the details of the blueprints.” 20 David said to his son Solomon: “Be strong and brave! Do it! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! For the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not leave you or abandon you before all the work for the service of the Lord’s temple is finished.
Date: 4th century BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... In the Gudea Cylinders and other Ancient Near Eastern temple building texts, the construction of a divinely pleasing sanctuary necessarily involved receiving and following a detailed and divinely revealed plan. The same is true in the Bible, but unlike Gudea, who needed to virtually pry the details of the plan out of the deity through cultic means, this information is readily forthcoming in ancient Israel (Exodus 25:1-9; 1 Chronicles 28:11-19; Ezekiel 40-42). The revealed tabnit 'plan' or 'pattern' of the biblical tabernacle, the temple, and their furniture (see specifically Exodus 25:9, 40; 26:30; 27:8; Joshua 22:28; 1 Chronicles 28:11-12, 19; compare Ezekiel 43:10-12) corresponds to both the gis-hur ('plan') of the temple and the visionary picture of the completed sanctuary in the Gudea Cylinders. Gudea Statue B, on which is inscribed a shorter but parallel account of the building of the new Eninnu, has the ruler sitting with a tablet resting on his lap. On the tablet there is a diagram of a walled-in area with six gate areas ...
Averbeck, Richard E.
"The Cylinders of Gudea" in Hallo, William W., and K. Lawson Younger Jr. (eds.) The Context of Scripture, Volume II: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World
(p. 420) Brill, 2003
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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