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In the Dream of Gudea, the Sumerian ruler sees a giant divine figure described from head to feet that needs interpreting. Daniel echoes the form when Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a giant statue described the same way.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gudea Cylinders A iv 14
The Dream of Gudea; Building of Ningirsu's Temple
Ancient Near East, Sumerian
14 In the heart of the dream there was a man: like heaven was his stature, 15 like earth was his stature; 16 as to the crown of his head, a god was he; 17 at his side was the storm-bird; 18 at his feet was the hurricane; 19 at his right and at his left a lion lay couched.
Date: 2125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Daniel 2:32
Hebrew Bible
31 “You, O king, were watching as a great statue—one of impressive size and extraordinary brightness—was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm. 32 As for that statue, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze. 33 Its legs were of iron; its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay.
Date: 2nd century BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... There are some striking similarities between the image in Gudea's dream and that of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:31-33. The central figure of both was a giant (statue of a) man. Both figures are described beginning at the head and then moving to the chest or arm area, and finally the lower regions of the body (belly, legs, and feet). Moreover, in both dreams there is a sequence of actions surrounding the central figure. Of course, the images are not the same, and Gudea's is not described as a 'statue,' but rather as a living figure of the god, Ningirsu, commanding Gudea to build his temple. The actions associated with the figure also dissimilar (compare Cylinder A iv.22-v.10 and v.19-vi.13 with Daniel 2:34-45). Although Ezekiel's theophany (Ezekiel 1) is textually distant from his temple restoration vision (Ezekiel 40-48), one could nevertheless also argue for some level of transformed correspondence between it and Gudea's description of Ningirsu ...
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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