Texts in Conversation
In the Dream of Gudea, a god shows the Sumerian ruler a stone tablet inscribed with the plan of a temple. Exodus echoes this pattern when God shows Moses a model of the tabernacle on Mount Sinai.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gudea Cylinders A v 4
The Dream of Gudea; Building of Ningirsu's Temple
Ancient Near East, Sumerian
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)
Exodus 25:40
Hebrew Bible
36 Their buds and their branches will be one piece, all of it one hammered piece of pure gold. 37 “You are to make its seven lamps and then set its lamps up on it, so that it will give light to the area in front of it. 38 Its trimmers and its trays are to be of pure gold. 39 About 75 pounds of pure gold is to be used for it and for all these utensils. 40 Now be sure to make them according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.
Date: 5th century BCE (final composition) (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 ...
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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