Read the full 2024 SBL panel of responses to Anathea Portier-Youngs’s The Prophetic Body here.
It can be said without exaggeration that Anathea Portier-Young’s The Prophetic Body is a milestone in the research of prophecy, whether as a historical phenomenon, as a type of literature, or as a narrative trope. Her perspective on prophecy opens both outwards and inwards, broadening the methodological potential of prophetic studies and introducing prophecy as an activity, the site of which is to be found not only in texts and socio-historical contexts but essentially in the human body. Most importantly, she points out the necessity of going beyond the text-and-word-oriented view of prophecy (pp. 12–14), and highlights the body as the site of mediation and the node of intersection between the human and (allegedly) divine realms (p. 98).
Portier-Young, to be sure, is not the first to pay attention to the embodied human experience at the centre of prophetic activity. As duly noted by her, prophetic ecstasy was recognized as a psychological component of prophetic activity already by, e.g., Bernhard Duhm, Gustaf Hölscher, and later by Johannes Lindblom.[1] However, the prevailing evolutionist model would rather have seen the ecstatic comportment of the prophets as belonging to the less developed stages of the history of prophecy, only to give way to the spiritually higher-ranking performance of the great biblical prophets.[2] Today, the most influential definition of prophecy by Manfred Weippert acknowledges the cognitive and experiential basis of prophecy;[3] however, despite some scholars’ phenomenological interest in what actually might have happened in the body and mind of the prophets,[4] the body has not been brought to the centre, or better, prophecy has not been properly placed in the human body.
Recognizing the embodied nature of prophetic mediation broadens the scope of prophetic studies and the understanding of prophetic phenomenon in many ways. Reaching beyond the verbal content of prophecy to its human and material carriers, inquirers, and audiences reveals the interembodied entanglements between the participants of the prophetic process of communication—the prophet, the God, and the audience; in other words representations of embodied prophecy and prophecy’s embodied reception (p. 255). An important bodily dimension of such intersubjectivity is affect as a part of mediation and the interplay of emotions between the prophet and God, and the prophet and the addressee(s) of the prophetic message arising “at the nexus of embodiment, experience, cognition, volition, and action” (p. 200). Portier-Young is able to show an impressive array of human and divine emotions, for instance, the inter-affective character of many texts in the book of Jeremiah, sometimes “ritualized through embodied practices or mourning” (p. 221). All this foregrounds a synergy of speech and action that the sole attention to the verbal content of prophecy does not reveal.
A further advantage of the embodied understanding of prophecy is the opportunity of seeing prophecy as a human phenomenon beyond temporal and geographical constraints which, again, invites a multidisciplinary approach reaching beyond the typical repertoire of biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies. In mapping the embodied nature of human consciousness, Portier-Young fruitfully adopts insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience, demonstrating the benefit of the empirical research on human body even for the study of ancient texts. In this short review, I would like to give some examples of how I have found her study relevant from the point of view of ancient Near Eastern sources. The scope of The Prophetic Body is purely biblical, but a similar embodied approach can be applied to any set of sources of prophetic activity.
The main difference between the biblical and other ancient Near Eastern texts is related to the nature of the source materials. Prophetic books and narratives on prophetic goings-on, typical of the biblical texts, are virtually missing from Mesopotamian sources consisting mainly of oracles, letters, and administrative documents. At first sight, the oracles and letters are logocentric to a much greater extent than the biblical texts, as they are heavily focused on the message and much less on the intermediary of whom we usually learn little beyond the name, domicile, and the site of the prophetic performance. On the other hand, the oracles sometimes have a distinct focus on the body of the speaking deity, more often than not that of the goddess Ištar, who speaks about her own bodily experiences; for instance in SAA 9 9: 11–15:
Continually crossing all rivers, I am finished off by droughts and showers. My charming figure they ravage; my body is exhausted and troubled for your [scil. Assurbanipal’s] sake.
In view of Portier-Young’s analyses, especially those on Jeremiah, the divine body may be no less important. The prophet mediates or “incarnates” divine emotions, serving as their bodily representative; in other words, the prophetic body becomes the site of the bodily prophecy. Some Mesopotamian texts even mention the reactions of the audience after a prophetic performance, which is another example of intersubjectivity of prophetic activity.
A closer look at the texts reveals that, in spite of the virtual absence of prophetic narratives, a whole lot of embodied aspects can be mined from the ancient Near Eastern sources documenting prophecy in one way or another. Prophetic ecstasy is mentioned or can be detected quite regularly;[5] numerous dream reports relate closely to what Portier-Young writes about incubation;[6] prophets are both mobile and immobile and the aspects of place, proximity, and co-presence may appear as important;[7] affective embodied rituals may take place;[8] emotions, whether those of the prophet, the speaking deity, or the audience, may be brought to the fore.[9] For this short review, I have chosen two topics as examples of the prophetic body in the texts from Mari: 1) the prophet’s food; and 2) the prophet as an omen.
1) Not only the gods but even the prophet, like any human being, needs to be fed properly. In two letters from Mari, a prophet is complaining about inadequate nourishment. In both cases, the prophets’ bodily well-being is not just a personal matter but appears as an aspect of the maintenance of gods and their temples.
Lanasûm, Zimri-Lim’s emissary in Tuttul, reports on an anonymous prophet arisen before the god Dagan (muḫḫûm ina pān Dagan itbi), demanding pure water (ARM 26 215:15–21). One can assume that the one in need of pure water is the god, especially because Lanasûm has just reported a sacrificial meal delighting the entire city. However, as we can see in another letter, it may not be just the god who depends on the food and drink delivered to him but even people depending on the temple. The unknown sender of the letter ARM 26 198 writes about the agony of Šēlebum, the assinnu who had told to the writer about his unbearable living conditions, literally “amidst an abundance of shit and piss” (line 13). The goddess Annunitum—that is, her temple where Šēlebum lives—has been deprived of beer, and instead of flour “to be thrown to the fire” (probably referring to baking bread), Šēlebum has been given porridge in a jar, which is obviously presented as worsening of nourishment. In spite of his repeated acting in a hostile environment, Šēlebum must live in separation from the goddess under stinking circumstances, eating something barely edible.
Both Dagan’s lack of pure water and Šēlebum’s misery is brought to the king’s notice accompanied by the typical “ID” of the prophet, the hair and the fringe of a garment,[10] which serve as a bodily representation of the speaker and can potentially be used for double-checking the message with another method of divination.
2) Portier-Young’s discussion on Ezekiel as a “sign” (מופת) (Ezek 24:24, 27; pp. 235–37) highligts the prophet himself as “a mirror, vehicle, and portent” in service of God. In such a position, Ezekiel is adequately designated as being—rather than having—a “mantic body”[11] conveying meanings that reach beyond the verbal message. Ezekiel’s sign-acts present a prime example of the synergy of word and action, and ominous bodies can be found even in Near Eastern texts, notably in the letters from Mari.
A seldom-quoted text from Mari deals with a confiscation of silver rings and garments that had taken place in the house of Sammetar, Zimri-Lim’s deceased majordomo (FM 6 45). To prove the case illegal, the prophet Irra-gamil, known from several other documents,[12] is first given a drink, after which a chair is brought from the storage room of the house and placed before Šamaš, the god of judgement. Irra-gamil, seated on the chair, then gives an oracle before the governor and the magnates, saying: “My declaration is in the shade of Sammetar. [Wh]atever is [reco]rded in [this] tabl[et] belongs to the house [of Sammetar]” (lines r. 10– l. e. 2). This short text describes a ritual with many components. It probably takes place in a temple where the elite members of the community have gathered. A tablet recording the items removed from the house of Sammetar represents the judicial case materially, whereas the chair on which the prophet sits represents the house itself. The prophet has received a drink probably in order to reach the appropriate state of consciousness[13] and delivers an oracle in the shade of the deceased official, possible identifying with him and acting as the witness of the real owner of the confiscated material. The text connects the prophet, the deity, the deceased official, the leaders of the society, and two places: the house of Sammetar and the temple where the ritual takes place.
A third example of a prophet as a sign can be quoted from the Epic of Zimri-Lim (FM 14), a poetic composition, “a mixture of historical tale embedded in a mythological frame,”[14] written at the beginning of Zimri-Lim’s reign to celebrate his (probably still forthcoming) military victory. A prophet plays a crucial role in inspiring Zimri-Lim with confidence (lines 35–38): “The prince of the land saw his sign, the prophet (īmurma ittašu āpilam etel mātim), the courage of the king grows eminently: ‘Adad shall go at his left side, Erra, the mighty one, at his right side.’” Some translations interpreted the sign having been seen through the prophet;[15] in my interpretation, however, the text identifies the prophet with the sign itself. The very seeing of the prophet has the effect of the king’s courage growing, and it is accompanied by an oracle, presumable from the prophet’s mouth, about gods going on both sides of the king. This, if anything, is a mantic body, incorporating the divine message in itself.
I hope these few examples will demonstrate the applicability of Portier-Young’s embodied understanding of prophecy and mediation from the point of view of ancient Near Eastern texts. Much more can and should be done, especially in the field of ritual studies; investigating the embodied nature of other forms of divination; and—importantly—in neuropsychological study of prophecy. The “dynamic relationship between lived phenomena and textual representations” (p. 251) allows empirical research with living human participants—people who are believed to prophesy as well as their audiences. Brain imaging technology has been used successfully to reveal what actually happens in human brain in an altered state of consciousness, and even religious experience has been studied using the tools of cognitive neuroscience.[16] The time is ripe even for a neuropsychological modelling of the prophetic phenomenon.[17]
[1] Bernhard Duhm, Die Theologie der Propheten als Grundlage für die innere Entwicklungsgeschichte der israelitischen Tradition (Bonn: Marcus, 1875); Gustav Hölscher, Die Profeten: Untersuchungen zur Religionsgeschichte Israels (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1914); Johannes Lindblom, Prophecy in Ancient Israel (second edition, Oxford: Blackwell, 1973).
[2] For the evolutionary view, see Martti Nissinen, Reste altorientalischen Prophetentums in der Bibel (Julius-Wellhausen-Vorlesung 9; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2021).
[3] Manfred Weippert, Götterwort in Menschenmund: Studien zur Prophetie in Assyrien, Israel und Juda (FRLANT 252; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014), 231–32.
[4] E.g., Lester L. Grabbe, “The Spirit of the Lord Came upon Me”: Prophets in Ancient Israel from a Cross-Cultural Perspective (LHBOTS 738; London: T & T Clark, 2024).
[5] E.g., ARM 26 213:5–7; 214:6–7; 222:12–14(= WAW 41 23; 24; 33; letters from Mari); SAA 16 59 r. 1–5 (= WAW 41 115; Neo-Assyrian letter); AD 3 –132 B 5. 25–26 (= WAW 41 134; Late Babylonian chronographic text).
[6] E.g., ARM 26 227; 229; 232; 233; 234; 236–240 (= WAW 41 35–45; letters from Mari); RINAP 5 Asb 3 v 48–72 (= WAW 41 101; inscription of Assurbanipal); SAA 3 13 (= WAW 41 118a; Dialogue of Assurbanipal and Nabû).
[7] E.g., Eḫlip-adal, prophet of Adad of Aleppo, to be found at Chagar Bazar (Chagar Bazar 3 176 = WAW 41 135i), or Mullissu-abu-uṣri, the female prophet who brought the king’s clothes to Akkad (SAA 13 37 = WAW 4 111).
[8] E.g., The Ritual of Ištar at Mari (FM 3 2 and 3 3 = WAW 41 51–52).
[9] E.g., the people who were frightened on occasion of the substitute king ritual at Akkad (SAA 10 352:22–r. 9 = WAW 41 109), or Balaam the Seer who was paralyzed and wept because of the revelation of the gods in the Deir Alla inscription (Comb. I:3–4).
[10] ARM 26 215:22–25 (= WAW 41 25); ARM 26 198:2´´–3´´(= WAW 41 8).
[11] cf. Zeinab Bahrani, Rituals of War: The Body and Violence in Mesopotamia (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008), 75–99.
[12] ARM 21 333 (= WAW 41 55); 23 446 (= WAW 41 59); 26 222 (= WAW 41 33).
[13] Cf. ARM 26 207 and 212 (= WAW 41 17; 22), where Queen Šibtu gives some persons called “signs” a drink in order to obtain an oracle.
[14] Nathan Wasserman, “On the Author of the Epic of Zimrī-Līm and Its Literary Context,” AfO 53 (2015): 52–56, esp. 52.
[15] Cf. Michaël Guichard, L’Épopée de Zimri-Lîm (Florilegium Marianum 14; Mémoires de NABU 16; Paris: SEPOA, 2014), 22: “Dès qu’il vit son signe, (par) un prophète, le Prince de son pays.”
[16] See, e,g., Patrick McNamara, The Cognitive Neuroscience of Religious Experience: Decentering the Self (second edition; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
[17] Such a model has recently been suggested by Ville Mäkipelto, “Profetian psykologiaa: Kognitiivisen neurotieteen näkökulmia profetiaan inhimillisenä kokemuksena,” [Psychology of Prophecy: Perspectives of Cognitive Neuroscience on Prophecy as a Human Experience] Teologinen Aikakauskirja 130 (2025): 4–20.