Ancient Near Eastern cultures (roughly 2000–500 BCE), including the world of the biblical Job, wove themes of life, death, nature, and resurrection into their myths and cosmologies. Capricious gods, such as Mesopotamia’s Enlil or Canaan’s Baal, governed fragile human lives. People accepted mortality as inevitable, reserving eternal life for deities. The Epic of Gilgamesh captured Mesopotamian struggles with death, while the Egyptians focused on preparations, as seen in the Book of the Dead. These cultures anthropomorphized or deified nature (i.e., storms as Adad, fertility as Ishtar, and prized cosmic order over chaotic forces like Tiamat.
Regional beliefs about the afterlife diverged: Mesopotamians envisioned a joyless underworld (Irkalla) for all souls, Egyptians foretold Osiris’s judgment with potential bliss in the Field of Reeds, and Canaanites depicted a shadowy realm (Rephaim) of diminished significance. Job’s laments (e.g., Job 3:11–19) mirrored these ideas, calling death a restful escape to Sheol, the “land of no return.”
The Old Testament foreshadowed the resurrection, notably in Job’s hope: “In my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:26). Ezekiel 37 depicted God reviving Israel’s exile as dry bones, and Daniel 12:2 declared a future bodily resurrection for both the righteous and the wicked. Isaiah 25:8 promises that God will “swallow up death.”
The New Testament centered on Jesus’s resurrection, citing early creeds (1 Corinthians 15:3) and Gospel accounts. For example, the resurrection of Jesus is a central theme, with an early creed about it in 1 Corinthians 15:3. This creed describes Jesus’ death, his resurrection, and his appearances to witnesses. Additionally, the Gospels contain accounts of Jesus raising others from the dead, as well as the story of his own resurrection, which is considered a foundational belief in Christianity. The Pharisees upheld beliefs in the resurrection, which early Christianity adopted as doctrine.
Suggested References
Black, J., & Green, A. (1992). Gods, demons, and symbols of ancient Mesopotamia: An illustrated dictionary. University of Texas Press.
Levenson, J. D. (2006). Resurrection and the restoration of Israel: The ultimate victory of the God of life. Yale University Press.
Lim, T. H., & Collins, J. J. (Eds.). (2010). The Oxford handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Oxford University Press.
Meeks, W. A. (2003). The first urban Christians: The social world of the Apostle Paul (2nd ed.). Yale University Press.
Pritchard, J. B. (Ed.). (1969). Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.
Stanley, C. D. (2010). The Hebrew Bible: A comparative approach. Fortress Press.
Taylor, J. H. (2001). Death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt. University of Chicago Press.
White, L. M. (2004). From Jesus to Christianity: How four generations of visionaries and storytellers created the New Testament and the Christian faith. HarperOne.
Wright, N. T. (2003). The resurrection of the Son of God. Fortress Press.
