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MARZEAH

(Heb. marzēaḥ)

A ritual drinking feast known throughout the ancient Semitic would. Texts mentioning the marzēaḥ span three millennia, ranging from Ebla (24th century b.c.e.) to Madeba (6th century c.e.), with intervening attestations in Emar, Ugarit, Transjordan, Elephantine, Phoenicia, Habatea, Palmyra, and in the rabbinic literature.

The earliest substantial information comes from Ugarit, where the term denotes both the banquet and those who celebrated it. The latter comprised members (mt mrzḥ) with a leader (rb), who levied dues, owned property, and had a patron deity. The substantial holdings included fields and vineyards, but the most important was the “marzēaḥ house” (bt mrzḥ). The group’s social importance is indicated by the size of its holdings, the number of witnesses to its transactions, and the granting of royal approval. Ugarit also provides a description of a divine marzēaḥ: in KTU 1.114 El invites the gods to his marzēaḥ, where they are urged to drink to the point of drunkenness; the feast ends with El collapsing in a state of intoxicated incontinence.

Although allowance must be made for divergence from place to place and over time, two common features can be discerned in subsequent instances of the marzēaḥ; the institution’s social importance and the emphasis on drinking. In most places there is some mention of wine, often in large quantities, or at least drinking vessels, and more than once events are dated in relationship to the time of the banquet and/or the leader’s presidency.

The social status of the marzēaḥ is evident in Amos 6. The prophet chastises the elite of Samaria (Amos 6:1) for their sumptuous banquets characterized by luxurious couches, choice meats, music, anointing with oil, and wine drunk by the bowlful (vv. 4-6). Amos announces that their marzēaḥ (NSRV “revelry”) will end when they are taken into exile (Amos 6:7). In Jer. 16:5 the prophet is forbidden to enter the marzēaḥ house (not NRSV “house of mourning”) to mourn those killed by the Babylonians; in v. 8 it is called “the drinking house” (bêṯ-mišteh).

In light of the marzēaḥ’s enduring significance elsewhere, it is surprising to find it mentioned only twice in the Bible. Various texts have been proposed as allusions but do not use the word (Isa. 28:1-13; Ezek. 39:17-20; Amos 4:1; cf. Isa. 56:9–57:13; Ezek. 8:7-13; Amos 2:7-8; 1 Cor. 11:20-22).

Bibliography. D. B. Bryan, Texts Relating to the Marzeaḥ (diss., Johns Hopkins, 1973); J. L. McLaughlin, “The marzeaḥ at Ugarit,” UF 23 (1991): 265-81.

John L. McLaughlin

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MARZEAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)