ABSTRACT
In order to lead a happy life, you have to live in a country that provides the material basis for it: water, fertile soil, vegetation, and animals. In ancient Hebrew imagination, the land of Canaan figured as the world’s best country, but even outside that country, the Hebrew God sustained his people with all they needed. A paradigmatic legend tells how the people, before entering their land, had to wander through the desert. During their wanderings, they were provided not only with real food, but also with food that fed their dream of the good life. This dream came to them via the spies they had sent out, who returned with reports of a land flowing with milk and honey. The spies also brought back a huge cluster of grapes, carried by two men on a pole across their shoulders. They also brought pomegranates and figs (Numbers 13). A similar dream of Canaan was dreamt by the ancient Egyptians who at rare moments could appreciate countries other than the land of the Nile. The story of Sinuhe, a gem of ancient literature dating from around 1900 BCE, recounts the career of a fugitive Egyptian civil servant who eventually finds a home in Palestine. Here is Sinuhe’s description of his good life:
We must think of Sinuhe as a happy man. In ancient Hebrew thought, God is the source of the good life. On the face of it,
this notion seems to be rather straightforward and has often been commented upon. When in 1904, Adolf Guttmacher in the Jewish Encyclopaedia wrote the entry on ‘happiness’, God’s involvement with the good life appeared to him to be the main relevant fact. In Guttmacher’s words: ‘Everywhere in the Old Testament the joyous and harmonious notes of life are accented. Life is synonymous with good and blessing. This predominant note of happiness was undoubtedly the outcome of faith and of a complete dependence upon and trust in God the Creator of all.
