One of the biggest aspects of any religion is to explain the problem of evil that exists in our world. From the earliest mythos to modern day thinking, religious groups have tried to tackle the problem. When looking at some of the texts from the Ancient Near East and the relationships between the god(s) and man, one can begin to discern some conclusions about where these people stood on the subject. It seems that a running theme throughout many of the texts is the notion that a human, with all of its limited knowledge, has the ability to reason, bargain, and/or debate with the deity's plans and actions within the world. Despite the fact that these humans have only an inadequate view of any "heavenly" plan, they still believe they know best. The authors of these ancient texts of Israel and Mesopotamia use the inability of their characters (humans, in general, as well) to accept their lot in life, portraying the idea that divine decisions and actions cannot be questioned or challenged by mankind.
A common motif in text of the Israelites and Mesopotamians is the man stricken with afflictions of his physical, emotional, a monetary being. We get accounts of these characters, who have a hard time with why their lives are not as well as they would like, from several ancient Mesopotamian sources. These texts begin with a man down on his luck, suffering from all kinds of afflictions, trying to rationalize what has caused his dreadful fate. The Dialogue Between a Man and his God portrays a perfect example of this; "My Lord, I have debated with myself, and in my feelings [?] of heart: the wrong I did I do not know!" The suffering man (known as the young man in the story) cries out in his prayers that he i ...