“Israel’s Covenant in Ancient Near Eastern Context,” Biblische Notizen 139 (2008) 5-18. (original) (raw)

Abstract

sparkles

AI

The article explores the covenant terminology of ancient Israel in the context of the ancient Near East, highlighting the similarities and differences with known treaty forms. It argues that the biblical covenant is more closely related to texts from vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire than to other ancient Near Eastern treaties, using the Barrakab inscription as a pertinent example. The study sheds light on how ancient Israelite writers adopted and adapted Neo-Assyrian propaganda to articulate the relationship between Yahweh and his people.

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

References (87)

  1. Weinfeld, Terminology 190-199; Weinfeld, Loyalty 379-389; Weinfeld, Heritage 176-182; see, inter alia Homer, Iliad, 19.190-191.
  2. Koopmans, Joshua 457.
  3. Mendenhall / Herion, Covenant 1.1184; italics original; Mendenhall, Theology 32.
  4. Weeks, Covenant 20-21 maintains that similarities in culture and common meta- physical notions led to similar forms in Israel and Late Bronze age Hittite society.
  5. Mendenhall / Herion, Covenant 1181-1182; Weeks, Covenant 12.14; Barucq, No- tion 1.61.
  6. Weinfeld, Heritage 190.
  7. Campbell, Prologue 535.
  8. Weinfeld, Heritage 190-91; e.g., the Agdistis Shrine Oath at Philadelphia in Anatolia.
  9. Weinfeld, Heritage 189; e.g., Esarhaddon's loyalty oaths and the 7 th -century B.C. Greek Cyrene-Thera Pact.
  10. Weeks, Covenant 20.
  11. Assyrian art. 46 The expression, "Lord of the Fourths of the Earth," translates the Akkadian expression šar kibrāt er-betti ti . 47 It occurs in the Chicago edition (689 BC) of Sennacherib's 691 Taylor Prism (col. 1, lines 1-19). 48 The vassal des- cribing himself as the emperor's "servant" is ubiquitous. 49 The "favor" (Aram. ®ēn) that "Rakkabel gave" Barrakab "before the king of Assyria" in inscription 2, line 8 is admittedly not the most common usage of the cognate Akkadian term an-ni, which usually means "a promise" or a "yes" answer from divination. 50 Yet the meaning of "favor" or "grace" occurs in a letter of Sen- nacherib to Esarhaddon (there bestowed by the god Nabu). 51 Look again at the Barrakab Inscriptions. The "Servant," c ăbed, of the "Lord of the Four Quarters of the Earth," a servant "most wretched," c ĕmēl, by grace, ®ēn, was "seated on a throne," θĕbanî c al kursē', "in the midst of the great kings," bĕmiş c at mālkin rabrăbin, and responded, in turn, by being "righteous," şdeq, with his lord. This is Israel's own description of their relationship with Yahweh. The cebed (e.g., Isa 45:4) of the lord of the qĕşôt-hā'āreş (Isa 40:28), in their cămālēnû (Deut 26:7), by ®ēn grace (Exod 33:12-17), was yôšîb c al kissē' (1Sam 2:8) in the midst of mĕlākîm rabbîm (Jer 27:7), and responded with şĕdāqâ (Deut 6:24). The similarities are striking. At first glace, however, they are scattered throughout the Hebrew Bible. That is not exactly the case. If we look at the distribution of these key terms - cebed of God, Lord of the Fourths of the Earth, `amel, ®ēn, God seated me (other than about a dynastic ruler), great kings, and şĕdāqâ (other than in wis- dom literature where it has a unique, different meaning), 52 we find that aside from occurrences in Psalms impossible to date, the terms are clustered in Deu- teronomy and the Deuteronomistic History, in First and Second Isaiah, in Jere- miah, and in Ezekiel. These are all writings from between 740 and 540. 53
  12. Hamilton, Past 228.
  13. Hamilton, Past 229 n.56; Tropper, Inschriften 134 (fehlt in Bibl.!) 48 ARAB 2.115 #233.
  14. Waterman, Correspondence II.
  15. CAD 1.2.134-36; e.g., Harper, Letters, 3.291=K828 and Dietrich, Correspondence 64-65 #68 r.19.
  16. Waterman, Correspondence, #1452 = Harper, Letters, 14.1452 = K1620b.
  17. Ringgren, Word 45-52;(fehlt in Bibl.!) Schmid, Wesen 47-50.156-66; (fehlt in Bibl.!) Altorientalische 9-30 (fehlt in Bibl.!) ;
  18. Kayatz, Studien 86-119.(fehlt in Bibl.!)
  19. 53 Deut 26:1-11, with its laws on centralization closely tied to Deuteronomistic theo- logy, cannot be pre-DtrH; Römer and de Pury, Deuteronomistic 116. Judg 10:16 is "widely recognized as Deuteronomistic;" McKenzie, Trouble 288. Exod 33:12-17 may actually be earlier, from the Yahwist source; Beyerlin, Origins 98-99, 101. Deut dictated by the specific audience. 78 To Assyrianized Til-Barsip, Esarhaddon is Assyrian in clothing and hair, his captives standing waist-high. 79 For Sam'al, however, still deep in its Neo-Hittite / Aramaean culture as we saw earlier, the king wears ornate garments and a Phoenician crown, and the subject people are only knee-high and kept on leashes. 80 But the biblical writers "claim for the Judean national god Yahweh the functions and the sovereignty of the Assyrian king." 81 Their subversive counter- propaganda is to "underline the fact that Judah's suzerain is not the Assyrian king and the deities he represents, but Yahweh, the 'only' God." 82 Summary Much study of the Israelite covenant has focused on their similarities with ancient Near Eastern treaties. This study proposes that the biblical covenant instead bears greater resemblance to texts composed by vassals of the Neo-Assyrian empire. The best example of such texts is the Barrakab inscription from ancient Samal. It is suggested that Neo- Assyrian propaganda was used in the Barrakab inscription and was likewise adopted by ancient Israelites and altered to describe the relation of Yahweh to his people. Zusammenfassung
  20. Viele Studien zum israelitischen Bund beschäftigen sich mit dessen Ähnlichkeiten mit den alten Bündnissen des Nahen Ostens. Diese vorliegende Arbeit schlägt vor, dass der biblische Bund größere Ähnlichkeit mit den Texten hat, die von den Untertanen des Neo-Assyrische Reichs verfasst wurden. Das beste Beispiel solcher Texte ist die Barra- kab-Inschrift aus dem alten Samal. Man kann annehmen, dass die Neo-Assyrische Propa- ganda in der Barrakab-Inschrift verwendet wurde und gleichfalls von den alten Isrealiten angenommen und verändert wurde, um die Beziehung Jahwes zu seinem Volk zu illus- trieren. Bibliography
  21. ANET = Pritchard, James B., Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament, Princeton, NJ 1955.
  22. Baltzer, K., Covenant Formulary, Oxford 1971.
  23. Barucq, A., La Notion d'Alliance dans l'Ancien Testament et les Débuts du Judaïsme, in: Cazelles, H. et al. (ed.), Populus Dei, Studi in onore del Car. Ottaviani nel cin- quantessimo di sacerdozio, Rome 1969, 1.5-110 (bitte Seitenangabe des gesamten Artikels).
  24. Porter, Propaganda 154.164.167.
  25. Römer, History 105.
  26. Römer, History 81.
  27. Beyerlin, W., Origins and History of the Oldest Sinai Traditions, Oxford 1965.
  28. Campbell, A.F., Historical Prologue in a Seventh-century Treaty: Bib. 50 (1969) 534-535.
  29. Dalley, Legacy 62-63 (bitte ergänzen!)
  30. Dietrich, M., Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib, Helsinki 2003.
  31. Dion, P.-E., Language Spoken in Ancient Samal: JNES 37 (1978) 115-118.
  32. Donner, H. / Röllig, W., Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften, Wiesbaden 1964.
  33. Ebeling, E., Bruchstücke eines Politischen Propaganda-Gedichtes aus einer Assyrischen Kanzlei, Leipzig 1938.
  34. Fales, L'Impero 15.301 (bitte ergänzen!)
  35. Faley, R.J., Kingdom of Priests, Rome 1960.
  36. Franklin, N., Room V Reliefs at Dur-Sharrukin and Sargon II's Western Campaigns: TA 21 (1994) 255-275.
  37. Freedman, D.N. / Miano, D., People of the New Covenant, in: Porter, S.E. / DeRoo, J.C.R. (ed.), Concept of the Covenant in the Second Temple Period (JSJ.S 71), Lei- den 2003, 7-26.
  38. Gallagher, W.R., Sennacherib's Campaign to Judah, Leiden 1999.
  39. Grabbe, L.L, (ed.), Like a Bird in a Cage, Sheffield 2003.
  40. Gee, J., Limhi in the Library: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1 (1992) 54-66.
  41. Gurney, O.R., Hittites, London 1990.
  42. Hahn, S.W., Covenant in the Old and New Testaments: Currents in Biblical Research 3 (2005) 263-292.
  43. Hamilton, M.W., Past as Destiny: HTR 91 (1998) 215-250.
  44. Harper, R.F., Visit to Zenjirli: OTSt 8 (1889) 183-184.
  45. Harper, R.F., Assyrian and Babylonian Letters, Chicago 1902.
  46. Hawkins, J.D., Neo-Hittite States in Syria and Palestine (CAH), Cambridge 1970. Hillers, D.R., Covenant, Baltimore 1969.
  47. Huffmon, H.B., Exodus, Sinai, and the Credo: CBQ 27 (1965) 101-113.
  48. Kapelrud, A., Some Recent Points of View on the Time and Origin of the Decalogue: SST 18 (1965) 81-90.
  49. Kayatz, Studien 86-119 (bitte ergänzen!)
  50. Koopmans, W.T., Joshua 24 as Poetic Narrative (JSOT.S 93), Sheffield 1990.
  51. Landsberger, B., Sam'al, I, Ankara 1948.
  52. Levine, L.D., Two Neo-Assyrian Stelae from Iran, Toronto 1972.
  53. Luschan, F. von, Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, IV, Berlin 1911.
  54. McCarthy, D.J., Treaty and Covenant (AnBib 21), Rome 1978.
  55. McKenzie, S.L., Trouble with Kingship, in: Pury, A. de / Römer, T. / Macchi, J.-D. (ed.), Israel Constructs its History, (JSOT.S 306), Sheffield 2000, 286-314.
  56. Machinist, P.B., Assyria and Its Image: First Isaiah: JAOS 103 (1983) 719-37.
  57. McCormick, Sennacherib (bitte ergänzen!)
  58. Mendenhall, G.E., Between Theology and Archaeology: JSOT 7 (1978) 28-34.
  59. Mendenhall, G.E., Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East, Pittsburgh 1955. Mendenhall, G.E. / Herion, G., Covenant, in: ABD I, Garden City 1992, 1179-1202.
  60. Miller II, R.D., Chieftains of the Highland Clans: A History of Israel in the 12 th and 11 th Centuries BC (The Bible in Its World Series), Grand Rapids 2005.
  61. Muilenburg, J., Form and Structure of the Covenant Formulation: VT 9 (1959) 347-365.
  62. Munn-Rankin, J.M., Diplomacy in Western Asia in the Early Second Millennium B.C.: Iraq 18 (1956) 68-110.
  63. Nelson, R.D., Double Redaction of the Deuteronomistic History (JSOT.S 18), Sheffield 1981. Nicholson, E., God and His People, Oxford 1986.
  64. O'Brien, M., Deuteronomistic History Hypothesis (OBO 92), Göttingen 1989. Otto, Ursprünge 38-45.56-61 (bitte ergänzen!)
  65. Parker, S.B., Appeals for Military Intervention: BA 59 (1996) 213-224.
  66. Parpola / Porter, Helsinki Atlas 2.18 (bitte ergänzen!)
  67. Peckham, B., Composition of the Deuteronomistic History (HSM 35), Atlanta 1985.
  68. Porter, B.N., Assyrian Propaganda for the West, in: Guy Bannens, G. (ed.), Essays on Syria in the Iron Age (ANETS.S 7), Louvain 2000, 143-176.
  69. Postgate, J.N., Land of Assur and the Yoke of Assur: World Archaeology 23 (1992) 247-263.
  70. Ringgren, Word 45-52 (bitte ergänzen.!)
  71. Römer, T.C., Deuteronomy in Search of Origins, in: Knoppers, G.N. / McConville, J.G. (ed.), Reconsidering Israel and Judah (SBibSt 8), Winona Lake 2000, 112-138.
  72. Römer, T.C., So-Called Deuteronomistic History, Edinburg 2005.
  73. Römer, T.C. / Pury, A. de, Deuteronomistic Historiography, in: Pury, A. de / Römer, T. / Macchi, J.-D. (ed.), Israel Constructs its History (JSOT.S 306), Sheffield 2000, 24-141.
  74. Russell, Writing 1.4 (bitte ergänzen!)
  75. Sader, H., Etats Araméens de Syrie depuis leurs Fondation jusqu'à leurs Transformation en Provinces Assyriennes, Tübingen1984.
  76. Schmid, Altorientalische 9-30 (bitte ergänzen!)
  77. Schmid, Wesen 47-50.156-66 (bitte ergänzen!)
  78. Shoemaker, C.C., / Spanier, J., Patron-Client State Relationships, New York 1984.
  79. Tadmor, H., Propaganda, Literature, and Historiography, in Assyria 1995, in: Parpola, S. / Whiting, R.M. (ed.), Helsinki 1997, 325-338.
  80. Tropper, Inschriften 134.174. (bitte ergänzen!)
  81. Waterman, D.L., Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire II (UMS.H 18), Ann Arbor 1930. Weeks, Admonition 177.164.178 (bitte ergänzen!)
  82. Weeks, N., Covenant and Treaty: Lucas 16 (1993) 10-22.
  83. Weinfeld, M., Common Heritage of Covenantal Traditions in the Ancient World, in: Canfora, L. / Liverani, M. / Zaccagnini, C. (ed.), I Trattati nel Mondo Antico (Saggi di Storia Antica II), Roma 1990.
  84. Weinfeld, M., Covenant Terminology in the Ancient Near East and Its Influence on the West: JAOS 93 (1973) 190-199.
  85. Weinfeld, M., Loyalty Oath in the Ancient Near East: UF 8 (1976) 379-414.
  86. Younger, K.L. Jr., Panammuwa and Bar-Rakib: Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies 18.91-103 (bitte Jahr und Seitenangabe des gesamtenArtikels). Dr. Robert D. Miller II Mount St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD 21727
  87. USA E-Mail: Romiller@msmary.edu