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Levantine Epigraphy and Samaria, Judaea and Idumaea during the Achaemenid Period

André Lemaire

in Levantine Epigraphy and History in the Achaemenid Period (539-322 BCE)

The publication of the Samaria papyrus discovered in a Wadi ed-Daliyeh cave north of Jericho and the knowledge of the Samaria coinage help to fix the chronology of the Samaria governors from the ... More

The publication of the Samaria papyrus discovered in a Wadi ed-Daliyeh cave north of Jericho and the knowledge of the Samaria coinage help to fix the chronology of the Samaria governors from the second half of the 5th century BCE till Alexander. They reveal the practice of slavery as well as a mostly yahwist population, if one can judge from their personal names and the building of a temple on Mount Garizim. At the same time, they indicate some strong foreign (Aramaean, Phoenician, Babylonian, Persian, Idumaean, North-Arab and Greek) influence. The administration of the Judean province receives now some light from a few ostraca and from numerous seal-impressions as well as the 4th century BCE coinage. These short inscriptions allow us to precise the limited extent of the province while Elephantine papyrus help to fix the chronology of its governors and high priests. Southern Cisjordan was first part of the North-Arab kingdom of Kedar and became an Achaemenid province called ‘Idumaea’ only at the beginning of the 4th century BCE. About 2000 Aramaic ostraca reveal, for this last century, a well organized administration as well as a mixed population with Edomite, North-Arabic, Aramaean, Hebrew and Phoenician names.Less

Preface

Mary Douglas

in Jacob's Tears: The Priestly Work of Reconciliation

The author discusses the origin of her book and its purpose, which she describes as setting the two main priestly books of the Pentateuch – the Books of Leviticus and Numbers – in (an ... More

The author discusses the origin of her book and its purpose, which she describes as setting the two main priestly books of the Pentateuch – the Books of Leviticus and Numbers – in (an anthropologist's) context. These Books are regarded by the author as having a strong shared political commitment: the keeping alive of the legendary alliance of the twelve sons of Jacob, and the advocacy of peace with Samaria, at the time when the Second Temple community of Israel was drawing its boundaries and redefining itself as an exclusive religious group and Samaria was standing out as a dangerous enemy. The scheme of this book is described, and the origins of the controversies that have arisen over interpretation of the Pentateuch outlined, along with discussion of the probable views of the priestly editors (both in exile and on return) on ecstatic cults and the resulting reinforcement of the orderly and theorized approach they took to renewing the old religion. The final section of the Preface returns to the theme of problems of translation and meaning and the concerns of the priestly editors in the different chapters of the book.Less

Counting Jacob's Twelve Sons

Mary Douglas

in Jacob's Tears: The Priestly Work of Reconciliation

Develops the author's argument that the motivation of the priestly editors of the Pentateuch, and in particular of Numbers and Leviticus, was strictly professional and priestly. The author asks why, ... More

Develops the author's argument that the motivation of the priestly editors of the Pentateuch, and in particular of Numbers and Leviticus, was strictly professional and priestly. The author asks why, in the Book of Numbers, does the editor keep listing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob), and puts forward the thesis that they were using the stories of the patriarchs as an allegory of their own concerns about the unity of the cult of the Hebrew God: their choice to write about fraternal rivalry was not arbitrary. The first section of the chapter looks specifically at the strife between the brothers Joseph and Judah, the founding patriarchs of Samaria and Judah, and the precarious relations between those countries. The following sections look at other aspects of the Pentateuch in the same way – as allegory, and as a way of addressing contemporary problems affecting the editors themselves: editors who believed that all the sons of Joseph were co‐heirs of the Covenant, and that authority rested with the Aaronite priesthood. In this context, the discussion covers the different manifestations of God as angry and forgiving in Numbers and Leviticus, the issue of unity and defection between the brother tribes and brother priests of Israel, and the story of Jacob himself, his favourite son Joseph, and Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.Less

Balaam Delivers God's Blessings on All Israel

Mary Douglas

in Jacob's Tears: The Priestly Work of Reconciliation

Balaam's story in Numbers is here viewed as a burlesque, in fact a political satire, about the foreign prophet (or magician), Balaam, whom God chooses as his mouthpiece. The author's thesis is that ... More

Balaam's story in Numbers is here viewed as a burlesque, in fact a political satire, about the foreign prophet (or magician), Balaam, whom God chooses as his mouthpiece. The author's thesis is that the priestly editors kept the story in the Book of Numbers because it served their purpose in being aimed against policies of which they disapproved in post‐exilic Judah, and supported their interests in conveying the essential priestly message to Judah and Samaria: that they are destined to be one great people, that Israel should be united. Its other objective may have been to poke fun at the King of Persia (King Balak in the Balaam story) – and his henchman, the Governor of Samaria (Balaam himself); the concluding part of the chapter portrays the patient she‐ass of the Balaam story as the people of Israel themselves. The story is first outlined and then analysed in detail. Various interpretations are offered, but the major issue addressed is the story of Balaam as ‘the story within the story’ (or synecdoche) in the context of the literary genre of the Book of Numbers; the words of Balaam are studied very carefully to support this idea.Less

Terracotta Imagery in Israel and Judah under the Divided Monarchy (c. 925–586 bc)

P. R. S. Moorey

in Idols of the People: Miniature Images of Clay in the Ancient Near East

This chapter discusses Israelite goddesses, terracotta figurines, and the emergence of free-standing terracottas in Israel and Judah. It then provides two key contexts between Cave 1 (Ophel) in ... More

This chapter discusses Israelite goddesses, terracotta figurines, and the emergence of free-standing terracottas in Israel and Judah. It then provides two key contexts between Cave 1 (Ophel) in Jerusalem (Judah) and area E-257 in Samaria (Israel). Finally it looks at the repertory of Judean terracottas in the 8th and 7th centuries bc.Less

1967 to 1973: The Miracle of Conquest and the Test of Yom Kippur

Reuven Firestone

in Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea

It was only after the extraordinary victory of the 1967 War that most religious Zionists acknowledged what they considered to be the truly messianic, redemptive nature of Zionism. Military success ... More

It was only after the extraordinary victory of the 1967 War that most religious Zionists acknowledged what they considered to be the truly messianic, redemptive nature of Zionism. Military success was often articulated in religious Zionist publications through such imagery as the “hand of God.” If it was God’s design, then was it not a holy war? The miraculous victory of the war was a clear sign to many that God intends for Jews to conquer and settle all of the Biblical Land of Israel, including those lands extending beyond the borders established by the United Nations Partition Plan and armistice agreements of 1947-48. The failure of the 1973 War actually caused an increase in rationalization and a resurgence of messianic, militant activism. Fear that the war would result in concessions of territories energized many to hold onto them. Revitalization efforts emerged among a generation of Orthodox youth disaffected with the ways in which their parents’ generation expressed its religiosity and Zionism, and the Settler Movement appropriated many of the classical symbols of classical secular Zionism that had since declined.Less

Superpowers and Monsters

April D. DeConick

in The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today

Engages the super hero movies and comics, including Superman; Spiderman; and Doctor Strange.

Samaritan Halakhah

Michael Corinaldi

in An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law

The name Shomronim or ‘Samaritans’ was initially used to refer to the inhabitants of the province called Samaria. Shomronim, the origin of the sect's name, supposedly refers to a group of Samarian ... More

The name Shomronim or ‘Samaritans’ was initially used to refer to the inhabitants of the province called Samaria. Shomronim, the origin of the sect's name, supposedly refers to a group of Samarian inhabitants who view themselves as authentic guardians of the Scripture and of the truth explained in the Torah. The Samaritan halakhah could be characterized as a practice that initiated during the First Temple period and has persisted until the present day. This chapter attempts to look into the historical aspects of this approach through providing a comparative viewpoint for the rabbinic tradition that opts to view this practice as a sectarian one. Here, we explore a form of Jewish law that has denied the Oral Law of the Rabbis, although such is said to have taken its basis from the Bible.Less

Conclusion

Robert R. Cargill

in Melchizedek, King of Sodom: How Scribes Invented the Biblical Priest-King

The conclusion summarizes the central arguments and evidence presented in the book. It demonstrates that the original purpose of Gen. 14 was that of a hero narrative, presenting the über-righteous ... More

The conclusion summarizes the central arguments and evidence presented in the book. It demonstrates that the original purpose of Gen. 14 was that of a hero narrative, presenting the über-righteous Abram as a YHWH-empowered warrior who rescues his nephew, Lot, and returns the kidnaped and plundered Sodomite people and their goods to their homeland, without exacting a payment! Abram was to be depicted as the ultimate righteous hero, fighting the good fight on behalf of his extended family and demanding no payment in return. He is victorious in battle and generous in victory, “blessing those who bless him and becoming a curse to those who curse him.” However, as the history of Israel unfolded, parts of the Abram narrative required updating in the eyes of the Jerusalem priesthood. Given the sectarian political battles that came to shape Judean and Samaritan history in Israel following the collapse of the two kingdoms and the Babylonian exile, the Melchizedek encounter underwent small changes over time, each of which created new problems with each problem it solved. It was this redaction history of the Melchizedek encounter that created Melchizedek as an individual separate from the king of Sodom and gave rise to the varied Jewish interpretations of him in the late Second Temple period.Less

Introduction

Robert R. Cargill

in Melchizedek, King of Sodom: How Scribes Invented the Biblical Priest-King

The introduction provides a summary of the research questions pursued and the arguments made in the book, focusing on two central theses regarding Melchizedek, with the second depending on the first. ... More

The introduction provides a summary of the research questions pursued and the arguments made in the book, focusing on two central theses regarding Melchizedek, with the second depending on the first. The first thesis is that Melchizedek, king of Shalem, was originally king of Sodom, and that his dominion was altered deliberately to prevent the Jewish patriarch Abram from having positive interactions with the king of Sodom, whose city would soon be destroyed by God. The second thesis is that Shalem was originally associated with the city of Shechem, in the shadow of Mt. Gerizim in Samaria, but later came to be associated with Jerusalem through a number of scribal and interpretative maneuvers designed to promote Jerusalem and denigrate Samaria.Less

The Problem of Hellenistic Syria*

Fergus Millar

in Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Volume 3: The Greek World, the Jews, and the East

This chapter investigates the problem of Hellenistic rule in Syria. In seeking the nature or limits of Hellenisation, it attempts to find evidence of continued survival of native cultures or fusion ... More

This chapter investigates the problem of Hellenistic rule in Syria. In seeking the nature or limits of Hellenisation, it attempts to find evidence of continued survival of native cultures or fusion of Greek and native cultures, Greek or Macedonian military settlement in the surrounding territories, and changes in literacy. It first discusses excavations on several sites to find archaeological evidence of earlier Hellenistic periods: Samaria, Pella, Dura, and Epiphaneia. The chapter then illustrates the presence in Syria of Ptolemaic soldiers from various parts of the Greek world. The inscription from Ras Ibn Hani on the coast eight kilometres north of Laodicea records their presence. Excavations on this site have shown that a fortified Greek town was established there in the same period, probably by the Ptolemies.Less

The Origins of the Elephantine Jews

Karel van der Toorn

in Becoming Diaspora Jews: Behind the Story of Elephantine

This chapter seeks out the origins of the Elephantine Jews. For more than a century, their origins have been a mystery. Owing to the decipherment of Papyrus Amherst 63, this chapter reveals new ... More

This chapter seeks out the origins of the Elephantine Jews. For more than a century, their origins have been a mystery. Owing to the decipherment of Papyrus Amherst 63, this chapter reveals new understandings about who the Elephantine Jews were and where they came from. It argues that most of the men and women we have come to think of as Jews were in fact Samarian Arameans. They had a hyphenated identity, somewhat similar to the double identity of Jewish Americans. By geographical origin, they were from Samaria. Having lived for about a century in the Aramaic-speaking environment of Palmyra, they had become Arameans. They had stayed loyal to their ancestral god Yaho but equated him with the storm god Bethel. In addition to Aramaic as their new language, they had also adopted several Aramean deities associated with Bethel: Anat-Bethel, Eshem-Bethel, and Herem-Bethel. Toward 600 BCE, they had migrated to Egypt, along with the Syrians and Babylonians they had lived with in Palmyra.Less

Epilogue

Karel van der Toorn

in Becoming Diaspora Jews: Behind the Story of Elephantine

This concluding chapter attempts to define who the Elephantine Jews were by summing up the results of a review of all the evidence, including the texts from the Aramaic papyrus in Demotic script. In ... More

This concluding chapter attempts to define who the Elephantine Jews were by summing up the results of a review of all the evidence, including the texts from the Aramaic papyrus in Demotic script. In the more than one hundred years that have passed since the discovery of the Elephantine Jews, several versions of their story have sought to define who they really were. Most scholars have argued that the diaspora community came into being sometime between 650 and 550 BCE. Where the Elephantine Jews came from has been a matter of controversy. While many have considered it likely that they migrated from Judah, the hypothesis of Samarian origins has been vigorously defended as well. Here, the chapter presents Papyrus Amherst 63 as the basis of a compelling narrative to take the place of earlier versions of the story.Less

Biblical Beginnings: The Calf of Sinai, the Calves of Jeroboam, and the Invention of Idolatry

Michael E. Pregill

in The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur'an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis From Late Antiquity to Islam

This chapter examines the main narrative of the Golden Calf found in Exodus 32, as well as other allusions to this episode from Israel’s history from what became the canonical Hebrew Bible. The ... More

This chapter examines the main narrative of the Golden Calf found in Exodus 32, as well as other allusions to this episode from Israel’s history from what became the canonical Hebrew Bible. The account of the Calf in Exodus appears to have been shaped by polemical imperatives in the earliest stages of its development, and reflects complex questions surrounding sanctioned forms of divine worship, the status of different priestly groups, and the relationship of those groups to the Israelite monarchies and the cult forms they sponsored. The conception of the Calf in Exodus appears to reflect ancient ideas about the sanctioned means of worshipping the God of Israel, with an older form of Israelite cult practice—the use of bulls or calves to suggest the invisible divine presence—being critiqued here. However, rather than corroborating the Exodus narrative’s presentation of the affair, the version of the episode preserved in Deuteronomy reflects the profoundly different imperatives of a later age. While the Exodus narrative ultimately hearkens back to a time in Israel’s history in which the making of the Calf was perceived primarily as a lamentable cultic infraction, the reframing of the narrative in Deuteronomy embeds it in a larger discourse in which the making of the Calf appears as the pre-eminent example of idolatry, a distinctive ideological construction of the exilic and post-exilic periods that marked all forms of religious practice not sanctioned as “orthodox” as betrayals of the covenant and regression to the worship of false gods.Less

A Living Calf at Sinai?: Re-evaluating the Qur’anic Calf Episode

Michael E. Pregill

in The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur'an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis From Late Antiquity to Islam

This chapter re-evaluates major aspects of the Golden Calf story in the Qur’an, proposing a reading of the narrative that breaks with those of both traditional Muslim and Western scholarship and ... More

This chapter re-evaluates major aspects of the Golden Calf story in the Qur’an, proposing a reading of the narrative that breaks with those of both traditional Muslim and Western scholarship and seeks to restore it to its proper historical, religious, and literary context in Late Antiquity. The qur’anic references to the image worshipped by the Israelites provided Muslim exegetes with a pretext for depicting the Calf as alive or at least possessing some semblance of life. However, the qur’anic Calf is better understood not as ? lowing image of a calf but rather an image of a lowing calf, a distinction of enormous significance for the exegesis of the story. In the absence of a conception of the Golden Calf as actually or seemingly animate, the Qur’an’s allusions to the creation of this entity must be reinterpreted as well. This chapter thus proposes alternative explanations of the major elements of the traditional portrayal of the narrative, especially the depiction of the “Samaritan” as an outside interloper who created and animated the Calf through supernatural means, with Moses subsequently imposing a sentence of exile on both him and his descendants, the Samaritan community, for all time. Instead, the major elements of the key passage in the Qur’an can be interpreted as allusions to various biblical subtexts; the qur’anic story originally posited, like its Jewish and Christian precursors, that it was Aaron—called by the unique epithet al-sāmirī here—who had made the Calf and led the Israelites into sin.Less

The Empire in the Southwest: Reconstructing Assyrian Activity in the Provinces

Avraham Faust

in The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest: Imperial Domination and its Consequences

In light of the information provided in the previous chapters, Chapter 7 (‘The Empire in the Southwest: Reconstructing Assyrian Activity in the Provinces’) examines the way the empire operated in the ... More

In light of the information provided in the previous chapters, Chapter 7 (‘The Empire in the Southwest: Reconstructing Assyrian Activity in the Provinces’) examines the way the empire operated in the southwestern provinces, including the activity of the local governors, the deportation of some of the population, and the settling of foreign deportees. The evidence shows that indications for Assyrian administration are lacking from most of the provinces’ areas, and that they were not of much significance for the imperial authorities, which concentrated their efforts on the frontiers facing the flourishing clients. It is only in these regions that we find evidence for significant imperial activity. Combining the archaeological and textual evidence also shed light on the status of Dor, which appears to have been managed by Tyre, and indicate that parts in the coastal plain (including the anchorages) were administered by the clients.Less

We Were Fortunate to Get Back at All: From White House Landing to First Reams’ Station

A. Wilson Greene

in Campaign of Giants--The Battle for Petersburg: Volume 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater

This chapter deals with cavalry operations in June 1864, particularly the Union’s Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 22-30. Planned in conjunction with infantry advances as a part of Grant’s Second Petersburg ... More

This chapter deals with cavalry operations in June 1864, particularly the Union’s Wilson-Kautz Raid, June 22-30. Planned in conjunction with infantry advances as a part of Grant’s Second Petersburg Offensive, this mounted initiative targeted three of the railroads that led into Richmond and Petersburg. Destroying those transportation links would cripple Robert E. Lee’s logistics and perhaps compel the Confederates to leave the safety of their fortifications. Meanwhile, the rest of the Union cavalry under the direct command of Philip Sheridan, moved to join the army around Petersburg. Sheridan bore responsibility for escorting a huge wagon train full of supplies across the James River from the former Union base at White House Landing on the Pamunkey River. This endeavor led to a spirited cavalry fight at Samaria Church on June 24. In an unrelated action, the Confederates made a disjointed and decidedly unsuccessful attack along City Point Road on June 24 in an attempt to restore their original lines.Less