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Judah and Her Neighbours in the Seventh Century Bce

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Judah and Her Neighbours in the Seventh Century Bce JUDAH AND HER NEIGHBOURS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY BCE by ADeLE HAZEL ESMe ASHER submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject JUDAICA at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA Promoter: Prof. J P van der WESTHUIZEN Joint Promoter: Prof. H W NEL November 1996 This thesis is dedicated to the memory of a great lady, Sally Dermeik. Your love, caring, empathy, encouragement and warmth typify the thirty-seven years of friendship I was privileged to share. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS After two years of preliminary reading, work on this project began in earnest. Through a generous study grant from the University of South Mrica, I was able to work in Jerusalem, where I was kindly granted a Junior Fellowship at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research. The kindness and ready assistance from the Director, Dr. Sy Gitin and the staff at the Albright, made my stay there a real pleasure, as well as being a stimulating and exciting project. Special mention must be made of the staff at l'Ecole Biblique, where the facilities of their excellent library are so readily made available to visiting researchers. During the time spent in the Middle East, my task was made easier by the following academics: Prof Abraham Malamat and Prof Ephraim Stern of the Hebrew University. At the Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology I was granted interviews on several occasions by Prof Anson Rainey, Prof Gabi Barkai and Prof Nadav Na'aman. Their explanations, suggestions and directions were most stimulating and are greatly appreciated. Prof Marvin Sweeney of the University of Miami, who was spending a sabbatical year at the Albright, kindly gave me useful articles, including his own as yet unpublished article on King Josiah's economic reforms. He is acknowledged with great thanks. Enormous help was given to me by my co-promoters, Prof. J.P. van der Westhuizen of Unisa, and Prof H.W. Nel of the University of Zululand. They spent much time in valuable discussions with me over various issues of the work, and made numerous helpful corrections to earlier drafts. Though I have followed the advice of these scholars as meticulously as I could, the final form ofthis work I accept as my own responsibility. Of the greatest support was my friend Henrietta, an unparalleled academic, whose encouragement, support and advice were invaluable. Without her incisive wit, her unfailing humour and her faith in my ability, I would have been unable to trudge the weary road. To my children, Daniella and David, and my mother, I express my sincere thanks for the support and encouragement throughout the years. -I- SUMMARY This thesis investigates the period in Judah which took place precisely a century between the death ofHezekiah (687 BCE) and the final fall ofJerusalem (587 BCE) Seldom has a nation experienced so many dramatically sudden reversals of fortune in so relatively short a time. Throughout the first half of the seventh century BCE the Assyrian empire reigned supreme. In the second half, in rapid succession, Judah, as a vassal, experienced periods of independence and of subjection, first to Egypt, then to Babylonia, before finally destroying herself in a futile rebellion against the latter. The aim of the thesis was to set Judah in the global context and investigate the role she played. To this end the Great Powers, namely Assyria, Egypt and Babylonia were surveyed, as well as were the Small Powers, like Judah, Phoenicia and the Transjordanian states, and the relationships probed. The thesis traces the life of the wicked but extraordinarily successful King Manasseh, and his equally reprobate son, Amon, who was brutally murdered by his servants, and was avenged by 'the people of the land'. Josiah is the only monarch who fits the Deuteronomistic requirements of a good king. Religious and national reform generally go hand in hand with politics, and the cultic reform and centralization of the cult characterise his reign. With the fall of Assyria, the temporary surge into prominence by Egypt and the tragic death of Josiah in 609 BCE, Judah experienced radical political fluctuations and with them alternate subjugation by, and rebellion against, each of the major powers. Inexperienced leadership and a situation of dual kings, followed Josiah's death. The rapidly changing international scene demanded of the rulers of Judah skillful manoeuvring and exceptional adaptability, and frequently confronted them with ominous political situations. Judaean leaders and the puppet King Zedekiah, propped up by false prophets, failed to grasp the shift in the balance of power, and clung to questionable Egyptian aid against the new world power, Babylonia. Highly vulnerable and left in the lurch, Jerusalem faced protracted siege and famine in Jerusalem, destruction of the Temple, and deportation of the cream of her people. Key Terms: Assyrian collapse; power vacuum; Egyptian-Babylonian hegemony struggle; geopolitical realities; King Manasseh; apostasy; pragmatism; minor rehabilitation; King Josiah; cult reformation; cult centralization; Megiddo tragedy; fluctuating foreign policies; inept dual kingship; Jerusalem siege; Temple destroyed; Judaean Exile. - 11 - LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AASOR Annual of the American Schools ~~Oriental Research AJBI Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd ed, Princeton 1969) AusBR Australian Biblical Review BA The Biblical Archaeologist BAR Biblical Archaeology Review BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools ~~Oriental Research BJRL Bulletin~~ the John Ryland~· Library BM British Museum BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift .fiir die alttestamentliche Wissenschajt CAH The Cambridge Ancient History CBQ The Catholic Biblical Quarterly CCK Chronicles of the Chaldaean Kings IEJ Israel Exploration Journal JANES Journal ofAncient Near Eastern Studies JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JARCE Journal of the American Research Centre in Egypt JBL Journal ofBiblical Literature JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JESHO Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages JQR Jewish Quarterly Review JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSS Journal for Semitic Studies JTS Journal of Theological Studies MDAIK Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituuts Abteilung Kairo OLP Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica Or Orientalia OTL The Old Testament Library, eds. Ackroyd, Barr, Anderson and Bright (Philadelphia, Westminster Press 1968) PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly RA Revue d'Assyriologie RB Revue Biblique REg Revue d'Egyptologie RSV Revised Standard Version ofthe English Bible SAK Studien zur Altdgyptischen Kultur SHANE Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East - lll - TA Tel Aviv (Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University) UF U garit-F orschungen VT Vetus Testamentum VTS Vetus Testamentum Supplement ZA Zeitschriftfiir Assyriologie ZAW Zeitschrift fiir die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZDPV Zeitschrift des Deutschen Paldstina-Vereins CHARTS AND MAPS Page 1. CHART: Mid-Eighth-Mid-Sixth Centuries from: Bright J A History oflsrael :fig. Yi ... 21 2. MAP: The Kingdom of Josiah from: Aharoni. Y The Land oj"the Bible402 . 95a .., -'· MAP The Destruction of Jewish Independence- 722-586 BCE from Gilbert M Jewish History Atlas:6 .. 198 4. COLOURED MAPS: from Bright J A History oflsrael Plates viii and ix. CONTENTS Page . CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 JUDAH AND HER NEIGHBOURS -THE GEOPOLITICAL REALITIES IN THE 7TH CENTURY BCE ............................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 3 KING l\'L\NASSEH (687 /6- 642 BCE)................................................................................ 55 CHAPTER 4 KING AMON (642- 640 BCE) .............................................................................................. 85 CHAPTER 5 KING JOSIAH (640- 609 BCE)............................................................................................ 96 CHAPTER 6 CULTIC REFORMATION AND CULT CENTRALISATION........................................ 138 CHAPTER 7 JUDAEAN FOREIGN POLICY IN ITS FINAL TWO DECADES................................. 165 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................... 211 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 216 - 1 - CHAPTER! INTRODUCTION 1.1 GENERAL REMARKS The word "history" has various meanings. To most people it means the human past, or fragments of it. But history can also mean the historian's attempt to explore past happenings, and to tell a story about them. A man's imagination generates ideas; his disciplined intelligence tries them out. Conjecture and refutation, interpretation, the recognition of an hypothesis and the attempt to prove it wrong - that is the rhythm of scientific endeavour. There is no one method or specific way of dealing with history which is intrinsically superior to another. The German historicism of the nineteenth century, now so much under a cloud, took its first inspiration from two sources: the textual criticism of the philologist, and the mechanics of physical science. Towards the end of the last century, the dominant sciences of physics
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