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Israel & the Assyrians ISRAEL & THE ASSYRIANS Deuteronomy, the Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon, & the Nature of Subversion C. L. Crouch Ancient Near East Monographs – Monografías sobre el Antiguo Cercano Oriente Society of Biblical Literature Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente (UCA) Israel and the assyrIans ancient near east Monographs General Editors ehud Ben Zvi roxana Flammini Editorial Board reinhard achenbach esther J. hamori steven W. holloway rené Krüger alan lenzi steven l. McKenzie Martti nissinen Graciela Gestoso singer Juan Manuel tebes Volume Editor Ehud Ben Zvi number 8 Israel and the assyrIans Deuteronomy, the Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon, and the Nature of Subversion Israel and the assyrIans Deuteronomy, the Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon, and the Nature of Subversion C. l. Crouch sBl Press atlanta Copyright © 2014 by sBl Press all rights reserved. no part of this work may be reproduced or published in print form except with permission from the publisher. Individuals are free to copy, distribute, and transmit the work in whole or in part by electronic means or by means of any informa- tion or retrieval system under the following conditions: (1) they must include with the work notice of ownership of the copyright by the society of Biblical literature; (2) they may not use the work for commercial purposes; and (3) they may not alter, transform, or build upon the work. requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the rights and Permissions Office, sBl Press, 825 houston Mill road, atlanta, Ga 30329, Usa. The ancient near east Monographs/Monografi as sobre el antiguo Cercano Oriente series is published jointly by sBl Press and the Universidad Católica argentina Facultad de Ciencias sociales, Políticas y de la Comunicación, Centro de estudios de historia del antiguo Oriente. For further information, see: http://www.sbl-site.org/publications/Books_anemonographs.aspx http://www.uca.edu.ar/cehao Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crouch, Carly l. (Carly lorraine), 1982- Israel and the assyrians : deuteronomy, the succession treaty of esarhaddon, and the nature of subversion / by C. l. Crouch. pages cm. — (society of Biblical literature ancient near east monographs ; volume 8) Includes bibliographical references and index. summary: “This volume investigates deuteronomy’s subversive intent within its social context, and reconsiders the relationship between deuteronomy and assyria, its relationship to ancient near eastern and biblical treaty and loyalty oath traditions, and the relevance of its treaty affini- ties to discussions of its date”—Provided by publisher. IsBn 978-1-62837-025-6 (paper binding : alk. paper) — IsBn 978-1-62837-026-3 (electronic format) — IsBn 978-1-62837-027-0 (hardcover binding : alk. paper) 1. assyro-Babylonian literature—relation to the Old testament. 2. Bible. deuteronomy— Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. assyria—religion. 4. esarhaddon, King of assyria, -669 B.C. I. title. Bs1184.C76 2014 222’.15067—dc23 2014036419 for roo roo I tell you, Captain, if you look in the maps of the world, I warrant you shall find, in the comparisons between Macedon and Monmouth, that the situations, look you, is both alike. There is a river in Macedon, and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth. It is called Wye at Monmouth; but it is out of my [b]rains what is the name of the other river; but ’tis all one, ’tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both. Henry V (IV.vii.22-31) CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... xi ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. xiii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 RECENT SCHOLARSHIP .................................................................................... 3 THE WAY FORWARD...................................................................................... 12 1. THE NATURE OF SUBVERSION...................................................................... 15 THE DEFINITION OF SUBVERSION.................................................................. 15 THE MOTIVATION FOR SUBVERSION............................................................. 16 THE MECHANICS OF SUBVERSION................................................................. 21 SUBVERSION AND THE SOURCE................................................................. 22 SIGNALING THROUGH ALLUSION ........................................................ 25 SIGNALING THROUGH TRANSLATION.................................................. 35 SUBVERSION AND THE AUDIENCE ............................................................ 42 SUBVERSION AND DEUTERONOMY ............................................................... 45 2. DEUTERONOMY AND VTE............................................................................ 47 TREATIES, LOYALTY OATHS, AND CURSES IN THE ASSYRIAN TRADITION. 48 DEUTERONOMY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH VTE............................................... 49 DEUTERONOMY 28 .................................................................................... 49 DEUTERONOMY 13 .................................................................................... 78 CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................ 92 ix x ISRAEL AND THE ASSYRIANS 3. DEUTERONOMY AND ASSYRIA..................................................................... 93 TREATIES, LOYALTY OATHS, AND CURSES IN ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TRADITION ..................................................................................................... 96 DEUTERONOMY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ASSYRIAN TRADITION........ 108 DEUTERONOMY 28 .................................................................................. 108 DEUTERONOMY 13 .................................................................................. 117 CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................. 123 4. DEUTERONOMY AND THE BIBLICAL TRADITION ..................................... 125 TREATIES, LOYALTY, AND CURSES IN THE BIBLICAL TRADITION .............. 127 DEUTERONOMY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BIBLICAL TRADITION .......... 129 DEUTERONOMY 28 .................................................................................. 130 DEUTERONOMY 13 .................................................................................. 138 CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................. 146 5. LANGUAGE, FUNCTION, AND COMPREHENSION ..................................... 147 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION............................................................. 148 ASSYRIAN POWER AND AKKADIAN COMPREHENSION ............................. 151 TRANSLATION AND DISSOLUTION INTO LOCAL VERNACULARS .............. 156 CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................. 165 6. DEUTERONOMY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ASSYRIA ................................... 167 HIDDEN INTENTIONS................................................................................... 168 INWARD ATTENTIONS ................................................................................. 176 ABSENT PRETENTIONS ................................................................................. 178 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................. 179 CITED WORKS.................................................................................................. 185 AUTHOR INDEX ............................................................................................... 201 BIBLICAL INDEX............................................................................................... 205 ANCIENT TEXTS INDEX ................................................................................... 211 SUBJECT INDEX ................................................................................................ 215 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have helped to bring this book into existence. Early versions of the material were read at the biblical studies seminars at Durham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh; thanks are due to the chairs—Walter Moberly, Hugh Pyper, and Alison Jack—for their kind invitations as well as to the membership of those seminars for their critical feedback and suggestions, which both encouraged me in my pursuit of the subject and improved my thinking in a number of its particulars. A version was aired in a special session of the Assyriology and the Bible unit at the 2012 SBL in Chicago and I am grateful to my fellow presenters, the chairs, and the audience of that session for making this a useful process. My colleagues at the University of Nottingham deserve mention for supporting my arrival and integration into the department in a manner which allowed me to continue writing alongside my new teaching and administrative responsibilities. Jonathan Stökl and Casey Strine, despite their divergent chronological opinions on Deuteronomy, have served as vital sounding boards on the nature of subversive activities from the early stages of the project. Jeremy Hutton deserves credit and thanks for making me think more carefully about the nature of translation and for the introduction to Toury, while Seth Sanders has been an appreciated conversation partner on text production
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