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A Reconsideration of the Rhetoric of Post-Ex111c Prophecy A. Introduction 91

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A Reconsideration of the Rhetoric of Post-Ex111c Prophecy A. Introduction 91 CHAPTER FIVE Temples and Fertility: A Reconsideration of the Rhetoric of Post-Ex111c Prophecy A. Introduction The rhetoric of post-exilic prophecy poses tremendous problems for those who wish to believe Israel's cultic service ts radically dtfferent from Canaanite 'fertility' practices. As D. Petersen has observed, there are few places in ancient Near Eastern literature where the causal connection between Temple building and fertility of the land are so explicitly drawn out. 1 To make the point even more emphatic, Haggai associates this arrival of fertility with the very day on which the Temple is re-established (2: 18). Ackroyd observes that in this passage one sees the biblical writer ·anxious to show the precision of the divine blesstng.• 2 Von Rad observes that the rebuilding of the Temple in the .minds of these post-exiltc authors becomes a necessary precondition for the return of the biblical deity to the land.3 It ts this fact, von Rad notes, which has proved embarrassing for a number of commentators. The source of this embarrassment stems from the strong contrast previous scholarship has tried to draw between Canaanite and Israelite cultic life. This contrast ts dependent on a common evaluation of the fertility theme in Canaanite religion. This common evaluation consists of several parts. Firstly, it characterizes Baal as a vegetation deity who dies and rises in accord with the seasons of nature. Secondly, the benefits this god provides are described as magical in nature. Finally, these magical traits of Canaanite religion are compared with the ethical and historical traits of biblical religion. The end result ts a dramatic theological contrast between the ethical deity of Israel and the magical god of Canaanite paganism. Once these positions are assumed to be normative expressions of the respective religions, the biblical scholar is forced to lo. Petersen, Haggai and Zecharlah J-8 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984), p. 54. 2p_ Ackroyd, Exile and Restoration (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), p. 159. 3a. von Rad, Old Testament Theology, II (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), p. 281. 91 92 Sacrifices and Offerings conclude that fertility interests, when they appear in the Bible, are vestigial remains of a discredited, magical nature deity. This common characterization of the relationship of Canaanite to Israelite religion makes the interpretation of Haggai and Zechariah very difficult. One must explain in some fashion the reason why these post-exilic prophets could so easily accommodate themselves to these purported Canaanite ideas. Had they forgotten the most salient features of their ancestral religion and 'returned' to a magical fertility cult? This would be a Wellhausian answer, but few modern scholars would wish to describe the end of the biblical period in such a negative fashion.4 As has been often observed, such a description too easily fits the needs of Christian apologetics wherein the decline of late and post-biblical religion is used as a foil for the triumphant rise of early Christianity. In order to avoid this, many modern scholars have sought to interpret late biblical prophecy in a more positive fashion. But significantly, these positive treatments--in order to be positive- have to ignore or explain away the fertility themes of late prophecy. For example, von Rad says that it ts not the case that pre-exilic prophets are more spiritual than Haggai and Zechariah. Rather, the difference between the former and the latter can be attributed to the spiritual condition of the peoples addressed. Haggai and Zechariah appear less spiritual because of their audience's interest in economic concerns. It was these economic concerns which ·prevented them from looking any higher· and so ·the question of the rebuilding of the Temple (became) status confessionis:5 Ackroyd, on the other hand, discovers a symbolic element in this prophetic rhetoric. He argues that the demand for rebuilding is necessary for the removal of impurity or sin. Thus, the call to rebuild is tantamount to a ·recognition of the nature of God, for whom acceptability on the part of his worshippers is essential: Thus, the point of Haggai's rhetoric is not an instrumental one-that somehow the human activity of Temple building could effect change on the natural environment-but rather a symbolic one. In Ackroyd's terms: ·The emphasis is not thereby placed upon human endeavour, but upon the recognizable danger of treading unwarily into the 4But some biblical scholars have done this very thing. See E. Hammershaimb, Sane Aspects of Old Testament Prophecy (Copenhagen, 1966), p. 105, who states that all ethical considerations are lacking in Haggai. Or see F. Hesse, "Haggaf in A. Kuschke (ed.), Verbannung WJd Heimkehr (Tobingen, 1961), pp. 109-34, who says that Haggai is not a forerunner of Christ; rather he is a forerunner of Judaism. Also see J.D. Smart, History and Theology in Second Isaiah (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1965), pp. 284, who says that Haggai's promise to the people is that a better time awaits them simply upon completion of the Temple. 5von Rad, p. 281. .
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