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Jewish Monotheism: the Exclusivity of Yahweh in Persian Period Yehud (539-333 Bce)

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Jewish Monotheism: the Exclusivity of Yahweh in Persian Period Yehud (539-333 Bce) JEWISH MONOTHEISM: THE EXCLUSIVITY OF YAHWEH IN PERSIAN PERIOD YEHUD (539-333 BCE) by Abel S. Sitali A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Master of Arts in Biblical Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard Kent Clarke, PhD ............................................................................... Thesis Supervisor Dirk Buchner, D.Litt. ................................................................................ Second Reader TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY Date (March, 2014) © Abel S. Sitali Table of Contents Introduction (i) Previous History of the Origin of Monotheism ---------------------------------------------------------------1 (ii) Thesis Overview -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7 CHAPTER ONE POLYTHEISM IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN WORLD 1.1 Polytheism in the Ancient Near Eastern World---------------------------------------------------------------9 1.1.1 Polytheism in Canaanite Religion-----------------------------------------------------------------10 1.1.2 The Divine Council in the Ugaritic Texts--------------------------------------------------------11 1.2 Polytheism in Pre-exilic Israelite Religion------------------------------------------------------------------13 1.2.1 Israelite Religion in Light of its Canaanite Heritage--------------------------------------------13 1.2.2 Israelite Religion as Canaanite Religion—Identification Between El and Yahweh--------14 1.3 Presence of Israel as a People in Canaan--------------------------------------------------------------------17 1.3.1 Israel as an Alien Invading Culture----------------------------------------------------------------17 1.3.2 Israel as a Subset of Canaanite Culture-----------------------------------------------------------18 1.4 The Emergence of Yahweh in Iron Age Israelite Religion and the Midianite Hypothesis------------23 1.5 Inner-Biblical Polemics Against Canaanite Religion------------------------------------------------------27 1.6 Israelite Polytheism in Light of Archaeological Finds-----------------------------------------------------28 1.7 Problematic Texts in the Hebrew Bible----------------------------------------------------------------------31 i 1.8 Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------37 CHAPTER TWO FROM POLYTHEISM TO MONOTHEISM IN YEHUD 2.1 Continuities and Discontinuities in Yehud ------------------------------------------------------------------39 2.2 Monotheistic Language in Yehud-----------------------------------------------------------------------------42 2.3 Factors that Led to Yahweh's Monotheistic Exclusivity in Yehud----------------------------------------47 2.4 Archaeological Evidence in Support of Monotheism in Yehud-------------------------------------------57 2.4.1 Monotheism and the Archaeology of Yehud-----------------------------------------------------57 2.4.2 Elephantine Papyrus in Support of Monotheism in Yehud-------------------------------------60 2.5 Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------63 CHAPTER THREE MONOTHEISM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXCLUSIVISM IN YEHUD. (Ezra 9-10; Neh 13) 3.1 Exile and Restoration-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------65 3.2 Identity of the "Peoples of the Land" (Ezra 9-10; Neh 13)------------------------------------------------68 3.3 Separation from the Peoples of the Land and Divorcing the Foreign Women--------------------------72 3.4 Exclusivism and Covenant Theology------------------------------------------------------------------------81 3.4.1 Etymology of the Covenant Theme---------------------------------------------------------------81 3.4.2 The Significance of the Covenantal Motif-------------------------------------------------------82 3.5 Exclusivism and Remnant Theology-------------------------------------------------------------------------84 ii 3.6 Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------87 CHAPTER FOUR MONOTHEISM AND ANGELOLOGY IN YEHUD 4.1 Angelology in the Ancient Near Eastern World-------------------------------------------------------------90 4.1.1 Angelology in Ancient Egypt-----------------------------------------------------------------------90 4.1.2 Angelology in Mesopotamia-----------------------------------------------------------------------92 4.1.3 Angelology in the Ugaritic Literature-------------------------------------------------------------94 4.2 Angelology in Israelite Religion------------------------------------------------------------------------------95 4.2.1 Angelology in the Hebrew Bible-------------------------------------------------------------------95 4.2.2 Angelological Differences between Israel and Other Ancient Near Eastern Traditions----96 in Context------------------------------------------------------------101 ﳼAngelology and GHG KL 4.2.3 4.3 Angelic Language in Post-exilic Yehud--------------------------------------------------------------------102 4.3.1 Angelology–A Compromise Between Polytheism and Monotheism------------------------102 4.3.2 Angelic Names and Monotheism in Yehud-----------------------------------------------------108 4.3.3 Angelology in Canonical Literature of the Persian Period (1st and 2nd Chronicles)-------109 4.3.4 Angelology in the Non-Canonical Literature of the Second Temple Period (Dead Sea Scrolls)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------111 4.4 Summation -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------114 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------116 Bibliography-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------119 iii Abstract Studies about the origin of monotheism—the belief in one god while denying the existence of all others, have continued to be a matter of debate among Hebrew Bible scholars. The debate has often fallen into two contrasting categories. On the one hand, there are those who argue for an early origin in which it is posited that monotheism must have begun somewhere between the time of Moses and the monarchical period. On the other hand, others have argued for a late date which stretches from the exilic period to the Persian period. In spite of the different explanations given by the proponents of early monotheism, this thesis builds on the hypothesis that exclusive monotheism was only realized during the Persian period. The monotheistic rhetoric that characterized the message of Deutero-Isaiah, only came to be put into practice by the confessional community of faith among the returning exiles in Yehud. Thus, the Persian period is of great interest to a proper understanding of the Israelite religion. Most of the religious developments that would subsequently characterize the Christian faith are to be traced to the Persian period. In keeping with the broad context of the present study, this thesis will explore two broad religious developments that propagated the emergent monotheism in Yehud— Exclusivism and Angelology. Under Exclusivism, the study will demonstrate how the returning Jews viewed themselves to be a distinct people, bound with Yahweh in an exclusive monotheistic relationship. Through angelology, it will be discovered how Yahweh, the god of the Yehudites ended up being the only legitimate God. The familial tutelary gods that comprised the pre-exilic Israelite pantheon came to be designated the status of angels in the Persian period. Thus, Yahweh became the only legitimate God worshiped by the returning Jews—making him a monotheistic deity without competitors. iv Abbreviations AB Anchor Bible ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament BA Biblical Archaeologist BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BDB Brown, Driver, and Briggs BJS Brown Judaica Studies BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin BW The Biblical World CBET Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology DDD Dictionary of Deities and Demons FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament FTR Harvard Theological Review HAR Hebrew Annual Review HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs HTR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual IDB The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JSOR Journal of the Society of Oriental Research JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JTS Journal of Theological Studies NEA Near Eastern Archaeology NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament NISBE New International Standard Bible Encyclopedia OTE Old Testament Essays OTL Old Testament Library OTS Old Testament Studies SCJ Stone-Campbell Journal STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries UBL Ugaritisch-biblische Literatur VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Vetus Testamentum Supplements WBC Word Biblical Commentary v Acknowledgments In writing this thesis, I am greatly indebted to several individuals for their scholarly publications
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