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UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Bureaucracy in the Bible: Attitudes toward Document-mediated Interaction in the Deuteronomistic History and Ancient Israel Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7xj3b51h Author Price, Jason Ryan Publication Date 2020 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Bureaucracy in the Bible: Attitudes toward Document-mediated Interaction in the Deuteronomistic History and Ancient Israel A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures by Jason Ryan Price 2020 © Copyright by Jason Ryan Price 2020 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Bureaucracy in the Bible: Attitudes toward Document-mediated Interaction in the Deuteronomistic History and Ancient Israel by Jason Ryan Price Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2020 Professor William M. Schniedewind, Chair During the 8th-7th centuries BCE, Israelite and Judahite society witnessed expanded applications of writing as a communication technology. In particular, the epigraphic record shows a stark rise in the usage of writing by state and military bureaucracies to manage bodies and economic matters across time and space. Previous scholarship has rarely considered how sectors of society may have perceived writing’s expansion in these administrative contexts. How did Israelites and Judahites think about and talk about the increase in bureaucratic writing? This dissertation seeks to answer this question by investigating administrative writing as depicted in biblical literature. It assesses the historical value of three biblical narratives where administrative documents mediate interaction between sovereign figures and other sectors of society. The three narratives include Gideon’s use of a name-list (Judg 8:14), David’s census (2 Sam 24:1-25), and ii Jehoash’s fiscal reforms (2 Kgs 12:4-16). Each narrative’s portrayal of writing is situated in its literary and historical contexts while also considered in the light of the epigraphic record, other biblical depictions of writing, the anthropology of documents and bureaucracy, and comparative ancient Near Eastern texts and artistic depictions of bureaucratic writing. Typically, such biblical portrayals of writing are valued in scholarship for what they might say about the extent of literacy in ancient Israel and Judah. This dissertation differs from previous scholarship by instead valuing these depictions for what they might say about attitudes towards document-mediated interaction. When the depictions of writing analyzed here are examined with a full consideration of the evidence, it can be argued that they reveal suspicious and anxious attitudes towards state- sponsored writing. Ultimately, it is argued that such negative attitudes stemmed from West Semitic political culture, which placed an emphasis on political action rooted in negotiation and persuasion. In this sociopolitical landscape, administrative documents could function as powerful symbols of coercion and domination. The three biblical narratives examined here suggest that writing’s increased usage in bureaucratic contexts of the 8th-7th centuries BCE thus generated distrust among some factions who had reservations about the growing centralization of the Judahite and Israelite states. iii The dissertation of Jason Ryan Price is approved. Seth Sanders Catherine E. Bonesho Aaron Alexander Burke William M. Schniedewind, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2020 iv Dedicated to the memory of Marvin J. Gress v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... XI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... XII VITA ............................................................................................................................................ XV CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF SCHOLARSHIP ................................. 1 1.1 Theoretical Underpinnings ............................................................................................ 7 1.2 Tribal Politics and Writing .......................................................................................... 14 1.3 Defining Literacy in Ancient Israel ............................................................................. 18 1.4 Using Biblical Literature ............................................................................................. 21 1.5 Review of Scholarship ................................................................................................. 33 1.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER TWO: THEORIZING DOCUMENTS AS A MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY ........... 51 2.1 The Technology of Documents ................................................................................... 52 2.2 The Materiality of Documents ..................................................................................... 58 2.3 The Anthropology of Documents ................................................................................ 64 2.3.1 The Constitutive Capacities of Documents .................................................. 65 2.3.2 The Affective Capacities of Documents ....................................................... 69 2.3.3 The Unpredictable Capacities of Documents ............................................... 74 2.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 77 CHAPTER THREE: FRAMING BIBLICAL DEPICTIONS OF ADMINISTRATIVE WRITING WITH THE EPIGRAPHIC SOURCES ...................................................................... 79 3.1 Challenges in Using the Epigraphic Record ................................................................ 80 3.2 Administrative Genres of Writing ............................................................................... 87 vi 3.3 Archaeological Context ............................................................................................... 94 3.4 Chronological Trends .................................................................................................. 98 3.5 Materiality ................................................................................................................. 112 3.5.1 Ostraca ........................................................................................................ 114 3.5.2 Papyrus ....................................................................................................... 115 3.5.3 Seals ............................................................................................................ 116 3.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 128 CHAPTER FOUR: GIDEON’S NAME-LIST AND THE VIOLENCE OF ADMINISTRATIVE WRITING IN EARLY ISRAEL ................................................................................................. 130 4.1 The Anthropology of Negative Literacy Events ....................................................... 135 4.2 Gideon’s List in Its Social Context ........................................................................... 137 4.3 Gideon’s List in Its Immediate Literary Context ...................................................... 147 4.3.1 The King and the Tribes: Judges 8 as Negative Assessment of Monarchy 147 4.3.2 The Pen and the Sword: Violence, Writing, and Sovereign Power in Judges 8 ........................................................................................................................... 152 4.3.3 The Crown and the Beard: The Elders as Victims of Royal Violence and Writing ................................................................................................................. 157 4.4 Gideon’s List in the Deuteronomistic History: Other Depictions of Violence and Administrative Writing .................................................................................................... 162 4.5 Gideon’s List in Its Cultural Context ........................................................................ 168 4.6 Gideon’s List in Its Historical Context ...................................................................... 179 4.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 182 CHAPTER FIVE: DAVID’S CENSUS AND THE DISEASE OF ADMINISTRATIVE vii WRITING IN MONARCHIC ISRAEL ...................................................................................... 183 5.1 Aversion to the Census in 2 Samuel 24 and in History ............................................. 184 5.2 Scholarship: Explaining the Census-Epidemic link .................................................. 190 5.2.1 The Ritual Breach Interpretation ................................................................ 192 5.2.2 Davidic and Military Hubris ....................................................................... 193 5.2.3 Counting/Writing Taboo ............................................................................ 195 5.3 Comparative Material: The Sociopolitics of Census-taking at Mari ........................
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