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Torah from Zion: Gentile Conversion and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah

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Torah from Zion: Gentile Conversion and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah Torah From Zion: Gentile Conversion and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40046441 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Torah from Zion: Gentile Conversion and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah A dissertation presented by Alexander Peterson Douglas to The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April, 2017 © 2017 Alexander Douglas All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisors: Andrew Teeter Alexander Douglas and Richard Saley Torah from Zion: Gentile Conversion and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah Abstract The book of Isaiah envisions a future where foreigners will one day receive torah and worship Yahweh, but neither the text nor its later interpretation is univocal in its understanding of the relationship between foreigners and Israel’s law. For example, does Isaiah imply that righteous Gentiles will observe all Mosaic law (purity laws, circumcision, etc.), or will they worship God as Gentiles, honoring the law but not observing commands meant for Israelites? This dissertation examines the concepts of conversion and Gentile law observance in Isaiah and outlines the history of their interpretation, particularly in the Septuagint of Isaiah (LXX-Isaiah). Numerous semantic and cultural shifts took place around “law” and “conversion” from the eighth to second centuries B.C.E., and oracles that would have originally been interpreted as speaking of instruction and reverence for Yahweh came to be understood as speaking of Mosaic law and the conversion of foreigners to Judaism. This trend comes to fullest expression in LXX-Isaiah, where we see significant changes meant to emphasize such a later understanding. This happens in isolated instances, such as LXX-Isa 14:1–2, 24:16, 26:9, 41:1, 45:16, and 54:15, but the author of LXX-Isaiah also reworks entire sections to focus on law and conversion, such as LXX-Isa 8. Small changes can likewise be seen throughout the so-called “Servant Songs” in LXX-Isaiah, where the Servant’s role as a “covenant of people” and “light of nations” (Isa 42:6) is reinterpreted to refer to Gentile observance of the law. The changes evident in LXX-Isaiah illuminate a strand of early Jewish thinking on conversion and law observance, and they help us understand the background of the debate surrounding these issues in nascent Judaism and Christianity. iii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Abbreviations Used ......................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction, Method, and the State of Current Research ............................................. 1 Chapter 2: The Historical Evolution of Law, Foreigners, and Conversion .................................. 58 Chapter 3: Foreigners and Law Observance in the Hebrew Texts of Isaiah ................................ 85 Chapter 4: Foreigners and Law Observance in the Septuagint of Isaiah .................................... 126 Chapter 5: The Servant Songs and the Septuagint of Isaiah ....................................................... 174 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 201 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 215 iv Abbreviations Used AB Anchor Bible ABD The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992 AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures AnBib Analecta Biblica ATA Alttestamentliche Abhandlungen BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia BibInt Biblical Interpretation Series BibS(F) Biblische Studien (Freiburg, 1895–) Bijdr Bijdragen: Tijdschrift voor filosofie en theologie BIOSCS Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies BJS Brown Judaic Studies BO Bibliotheca Orientalis BTS Biblical Tools and Studies BVC Bible et vie chrétienne BWA(N)T Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten (und Neuen) Testament BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft CBET Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series DI Deutero-Isaiah EdF Erträge der Forschung EncJud Encyclopedia Judaica. Edited by Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum. 2nd ed. 22 vols. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007 FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments HTR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual Imm Immanuel JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JSJSup Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series JSPSup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series LD Lectio Divina LHBOTS The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies LNTS The Library of New Testament Studies LXX Septuagint MSU Mitteilungen des Septuaginta-Unternehmens MT Masoretic Text NAWG Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen v NRSV New Revised Standard Version OTL Old Testament Library OtSt Oudtestamentische Studiën PI Proto-Isaiah RBS Resources for Biblical Study RHR Revue de l’histoire des religions RPP Religion Past and Present: Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion. Edited by Hans Dieter Betz et al. 14 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2007– 2013 RTP Revue de théologie et de philosophie SBS Stuttgarter Bibelstudien SCS Septuagint and Cognate Studies SR Studies in Religion SwJT Southwestern Journal of Theology TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament Text Textus TI Trito-Isaiah TQ Theologische Quartalschrift TSAJ Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum WBC Word Biblical Commentary WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft vi Chapter 1: Introduction, Method, and the State of Current Research Introduction The Hebrew Bible devotes considerable attention to the place and status of non-Israelites. prophetic oracles speak of the judgment or ,גר Pentateuchal legislation outlines the rights of the exaltation of foreign nations, and stories from Abraham to Ruth to Naaman to Nehemiah speak to a keen interest in how foreigners should relate to the God of Israel. But perhaps no book has played a more central role in defining the ultimate place of foreign nations than the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is often hailed for its inclusive attitude and universalistic stance toward foreign ,(will go forth from Zion” (2:3 תורה“ ,nations. Through Isaiah’s visions we hear that in the future the nations will learn the ways of the Lord (2:3), entire nations will be counted among the Lord’s people (19:25), and foreigners who “hold fast [the Lord’s] covenant” will offer sacrifice in the temple (56:6–7)—some apparently even as priests and Levites (66:20–21). These verses, among many others, seem to predict the wholesale conversion of non-Israelite nations to Yahwistic worship, and these pronouncements have had a profound impact on the subsequent history of Judaism and Christianity. As Joseph Blenkinsopp points out, “the Isaian tradition served as one of the most powerful vectors of the broader and more inclusive way of thinking about God’s saving purpose for the world throughout the period of the Second Commonwealth.”1 If one wanted to know what would happen to foreigners in the eschaton, Isaiah was the place to look. 1 Isaiah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, 3 vols, AB 19–19B (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000–2003), 1:320. 1 Yet despite Isaiah’s apparent clarity regarding foreigners’ conversion, neither the text itself nor its subsequent interpreters are univocal in their understanding of what that conversion would look like. We read that the Egyptians will build altars and swear oaths by the name of the Lord (Isa 19:21), but does this entail that they will observe Israelite purity laws or undergo encompass the entirety of תורה goes out to the nations in Isa 2:3, but does this תורה ?circumcision better understood as a type of natural law or political dominance? Will the תורה Mosaic law, or is foreigners in Isa 56:6–7 worship in Jerusalem as foreigners—that is to say, giving reverence to the law but not obeying commands meant specifically for Israelites? Or does foreign inclusion in Yahwistic worship mean that foreigners will be indistinguishable from Israelites in their Isaiah never clarifies the envisioned relationship between foreigners and ?תורה observance of Israel’s
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