Gateway to God’s Word Dr. Harry W. Eberts Jr. Chapter 15 The Golden Age of Israelite Literature The period which dates from near the end of David's reign to the end of Solomon's-- roughly the years 975 to 925 B.C--was the Golden Age of Israel. It was also the Golden Age of Israelite literature for, as often happens, creativity in life was accompanied by creativity in literature. Before we discuss some of the literary achievements of this period, we should try to recall some of the facets of Israelite life which made all future Israelites look back upon this as the era of the height of Israel's influence. It was, for one thing, the time of Israel's greatest military might. There was no army in the world at that time--not in Mesopotamia, not in Egypt--which could stand up to Israel's. Because it was so powerful no nation really challenged it. Behind the army stood commercial success. Israel was a center of trade and of finance. She exploited her natural riches, built a fleet of ships to carry her goods, and dealt with nations all over the world. Hiram of Tyre came from the north and the Queen of Sheba came from the south. Israel opened trade routes all the way from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. Solomon became one of the richest men of the ancient world, and his nation was a giant of commerce. This commercial power showed itself in the architectural activities of Israel. A temple was built in Jerusalem, as were the king's palace and other buildings of government; the city walls were pushed out to contain these structures. Other cities were established or rebuilt for military and commercial purposes; Megiddo in the north, Ezion-geber in the south. Smelting refineries of surprising sophistication were constructed in the deserts south of Jerusalem. Even the most casual visitor had to be impressed with this sudden and widespread eruption of architectural marvels. Religion flourished, too. Worship was enriched, the traditions of the people were gathered together and the priesthood was strengthened. King Solomon supported this growth, and he himself presided at many of its ceremonies. From this emerges a picture of a fascinating civilization. It was an urban civilization, built around Jerusalem. It was a time of international concern, the horizons of nations stretching far beyond their own borders. It was an affluent day, a time of great wealth and too much poverty. It was a curious mixture of the secular and the religious: people pursued their worldly goals of power and wealth and at the same time pursued their religious aspirations trying to discover what, if anything, God was doing in their lives. Since these descriptive words also apply to civilization in the last quarter of the 20th century, it is easy to see why we conduct studies of this age: what happened then can speak directly to our not dissimilar world of today. 100 For this reason, we turn to her literature. For this Golden Age of Israelite life also produced a Golden Age of Israelite literature that permits us to see how these people struggled with the questions before them. This Golden Age can be compared with only a few other periods of history. Athens at its zenith might compare, and England under Queen Elizabeth I. Like them, Israelites in this Golden Age created poetry, historiography, educational methods, and sagas of the life of her people. I. The Book of Proverbs provides one clue to the era and in reading fact begins to emerge. The book deals more with ethical action and instruction than it does with spiritual and religious development. The chief purpose of the proverbs was to describe the ideal person, and not only to describe the ideal but to produce it. In other words, the persons responsible for the proverb s were trying to deal with the question: what man or woman, what king or ruler could best fulfill the kind of new life the Israelites were now living? The school of proverbs tried to supply an answer. The ideal man, they said, was one who avoided evil company; who avoided the seductions of the strange woman; who discharged his duties of trust, fear and honor of God: who carried out his obligations toward his neighbor and who knew he could fall at any time and so he was vigilant at all times. The ideal woman, likewise, was one who served her husband well; who provided the things her family needed, who was charitable to the neighbors, who was busy at all times, and had strength of character on her own. The ideal king was the ideal man at work at the task of governing, discharging his responsibilities both to his subjects and to God. These wise men of Israel also had a clear idea of God. According to their thought, he was the guide through life; he was the one who sees, examines and judges human conduct; and he was the one who rewards people according to their conduct. This was the proverbial understanding of the God who presided over the ideal life. A class of men known as scribes produced this proverbial literature, and their influence in the ancient world was widespread indeed. They possessed the ability to read and write, and this skill made them indispensable to society. Kings needed them for government; priests needed them for religion; tradesmen needed them for business. But the scribes who had, apparently, a monopoly on this basic skill, did not merely remain clerks in the offices of businessmen or secretaries in the king's palace. Because they· controlled the means of communication, they also controlled the processes by which decisions were made and implemented, and this lifted them far above mere stenographic rank. They were in charge of the official archives of the state and hence had access to the information needed for decision• making. They drew up the treaties and contracts by which international affairs were carried out. They conducted the extensive correspondence upon which ancient governments depended for communications. The nearest present analogy I know to the place these scribes had in the ancient world is to compare them with the computer experts of today. Computer experts have a unique place in our society in that they use an esoteric language known only to themselves, and are able to draw upon impressive data banks in the making of decisions, can make the decisions rapidly (and accurately, if the programming is correctly done), and can put expert knowledge to the use 101 of others who depend upon their skills. They have made possible our space technology, our credit cards, the information upon which health care is based; they undergird our system of universal taxation, produce projections by which business, government, academic institutions, even churches set courses of action to meet a dimly perceived future; and they do all this because they have particular skills in a particular discipline. This is roughly the place these scribes had in the ancient world: they were indispensable to anyone wanting to conduct affairs of state, commerce, or religion; and their indispensable position was based on the fact that they had developed and continued to control the basic skill of reading and writin g. We do not know how these scribes were trained in Israelite society; at home by parents? In temple schools? In schools sponsored by government? By special tutors? We do not even know who could enter upon this training: anyone? Only the sons of the scribes? Only those whose families could afford it? Those selected by some process we cannot now recover? We do know that the Israelite educational system was remarkably effective: it did produce men and women who modeled themselves on the ideals of their society, and it did produce civil servants and religious leaders who ably carried on the functions of state and religious life. We know also that Israel’s ideal people were molded after the patterns developed in Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures; all these peoples had a wisdom literature and a scribal class in their societies, and they borrowed ideas and techniques from one another; and this tells us a good bit about the intercommunication that took place in the ancient world. We know, too, that in addition to offering a vocational education to the aspiring scribe, the schools also had to deal with serious ethical and behavioral questions: how should one act in a given set of circumstances? It is clear, as well, that God did not play a large part in the literature of the proverbs nor did God have a very important place in the world view of this ruling class. So to be true to the God of Israel, the understanding of God which the scribes held had to be modified and enlarged, and this is what happened in the next level of literary composition in the Golden Age: the sagas and histories of Israel. II. The name scholars have given to this composition is "J." It is an odd name but there were reasons for its selection. For one thing, J stands for the name of God used in the document; it calls God Yahweh or, in the older translation, Jehovah. A second reason for calling it J is that the work was composed in the land of Judah, in and around Jerusalem, during the time of the united kingdom and is part of the great body of material that came from the court of King Solomon. By any name, J is a remarkable document.