Discussing the biblical historiography of images of the Jew in the ancinet world

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ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………… ……...3

1. 0    INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………...3

  1.1      JEWS IN THE DIASPORA………………………………………………………4

         

      i.     Exiles in Babylon ……………………………………………………….. ………4

      ii.    Jews in Egypt……………………………………………………………………..5

      iii.   The effects of the conquests of Cyrus……………………………………………6

      iv.   Discussion………………………………………………………………………...6

  1.2       SOURCES……………………………………………………………………….7

        i.    Sources  for Babylonian history………………………………………………….7

        ii.   Sources for Persian history………………………………………………………8

  1.3   VERSIONS OF THE BOOKS……………………………………………………11

         i.   Septuagint………………………………………………………………………11

         ii  Vulgate………………………………………………………………………….11

         iii  Apocrypha……………………………………………………………………...11

  1.4    SUMMARY OF OBJECTIVES………………………………………………….12

   

2.0     DANIEL…………………………………………………..……………………...12

  2.1   Background  and scholarly debate………………………………………………...12

  2.2   Stories of the wise courtier………………………………………………………..16

  2.3   Faithful Jew……………………………………………………………………….17

  2.4   Visions of apocalypse………………………………………………………..........19

  2.5   Discussion………………………………………………………………………....20

3.0       ESTHER………………………………………………………………………...21

  3.1   Background and scholarly debate………………………………………………...21.

  3.2   A Jewish Queen?.....................................................................................................22

  3.3   Concubines………………………………………………………………………..23

  3.4   Feasting……………………………………………………………………………25

  3.5   Love and power……………………………………………………………………26

4.0      MORDECHAI…………………………………………………………………...29

  4.1   The kings benefactors……………………………………………………………..29

  4.2   How should a man be honored……………………………………………………30

   

   4.3    At the king’s gate………………………………………………………………..32

    4.4    Discussion……………………………………………………………………….33

5.0       NEHEMIAH…………………………………………………………………….34

      5.1     Composition, dating and versions……………………………………………..34

      5.2     Cupbearer……………………………………………………………………...36

      5.3     Governor………………………………………………………………………37

      5.4      Discussion…………………………………………………………………….39

9.0           SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING NOTES………………………………40

IMAGES

     1 and 2                                                                                                                          43

     3 and 4………………………………………………………………………………..44

 

     5………………………………………………………………………………………45

     6……………………………………………………………………………………….46

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………47

Abbreviations

ANE      Kuhrt, A. (1995) - The ancient Near east, Routledge

AEN      Myers, J. M. (1965) - The Anchor Bible - Ezra, Nehemiah , Doubleday

ICCE    Paton, L. B. (1951) - The International Critical Commentary, Esther, Edinburgh

ICCEN  Batten, L.W. (1949) - The international Critical Commentary, Nzra and  Nehemiah, Edinburgh 

WAP     Brosius, M (2002) - Women in ancient Persia (559- 331 BC), Oxford

BCA      Briant, P. (2002) - From Cyrus To Alexander,. Eisenbrauns

1. Introduction

Prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 and during the reign of Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, deported from Jerusalem all but the poorest in the land. Kings II recounts:

“24:14 He [ Nebuchadnezzar] deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all), This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal, no one was left except the poorest among the people that were on the land.

24:15 He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives his Eunuchs and the high ranking officials of the land

24:16 The King of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7000) as well as 1000 craftsmen and metal workers this included all the best warriors”

 Set in the Babylonian and Persian Diasporas, the biblical books of Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah are exemplary tales of Jews rising to positions of power and influence at the Babylonian and Persian courts. The books present historical material which has been an active topic for debate amongst scholars; the historicity of these books being often assessed and reassessed by bible enthusiasts and historians alike. In this paper I would like move the focus away from historicity and instead look at what these books reveal about their target audience. First however, it is necessary to discuss the setting for these tales.

1.1 The Jews in the Diaspora

i. The Exiles in Babylon

The book of Jeremiah uses the metaphors of good figs and bad figs (Jeremiah 24:1-6) to symbolize, respectively, the exiles and those that remained in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar’s deportation of all but the lowest class was deemed the ‘will of God’; those considered to be capable of reform were expected to begin a new life in Babylon, whilst those who remained would eventually be destroyed. Jeremiah encouraged the exiles to:

 Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.

 Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and allow your daughters get married so that they too can have sons and daughters. Grow in number; do not dwindle away.

 Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper”

The message from Jeremiah exhorts the exiles to make themselves comfortable in their new homes as it was anticipated that they would be staying there for some time. However, he does not leave the exiles to revel long in their luck before reminding them of the consequences of neglecting their god and their religion;

 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem  or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.   

 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses.   That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. 

 I will bring war, starvation, and disease on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.”

The teachings of Jeremiah are, to a certain degree, reiterated in Daniel whose success in the Babylonian court does not at any point undermine his religious beliefs. Another important indicator of developing Jewish thinking was supplied by the prophet of Isaiah. His utopian kingdom of peace (Isaiah 11) was an attempt to instill in his listeners a new code of values. Whilst the impacts of his teachings are not so immediately apparent as those of Jeremiah, they did manifest themselves in later conceptions and movements. The destruction of Jerusalem in the year 587 brought with it further minor incursions of Jews into Babylon though the numbers detailed in Jeremiah (823 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar and 745 in the 23rd year) are a mere fraction of those noted in Kings (is Kings a book?) for the deportation in the year 597.

ii. Jews in Egypt

There is evidence of numerous Jewish colonies occupying Egypt before refugees entered from Judah following the unsettling events of 587. Genesis attests that the sons of Jacob settled in Egypt (Genesis 47:1-120) and a Canaanite colony was located at Heliopolis during the Amarna period . The second migration of Jews into Egypt probably took place after the murder of Gedaliah. This group settled at Tahpanhes (Daphnae) at the northeast corner of the Nile delta.

The collection of papyri from Elephantine points to a Jewish military colony stationed in that vicinity. The origin of the colony is not clear and has been the focus of considerable scholarly debate. Some believe that the colony dates back to the reign of Psammeticus I (663- 609 B.C.) whilst others argue that it originates from the time of Apries (Hophra) 588-569 B.C; he had established a strong military garrison at Elephantine to hold in check the Ethiopians who had plagued Egypt since the days of Pianki. The earliest of the documents found at Elephantine dates to 495 B.C.  Interestingly, the Elephantine papyri contain a document that records the existence of a Jewish temple in Egypt before the arrival of Cambyses in 525 B.C;

“From the days of the kings of Egypt our fathers had erected this temple in the fortress of Yeb and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found this temple built”(Papyrus 30 line 13)

This suggests that the community at Elephantine had been settled there for some time.

iii. The effects of Cyrus’s conquests

 

The conquests of Cyrus took the Near East by storm, as he established himself as King of Anshan while settling in Parsagarda about 599 B.C. His conquests were zealously welcomed by the Jewish community, the second Isaiah declaring “he is my Shepherd and shall fulfill my purpose fully” (Isaiah xliv 28a). The decree issued by Cyrus in the first year of his reign permitting the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the return of the vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar, sealed the opinion of the Jewish community. They believed him to be a messiah sent by Yaweh to deliver the people (Isaiah xliv 28b).

Whilst a number of Jews did make use of the opportunity to return, it is certain  that many remained in Babylon, showing little interest in returning, probably because they were prosperous. Myers explains that;

“Those who remained are reminiscent of the great banking houses of the Murashu and sons and of Egibi, the positions attained by others in the service of both Babylonians and Persians and the difficulty experienced by Ezra later in persuading Levites to accompany him to Jerusalem

iv. Discussion

The Jews living in the Babylonian and Persian Diaspora were not just subject to the standard difficulties associated with being exiled to an alien environment. Presumably, guilt over being the cause of divine retribution in the first place, combined with the repeated explicit threat of further punishment in Jeremiah’s prophecies, meant that upholding the religion would have had an important influence on the lives of the settlers. The difficulties that Jewish community living in the Diaspora encountered fostered a need for parables that illuminated how one might settle into the gentile environment without sacrificing  religious purity. I will illustrate this by examining the examples of four Jews who, in very different ways, led successful careers in the foreign court: Daniel, as a trusted royal advisor; Esther, as concubine (and arguably lover) to the King of Persia; Mordechai, as gatekeeper of the royal palace as well as the royal benefactor; and Nehemiah, cupbearer of Artaxerxes I. All four in one way or another used their positions to benefit the Jewish community and exemplified how success could be achieved without religious compromise.

1.2 Sources

Listed below are the sources for Babylonian and Persian History that are referred to throughout this paper as well as an outline of the main versions of the books of Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah.

i.  Sources for Babylonian History

  • i. a) Royal Inscriptions

Unlike Assyrian, Babylonian royal inscriptions tend to stress exclusively the kings’ military achievements in terms of building, leaving out military advances.

  • i. b)  Babylonian Chronicle

Beginning at around 744, the Babylonian chronicles provide an invaluable outline of events throughout Babylonian history. Unfortunately however, the series has not been preserved in its entirety.

  • i. c) Old Testaments Texts

The book of Kings, Chronicles and Jeremiah concerning the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 contains some “insights into Neo- Babylonian imperial policy which are otherwise only scantily attested. The book of Daniel, which will be discussed over the course of this paper, provides useful insights into the general feeling of the Jewish Diaspora in Babylon.

       

ii Sources for Persian history

ii. a) Greek

Up until excavation and subsequent decipherment of the Old Persian script in the 19th Century, the primary sources of Persian history were found in the works of Classical writers.

  • Herodotus

Writing in the 5th Century B.C, Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus around 484; a time of Persian rule. He predominantly writes with the aim of celebrating the victory of the Greeks over the Persians (490- 478) so the information he provides, though valuable to the historian and providing “unrivalled coverage of many aspects of the Empire, is limited to this period and geographically centered round the North West frontier of the Empire.

  • Xenophon

In 401, Xenophon and 10,000 Greek mercenaries joined forces with Cyrus the Younger. Their mission; to usurp Artaxerxes II and install his brother on the throne. The mission was a failure and the long walk home is recorded in Xenophon’s work, Anabasis. Xenophon’s moralising tone and novelistic style in ‘the Education of Cyrus’ (Cyropaedia) betrays an attempt to “present the founder of the Persian empire as the ideal ruler whose legacy was corrupted by later decendants”.

     

  • Ctesias

Ctesias was a Greek doctor living and working in the court of Artaxerxes II for seventeen years. Whilst the original work of Ctesias is lost, it survives fragmentally in the works of other Greek writers.

  • Plutarch

Mestrius Plutarchus; historian, biographer and essayist was born in 64 AD to a prominent Greek family in Chaeronia. His main work of use to the Persian historian is his ‘Life of Artaxerxes’, however, by his own testament he is not concerned with writing histories so much as exploring the influence of character and the lives of famous men. ‘Life of Artaxerxes’ presents the reader with a sympathetic sketch of Persian Kings. Kuhrt explains; “he (Plutarch) portrays him (Artaxerxes) as a generous ruler, anxious to make himself accessible to his subjects, a loving husband and a courageous warrior prepared to share the hardships of his soldiers

It is important when reading Greek sources to take the fantastic tales of fabulous Persian wealth and court intrigue with a pinch of salt.  Their Portrayal of Persian kings as weak rulers, puppets in the hands of powerful eunuchs and women is presented in contrast of Greek social and political norms. This has contributed towards the presentation of the Persian Empire as an ‘other’ in European Orientalism, in contrast to the Western braveness and masculinity.

ii. b) Old Testament

Generally, the images of Persian kings found in Old Testament books, mainly Esther, Nehemiah and Ezra, are positive ones. This is no doubt fuelled by gratitude felt following Cyrus’s edict allowing the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem and the return of the vessels from Babylonia. The only exception to this is the portrayal of Ahasheurush (Xexes) in Esther, however this is most likely due to Hellenistic influences

ii. c) Persian epigraphy

  • Royal Inscriptions

The term ‘royal inscription’ has been coined to the stone inscriptions made by Achaemenid Kings in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian states, mostly during the reign of Darius I and his son Xerxes I. Darius’ inscription, a Behistun, is perhaps the most famous of Royal Persian inscriptions. The work of Rawlinson on this inscription during the nineteenth century led to the greatest advance in deciphering Old Persian scripts. The purpose of Royal Inscriptions; as declarations of the Kings’ strength , justice and God given right to rule should be taken into account when used as a source.

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  • Persepolis Fortification and Treasury Texts

Excavations at Persepolis in 1933-4 led to the discovery of 30,000 clay tablets. Of the 2000 that have been published, most are concerning transactions in foodstuffs and livestock from the state to individuals and working groups. Written in Elamite, they relate to the reign of Darius I. The Persepolis fortification and treasury texts are invaluable to the understanding of many economic features of Persian administration at the end of the sixth and early fifth century B.C..

 

1.3 Versions of the original Hebrew texts

i  Septuagint

sĕp’tyooəjĭnt: This is the ...

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