Why Not? (Jonathan)

Jonathan D. Safren yonsaf at beitberl.beitberl.ac.il
Tue Jan 26 14:25:50 EST 1999


Ian Hutchesson wrote:
I can't see how it could possibly be a true Davidic psalm, given the role

> given to the king of priest after the order of Melchizedek, and obviously
> negating the Aaronid priesthood role. Ps110 seems to me a better fit as the
> enthronement of the Hasmonean king.

According to 2 Sam. 8, David's sons were priests. In Israel, as in Ugarit and
elsewhere in the ANE, the king could assume priestly functions.

>
>
> >making the whole Melchitzedek tradition in Gen. 14 quite early. Abraham, as
> >eponymic ancestor of the later United Kingdom of Israel under the Davidic
> dynasty,
> >receives the blessing of the king of Jerusalem, David's future capital.
>
> Doesn't that all seem artificial to you though? There is no opaque reason
> for a necessary blessing from a person who is never heard of before or
> after. Perhaps I'm missing out on something.
>

Melchizedek, a Jebusite Jerusalem priest king, is mentioned twice in the Bible in two
entirely different and independent contexts. That in itself is worthy of note. Add to
this the fact the conquest of Jerusalem is attributed to David, who did not
exterminate or expel the native Jebusite population, but lived with them on amicably,
even, according to 2 Sam. 24, purchasing the Temple Mount from the Jebusite ewir,
probably the former ruler, probably of the Melchizedek/Adonizedek dynasty, perhaps
even Melchizedek himself. The narrative of 2 Sam. 24 may be unhistorical, but the
almost inadvertent historical notice of the purchase of nothing less than the Temple
Mount from the local Jebusite, polytheistic ewir is something that should be given
serious consideration.
  Can you imagine a Second Temple, Hasmonean Period writer putting something like that
in the Bible? The connection between the Davidic dynasty and the Melchizedek line is
thus given further support from the Biblical narrative.
Yours,
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel

> .



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/attachments/19990126/c66fefa8/attachment.html 


More information about the b-hebrew mailing list