Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG wrote:

> Was it such a small minority? It certainly seems to have been an
> influential one at times, e.g. under Hezekiah and Josiah. So I wonder
> if a better analogy would be with the (actually existing) histories of
> the USA written by the "religious right"? As an outsider (from
> England) how should I judge these? (Not to be answered on this list!)

From the biblical literature (and I am assuming that it has something to say 
about the
states of Israel and Judah), it seems that this Yahwistic minority was 
extremely
vocal, and its fortunes were always up and down, pretty much depending on who 
the
monarch was. Certainly, the role of prophets was very great, and as it seems 
that
prophets were considered well nigh inviolate - even by their enemies - their
influence, of whatever theological persuasion they were, was bound to be 
high, or at
least their voice heard loud and clear. So, just how small or large they were 
as a
minority we can't really tell - but they sure had a loud voice. In the end,  
the
Yahwistic minority won the day - that's why we have biblical literature.
Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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