Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Irene Riegner <iriegner AT concentric.net>]

Dave Washburn wrote
> What kinds of examples do we have of Assyrian/Akkadian/What-
> ever treaties of the same general period as the Hittite ones, and 
> how sharply do they differ (assuming we have examples of such 
> things)?

M. Weinfeld distinguished between treaties which were written between two equal  parties and treaties which were written between unequal parties (between a king and an vassal).  The deuteronomic formulations are of the second kind---between a king and his vassal.

    Researchers (Mendenhall, Hillars, McCarthy, Weinfeld, etc.) have recognized 7 parts to the structure of an ANE treaty:

    To brief you on the issues, see ABD, 6: 654 (Treaties in the ANE) and ABD, 1:1179 (Covenant).

2nd Millennium treaties:
      1.  Hittite (1460-1215 bce):  about 50 treaties (ABD, 6: 655)---mostly  vassal-king treaties which are treaties between unequal partners (Weinfeld calls these loyalty oaths).  ANET 199-201 has a translation of a Hittite parity treaty, a treaty between equals---e.g. two kings of equal power.
                    a. Hattisulis and Egypt (ANET, 199-203)---parity treaty not a
                                vassal-king treaty---but the parts are there
        2.  Syria
                    a.  Alalakh and Tunip---extradition of refugees

1st Millennium
           1. Syria area.
                     a.  Sefire---(8th cent bce,)---between the king of KTK
                                and Matti'el of Arpad (ANET 659-61)
                     b.  Sefire---Matti'el and Assyria (ANET 532-33)
            2.  Babylonia---fragment of one treaty, but readable part contains list
                    of gods and curses, sections which are part of the treaty format..
            3.  Assyria---Vassal treaty of Essarhaddon (loyalty oaths)
                    a.  Essarhaddon and vassels (627 bce) (ANET 534-41).   You
                            can probably pick out the similarities with Deuteronomy just
                                by reading this.  Ex:  The term "love" in the sense of
                                "loyalty" to the king or prince is used in the treaty as it is
                                used in Deut. towards god.
                                
                        See D. J. Wiseman "The Vassel Treaties of Esarhaddon"
                            IRAQ 20 (1958);  R. Borger, ZA, 54 (1961), 173-96.
 
M. Weinfeld, in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, focuses on the issue of the relationship between the ANE treaties and Deuteronomy, including structure and similarity in phraseology as well as differences, but recognizes the different valuation given to these terms by the Deuteronomic writers---e.g their application to monotheism, which Weinfeld finds is a theological tenet of Deuteronomy.  If you want to start at the beginning of this line of research, read Menednhall

2nd millennium treaties had the following parts:
    1. Identification of the treaty makers
    2. Historical prologue
    3. Stipulations
    4. Deposit of treaty and periodic reading
    5. Witnesses
    6. Blessings and curses
    7. Ratification

You can probably already recognize some of these parts in Deuteronomy and in the Covenant Code.  !st millennium treaties had fewer parts.  The issues of relationship between ANE treaties and Deuteronomy must be put into a wider scope of the relationship of ANE law to the biblical law codes both in language, structure, and content.

regards,
irene riegner

"form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form;  emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness;  whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness.
----from the Heart Sutra----