Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Irene Riegner <iriegner AT concentric.net>]

Dear Lloyd,

Thanks for your answer but I know all that.  I need something deeper and
less facile.  What were the social / religious splits in the nation that
required this kind of integrating ideology?  How does this relate to the
influx and assimilation of refugees from the north after the Assyrian
takeover in 722 bce.?  Why is an Ephraimite tradition adopted as the
national myth?  Does Judah have a national myth?  Is it the Davidic
succession stories and the developing tradition of the deity's promise
to the Davidic dynasty.   Does the Dt Htr point to the beginning of the
use of "all Israel" to designate a supra-organization encompassing
Israel and Judah?  If I recall, the emphasis in Joshua (and Judges) is
in the geographic area of Israel.  How does this relate to the idea of a
United /divided monarchy?  The need to create a "historical" and
"religous" mythos of unity points to deep cleavages in the social
fabric.   If  we understand Dt and much of the individual Dt Htr units
as part of a northern tradition, can we say that the north was the
intellectual capital of the two countries and that the north
intellectually conquered the south.

Your recapitulation of northern history was informative but it doesn't
answer the question:  Why was it Judah and not Israel that unified the
tribes?  Your answer suggests that the unifying country should have been
Israel.  Is this a case where the leadership of David proved the
deciding factor?

Yes, there were military issues and social issues but what about the
economic conditions---something which would not be obviously stated in
the biblical text?  What economic conditions are prerequisites for state
formation.  If I recall, the 10th cent. was a period of an expanding
economy and re-urbanization of the Medit. area, a period of expanding
agriculture (into marginal areas) and consolidation into (somewhat)
larger production units as well as a partial change from purely
subsistence farming to some farming devoted to export crops and, thus,
trade.  What I am suggesting is that urbanization and surplus for export
are also factors in state formation and that one political unit ruling a
large area (as opposed to smaller local and tribal rule) is more
efficient.  The primacy of Judah may have been an aberration.  The
economically more viable unit was the north.

BTW, I've been getting messages with very long horizontal scrolls.  Why
is this?  They are difficult to read.  How can this be prevented?

irene riegner