Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ken Smith" <kens AT 180solutions.com>]

I won’t express an opinion about whether Jephthah sacrificed his daughter or not, but I do have one with respect to the question that prompted this discussion, namely, are there real differences between Israel’s understanding of Yahweh and other nations’ understandings of their gods?

 

Part of what has left us talking past each other on this debate, I think, is that as far as I can recall, nobody has explicitly acknowledged that there were undoubtedly a variety of understandings of Yahweh throughout Israel’s history.  I’m quite confident that (a) nobody understood Yahweh and his ethical requirements the same way that, say, the rabbis of Jamnia did; and (b) there were in fact those who thought Yahweh condoned or required human sacrifice.  That this latter was the case can be concluded not only from the natural (first blush) reading of stories like Jephthah, but from explicit statements about the actions of various individuals, i.e., King Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3).  To acknowledge this is hardly, I think, to deny that there are dramatic differences between what I will still be provincial enough to call the true worship of Yahweh, and the worship of gods like Baal or Molech.  Undoubtedly some understood Yahweh primarily through the lens of other ANE religions, and without a doubt these religions influenced, to one degree or another, every _expression_ of Yahwism.  But at its heart, as Von Rad says, “This coefficient of intense intolerance was a characteristic of Jahwism from the beginning (OTT I.204).  And at a very early date, perhaps as early as our sources go, Yahweh’s exclusivity was tied to Yahweh’s character as merciful, caring, compassionate, faithful and forgiving.

 

I’ll confess that I’m not terribly up on other ANE cultures and religions, so I’m willing to stand corrected on this next point from those of you on the list who are undoubtedly more informed than I am.  But do we ever find anything in other cultures which express the sort of joy and excitement over Yahweh that the songs of ascent in the last part of the Psalter?  “He who watches over you will not slumber, indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’” “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.”  (And unless there’s some sort of conscious anachronism taking place, which seems unlikely to me, I think these psalms have to be understood as relatively early, i.e., at least pre-exilic, pace Ian.)

 

I certainly don’t mean to deny any influence from other ANE religions, or all similarities between Yahwism and Baalism (they are numerous and well documented).  But I agree with Rolf that there are numerous differences as well – which we must acknowledge if only to understand the soil in which the undisputed “high ethical monotheism” of the exilic and post-exilic prophets sprouted.  There’s a reason why Deutero-Isaiah arose from Israel and not from Moab or Phoenicia.

 

Ken Smith

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Awohili AT aol.com [mailto:Awohili AT aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 4:47 PM
To: Biblical Hebrew
Cc: Awohili AT aol.com
Subject: Re: Monotheism was: "admittedly syncretistic..

 

Dear Rolf,

Concerning Jephthah, my examination of the Hebrew text and several commentators, classical and modern,  which was published in my article, "Did Jephthah Kill His Daughter?"  (Bible Review magazine, August 1991),  led me to the same conclusions that you express. Deuteronomy 12:30, 31 declares YHWH's abhorrence of the child-sacrificing practices of the neighbors of the Hebrews.  Important clues in the Hebrew text of the book of Judges point to a different resolution of the matter than child sacrifice.

Solomon Landers

In a message dated 01/27/2002 12:53:53 PM Pacific Standard Time, furuli AT online.no writes:


The acceptance of human sacrifices neither accords with the
personality of YHWH as it is described in the Tanach, nor with the
laws therein. Even a criminal who were hanged on a tree as a curse
was first killed. I agree that there is no condemnation of human
sacrifice in the account of Jephrah's daughter, but that is because
such a sacrifice was not at stake - as I understand the account.


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