Deuteronomy
Outside the Box
Edited by
Diana V. Edelman [+–]
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
Philippe Guillaume [+–]
University of Berne
Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. His latest publications are A History of Biblical Israel co-authored with Ernst Axel Knauf (Equinox, 2016) and Deuteronomy in the Making, Studies in the Production of Debarim, edited with Diana Edelman, Benedetta Rossi and Kåre Berge (De Gruyter, 2021).
This inaugural volume in the series, Themes and Issues in Biblical Studies, provides readers with informed presentations of a range of current debates concerning Deuteronomy as well as key themes and their implications. The contributors challenge a number of long-standing hypotheses and propose alternative options. E-publication of individual chapters will precede printing of the finalized collection. The volume includes issues such as the proposed influence of Esarhaddon’s Succession adê on Deuteronomy 13 and 12; berît as treaty, covenant, or instructions; Deuteronomy in dialogue with ancient Near Eastern law collections; reconceived Yahwism; Torah as a tool of propaganda and hegemony adapted from Persian dāta; characteristics of the Samaritan version of Deuteronomy; the possible Samarian input into the composition of Deuteronomy; and the influence of Deuteronomy on the final shape of the psalter. Themes examined include: geographical dimensions of the book; parenting; economic dimensions of the book; ethnicity and power; pedagogy; Moses as master scribe; pragmatism, utopia and dystopia in the book; ethics; the use of Deuteronomy in the New Testament; and war regulations in light of current military philosophy.
This volume will be first published online and then as a print book
Table of Contents:
1. Saying Goodbye to the Theory of the Influence of Esarhaddon’s Succession Adê on Deuteronomy 13 and 28
Diana V. Edelman
2. The Role of Covenant in the Book of Deuteronomy
Diana V. Edelman
3. Deuteronomy in Dialogue with Ancient Near Eastern Law Collections (title not final)
Megan B. Turton
4. Geographical Dimensions of the Book of Deuteronomy
Diana V. Edelman
5. Ethnic Israel and Power in Deuteronomy
Kåre Berge
6. Basic Tools to Grasp the Economy of Deuteronomy 12–26
Philippe Guillaume
7. Yhwh (ha)Elohim and a Reconceived Yahwism in the Book of Deuteronomy
Diana V. Edelman
8. Master Scribe and Forefather of a Scribal Guild: Moses in Deuteronomy
Benedetta Rossi
9. Torah in Deuteronomy
Benedetta Rossi
10. Pedagogy in Deuteronomy
Kåre Berge
11. Pragmatism, Utopia and Dystopia in Deuteronomy
Philippe Guillaume
12. Deuteronomic Parenting
Philippe Guillaume
13. Was There Samarian Input into the Composition or Contents of Deuteronomy?
Diana V. Edelman
14. The Influence of Deuteronomy on the Final Shape of the Psalter
Bernard Gosse
15. Samaritan Deuteronomy (title not final)
Sidnie White Crawford
16. The Use of Deuteronomy in the New Testament (title not final)
Augustine Mensah
17. Deuteronomy and Contemporary Ethics (title not final)
Georg Braulik
18. War Regulations in Deuteronomy in Light of Current Military Philosophy (title not final)
E. Axel Knauf
19. The Reception of Deuteronomy in Ghanaian Christianity
Augustine Mensah
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
The discovery in 2012 of an eleventh copy of Esarhaddon’s succession adê at Tel Tayinat, a Neo-Assyrian provincial seat, has allowed a reassessment of the hypothesis, based on the nine copies naming city-lords from the Zagros mountains previously found at Kalḫu in 1955, that all Assyrian vassals, including Judah, had been required to swear to uphold the specified terms in addition to Assyrian citizens. It is now understood that the nine Zagros rulers were formally part of the Assyrian Empire, under the control of local governors, not vassals. Thus, there is no evidence that vassals had been included in the empire-wide oath-swearing, eliminating the likelihood of Judahite scribal access to a copy of the adê locally. In addition, a review of the proposed parallels in Deut 6:5; 13:1–12; 28:15–45; 13 that point to dependency on the adê document demonstrates that instead, the proposed wordings were part of a wider ancient Near Eastern koine associated with curse formulae, themes of political loyalty, and contexts of asserted authority in the present and future.
Chapter 2
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
Comparative ancient Near Eastern terminology suggests that the Hebrew term berît (ברית) designated a formal, oath-bound agreement with two constituent elements: the ‘edut, “written specifications,” and the ‘edut, “oath” or “curse.” Its use in Deuteronomy can be construed either as an example of a formal vassal treaty entered into between Yhwh and Israel, or as the written terms of formal contracts, whose Hittite examples have been dubbed “instructions,” being entered into by various groups of “royal” (divine) employees, who participated in an oath-swearing ceremony to uphold the stipulated terms. In Deut 12:1–26:15, haḥuqqîm wehammišpāṭîm represent the directives for behavioral norms of the berît being entered into in the storyworld. They do not adhere to the formulation of known units in ancient Near Eastern legal collections; they are best construed either as treaty stipulations or instructions to royal employees. Finally, explanations for why Yhwh’s people are designated Israel, not Judah, are examined.
Chapter 4
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
A number of geographical issues relating to Deuteronomy are explored. The physical characteristics of Cisjordan are described before moving on to the implications of Israelitizing the promised land and the phenomenon of cities of refuge. The chapter ends with an examination of three geographical anomalies. First is the use of the designation Seir/Mt. Seir vs. Edom in the book. Second is the favoring of (Mt.) Horeb instead of (Mt.) Sinai as the name of the site of the giving of the law and covenant-making after leaving Egypt. Finally, why the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal next to Shechem are the place where the words of the Moab covenant are to be inscribed and a commemorative ceremony is to take place, rather than the town of Shechem, Mt. Zion, or Jerusalem, is considered.
Chapter 5
Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo
Kåre Berge is Professor emeritus and guest researcher at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. His studies cover the Pentateuch, especially Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy, focusing on cultural memory, politics of identity, didacticism, and symbolization of power-relations. In particular, “Dynamics of Power and the Re-invention of ‘Israel’ in Persian Empire Judah.” Pages 293–321 in Levantine Entanglements. Edited by T. Stordalen and Ø.S. LaBianca. Sheffield: Equinox, 2021; and “Cities in Deuteronomy: Imperial Ideology, Resilience, and the Imagination of Yahwistic Religion.” Pages 77–96 in Deuteronomy in the Making. Edited by D. Edelman, B. Rossi, K. Berge, P. Guillaume. BZAW 533; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2021.
In the “frames” of Deuteronomy (chs. 1–11 and 27–34), “Israel” is portrayed as an ethnic entity. What do we mean when we characterize Israel in this way, and why might the scribe(s) who created the book have chosen this strategy for conceiving Israel? This article argues that different aspects of what may be called “ethnicity” first and foremost serve the social power and the exclusive position of an elite group of literati standing behind this biblical book. The ethnic ideology of the book is part of a utopian vision that primarily is concerned with Israel as a religious, learning community. It makes sense to regard Deuteronomy as an attempt to present “Israel” as an “ethnic” entity in order to situate themselves vis-à-vis the Achaemenid imperial administration or at least to serve an “internal-Israelite” purpose. The vision serves to establish and legitimate the informal authority of the authorial group, which probably belonged to Deuteronomy’s “Levitical priests.”
Chapter 6
University of Berne
Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. His latest publications are A History of Biblical Israel co-authored with Ernst Axel Knauf (Equinox, 2016) and Deuteronomy in the Making, Studies in the Production of Debarim, edited with Diana Edelman, Benedetta Rossi and Kåre Berge (De Gruyter, 2021).
Deuteronomy has long been held as particularly innovative, humanitarian and kind to the poor. The legal collection in the heart of the book is read here in light of ancient economic practices. Once the basic principles of any economy are understood, the practices prescribed in Deuteronomy display much common sense and their purported humanistarian traits are not devoid of self-interest.
Chapter 7
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
Changes in the conception of the divine and household religion, religious festivals, and other practices discernible from textual and archaeological materials relating to the monarchic era of the kingdom of Judah (ca. 975–586 BCE) vs. what is being espoused by the writer of Deuteronomy and in subsequent additions to the book are examined. The new conception of Yhwh Elohim vs. Yhwh Ṣeba’ot and this deity’s assumption of the roles of other deities precedes a consideration of the suppression of the ancestors and family gods in household cult, Israel as a holy people but not a nation of priests, the endorsement of dietary restrictions, advocacy of a central place of worship, and the endorsement of three annual pilgrimage festivals to the latter site.
Chapter 8
Pontifical Biblical Institute
Benedetta Rossi is Associate Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome). Her research interests are Prophecy and the book of Jeremiah; Deuteronomy, its composition and production; the relation between Pentateuch and Prophetic Literature. She also focuses on Cultural Hegemony and the production of sacred texts in the Second Temple period. Her recent publications are articles and book chapters on Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and prophetic books. She recently coedited with Diana Edelman, Kåre Berge and Philippe Guillaume the volume Deuteronomy in the Making: Studies in the Production of Debarim (De Gruyter: 2021).
Among the various features of Moses’ portrayal, the depiction of Moises as ancestor has received scant attention. In the following essay, I shall show that Deuteronomy portrays Moses as master-scribe and the founder of a scribal priestly class, the Levitical priests. The sefer hattorah is the legacy Moses bequeaths. It represents a fictionalized compendium of a complete scribal curriculum, reframed as Moses’s farewell speech. As his personal bequest, the torah-scroll legitimized the authority of its keepers in relation to other priestly groups. In addition, Levitical priests use the sefer hattorah to put themselves forward as the authoritative and reliable guides of the community.
Chapter 9
Torah in Deuteronomy [+–]
Pontifical Biblical Institute
Benedetta Rossi is Associate Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome). Her research interests are Prophecy and the book of Jeremiah; Deuteronomy, its composition and production; the relation between Pentateuch and Prophetic Literature. She also focuses on Cultural Hegemony and the production of sacred texts in the Second Temple period. Her recent publications are articles and book chapters on Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and prophetic books. She recently coedited with Diana Edelman, Kåre Berge and Philippe Guillaume the volume Deuteronomy in the Making: Studies in the Production of Debarim (De Gruyter: 2021).
The following paper provides a fresh look at Torah in Deuteronomy. Rather than an inclusive and democratizing instance within Israel, the Deuteronomic Torah separates one social class (the Levitical priests) from the others. Rather than serving as a mean to separate Israel from the nations, in the context of the Persian Empire, the Torah appears to have been influenced by dāta, a concept dear to the Persian imperial elite. Moving from the scribal realm to that of public, oral reception, the Torah emerges as an ideal tool for creating religious and political cohesion through propaganda. Not only does possession of the written Torah separate and legitimize an elite (i.e. the Levitical priests) ahead of potential competing groups, but more importantly, the oral transmission of the Torah proves an effective way to build the people’s consensus.
Chapter 10
Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo
Kåre Berge is Professor emeritus and guest researcher at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. His studies cover the Pentateuch, especially Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy, focusing on cultural memory, politics of identity, didacticism, and symbolization of power-relations. In particular, “Dynamics of Power and the Re-invention of ‘Israel’ in Persian Empire Judah.” Pages 293–321 in Levantine Entanglements. Edited by T. Stordalen and Ø.S. LaBianca. Sheffield: Equinox, 2021; and “Cities in Deuteronomy: Imperial Ideology, Resilience, and the Imagination of Yahwistic Religion.” Pages 77–96 in Deuteronomy in the Making. Edited by D. Edelman, B. Rossi, K. Berge, P. Guillaume. BZAW 533; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2021.
Throughout Deuteronomy Israel is urged to learn Yhwh’s commands as it is a matter of life and death to observe them and behave accordingly instead of imitating the Canaanites once in their land. While most studies take a positive stance towards the “pedagogy” of Deuteronomy, this paper is more critical, approaching it more from the perspective of social control. Before applying modern didactical terms like “pedagogy” to the biblical text, one should investigate all the terms used for teaching/learning, and its teachers. Given the tension between the different “classrooms” and the different “teachers” in Deuteronomy, fear may indeed be the best descriptor of Deuteronomic learning. Social control may thus encapsulate Deuteronomy’s didactics as teaching, learning, and instruction that are considered more at the societal than individual level. Little interest is given to the individual mind and heart, the internalization of practical and ethical skill and knowledge, what is termed Bildung in German.
Chapter 11
University of Berne
Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. His latest publications are A History of Biblical Israel co-authored with Ernst Axel Knauf (Equinox, 2016) and Deuteronomy in the Making, Studies in the Production of Debarim, edited with Diana Edelman, Benedetta Rossi and Kåre Berge (De Gruyter, 2021).
The oft-repeated view of Deuteronomy’s humanitarianism consequently gave rise to the the notion that some of its laws are devoid of practical application and depict instead a utopia. building upon the demonstration of the economic realism of Deuteronomy’s laws in chapter 6 in this volume, this chapter nevertheless identifies some utopian as well as dystopian elements, ascribing them to different groups.
Chapter 12
University of Berne
Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. His latest publications are A History of Biblical Israel co-authored with Ernst Axel Knauf (Equinox, 2016) and Deuteronomy in the Making, Studies in the Production of Debarim, edited with Diana Edelman, Benedetta Rossi and Kåre Berge (De Gruyter, 2021).
Current studies of biblical laws dealing with family matters display much interest in sexual matters and rightly denounce their patriarchal bias. Focusing on parenting provides a more balanced appreciation of the role of mothers and the place of women within a male-dominated society. An analysis of the levirate law, the rebuttal of a slanderous husband, and primogeniture show that the aim of the law-givers was to maximize the chances to produce offspring and fulfill the mandate in Genesis to multiply. Procreation, however, is but the first stage of the life-long process of parenting that involves both parents, even after the death of the father, if necessary. Thus, women and mothers are shielded from abusive repudiation by the production of a bloodied sheet, while any disrespect toward parents or disobedience to their commands is liable to the death penalty, except in certain cases for daughters, who are given a chance to overturn parental opposition.
