Saying Goodbye to the Theory of the Influence of Esarhaddon’s Succession Adê on Deuteronomy 13 and 28

Deuteronomy - Outside the Box - Diana V. Edelman

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).

Description

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.

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Citation

Edelman, Diana. Saying Goodbye to the Theory of the Influence of Esarhaddon’s Succession Adê on Deuteronomy 13 and 28. Deuteronomy - Outside the Box. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. Jan 2025. ISBN 9781800506121. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=44273. Date accessed: 26 Apr 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.44273. Jan 2025

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