Israelite Religions : an Archaeological and Biblical Survey

384 Pages·2007·4.18 MB·English

by  Richard S. Hess

Israelite
Religions
Israelite
Religions
An Archaeological and Biblical Survey
Richard S. Hess
© 2007 by Richard S. Hess
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
and Apollos
(an imprint of Inter-Varsity Press)
Norton Street
Nottingham NG7 3HR, England
email: [email protected]
website: www.ivpbooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior
written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hess, Richard S.
Israelite religions : an archaeological and biblical survey / Richard S. Hess.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 10: 0-8010-2717-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-8010-2717-8 (cloth)
1. Judaism—History—To 70 A.D. 2. Jews—History—To 70 A.D. 3. Bible. O.T.— Theology. 4. Bible.
O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 5. Bible. O.T.—Antiquities. I. Title.
BM165.H47 2007
296.0901—dc22
2007012611
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
UK ISBN 978-1-84474-190-8
Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
reserved.
Contents
List of Figures
Preface
1 Introduction
2 Approaches to the Study of Religion
3 Previous Study of Israelite Religion
4 Pre-Israelite West Semitic Religion: Syria and Egypt
5 Pre-Israelite West Semitic Religion: Palestine and Jordan
6 Narrative and Legal Strands of the Pentateuch
7 Priestly and Cultic Strands of the Pentateuch
8 Early Israel and the United Monarchy
9 Written Sources for the Divided Monarchy
10 Archaeological Sources for the Divided Monarchy
11 Exilic and Postexilic Religion
12 Conclusions
Reference List
Figures
Fig. 1. Map of Southern Canaan and neighbors
Fig. 2. Part of Hattusas, capital of the Hittite empire
Fig. 3. Map of Mesopotamia
Fig. 4. Amarna Tablet
Fig. 5. Late Bronze Age Hazor acropolis defenses
Fig. 6. Third-millennium BC Early Bronze Age altar at Megiddo
Fig. 7. Late Bronze Age Beth Shan behind Roman Scythopolis
Fig. 8. Late Bronze Age Shechem fortress temple
Fig. 9. Standing stones at Gezer
Fig. 10. Lachish goddess plaque
Fig. 11. Megiddo ivory with image of chariot and prince on throne
Fig. 12. Temple of Amon-Re at Karnak
Fig. 13. Tel Ashkelon
Fig. 14. Middle Bronze Age silver and bronze calf from Ashkelon
Fig. 15. Jebel Musa, possible site of Mount Sinai
Fig. 16. Tel Bethsaida
Fig. 17. Standing stones from Uvda Valley
Fig. 18. Structures marking burials in the Sinai peninsula
Fig. 19. Negev open sanctuary
Fig. 20. Negev rock cut crenelations
Fig. 21. Hathor Temple
Fig. 22. Timna Valley
Fig. 23. Mount Ebal site
Fig. 24. Mount Ebal “ramp” and “altar”
Fig. 25. Site of Khirbet Seilun, identified with biblical Shiloh
Fig. 26. Palestinian highlands
Fig. 27. Bull from Early Iron Age site east of Dothan
Fig. 28. Map of tenth-century BC cultic sites
Fig. 29. Dan high place
Fig. 30. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, possibly portraying Jehu in
obeisance to Shalmaneser
Fig. 31. Ein Gedi
Fig. 32. Ketef Hinnom silver strip
Fig. 33. Lachish gate area where ostraca were found
Fig. 34. Judean captives from Sennacherib’s relief of the capture of Lachish
Fig. 35. Beersheba reconstructed horned altar
Fig. 36. from the outer court at Dan
Fig. 37. Dan high place
Fig. 38. Arad cult center
Fig. 39. Pillar-based Judean female figurines
Fig. 40. The Jezebel seal
Fig. 41. Ivory sphinx
Fig. 42. Sphinx at pyramids in Egypt
Fig. 43. Kuntillet drawings
Fig. 44. Taanach cult stand
Preface
The background to this study began in research that I had undertaken in the late
1980s after the appearance of studies concerning newly discovered Israelite
inscriptions. Further research revealed a significant growth in the results of
archaeological sites excavated and the study of various ancient Near Eastern
documents, and a massive increase in the publications in the field of ancient
Israelite religion. The former especially focused on newly published documents
from Mari, Ugarit, and Emar. The results of all this material appeared to position
the study of ancient Israelite religion as one of the most interesting and exciting
areas in the study of the Hebrew Bible and the world in which Israel lived.
While I have learned much from my reading and research in this field, I
sensed the need for a basic introduction that could provide a survey of methods
of research, current syntheses and their relation to both the biblical text and other
archaeological and textual evidence, and a critical review of the interpretation of
what the religious world of ancient Israel was about. The present volume seeks
to provide what may be an interim assessment of this changing and developing
field. The choice of materials surveyed and the interpretations and scholars
reviewed represents a fraction of the whole discipline. Nevertheless, some
selectivity was necessary if the field was to be adequately covered. If the work
succeeds at all it will be to provide a stimulus to the reader for further research in
one or more aspects of this vast and growing field. It may also assist in making
some sense out of the many questions and issues that surround the relationship
between archaeological, biblical, and extrabiblical textual evidence. In the end
the work should raise more questions than it answers and it is hoped that these
questions will open new areas of research and understanding.
It remains to express my gratitude to the many who have made this study
possible. I am grateful to Denver Seminary for sabbatical leave during 2004 that
enabled me to undertake important research for this work. I thank Dr. Keith
Wells, the seminary’s librarian, and all the staff who kindly helped me with my
every request and assisted my study. I thank my colleague, Dr. M. Daniel Carroll
R., who looked over various parts of the manuscript and made helpful
comments. I am grateful to the Institute of Biblical Research for the invitation to
present the plenary lecture on November 21, 2003, in Atlanta, “Iron Age
Religion in Israel and Its Neighbors: Any Distinctives in the Extrabiblical
Evidence?” The interaction and feedback after that lecture provided me with
important insights and motivation to pursue the research. In particular, Dr.
Theodore Lewis, in his response to the lecture and in his later and more detailed
interaction with an early draft of the manuscript, provided invaluable criticisms
and perspectives that enabled me to improve this work in ways I would not
otherwise have considered. I also thank Dr. Ziony Zevit for his willingness to
read through the work and provide me with helpful comments. Further, thanks
are due to Dr. Philip Johnston for his careful reading of the manuscript and for
his detailed critique. I am grateful as well to Baker Academic for their
willingness to publish this work and for the patience of Jim Kinney, Brian
Bolger, and others as I attempted to complete it. All statements in this book
remain my own responsibility and that of no one else.
I dedicate this work to my daughter, Fiona Jean Hess, whose graduation from
college and beginning of seminary studies I celebrated during the years of
research on the present work.
1
Introduction
• Preliminary Perspectives
• Definitions
» Religion
» Israelite
• Outline of This Book
• Summary
Preliminary Perspectives
The purpose of this work is to survey the major elements of the study of
ancient Israelite religion and the methods that have been used to study them.
Interest in Israelite religion has recently enjoyed a renaissance. Why have so
many books and articles been written on the subject with no indication of a
reduction in their number in coming years? Several factors have contributed to
this development: renewed interest in the areas of the history of the study of Old
Testament theology; the explosion in the archaeological excavation of what is
often called “the Holy Land”; and the broader philosophical and cultural trends
of our era, especially postmodernism.
I begin with the “pedigree” of the study of Israelite religion vis-à-vis the study
of the Old Testament and especially Old Testament theology. Dissatisfaction
with traditional approaches to Old Testament theology can be traced to the end
of a major movement in this field—the Biblical Theology Movement—in the
mid-twentieth century. This dissatisfaction, along with a gradual shift away from
the pursuit of a single unifying theological principle, led to the identification of a
plurality of theologies, whose contradictory approaches and interpretations are
nevertheless grouped together within the collection of literature known as the
Hebrew Bible.1 This shift in thought led scholars to posit a radical disjunction
between a late, idealized final edition of the Old Testament and its underlying
multiplicity of parties and contentious views of worship and religious beliefs.
From such a milieu, Israelite religion strengthened itself as a discipline
independent of Old Testament theology. Those who studied it sought a path