Before getting started, some reminders:
The Achaemenid Empire / Achaemenian Empire ./
Persian Empire / First Persian Empire
- an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC
- modern-day Iran, it was the largest empire by that point in history, spanning a total of 2.1 million square miles
- the empire spanned from the Balkans and Egypt in the west, most of West Asia, the majority of Central Asia to the northeast, and the Indus Valley of South Asia to the southeast.
Important dates:
- Greeks defeat Persians:
- 490 BCE: Battle of Marathon (first invasion, Persians defeated)
- 480 BCE: Battle of Salamis (second invasion, Persian Navy defeated)
- 479 BCE: Battle of Plataea (second invasion, Persian Army defeated)
- Greek golden age: 500 - 300 BCE
Lingua franca: in the ancient Near East, Akkadian initially served as the lingua franca, but
- Aramaic later replaced it, becoming the dominant language of communication and administration across empires like the Neo-Assyrian (began to decline, 631 BCE, and finally collapsed, 609 BCE and Achaemenid.
- Aramaic is a Semitic language that was spoken by the Aramaeans, an ancient Middle Eastern people. It is most closely related to Hebrew, Syriac, and Phoenicia.
- t was accepted by the Assyrians as a second language by the 8th century BCE
Concepts, phrases, geographical sites, etc:
- scribes = communities, something resemblig guilds but guilds (medieval) are not accurate models either
- perhaps more akin to investment clubs, book clubs, self-help groups
- Kuntillet 'Ajrud: some ten miles east of the northeastern corner of Gaza
- Hebrew title, "apprentice" (na ar) -- I think the author is starting to beat a dead horse
- 8th and early 7th centuries BCE; compare with Homer.
- probably a limited number of scribal families
- Hebrew scribal communities began under the shadow of the Egyptian empire
- West Semitic = proto-Hebrew (p. 38); Aramaic language, side-by-side;
- proto Hebrew = early Canaanite (p. 47) -- wow, wow, wow -- pages 47 - 48.
- Old, Middle, and New Kingdom
- New Kingdom: 1550 - 1070 (16th to 11th century BCE (Troy: 1200, 13th century)
- Third Intermediate Period (chaotic): the 11th century BCE; followed the New Kingdom (epic)
- by this time, the eastern Mediterranean (Canaan) no longer "bothered" with Egypt
- we now had the fledgling Israelite, Judaean, and Phoenician kingdoms
- Tyre (coast, south of Beirut), Beirut, coast, north; and, Damascus, inland, form a triangle with one leg (base) the coast of the M. Sea.
- Iron Age: 12th century BCE, p. 48. Egyptian numerals, p. 48 (just as we use Roman numerals, etc)
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The Book
The thesis is that there was no single author for any of the early books of the Old Testament (such as the redactors.
Instead, the books were written by community of scribes; these communities located in various cities.
My hunch: there was a hierarchy --
- apprentice scribes: learning, practicing, writing
- accomplished scribes: writing, editing
- priestly scribes: compiling
- priest: reviewing, final edit before approval by the pharoah or other leader
- my hunch: the author chose this time and this subject about which to write following the discovery, translation, and consideration of the Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions
Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions were found at an outpost on the road between Eliat (a port on the inlet of the Red Sea near the tip of the Sinai) and the Gaza strip -- one long journey from two bodies of water.
- Kuntillet 'Ajrud was an oasis about midway between Aqaba (Eliat) and Gaza, a total journey of 220 kilometers.
- a camel can typically travel 40 to 50 kilometers / day
- 220 / 40 = 5 to 6 days.
- in the big scheme of things, these inscriptions don't add much except to the fact that it supports the theory that there were pockets of community scribes
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Notes
Professor of Biblical Studies at UCLA, where he was the inaugural holder of the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Has written at least two other books on the Bible.
Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions, link here.
Kuntillet ʿAjrud or Horvat Teman is a late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE site in the northeast part of the Sinai Peninsula. At the end of an inlet from the Red Sea.
The Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions discovered in the excavations are significant in biblical archaeology. Kuntillet Ajrud is in the north Sinai; carbon-14 dating indicates occupation from 801–770 BCE, and the eponymous texts may have been written c. 800 BCE. [Interesting enough, this corresponds almost exactly to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.]
As a perennial water source in this arid region, it constituted an important station on an ancient trade route connecting the Gulf of Aqaba (an inlet of the Red Sea) and the Mediterranean. It was located only 50 kilometers from the major oasis of Kadesh Barnea, a long day's walk for a camel, but can be done in a day.
Additionally, despite its proximity to the Kingdom of Judah, it has an association with the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria): "elements of the material culture such as the pottery, the 'northern' orthography in certain inscriptions, and reference to YHWH of Samaria suggest that Kuntillet ʿAjrud was an Israelite outpost, or at the very least, had a strong Israelite presence".
Northeast Sinai! How close to Gaza? One can locate is on google maps. Type in Kuntillet 'Ajrud and google will automatically change is to Khirbet el-Qom, about twenty miles due east of the northeast corner of the Gaza Strip. It is about five miles west of Hebron. Bethlehem is about five miles south of Jerusalem and another ten miles south takes one to Hebron.
Nice short preface.
Introduction.
Scribal communities, not individuals are important.
It was a Hellenistic idea that "individuals" wrote the Bible.
The Documentary Hypothesis.
"A wisdom school." A genre of literature called "wisdom literature" which the author feels does not exist.
Author "defines" his view of Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel, p. 5.
The writing of the Bible? All roads lead to Jerusalem.
Beginning of the Iron Age -- 11th century BCE -- p. 7 - 8. That also aligns with the end of the Bronze Age, with the fall of Troy -- Bronze Age transitioning to the Iron Age -- said to have occurred about 1200 BC. Wiki:
The Iron Age ( c. 1200 – c. 550 BC) is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) and Bronze Age.
Copper Age came first; Euphrates River well known to move copper south. The Euphrates joins the Tigris River which flows into the Persian Gulf.
The focus of this book: scribal communities.
Introduction
Chapter 1: Scribes and Their Apprentices -- Communities At Work
Two communities of scribes working in Jerusalem:
the family of Shaphan: 2 Kgs 22:3.
family names several places in OT
second family in Jerusalem, more recently: Ophel area of Jerusalem
8th and early 7th centuries BCE; compare with Homer.
Part One
Hebrew Scribal Communities
Chapter 2: The Beginning Under Egyptian Dominion
"... in the transition for scribal communities that worked for the Egyptians in Canaan during the New Kingdom (at the end of the second millennium BCE) because these Pharaohs ruled the southern Levant when the early alphabet was spreading and taking hold." -- p 35.
From wiki, Canaan:
Canaan was a Semitic-speaking civilization and region of the Southern Levant in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC.
Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna Period (14th century BC) as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Assyrian Empires converged or overlapped.
Much of present-day knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo, En Esur, and Gezer.
The name "Canaan" appears throughout the Bible as a geography associated with the "Promised Land".
The demonym "Canaanites" serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled and nomadic-pastoral groups—throughout the regions of the southern Levant.
It is by far the most frequently used ethnic term in the Bible.
Biblical scholar Mark Smith, citing archaeological findings, suggests "that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture ... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature."
Akkadian:
Spaceholder.
Conclusion
Scribal communities: really wrote the Bible.
Learning to read and write in ancient Israel was done though apprenticeships.
No wisdom schools.
Instead: similar to home schooling.
Early Israel: writing was relatively uncommon.
- it was a legacy of the Late Bronze Age in Canaan, a world ruled by the pharaohs of the New Kingdom
Variety of languages:
- Egyptian hieratic (rare: only allowed to be used by royalty)
- lingua franca (beginning with Akkadian)
- early alphabet
When Egypt left Canaan, the early Canaanite politics -- Phoenicia, Israel and Judah -- chose the alphabetic writing system; refined it as the local writing system
Initial writing: mundane.
Rise of the Assyrian empire (14th to 7th century) was a turning point for scribal communities. Assyrian Empire:
- urbanization, centralization, and bureaucracy
- all of these spread the skill of writing
- priests, prophets, and merchants
- Lady Wisdom: value of female scribes
Babylonian invasions: diverse scribal communities came to an end with the Babylonian invasions and destruction of Jerusalem (First Temple destroyed; rebuilt as the Second Temple, ultimately destroyed by the Romans)
Babylonian invasions: scribal communities broken up; if scribes survived, they scattered:
- Egypt
- Babylon exiles
- Babylonian Exile was a period of survival for ancient Israelit literature and Hebrew scribal tradition
Assyrian Empire ended in 7th century.
6th century: Remnants of these scribal communities returned to Jerusalem at end of 6th century BCE
Persian Period
- Hebrew literature all flowed to Jerusalem, to the Second Temple
- two very different scribal communities in and around Jerusalem during the Persian period, during the rebuilding of the Second Temple
- Aramaic
- Samaritan
- one scribal community: used Aramaic language, which had been the lingua franca in the near east ever since the neo-Assyrian period
- during the Persian period it completely eclipsed Akkadian as the primary administrative language of the empire
- not surprisingly, almost all the inscriptions that we have form the southern Levant are in Aramaic
- the second scribal community would have been a Hebrew community centered aroudnd the temple
- because Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Persian period, even Hebrew scribal education would have begun by learning to read and write in Aramaic.
- After elementary education in Aramaic, it would have been easy for scribes to add Hebrew to their skill set
- Aramaic influenced the quintessential Aramaic school text -- The Wisdom of Ahiqar-- on a number of books composed in the Persian period, including Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Tobit.
- The temple priestly community was the final collector and editor of classical Hebrew literature.
- the post-exilic priestly community die not write the Pentateuch, but it did collect, preserve, and canonize it it into its new Torah.
- it probably even added a few of its own compositions during the editing of the Pentateuch
- the priests also composed and edited their own works -- books like Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Esther are literature of the priestly temple scribal community.
- The second community: Samaritan
- in addition to the priestly scribal community in Jerusalem, there was a Samaritan community that was closely associated with Jerusalem during the Babylonian and early Persian periods.
- these coummunities had old ties reaching back into the Iron Age
The Babylonian crisis likely brought them together again.
To be continued, p. 280. Start at bottom of page 279 and start to compare / contrast the two communities, the one in Jerusalem and the one in Samaria.
Two pages of really important information regarding these two communities and the development of the Old Testament.
Then, beginning on page281, at the top: the Dead Sea Scrolls. Quick bullets:
- about 900 manuscripts
- dated: 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE (early and important Roman period)
- Qumran caves
- the library of a sectarian religious community: the Essenes
- the gathering of texts from the late Hasmonean and early Roman periods
- one interesting small collection of Dead Sea Scrolls was written iwth a calligraphic hand
- indicate a new professon: the scribe as professional copyist
- scribes who copied for a living
- became part of the synagogue service
And the conclusion continues.
Last paragraph, page 287 -- the emergence and importance of the synagogues spreading classical Hebrew literature.
Quick progression.
Community scribes.
Scribes in the synagogue, during the Second Temple Period.
Essene scrolls at Qumran: reveals the diversity at Qumran. The Qumran scrolls give the first evidence for the beginning of the Masoretic textual tradition, which likely organized along the Jerusalem scribes.
Outlying synagogues would have need copies of texts for their libraries -- a standardized text that would been copied and distributed, names, the proto-Masoretic text. From wiki:
The Masoretic Text, Text of the Tradition, is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism.
The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the mas'sora. Referring to the Masoretic Text, masorah specifically means the diacritic markings of the text of the Jewish scriptures and the concise marginal notes in manuscripts (and later printings) of the Tanakh which note textual details, usually about the precise spelling of words.
It was primarily copied, edited, and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries of the Common Era (CE). The oldest known complete copy, the Leningrad Codex, dates to 1009 CE and is recognized as the most complete source of biblical books in the Ben Asher tradition. It has served as the base text for critical editions such as Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and Adi.
The differences attested to in the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that multiple versions of the Hebrew scriptures already existed by the end of the Second Temple period.
The Masoretic Text is the basis for most Protestant translations of the Old Testament such as the King James Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, and New International Version. After 1943, it has also been used for some Catholic Bibles, such as the New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible. Some Christian denominations instead prefer translations of the Septuagint as it matches quotations in the New Testament.
Qumran scrolls: multiple copies. Author suggests many reasons for multiple copies. Does not posit the idea that Qumran might have been selling them, or perhaps a lending library. Books of the bible with the largest number of copies at Qumran: Book of Psalms (36); Isaiah (21); Deuteronomy (?).
Last sentence in the conclusion: after the destruction of the Temple, the synagogue would become the new location for the study of Hebrew as well as for communities of scribes.
The Leningrad codex is now preserved in the National Library of Russia, accessioned as "Firkovich B 19 A". Its former owner, the Crimean Karaite collector Abraham Firkovich, left no indication in his writings where he had acquired the codex, which was taken to Odessa in 1838 and later transferred to the Imperial Library in St Petersburg.
Also note: Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, link here.
The masoretes:
The Masoretes (it. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe-scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in the Jewish centers of the Levant (e.g., Tiberias and Jerusalem) and Mesopotamia (e.g., Sura and Nehardea).
Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes (niqqud) on the external form of the biblical text in an attempt to standardize the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions, and cantillation of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) for the worldwide Jewish community.
The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, although there existed an alternative Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali Masoretes, which has around 875 differences from the ben Asher text.
The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, the Saadya Gaon, had preferred the ben Naphtali system. It has been suggested that the ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes were Karaites. However, Geoffrey Khan believes that the ben Asher family was probably not Karaite, and Aron Dotan avers that there are "decisive proofs that M. Ben-Asher was not a Karaite."
The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation. The nakdanim were successors to the Masoretes in the transmission of the traditional Hebrew text of the Old Testament.
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