Biblical Terror B IBLICAL T ERROR Why Law and Restoration in the Bible Depend Upon Fear Jeremiah W. Cataldo T&T CLARK Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA BLOOMSBURY, T&T CLARK and the T&T Clark logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2017 Paperback edition fi rst published 2018 Copyright © Jeremiah W. Cataldo, 2017 Jeremiah W. Cataldo has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi fi ed as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. 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C ඈඇඍൾඇඍඌ Preface xi Abbreviations xiii Chapter 1 ,ඇඍඋඈൽඎർඍංඈඇ Premise, Authorial Perspective, and Understood Audience 5 Caveats: What Must Be Said Before What Can Be Said 8 I Did It My Way: How Visions of a Restored World 5HÀHFWWKH6XEMHFW¶V'HVLUH 'H¿QLQJ5HYHODWLRQ/DZDQG5HVWRUDWLRQ as Pillars of Monotheism Within the Context of This Study 17 8QGHUVWDQGLQJWKH5ROHRI&RQÀLFWDQG$Q[LHW\ LQWKH&HQWUDOL]LQJRI/DZDQG5HVWRUDWLRQLQWKH%LEOH Understanding the Importance of Revelation for Law and Restoration Within the Biblical Texts 27 +RZWKH7KHRULHVRI)RXFDXOW'HOHX]HDQGäLåHN$UH+HOSIXO 'HVFULSWLRQRI&KDSWHUV Chapter 2 7ඁൾ3උඈൻඅൾආඌඈൿ5ൾඏൾඅൺඍංඈඇ5ංඍඎൺඅංඓൺඍංඈඇ&ඈඇඍඋൺൽංർඍංඈඇ , ൺඇൽ/ൺඐ¶ඌ'ൾඉൾඇൽൾඇർൾ8ඉඈඇ7ඁൾආ 5HYHODWLRQDVD6WUDWHJ\IRU'L൵HUHQFH Biblical Law and Its Encouragement of Ritualization Are Attempts to Stabilize Contradiction 58 :K\%LEOLFDO5LWXDO3UHVHUYHV'L൵HUHQFH /DZ'H¿QHV(WKLFVDQG3UHVHUYHV'L൵HUHQFH How Law Might Be an Expression of Power 72 /DZ,QWHUPDUULDJH3UHMXGLFH ([SUHVVLRQVRI,GHQWLW\7KURXJK Contrapositional Strategies 75 &DVWLQJäLåHN8SRQWKH&RQWUDSRVLWLRQ%HWZHHQ$QQLKLODWLRQ and Restoration 76 Contraposition in Intermarriage 78 :K\3URKLELWLQJ,QWHUPDUULDJH,QWHUUXSWHGWKH6RFLDO2UGHU viii Contents Chapter 3 5ൾඌඍඈඋൺඍංඈඇංඇ+ൺൺං±=ൾർඁൺඋංൺඁൺඌ'ൾඉൾඇൽൾඇඍ8ඉඈඇ'ංൿൿൾඋൾඇർൾ The (De)Constructive Role of Ideology 90 Saving the Temple from the “Other” 95 Jerusalem Temple as a Potentializing Symbol 96 The Necessity of Violence for Utopia 101 3HWHUVHQ¶V7\SRORJ\RIWKH3URIDQH³2WKHU ́RU6DWDQ 7KH/DZDV&RQVWUXFWLYHLQ/LJKWRI3HWHUVHQ¶V7\SRORJ\ )LQGLQJ2UGHULQ5HVWRUDWLRQ &KDSWHU 7ඁൾ5ඈඅൾඈൿ(එർඅඎඌංඈඇංඇ0ඈඇඈඍඁൾංඌඍංർ/ൺඐ /HW¶V'LVSHQVH:LWK7KHRFUDF\ Exclusion Is the Dark Side of Monotheistic Law 127 Biblical Law in the Discourse of Power 131 The Role of the Social Body in the Law: Ritualization and Exclusion 135 /DZDVD1HJDWLYH5HSUHVVLYH3RZHU" Legal Taboos or Categorical Restrictions: )XUWKHU'LVFXVVLRQRQ/HJDOL]HG6WUDWHJLHVRI([FOXVLRQ The Intent of Monotheistic Law Was to Create D1HZ1RUPDWLYH2UGHU 7KH5HDFWLRQDU\1DWXUHRI/DZ" A Final Word on Law as a Framework for Restoration 152 Chapter 5 &ඈඇඌඍඋඎർඍංඏංඌආൺඌൺ&ඈඇඌൾඊඎൾඇർൾඈൿ(එංඅൾ Understanding the Social and Political Aspects and Impacts of Constructivism 155 “We Are the World”: 'H¿QLQJ³3HRSOH ́DVD6KDUHG2EMHFWLQ0DODFKL “We Bow Down at Your Temple...and Give Thanks”: 7HPSOHDVD6KDUHG2EMHFWLQ+DJJDL±=HFKDULDK )RXFDXOW¶V7KHRU\RQ3RZHU+HOSV8V'LVFHUQ Some Important Things About the Temple 170 (]UD±1HKHPLDK 7KH/DZDVD/XUNLQJ%RG\ ³,¶P%HWWHU7KDQ<RX ́ Deutero-Isaiah the Ideal Social-Political Body 182 “This Land Is My Land”: ³/DZ ́DQGWKH3RZHURI/DQG&ODLPDV6KDUHG2EMHFWV in Jeremiah 186 Contents ix Chapter 6 'ංൿൿൾඋൾඇඍංൺඍංඇ(එංඅൾඌ 'L൵HUHQFHDQG'LVWLQFWLRQ $3ULPHU The Exile as a “Univocal” Event and Its Quality DVD6\PERORI'L൵HUHQFH The Role of a Value System in Self-Preservation 201 The Necessity of Exile for Restoration Betrays Utopian Desire 211 Chapter 7 5ൾඍඎඋඇංඇඍඈඍඁൾ&ൾඇඍඋൺඅංඍඒඈൿ5ൾඅංංඈඇ The Problematic Dichotomization of Religion and Society in Ancient Israel 217 Problematic Reconstructions 223 -RVHSK%OHQNLQVRSS¶V³6HFWDULDQ3KDVH ́ Fear + Desire = Monotheism 233 The Impotence and Power of Revelation 236 %LEOLRJUDSK\ Index of References 252 Index of Authors 256 P උ ൾ ൿൺ ർ ൾ There are always individuals who whether through direct action or indirect conversation shape the contours of a writing. For that reason, I am thankful to Tamara Eskenazi who found areas to challenge me as I thought WKURXJKWKLVSURMHFW'ZD\QH7XQVWDOODSKLORVRSKHUE\WUDGHKDSSLO\UHDG WKURXJKPXFKRIP\PDWHULDOFRYHULQJäLåHNDQGSURYLGHGFRQVWUXFWLYH feedback. The Honors College at Grand Valley State University afforded PHWKHRSSRUWXQLW\WRWHDFKDFRXUVHWDLORUHGDURXQGWKLVSURMHFWZKLFK provided a unique platform to “experiment” with different ideas. And to that end, I am extremely appreciative of the eager students in my Terror of Monotheism seminar who willingly engaged early forms of arguments ,GHYHORSHGIRUWKLVSURMHFW'DYLG&OLQHVDQG'DYLG&KDOFUDIWJUDFLRXVO\ VXSSRUWHG WKLV SURMHFW 'DYLG &KDOFUDIW DOVR SURYLGHG KHOSIXO IHHGEDFN early on. Duncan Burns patiently worked through manuscript and helped me work out troublesome areas. All mistakes, however, are mine. And lest I forget, my family graciously supported me despite the impact that this SURMHFWKDGXSRQWKHLUOLYHV7RDOO,DPHWHUQDOO\JUDWHIXO A ൻ ൻ උ ൾ ඏ ං ൺඍ ං ඈඇඌ ABD The Anchor Bible Dictionary . Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Ant. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (trans. William Whiston) BCT Bible and Critical Theory BI Biblical Interpretation BJS The British Journal of Sociology BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin C. Ap. Josephus, Contra Apionem (trans. William Whiston) CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JHS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplemental Series JTS Journal of Theological Studies LBD Lexham Bible Dictionary LHBOTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies OA Oriens Antiquus SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament VT Vetus Testamentum ZAW Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Chapter 1 I ඇ ඍ උ ඈ ൽ ඎ ർ ඍ ං ඈඇ [T]he difference between Good and Evil is not that of content, but that of form—but, again, not in the sense that Good is the form of unconditional commitment to a Cause, and Evil the betrayal of this commitment. It is, on the contrary, the very unconditional “fanatical” commitment to a Cause which is the “death drive” at its purest and, as such, the primordial form of (YLO LWLQWURGXFHVLQWRWKHÀRZRI VRFLDO OLIHDYLROHQWFXWWKDWWKURZVLW RXWRIMRLQW7KH*RRGFRPHVDIWHUZDUGVLWLVDQDWWHPSWWR³JHQWULI\ ́WR domesticate, the traumatic impact of the Evil Thing. In short, the Good is the screened/domesticated Evil. 1 In beginning, let us propose this: fear and anxiety are the beating heart of the Bible. Fear of death. Fear of irrelevance. Fear of the loss of difference. These statements are broad, even greedily so, and must for the sake of clarity be narrowed. Therefore, we will restrict our primary discussion then to two fundamental, biblical concepts: law and restoration, the assumed centrality of which are ideological tools of the monotheistic pioneer, the settler, the one who establishes defenses against perceived threats to his desired world. Such threats he views as the dangerous incursion of anomy. “By all means, keep your vows and make your libations... Lo, I swear by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no longer be pronounced on the lips of any of the people of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ I am going to watch over them for harm and not good...” (Jer 44:26–27) Within both popular and academic hermeneutics, the biblical centrality of law and restoration has been largely misunderstood. Many view the Bible as a product written under the presupposition that law and resto- UDWLRQZHUHDOUHDG\UHL¿HGDQGFHQWUDOFRQFHSWVDQGWKDWWKHWH[WVZHUH written on the presumed centrality of those ideas. Consequently, biblical LQWHUSUHWDWLRQLVRIWHQDQH[HUFLVHLQGHWHUPLQLQJKRZDELEOLFDODXWKRU¶V understanding of a dominant religious law shaped the message of his text. 1 6ODYRMäLåHN In Defense of Lost Causes .LQGOH /RQGRQ 9HUVR 2 Biblical Terror Yet when properly analyzed, neither law nor restoration were immedi- ately central to Israelite or Judean identity. Deuteronomist ideal aside, neither concept was central before the biblical text was written or before the period of the exile(s). In fact, as this work will argue, both concepts became central as their authoring biblical communities struggled to hold on to the certainty of their identities. To get at that fact, a primary question must be: How are the biblical concepts of law and restoration dependent upon anxiety? Our hypothesis is that anxiety over lawlessness and disorder—over “death” in a general sense—created the foundation for the monotheistic concepts law and restoration. The sense of this can be seen in Jeremiah, for example, “The LORD could no longer bear the sight of your evil doings, the abomina- tions you committed; therefore your land became a desolation and a waste DQGDFXUVHZLWKRXWLQKDELWDQWDVLWLVWRWKLVGD\ ́ -HU $QGVRZH PXVWEHDULQPLQGWKDWZHPRGHUQVDUHWKHEHQH¿FLDULHVRIDPRQRWKHLVWLF biblical law and concept of restoration not because of any positivistic or DOWUXLVWLFGHVLUHVRIWKHELEOLFDODXWKRUV7KHLUVZDVDIRFXVPRUHVHO¿VK I want land. I want authority over it. Such desires were strategies of self- preservation, as we will argue. Conceptually, the origin of monotheism and its common, fundamental, ideological pillars (revelation, law, and restoration) was not the happy wellbeing of all humankind. It was dirty, SUHMXGLFHG IULJKWHQHG DQG FRQVXPHG SULPDULO\ ZLWK VHOI (YHQ LQ LWV later developments, in its “becoming more normative,” in, for Christian H[DPSOHLWVJURZLQJFHQWUDOL]DWLRQRI³ORYLQJRQH¶VQHLJKERU ́LWFDQQRW shake the shackles of its heritage. In Heaven we, the members of the body of Christ, will sing of God’s love while sinners who threatened our way RI OLIH EXUQ LQ WKH ¿HU\ SLWV RI KHOO This work explores that historical heritage. Our focus will be upon why law and restoration are given a central value within the biblical texts—one, subsequently, that is adopted by later Jewish and Christian monotheisms. To understand their “dirty” origins is to better understand the ideological forces and traumas behind the centralization of these concepts for the early community, and to do so in stark contrast to the more theological nuances modern readers tend to attribute with these terms. But it also means that we, as modern readers, may come face to face with how we ourselves tyrannize these concepts within our own individual or collective agendas of happy reunion following apocalyptic eschatology and the absolute “one way” toward that reunion. That absoluteness, for example, is the sense with which 7KRPDV 2GHQ XQGHUVWRRG &KULVWLDQ UHVWRUDWLRQ DV DQ DEVROXWH REMHFW RI grace: 1. Introduction 3 The One who meets us on the Last Day is quietly present already in the GHDWK RI FXOWXUHV DV WKH MXGJH RI VLQ ERWK FRUSRUDWHO\ DQG LQGLYLGXDOO\ chosen. Life lived in Jesus Christ does not waste time resenting the inexo- rable fact that each culture like each person eventually dies. Sanctifying grace offers beleaguered cultural pilgrims the power and means of trusting fundamentally in the One who proffers us this ever-changing, forever-dying historical process. 2 $ MXGJH WKDW VWDQGV DW WKH DSH[ RI GHFD\LQJ KLVWRULFDO WLPH DQG LQ WKH gateway between restoration and a “repeat loop” of “forever dying”? Is that not the Hail Mary of the monotheistic world? My anxieties are RYHUZKHOPLQJPH'HDWKLVXSRQPH$YH0DULD%XWZDLW7KHUHOLHVWKH UHVWRUDWLRQRIP\ZRUOGWKHFOLPD[RIP\GHVLUH What Oden describes is belief that demands response—a type of “all in” VWUDWHJ\ZLWKRXWWKHEHQH¿WRISULRUSURRIEXWZKLFKEHOLHIDVFRQYLFWLRQ and motivation demands. Such beliefs are not the sole property of monotheism or religions generally. No, they are common human expres- sions. That such beliefs exist even in religion or its central or dependent symbols, such as the Bible, is fairly mundane. What interests us more, HVSHFLDOO\LQWKHREMHFWLYDWLRQ 3 that has been attributed to such religious symbols, is why (1) beliefs in a divine law and in divine restoration came to exist, and (2) how those beliefs shaped social-political action within, for our purpose, the province of Yehud wherein strict monotheism of the -HZLVKYDULHW\HPHUJHG7KLVVWDUWLQJSRLQWZLOOSHUKDSVEHPRUHGLI¿FXOW for the conservative reader than for the more liberal one; though what WKH GLVFULPLQDWLQJ UHDGHU PD\ ¿QG LV WKDW WKHUH LV VWLOO URRP IRU GLYLQH LQÀXHQFHHYHQLQP\RZQPRUHVRFLDOVFLHQWL¿FDUJXPHQWWKDWUHMHFWVRXW RIQHFHVVLW\DQ\SUHVXSSRVLWLRQRIGLYLQHLQÀXHQFH If the biblical concepts of law and restoration are responses to anxieties, we must take then as a given that no behavior is performed without political, historically contingent, motivation and rationale. Anxieties stem IURPWKHSODFHVZHOLYH In that regard, religious behavior is not wholly distinct from political behavior. All social behavior that impacts to varying 2 7KRPDV&2GHQ³6R:KDW+DSSHQV$IWHU0RGHUQLW\"$3RVWPRGHUQ$JHQGD for Evangelical Theology,” in The Challenge of Postmodernism: An Evangelical Engagement , ed. David S. Dockery (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995), 397. 3 %\ ³REMHFWLYDWLRQ ́ ZH PHDQ WKH WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ RI VRFLDOO\ SURGXFHG LGHDV EHKDYLRUVDQGYDOXHVLQWRREMHFWLYHIDFWV,QWKDWZHDUHIROORZLQJWKHGH¿QLWLRQRIWKH term offered by P. Berger (cf. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion >1HZ<RUN $QFKRU%RRNV @ Biblical Terror degrees the distribution of power is political behavior. Can we not say then that political behavior is motivated behavior, the desired or pursued REMHFW RI ZKLFK LV WKH SUHVHUYDWLRQ RI D QRUPDWLYH RUGHU LQFOXGLQJ LWV hierarchies of power and the general stability of the cultural world? If we can accept that as a starting premise, then we may hypothesize, and let WKHVHOÀHVVKHDYHQO\FKRLUEHVLOHQWQRZWKDWWKHELEOLFDOWH[WVDUHQRWWKH UHVXOWVRIDQ\UHDOGLYLQH±KXPDQUHODWLRQVKLS7KH\DUHLQWKHLUFROOHFWLYH entirety products of political behavior—human responses to anxieties generated in relationship with the surrounding world. We will argue in this work that the core motivation behind the biblical use and development of the themes of law and restoration is found in the fear of social-political irrelevance; they were articulated under the duress RIWKHDQ[LHWLHVSURGXFHGE\WKDWIHDU%HFDXVHLWLVUHDFWLRQDU\WKHODZ¶V call to a moral life in the Persian and later period texts is not a purely altruistic one. It emphasizes instead an ideal normative order under which the ( golah , remnant, or whatever other similar term or concept) commu- QLW\¶VDQ[LHWLHVDUHEHVWDOOHYLDWHG$QGPRUHRYHUWKHVWULFWPRQRWKHLVWLF ideology, one expressed predominantly in the recorded descriptions of the golah community, that developed during this time was a product of the same social-political forces that forced the hand of the evolving concepts of law and restoration. 7KLVZRUNLQYHVWLJDWHVWKHLGHRORJLFDOIRUFHVWKDWGURYHWKHUHL¿FDWLRQ of law and restoration as ideas central to biblical identity. It assumes that neither concept, both of which have also become foundational pillars in monotheism, was central to Judean identity before the exile. It argues that these concepts became central precisely because of the growing emphasis upon strict monotheistic identity that began in the Persian period and continued throughout the Hasmonean one. What this means for the modern reader is that the importance of law and restoration that scholars have attributed to the biblical texts is the product not of any theological concern to be right with God but survival strategies that emerged in response to the exile. Put in balder terms, the biblical centralization of law and restoration, this work argues, was a ritualized response to fear. $WWKLVSRLQWSHUKDSVDFODUL¿FDWLRQRIP\LQWHQWLVQHFHVVDU\EHFDXVH it helps explain my methodological approach. A more conservatively oriented reader will interpret my comments as a criticism of the univer- salism of grace. While on a personal level I am hesitant to adopt such a Christocentric view, especially in studies of Judean texts, my challenge LVQRWGLUHFWHGDWWKHEHOLHILWVHOI,QVWHDGLWUHÀHFWVDQDWWHPSWWRH[SRVH )RUDEURDGXQGHUVWDQGLQJRISROLWLFDOEHKDYLRUVHHWKHZRUNRI&ODXGH$NH ³$'H¿QLWLRQRI3ROLWLFDO6WDELOLW\ ́ Comparative Politics QR ±