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Jeanie C. Crain, ProfessorMissouri Western State University4525 Downs DriveSt. Joseph, Mo 64507 |
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Chapter 3
Contributing Civilizations Links:
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Links to Ancient
Civilizations Chronology:
Babylonians to Judas Maccabeus The
student is helped considerably in understanding the Bible when equipped with a
basic knowledge of the civilizations contributing to the Hebrew-Christian
faith. The Old Testament world is identified with the area we know as the
"Fertile Crescent." This area includes the Nile River valley and
delta, the Mediterranean coast of Syro-Palestine and the Tigres and Euphrates
river valleys. More generally, the student should remember that the Old
Testament, in addition to Egyptian impact, is heavily influenced by the
Assyrians and Babylonians; as we move closer to the New Testament era, the
contributing civilizations are the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. This
means simply that the Hebrews are influenced heavily by the Assyrians and
Babylonians, as well as the Greeks; the middle period shows Persian influence,
and the New Testament must be read relative to Greek and Roman cultures. [Reference
Compton’s Multimedia Bible] Actually, the ancient Near East included the region
of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor in the North, Syro-Palestine and Egypt in the west,
and the Arabian peninsula in the south. We now know this area as Iraq and Iran,
occupying most of ancient Mesopotamia and Saudi Arabia and controlling most of
the Arabian peninsula. The people we know as the Israelites originated in
Northern Mesopotamia. Abraham migrated from Ur in Mesopotamia northward to
Harlan and finally into Canaan. Haran is located between the Tigres and the
Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia. Jacob, in Genesis 28. 1-9, is identified as
sojourning among Amorites, and Abraham in Ezekiel 16.3 is identified as an
Amorite. Later in Israel's history, the
Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians all controlled the land of
Palestine. Assyria was responsible for the destruction of the Northern ten
tribes (721 B.C.E) and was followed by Babylonia in 586 BCE, which usurped
power from the remaining Southern (Judah) kingdom. The Hebrews were deported
into Mesopotamia by the thousands, some not to return; under the Persian Cyrus,
some Hebrew exiles did return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, which
had been destroyed in 586 BCE. Concerning
these neighboring countries, the Oxford general articles say the following: Egypt and Mesopotamia
were the two great empires in biblical times; they were also great rivals.
Egypt (misraim in Hebrew), one of the
great civilizations of antiquity, is located in the northeast corner of Africa,
along the course of the Lower Nile River. Surrounded for the most part by
desert, Egypt is bordered on the east by the Red Sea, and by Libya on the west.
Lower Egypt comprises the Nile Delta, whereas Upper Egypt constitutes the
remainder of the country south of Cairo. Egypt’s route to Palestine passed
through the Sinai wilderness, along the Mediterranean coast, and into the hill
country. The peninsula of Sinai is triangular in shape, and lies between the
Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqabah. Mount Sinai (Horeb) is traditionally
located at the southern end of the Sinai peninsula. Egyptian involvement
with Palestine began at some time in the Old Kingdom (approximately 2686-2181
b.c.); there is much evidence of connections in the Early Bronze Age
(approximately 3300-2000 b.c.). Abundant biblical references document the
interrelationship of Egypt and Palestine. This relationship was ambivalent,
sometimes amicable, sometimes hostile. For the most part, Egypt’s influence on
Palestine was more indirect than direct. Mesopotamia (the
biblical name is Aram-naharayim, designating roughly "the land between the
rivers"), constitutes the area of the Upper and Middle Euphrates and the
Tigris Rivers. Ancient Mesopotamia was approximately coterminous with modern
Iraq. The northern region of Mesopotamia was Assyria; the southern sector was
Babylonia. Assyria, situated in
the Upper Mesopotamian plain (northern Iraq), was a mighty empire bent on
territorial expansion. The beginnings of Assyria date from the second
millennium b.c., but the empire enjoyed its greatest prominence in the
Neo-Assyrian period (911-609 b.c.) when it controlled both provinces and vassal
states, including, for a time, Egypt. Among the principal cities of Assyria
were Asshur, the first capital of the Assyrian empire, situated on the west
bank of the Tigris; Calah (Nimrud), on the east bank of the Tigris; and Nineveh,
the last capital of the Assyrian empire, located on the east bank of the
Tigris, opposite modern Mosul in northern Iraq. Babylonia in southern
Iraq may designate both the region and its capital city. The Bible often refers
to the region of southern Mesopotamia as Chaldea. The Neo-Babylonian empire
(626-539 b.c.) is synonymous with Chaldea. The city of Babylon, which gave its
name to the whole region, is located on the Euphrates River, about fifty miles
south of modern Baghdad. Students
should be able to recognize at least some of the important leaders of these
contributing civilizations, or if they cannot recall leader names, they need to
understand a great deal of history is being covered between 1700 BCE and the
time of the Greek Alexander in 333 BCE Without some general understanding of
the history of these years and the geography of these lands, anyone approaching
the Bible is going to have difficulty placing books in a time or setting.
Interpretation is farther complicated by whether authors, when they can be
established, wrote for their contemporaries or future humankind; this is
especially problematic with prophecy books. Canaan
itself was, in fact, a part of Eastern Mesopotamia: Occupying the land
along the coast of the East Mediterranean, ancient Phoenicia was coextensive
with modern Lebanon and the northern part of Palestine. The Greeks used the
title "Phoenicia" to denote ancient Canaan. Among the Phoenician
city-states were Tyre, Sidon, Arvad, and Byblos. For the most part, Phoenicia
and Israel enjoyed a cordial and close relationship; the Phoenicians, for
example, supplied both artisans and materials for the building of Solomon’s
temple. The economic base of Phoenicia was maritime trade. Sometime after 1150
b.c., the Philistines settled on the southwest coast of Palestine, between
Joppa and Gaza. They and the Israelites clashed constantly because both were
bent on expansion of their territory. Aram, a collection of
city-states to the northeast of Israel, was also in constant conflict with its
neighbors. Aram is usually equated with Aram-Damascus, the capital of modern
Syria, located about sixty miles east of the East Mediterranean. Especially
prominent from the tenth to the eighth century b.c., Damascus was an ancient
and prosperous city, well located on the major trade routes. The Hittites, an
Indo-European people, established their kingdom during the second millennium
b.c. in the central Anatolia plain. The Old Testament contains several
references to the Hittites. The
Israelite account of history begins with Abraham’s family’s migration from
Mesopotamia to Canaan. Students need to know that this dating is
relatively late in the history of the Near East; indeed, in the history of
humankind. One of the thorniest problems in approaching the Bible is that of
dealing with the time covered between the first eleven chapters of Genesis and
history as we know it and have evidence for. Quite obviously, I’m hedging
concerning a major controversy: between what science says and what many believe
the Bible states about the span of time between creation and contemporary
existence. Evidence of Paleolithic flint cultures have been found throughout
the Near East dating back to two hundred thousand years ago; perhaps People of the Covenant states it most
succinctly: "…before the earliest epic of known human experience lie aeons
of slow development and maturation of individuals and societies" (Oxford,
1996: 78). Jericho, for example, evidenced civilization as early as 8000 BCE,
perhaps due to its perennial water supply." In short, evidence points to
civilization at least five thousand years before Abraham, pointedly marked by
broad scale wanderings, restlessness, and advancement. In short, Israel is
rather late upon the scene of human history. Part of the problem of historical
dating originates in a blurring of the general and particular—in, for example,
the idea of a first human and a concrete Adam or Eve. The danger is that of
erring too much on the side of the abstract and general as contrasted to the
historical and specific. Recognizing this, one is poised for an entirely
different approach to Bible study than that which is ordinarily taken: an
approach, I might add, that should not be threatening to religious stances and
commitments taken. It’s rather obvious history had to have a "first
man" as well as a concrete "Adam." When both are understood and
accepted simultaneously, then the Bible can be reapproached as the significant
work of literature that it is while it continues its important function as
foundation for faith. In fact, as literature, what most persuades one to the
idea of Divine Authorship is that symbol and theme in the Bible unite with an
intricacy that lies beyond mere artifice and suggests authority well beyond
ordinary human capacities. Resources for the Study of Mesopotamia
The
following links suggest a beginning study of these civilizations and their
mythology: Religion
Links: Virtual
Library Ancient Religion Beginning
students often do not realize that four hundred years elapsed between
the closing of the Old Testament book of Malachi and the opening of the New
Testament. The Biblical Palestine was a subject region within four successive
world empires, beginning with the Assyrians and concluding with Alexander's
Greek Empire of 331-146 BCE. Alexander's leading generals divided the empire,
with the kingdom of Ptolemy controlling Palestine from 323 BCE until 198, when
it lost its control to the Syrian Seleucids. The Syrian Seleucids ruled until the
Jewish Hasmonean family gained independence in 143 BCE This Jewish independence
lasted until the Roman Pompey gained control in 63 BCE The Romans continued to
occupy Palestine throughout all of New Testament history. Alexander,
as students of Western thought know, made spectacular progress, establishing
new cities and spreading Greek culture. Although his empire was relatively
short-lived, the Greek culture lasted for almost a thousand years. Jews came
under the jurisdiction of the Greek rulers of Egypt, the Ptolemies. The
Ptolemies were largely a tolerant people, allowing the religious scruples of
the Jews to be observed; many Jews, however, were forced to emigrate to the
under-populated Alexandria in Egypt, and many went of their own accord. The
language and culture of Alexandria was Greek, and the Septuagint was a Greek
translation of the Old Testament. Ptolemy II of Egypt sponsored the
translation. This work became important for the spread of both Judaism and Christianity. Throughout
the third century BC., a cold war existed between the rulers of Judea and
Lebanon, belonging to Egypt, and the Seleucids of Antioch, Syria. Several
military encounters ensued. Antiochus III, who defeated Ptolemy V, also adopted
a tolerant policy toward the Jews. His reign, though, succumbed to the power of
Rome; he was defeated by the Romans in 190 BCE and was eventually killed in the
act of robbing a temple to restore his wealth. He is succeeded by Seleucus IV,
who plundered the temple in Jerusalem. Even before the Seleucid control, the
Tobiads and the Oniads, representing rigid Jewish orthodoxy and Hellenism,
respectively, rivaled each other. Seleucid IV was murdered and succeeded by
Antiochus IV Epiphanes. A member of the Oniad family. Jason set in motion a
plan to hellenize Jerusalem. Jason was replaced by Menelaus of the Tobiads, but
although a Tobiad, Menelaus also succumbed to Greek culture. Epiphanes took
what treasure was left in the temple of Jerusalem, slaughtering and destroying
those in his path who resisted. The temple was opened to everyone:
circumcision, Sabbath keeping, and reading the law were banned. Pious Jews
resisted, the resistance initiated by the priest Mattathias of Modein who
refused to offer sacrifice at a pagan altar, killing both a Jew who complied
with the compulsory sacrifice as well as the Seleucid officer. When the Jews
decided to follow a realistic policy that included fighting on the Sabbath, if
need be, Antiochus Epiphanes eventually reversed his anti-Jewish policies.
Under the Maccabees, the temple was restored and dedicated in 164 BCE, the
feast of Hanukkah continued to celebrate this occasion into this day. The
Maccabean family established themselves in power, and Judea experienced a
period of independence, until Pompey of Rome took the city in 63 BCE The
Hasmonean kings succumbed also to Hellenism; some Jews, the Essenes, objecting
to the compromises, withdrew into the desert; others remained in the mainstream
of society and became known as Pharisees; those most closely associating with
the temple and Roman influences were the Sadducees. During the first century
CE, another sect became anti-Roman zealots. At
the end of the Old Testament, God’s people existed in turmoil: whereas their
ancestors, Abraham pointedly, had known God intimately, Jews now were left to
wonder what had happened to this relationship; some felt the time of direct
communication with Yahweh had ended; others searched desperately for word from
God; some escaped to the solitude of the desert while still others heeded the
apocalyptists concerning the end of an age and the coming new world; others
simply resorted to political opportunism. The
Greeks left their impact on all subsequent thinking. Greek philosophers, for
example, tried to explain God in abstract, metaphysical ways—by asking of what
God is made and whether He has existed eternally. Hebrew thinking, though, had
seen God in the context of activity—what He could be seen doing—and by his
relevance to human life. For them, God was the Creator and sustainer of life
and creation; this God revealed Himself in nature and history. Even in the New
Testament, the visible testimony to God continues this hierarchical revelation:
God is known first in the visible creation (Romans 1), leaving no one
unaccountable; to the Hebrew, God is known through the law and prophets
(Hebrews 1: 1-3), and to Christians, through Jesus Christ, His son, and through
the conscience (Romans 2). Jeremiah himself in the Old Testament signaled this
turning to the individual human heart—the heart itself becoming the abode and
temple of God. Christians
interpreted Jesus Christ as the one person exemplifying what letting God be
king meant; He was the ideal son of David, the Messiah, the Son of Man to whom
the kingdom had been given, the individual in whom the promise to Abraham was
eventually to be realized and in whom all nations would be blessed. In short,
Christians believed Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Some
of the important chronology of the intertestamental
period involves the following:
Josephus' Antiquity of the Jews More Sources for Study of the Ancient Greeks The
mythology of these surrounding civilizations is significant to patterns
eventually emerging in Hebrew thinking and theology. Of course, an account can
only be summative in the present undertaking. Students are well advised to
equip themselves where they can with an understanding of this complex and
formative foundation. From it stems religious thinking. I am not particularly
disturbed by the notion that mythology contributes to, more strongly, shapes
religious thinking; in fact, I’m radical enough in my thinking to allow for the
possibility that the Infinite speaks a variety of languages to a diverse set of
capacities for comprehending; is it not possible that the Infinite reveals
itself in mythology every bit as much as it reveals itself in religion? Even
more radically, is it possible God spoke to the ancients in the only way they
could comprehend? Who ultimately is to define what the point of intersection
between the infinite and finite is? Who would want to—and why? For what
purposes? Aren’t some things best left within the individual human heart and
its experience of life? In
Canaan, the religion was formidable (See John Drane’s Introducing the Old Testament, HarperSanFrancisco, 1987). Judges
tells us quite decisively that the settlers here began almost immediately to
serve Canaanite gods, but why were these gods so tempting? For the Canaanites,
their gods controlled the weather and the fertility of fields and flocks; the
Hebrews wanted this assurance. The Canaanite city-states demonstrably were
capable of exacting the best from the land; their claim that they were able to
do so as a result of their gods warranted at least consideration from the new
settlers. They observed Canaanite rituals which magically attempted to cajole
or bully the gods into making the fields fertile; prostitution in the temple
for the Canaanites was an enactment of fertilization. The Hebrew Yahweh, however,
revealed Himself in daily behavior to his people and demanded their absolute
fidelity; there was no tolerance for other gods. Moral behavior rather than
temple ritual was the absolute requirement. The Canaanite religion was
completely a fertility myth: Baal, the weather god, was attacked by Mut, the
god of barrenness and sterility. Baal’s body, symbol of life and fertility, was
scattered to the four corners of the earth. El, the father god and consort of
the fertility goddess Asherah, lead the heavenly mourning for his son; the
goddess of love and war, Anat, went out to take her revenge. Mut was cut,
winnowed, burned, ground and scattered on the fields; Anat renewed Baal in a
sexual relationship, and fertility for earth and its inhabitants was ensured
for yet another year. The activities of the Canaanite gods personified the
seasons and cycle of fertility. Baal died and returned to life by his lover.
Celebrated was the annual death and rebirth of life. Not unlike worshippers of
life and creation today, the Hebrew were tempted to worship what was evidence
for Yahweh but not Yahweh; that is, they worshipped the natural world. This is
the diurnal being of Wordsworth, the pantheism of the romantics. But Yahweh was
the Creator, not the creation: "In the beginning, God created…"
Yahweh was also not an abstraction; Yahweh was, in fact, beyond description,
too sacred to have essence captured in language. In nature and history, in
action, God related to humankind and was known in the relation and actions.
Morality and justice are the fundamental concerns of the Old Testament Yahweh,
not fertility; still, though, it must be admitted that this Yahweh was clearly
understood to be the sustainer of life itself. One
possible approach to the winning over of Canaan is to see it conquered by the
new moral and religious conviction of the Hebrews, more so than by military
might. In the Canaanite religions, the gods existed for the sole purpose of
preserving the existing order; in the Hebrew religion, Yahweh supported the
individual and the oppressed and down-trodden. Canaan eventually became Israel,
a people with a new moral conviction and the absolute law of Sinai followed by
social and religious laws. After the death of Joshua, the situation became
volatile—Israel struggled, the Canaanite population not being fully subdued,
with a host of other invaders who also sought to carve out for themselves this
territory. When
it comes to Babylonian mythology, certainly a similarity exists in the creation
stories—but again, with the difference that the God is Genesis is a moral God;
the Babylonian mythology, also, embraced the annual fertility cycle. The Enumma Elish celebrated the annual New
Year Festival. In the beginning, they believed only primeval chaos existed,
personified as Apsu and Tiamat. From these gods stemmed other gods representing
the natural elements. The forces of chaos were subdued and order created. From
the body of Tiamat, Marduk made one half into the solid sky and the other half
into the earth. The gods were divided between heaven and earth, and humans
became slaves of menial tasks for the gods. God’s
control in Genesis is deliberate and purposeful—and creation is once rather
than cyclical. The heavenly bodies are not deities but markers of day and
night. Human beings are almost destroyed, not because they make too much noise
as in the Babylonia epic but because they disobey; always in Genesis, Yahweh is
one and absolute in demanding love and justice. The theme, par excellence, is
that of responsible relationship—first to God and then to others. Humans are
made in God’s image and hence, they are of equal value and importance. Human
sexuality is part of God’s plan for harmony: one sex without the other is
incomplete, and companionship is the ideal. Relationships are broken; human
experience is marred by exploitation, disharmony, and suspicion. The delicate
balance between people, nature, and God is broken when individuals try to
become controllers of their own destiny. It’s
clear that the high moral ideas recorded in the Old Testament build on a
concept of justice going back to influencing civilizations—the Akkadians,
Sumerians, Egyptians and others. This concept of justice goes back at least as
far as the law code of Hammurabi of Babylon (about 1700 BCE). The covenant code,
in fact, evidences similarity with such codes going back to the Bronze Age
(1400 to 1200 BCE). The secular legal forms of the Hittites demonstrate many of
the elements found in the Old Testament: the speaker in a political treaty, the
king’s reminder of what has been done in behalf of the people, the obligations
, the written treaty, witnesses, and curses for disobedience and blessings for
obedience. The
state resulting from Israel’s covenant created a different social structure. No
one in the state had any right to claim superiority to others; all had been
slaves delivered by God’s mercy. The ultimate responsibility of the citizen was
to God alone; the ideal state was a theocracy—an ideal, by the way, which was
short-lived in reality and moved to expectations within the future. Send comments to: Crain@griffon.missouriwestern.edu Copyright 1997MWSC/Jeanie C. Crain
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