Conquests Need Monuments and Monuments Need Inscriptions: The Textual Location of the Mount Ebal Altar Episode in Joshua
In Joshua 8:30-35 (MT), Joshua builds an altar to YHWH and inscribes the stones of the altar with a copy of the tôrâ of Moses. This episode’s earliest position among Hebrew and Greek text traditions remains a topic of debate. Several overlooked parallels between Joshua’s conquest of Ai (Josh 8:1-29)...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Scholar's Press
2024
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| In: |
Journal of Biblical literature
Year: 2024, Volume: 143, Issue: 2, Pages: 229-244 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Josua 8
/ Torah
/ Old Testament
/ Septuaginta (Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum)
/ Assyrians
/ Assyrian language
/ Ashurbanipal Assyria, King 669 BC-627 BC
/ Ebal
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| IxTheo Classification: | BC Ancient Orient; religion HB Old Testament HD Early Judaism TB Antiquity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In Joshua 8:30-35 (MT), Joshua builds an altar to YHWH and inscribes the stones of the altar with a copy of the tôrâ of Moses. This episode’s earliest position among Hebrew and Greek text traditions remains a topic of debate. Several overlooked parallels between Joshua’s conquest of Ai (Josh 8:1-29) and Assyrian royal inscriptions indicate that the text of Josh 8 draws more heavily on Assyrian literary warfare traditions than previously assumed. Importantly, the narrated conquest in Josh 8, Assyrian campaign reports, and several Levantine inscriptions conclude their narrations of warfare with the building of an inscribed monument. Striking similarities between the royal annals of Assurnasirpal II and Josh 8:1-29 evince the influence of Neo-Assyrian narrations of warfare upon later Northwest Semitic literary traditions. The MT position of the Mount Ebal altar episode, I argue, is the earliest extant textual location of this pericope because it is the only location of the Mount Ebal altar narrative that satisfies the text’s connection with Deuteronomy and the narrative expectations created by the preceding conquest account in 8:1-29. |
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| ISSN: | 1934-3876 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Biblical literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.15699/jbl.1432.2024.3 |