Magical נחשׁתן and mystical חשׁמל : two sides of the same ancient Near Eastern coin?
By making smoke offerings to the bronze/copper serpent נחשׁתן the Israelites aligned themselves with the "abominable" practices of their pagan ANE neighbours. Jonker (2008:132) suggests that in the rewriting of the Deuteronomic history, the omission of the destruction of נחשׁתן during Heze...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2013
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| In: |
Journal for semitics
Year: 2013, Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Pages: 163-176 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | By making smoke offerings to the bronze/copper serpent נחשׁתן the Israelites aligned themselves with the "abominable" practices of their pagan ANE neighbours. Jonker (2008:132) suggests that in the rewriting of the Deuteronomic history, the omission of the destruction of נחשׁתן during Hezekiah's reforms derived from the Chronicler's desire to harmonize "the different traditions without compromising himself by introducing associations that would jeopardize his programme of forming a new identity". Apparently for theological reasons, some priestly factions were concerned with camouflaging the practice of magic and divination in Israelite history. However, the definition of magic depends on the "religio-cultural framework for which and within which it is defined", and in the Jewish tradition, magic and mystic are firmly tied together (Mach 2000:235). In Ezekiel 1, in the text which became a foundation of merkebah mysticism, חשׁמל contributes to the description of some sort of "to and fro" communication emanating from God's throne (Evans 2007). By considering the biblical references to, and the lexicography of נחשׁתן, נחשׁ, נחשׁמ and חשׁמל (all of which are associated with bronze/copper and share two consonants), this investigation explores the possibility that the connection of the perceived magical qualities of נחשׁתן to חשׁמל may have contributed to the omission, especially in view of the rabbinic prohibition of unauthorised reading of the merkebah chapters Ezekiel 1 and 10. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for semitics
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| Persistent identifiers: | HDL: 10520/EJC139815 |
