A Jewish Sect of the Persian Period*

JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556

I

ACCORDING TO THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, the word "sect" was first used in the Middle Ages to describe dissident Christian groups and even, in the writings of Wyclif, religious orders. In biblical scholarship it has become the standard designation for Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes, following Josephus, who uses the terms hairesis, hairetistai.1 For those who observed it from the viewpoint of either Roman civic religion or the syna­gogue, early Christianity also constituted a hairesis (Acts 24:5; 28:22), though Christians themselves preferred other designations (e.g., Acts 24:14). Contemporary usage, on the other hand, is generally traced back to Ernst Troeltsch's The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches {Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen) published in 1912. Writing a few years later, in evident dependence on Troeltsch's distinction between church-type and sect-type, Max Weber sketched out what he called the "sectarian religiosity" (Sektenreligiosität) of the Pharisees and their antecedents the Asideans of 1 Maccabees.2 For Weber, however, pharisaic and Asidean sec­tarianism reflected certain basic features of Second Temple religion present

* Presidential address delivered at the fifty-second general meeting of the Catholic Bib­lical Association, held at Le Moyne College, 14 August 1989.

1 E.g., ¿Hf 2.119.137 §141-42, 162; Ant. 13.171. 2 Ancient Judaism (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1952) 385-404.

5

6 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

inchoately from the outset. More specifically, its roots are to be sought in the transition from nation-state to confessional community (Glaubensgemein­schaft) at the time of the Babylonian exile and the subsequent emergence of a ritually segregated "pariah people" (Pariavolk) in the early Persian period.3

Starting out from a generally favorable critique of Weber, Shemaryahu Talmon has recently restated the hypothesis of sectarian origins in the early Second Temple period.4 He argues that the essential precondition for the emergence of sects was the passage from monocentricity to pluricentricity, meaning the passage from Israel of the monarchic period which, in spite of the division of the kingdom, remained ideally and essentially one entity, to the situation in which diaspora communities existed simultaneously with the survivors in the Judean homeland. After the return in the early Persian period, the means adopted in the Babylonian diaspora to avoid assimilation served to segregate these immigrants, who claimed continuity with the old Israel, from Jewish and, a fortiori, Gentile outsiders. He therefore follows fairly closely the line laid down by Weber, though of course without the pejorative aura surrounding the term Pariavolk.

Talmon had earlier argued, on the basis of his reading of Ezra 4:3 (ki Dänahnu yahad nibneh), that this go/á-community referred to itself as a yahad, a term familiar from the Qumran texts but one which was not thought to occur frequently, if at all, as a substantive in the Hebrew Bible.5 If his reading is correct, this would be one of several indications in Ezra-Nehemiah of the quasi-sectarian nature of this group, a point to which we shall return later.

Talmon's is only the most recent of several attempts to establish con­nections between what is known or can be surmised about the situation in Judah under Iranian rule and the dissident movements of some three cen­turies later. These attempts generally involve the plotting of a trajectory with respect to conflict between contrasting ideologies and parties leading to an

3 Ancient Judaism, 336-55. On Weber's understanding of sectarianism see P. L. Berger, "The Sociological Study of Sectarianism," Social Research 21 (1954) 467-71; J. A. Holstein, "Max Weber and Biblical Scholarship," HUCA 46 (1975) 159-79; D. L. Petersen, "Max Weber and the Sociological Study of Ancient Israel," Religious Change and Continuity (éd. H. M. Johnson; San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1979) 129-43; F. Crüsemann, "Israel in der Perserzeit. Eine Skizze—Thesen zur Auseinandersetzung mit Max Weber," Max Webers Sicht des antiken Christentums: Interpretation und Kritik (ed. E. Schluchter; Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1985) 205-32.

4 S. Talmon, "The Emergence of Jewish Sectarianism in the Early Second Temple Pe­riod," King, Cult and Calendar in Ancient Israel (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1986) 165-201.

5 S. Talmon, "The Sectarian YHD—a Biblical Noun," VT3 (1953) 133-40.

A JEWISH SECT 7

eventual point of rupture and schism.6 While sometimes intriguing, the re­sults are almost always very speculative; not surprisingly, given our almost total ignorance of Palestinian Judaism from the late fifth to the early third century B.C.E. If, however, we take the view that the social conditions favor­ing the emergence of sects can emerge quite independently in different pe­riods, it might be more profitable to begin by looking for sectarian features in writings from the first Persian century without benefit of historical hind­sight. I therefore propose a reading of certain texts from that time which, when taken together, exhibit such features and can be plausibly related to a social situation which precipitated them. While sociological theory on sec­tarianism is still relatively undeveloped, it will be helpful to refer, where appropriate, to what has been written on the morphology and typology of sects and the criteria which have been elaborated for their identification.

II

WE BEGIN WITH a prophetic text—Isa 66:5—which points unmistakably to a situation of conflict and schism.7 It occurs in the last section of the book (chaps. 56-66) which for the most part reflects the situation in Judah of the early Persian period.8 It may be translated as follows:

Hear the word of Yhwh, you who tremble at his word: "Though your brethren who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, 'Let YHWH reveal his glory,9 so that we may witness your joy,' it is they who will be put to shame."

The initial address identifies this as a distinct saying. The speaker is an anonymous seer, and he is addressing a collectivity which has been ostracized

6 E.g., priesthood—laity: A. Bentzen, "Priesterschaft und Laien in der jüdischen Ge­meinde des fünften Jahrhunderts," AfO 6 (1930/31) 280-86; theocracy—eschatology: O. Plöger, Theocracy and Eschatology (Richmond: John Knox, 1962); theocracy—messianic Zionism fo­cussing in the mid-fifth century on Nehemiah: U. Kellermann, Nehemia: Quellen, Überlieferung und Geschichte (Berlin: Töpelmann, 1967); priestly-theocratic—prophetic eschatological: O. Steck, "Das Problem theologischer Strömungen in nachexilischer Zeit," £Vr28 (1968) 445-58; Yahweh alone party—assimilationists: M. Smith, Palestinian Parties and Politics That Shaped the Old Testament (New York/London: Columbia University, 1971); Zadokite hierocracy— prophetic-levitical axis: P. D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979).

7 The exegesis of texts which follows is a revised version of a paper which I read to the Irish Biblical Association in Dublin, April 1983. It was published as "The 'Servants of the Lord* in Third Isaiah," Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association 7 (1983) 1-23.1 thank the editor for permission to reprint in revised form parts of that paper.

8 The consensus view following B. Duhm, Das Buch Jesaja übersetzt und erklärt (Göt­tingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968 [4th ed., 1922]) xiii, 418-19.

9 Reading yikkäbed for MT yikbad with LXX and Syr.

8 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

or excommunicated (sôn^ëkem, mënaddëkem10) by their fellow-Jews (^ahë-kem). Two reasons are given for this state of affairs. If the passage is con­strued as discourse of the prophetic speaker, "for my name's sake" (lemacan Semi) would imply that association with (and perhaps being named after) the seer in question is the reason for the ostracism (cf. Matt 10:18,22). If, how­ever, as seems more likely, it is construed as divine oratio recta, their treat­ment at the hands of their brethren would be on account of their devotion to the divine name, a frequent characterization of the devout in prophetic writings from that time.11 The taunt of the opponents, quoted verbatim, need not imply outright rejection of the eschatological views of the group, but rather rejection of the idea that they, and they alone, will rejoice in the parousia evidently thought to be imminent. This construction is confirmed by the final assertion that these opponents will experience shame when the real situation is revealed at the final showdown.12

Of great interest is the description of those addressed as trembling at his (Yhwh's) word (harëdîm %l dëbârô). As an expression of intense religious emotion, trembling is well attested in the history of religious movements (e.g., Quakers, Shakers), and in fact the term is still in use for the ultra-Orthodox faction in Judaism. With this specifically religious connotation the verbal form is not of frequent occurrence in the Hebrew Bible,13 and in the participial-substantival form it occurs in fact only in this chapter ( w 2,5) and in the account of Ezra's marriage reform (Ezra 9:4; 10:3), the significance of which will call for comment in due course. Use of a modifier ("at his word") precludes aligning it with such well-known sectarian designations as "Phar­isee" and "Essene," but only the context can decide whether it is anything more than one of several ways of referring to the devout current at that time.14 The present context, at any rate, suggests a group sufficiently distinct

10 The former implies active dissociation, and the latter (piel niddâ), occurring only here and at Amos 6:3, comes close to the technical sense of "excommunicate" which it has in Mish-naic Hebrew.

11 Isa 56:6; 59:19; 60:9; Mal 1:6-7,11,14; 2:5; 3:16,20. 12 For the meaning of bôS see H. Seebass, "bôsh," TDOT 1. 50-51. Surprisingly, both

Seebass and Bultmann, TDNT 1. 189-91, neglect to mention Isa 66:2,5 which introduce the important theme of eschatological shame and confusion.

13 Israel at Sinai trembled at the theophany (Exod 19:16); the Philistines were affected by a divinely inspired panic during a campaign (1 Sam 14:15). Eli's trembling for the safety of the ark, leading to a fatal heart attack (1 Sam 4:13), is of a different kind.

14 C. Westermann, Isaiah 40-66 (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969) 417, thinks that it was used only for a short time after the return in the context of worship, but fails to tell us how he reached this conclusion. R. N. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975) 281, holds that "it was probably in the post-exilic period that it came to be a fixed expression describing the loyal Jew."

A JEWISH SECT 9

in identity to be excommunicated by the official representatives of the com­munity who, in that historical context, must have included the temple au­thorities. There is reason to believe that exclusion from participation in the cult of the Judean temple-community had significant social and economic implications, including loss of civic status and title to land,15 a circumstance which may help to explain the frequent use of terms signifying indigence and low social status with reference to the devout in texts from that time.16

This last observation leads us to the saying immediately preceding—Isa 66:1-4—in which attachment to the temple is contrasted with the attitude of those of lowly social status, the broken-spirited and, again, those who trem­ble at Yhwh's word (häred Del debäri). The antithesis has led several com­mentators to interpret the saying as a rejection of the rebuilding project and therefore of prophets like Haggai who supported it, or even of the temple tout court.17 But in the absence of supporting evidence such an extreme position must be deemed unlikely. If the "quakers" of Isa 66:2 are identical with those addressed by the anonymous seer a few verses later, it would follow that they too await an imminent parousia, an event which is associ­ated with the temple in Isaiah 56-66 and other later prophetic texts.18 The idea that God's domain is heaven, and that on earth he is present to the poor, the outcast and afflicted, is expressed elsewhere in these chapters (57:15; 60:13; 63:15), and nowhere does it imply rejection of the temple and its services. The same contrast between heavenly and earthly abodes occurs in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the first temple (1 Kgs 8:27-30), a deuteronomistic composition of exilic or postexilic origin, which suggests that support of the temple is consistent with disavowal of certain attitudes to temple worship or with rejection of its current functionaries. At a much later date the Qumran community will dissociate itself from the temple priesthood and temple cult as then practiced without for a moment implying rejection of the temple as such.

If this is so, the second part of the saying (w 3-4) cannot be construed as an outright rejection of the sacrificial cult, and there is nothing in the

15 It is clear from Ezra 10:8 that the golah community exercized the right to disenfranchise members and confiscate their (presumably immovable) property. The connection between par­ticipation in the cult and title to property is also assumed in Ezek 11:15 where those left behind after the first deportation argue that the deportees had, in effect, been expelled from the cult community, thus justifying expropriation of their land.

16 In addition to Isa 57:15 and 66:1-2 we might think of those psalms in which the speaker is identified as >ebyôn, conî and the like; e.g., Psalms 25 and 69.

17 E.g., J. D. Smart, "A New Interpretation of Isaiah 66:1-6," Exjfñm 46 (1934-35) 420-32; History and Theology in Second Isaiah (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1965) 281-88.

18 Isa 60:7,13; 62:9; 66:6,20-21,23; Hag 2:6-9; Mai 3:1-4.

10 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

context to suggest allusion to cults other than that of the Jerusalem temple.19

The point is that those who sacrifice oxen, lambs, etc.—in other words, the temple priesthood—are also engaged in diverse "abominations," aberrant cult acts involving, inter alia, dogs and pigs, both decidedly unclean.20

Isaiah 66:1-5, therefore, may be taken to presuppose the existence of a pietist and prophetic-eschatological group whose relations with the parent body had been at least temporarily severed, a group distinguished by its exclusive claim to a salvation to be made manifest in a divine intervention believed to be imminent. However we choose to designate this group, sever­ance from and rejection of the parent body and the exclusive claim to what the parent body exists to offer, namely, salvation, may on any showing be recognized as sectarian traits.

The point will emerge more clearly as we now turn to a closely related text in the same collection. Isa 65:13-16 may be read as either the occasion of or the response to the taunt which we have heard directed at the audience of the anonymous seer of Isa 66:5. Here, however, the saying is addressed to the opponents, and it begins as follows:

Wherefore, thus the lord Yhwh has spoken: "My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame; My servants will exult with gladness, but you will cry out for sadness, Wailing in anguish of spirit." (w 13-14)

This theme of eschatological reversal, familiar to readers of the Gospels (e.g., Matt 5:3-12), presupposes the existence of a prophetic-eschatological entity which sees itself as the true elect to be revealed as such at the parousia. The claim is exactly identical with that of the "quakers" of 66:5 and the same fate is envisaged for the opponents here as there. In the second part of the saying (65:15-16) these elect are given a new name—a familiar eschatological mo­tif—while the name of those addressed will survive only as a curse.21 Con­spicuous among these opponents are the temple authorities, as is clear from

19 E.g. Samaria, Elephantine. Note that /töFmisleadingry assumes a kaph comparationis. 20 In agreement with A. Rofé, "Isaiah 66:1-4: Judean Sects in the Persian Period as

Viewed by Trito-Isaiah," Biblical and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry (ed. A. Kort and S. Morschauer; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1985) 205-17.

21 That the name of the opponents will be used as a curse suggests that the elect will be named after "the God Amen," and that they will therefore be "the Amen people," that is, a people that says Yes to God. It has become customary to emend ^âmën to ^ëmet or Dëmûn, but Jewish and early Christian readers did not find it implausible (e.g., 2 Cor 1:17-20; Rev 3:14; and see A. Jepsen, TDOT1. 322-33), and no one has taken exception to the equally strange appel­lative ^ehyeh at Exod 3:14 and Hos 1:9.

A JEWISH SECT 11

the diatribe immediately preceding 65:13-16. The details of the indictment (65:1-12) need not concern us, except to note that the opponents are accused of taking part in syncretistic cults including such things as incubation rituals, the sacrifice of pigs, and ritual meals in honor of foreign deities.22 Similar accusations are levelled against the same opponents elsewhere in this section of the book (57:1-10; 66:17).

Il l

HAVING REACHED THIS POINT, it would be natural to inquire whether there is any connection between these "servants of Yhwh," identical with "those who tremble at his word," and "the servant" of whom we hear in certain well-known passages in Isaiah 40-55. The term itself (cebed, cäbä-dim), used in a religiously specific way, occurs thirty-two times in chapters 40-66 and only three times in 1-39,23 a statistic which can be explained by its derivation from the deuteronomistic school. In Deuteronomy, the deu-teronomistic history, and related writings (especially the D-edited material in Jeremiah), a certain consistency of usage can be noted. It is applied on the one hand to David and the Davidic dynast, sometimes in connection with the messianic code-name semah (branch, shoot),24 but more frequently it desig­nates prophetic figures: either an individual prophet (e.g., Ahijah, Elijah) or the prophetic succession as a whole in the frequently recurring phrase "his servants the prophets."25 In this latter sense, Moses is the prophetic servant par excellence and Joshua succeeds to and shares in his prophetic office.26

According to this school, therefore, Moses was the fountainhead and pattern of charismatic office which in the course of time found distinct but related embodiments in kingship and prophecy.27 The understanding of both of these institutions was, needless to say, profoundly affected by the political disasters of the early sixth century B.C.E., one result of which was the redefi­nition of office in terms of instrumentality and service. It is therefore not surprising that the language of servanthood occurs so frequently in writings from the exilic and early postexilic periods.

22 Gad and Meni, gods of good luck (65:11); the allusion may be to a marzeah, funerary meal. The accusation of neglecting the temple in the same verse, and the language used in ν 5, point to temple personnel as the primary target.

23 Isa 20:3 (Isaiah himself); 22:20 (Eliakim); 37:35 = 2 Kgs 19:34 (David). 2 4 2 Sam 3:18; 1 Kgs 8:24-26; 2 Kgs 19:34 ( = Isa 37:35); Jer 33:21-22,26. 2 5 Individual prophets: 1 Kgs 15:29; 2 Kgs 9:36; 10:10; 14:25; prophets in general: 2 Kgs

9:7; 17:13,23; 21:10; 24:2; Jer 7:25; 25:6; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4; cf. Amos 3:7. 2 6 Moses: Deut 34:5; Josh 1:2; 9:24; Joshua: Josh 24:29; Judg 2:8. 2 7 A theme developed by K. Baltzer, Die Biographie der Propheten (Neukirchen-Vluyn:

Neukirchener V., 1975).

12 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

This, then, is the context in which we are to try to unravel the meaning of the term as it occurs in Isaiah 40-66. It will be unnecessary to expatiate on the difficulties of interpretation which led as great a scholar as S. R. Driver to abandon his commentary on these chapters. The identity of the servant in the passages singled out by Duhm—the curiously designated "ser­vant songs"—was a matter of speculation at least as early as the first century of the era (see, e.g., Acts 8:34); indeed, the first stage of their interpretation is embedded in the texts themselves, creating not the least of the problems confronting the modern interpreter.28 We shall be concerned with these prob­lems only to the extent that they bear on the identity of "the servants" whom we have encountered in the last part of the book. Since the strategy of working back from these "servants" to "the servant" has not, to my knowl­edge, been attempted, this approach may at least have the advantage of novelty.

A preliminary observation: we find a significant difference in the way the term is used in the two sections Isaiah 40-48 and 49-55, consistent with other notable differences of theme and emphasis.29 In every instance in 40-48 where the context provides reasonably clear guidance, the term in the sing­ular or plural refers to the entire people or—presuming a Babylonian loca­tion—the entire diaspora group.30 The only exception is 42:1-4, the first of Duhm's "songs," where the referent is unclear and, for our present purpose, may remain so. The situation is quite different in 49-55 where we hear no more of Cyrus, or the anticipated conquest of Babylon, or satire directed against Babylonian cult and culture. This should alert us to the possibility that the term may have a quite different connotation in these chapters. The section opens with an address to the nations by a servant of Yhwh who now for the first time speaks in his own name (49:1-6). He is predestined from conception to be instrumental in the reintegration and restoration of dis­persed Israel; though his mission has not been crowned with success, he is convinced of the certainty of ultimate vindication and even feels called to a further mission to the Gentile world. While much of what is said here could apply to Israel as a whole (and in fact the servant is identified with Israel in

28 The immense amount of critical commentary on these passages was surveyed by C. R. North, The Suffering Servant in Second Isaiah (2d ed.; Oxford: Oxford University, 1956) and H. H. Rowley, "The Servant of the Lord in the Light of Three Decades of Criticism," 77M? Servant of the Lord and Other Essays on the Old Testament (2d ed.; Oxford: Blackwell, 1965) 3-60. There is no single comparable survey for the last quarter-century.

29 See my A History of Prophecy in Israel from the Settlement in the Land to the Hellenistic Period (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983) 210-11.

30 Isa 41:8-9; 43:8-10; 44:1-2,21; 45:4; 48:20; probably also where "servant" is parallel with "messengers" or "witnesses" (42:19; 43:10; 44:26).

A JEWISH SECT 13

the text31) the mission is in the first place to Israel, and therefore the anony­mous seer is speaking in his own name or at least in the name of a collectivity within Israel which he represents.

In the third of Duhm's "songs" (50:4-9), allusion to a mission which involves speaking, to divine inspiration, to opposition and assurance of even­tual vindication strongly suggests identity with the anonymous prophetic speaker in 49:1-6. In this instance, however, the speaker is identified as "ser­vant" only in the comment on the passage which follows (50:10-11). I read this editorial comment as an important link between the prophetic servant of whom it speaks and the "servants" of the last two chapters of the book. It first addresses those in the audience who are God-fearers and who heed the teaching of the servant. There follows a violent diatribe against others who, depending on how one interprets the obscure ν 11, either behave according to their own lights rather than following prophetic guidance, or persecute the prophet and his followers.32 In either case they are on the road which leads to perdition (cf. 65:12,14; 66:3-4). There can be little doubt that we are hearing the voice of a disciple speaking out of a situation of conflict occa­sioned or aggravated by the anonymous prophet and his teaching.

We come now to the last of Duhm's passages which speaks of the ser­vant's passion and, very probably, death (52:13-53:12). It seems to have been spliced into an apostrophe to Zion (52:1-2,7-12; 54:1-17), a lyric celebration of anticipated redemption described in the final verse as "the heritage of the servants of Yhwh" (54:17). This allows for two possibilities: first, that the apostrophe was read by the "servants" as referring to themselves; second, that it suggested the insertion of the passage dealing with the fate of the founder and his eventual vindication.33 In this fourth servant passage Yhwh speaks at the beginning and end (52:13-15; 53:1 lb-12) and, once again, a disciple of the servant in the middle (53:1-1 la).34 After initially interpreting the servant's misfortunes as divine punishment, in keeping with the standard deuteronomic theology, he has now come to understand the significance of his mission, and may therefore be considered a convert to discipleship. The

31 Isa 49:3, an addition which may be read as the first stage in the standard Jewish interpretation of the passage; cf. 42:1 LXX.

3 2 The second option is taken by Westermann, Isaiah 40-66, 235. If, however, the one "who walks in darkness and has no light** alludes to the servant rather than to the prospective proselyte (as Westermann), it could be read as referring to imprisonment (cf. 51:14).

33 We might then be tempted to suggest that the break between sections should come after chap. 54 rather than at the end of the following chapter, especially in view of the repetition of 55:13b (páfer] lô*yikkârêi) at 56:5. Isa 54:17 would then serve as a thematic link between chaps. 49-54 and the following chapters in which "the servants of Yhwh" play an important role.

34 Yhwh is certainly the speaker in ν 1 lb; ν 1 la is uncertain, but the speaker is probably the disciple.

14 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

intensity of the language used at this point, which has given the passage an appeal unparalleled in the Hebrew Bible, arises directly out of the experience of conversion. While the state of the text and the frequent obscurity of the language preclude certainty, the most natural inference is that he arrived at this conclusion after the death of the servant.35 And if this is so, the statement that the servant will see his offspring and the outcome of his travail implies either belief in a miraculous restoration to life or, more probably, that his work and mission will be continued by those who, like the speaker, have come to believe in him and have answered the call to perpetuate his mission and teaching.

IV

ANOTHER TEXT which must be factored in occurs near the end of Mal-achi (3:13-21). Malachi is the last of three originally anonymous additions to the prophetic collection, all roughly equal in length and all certainly post-exilic. A more exact determination of date depends on various allusions in the text itself and the political and socioeconomic situation which they re­flect. It would be widely accepted that these lead us to the half-century between the rebuilding of the temple and the activity of Ezra and Nehemiah, roughly contemporary therefore with Isaiah 56-66.36

35 He is led like a lamb to the slaughter, taken away, cut off from the land of the living, smitten to death, buried with the wicked. While one or other of these expressions taken by itself might be patient of a different explanation, they point cumulatively to violent death, a con­clusion which has been widely accepted. R. N. Whybray, Thanksgiving for a liberated Prophet (JSOTSup 4; Sheffield: JSOT, 1978) 92-106, pulls out all the stops to argue that the servant was alive and well at the time of writing, but this is hardly the natural sense of the passage. Perhaps also the allusion to the saddîq whose death has gone unlamented at 57:1 may have the righteous servant in mind (cf. 53:11); the term is probably not collective since it is followed by a plural (^anSë-hesed). Isa 30:19-22, a prose passage generally assigned since Duhm (Das Buch Jesaja, 221-25) to the postexilic period, refers cryptically to a teacher (môreh), now hidden, whose voice will give direction from behind the listener; it, too, may be understood in the same context of the posthumous guidance of a charismatic leader.

36 The principal indications are: hostility to the Edomites and oblique reference to en­croachment on their territory by Kedarite Arabs (1:2-5); mention of a governor (pehâ) un­fortunately not identified by name (1:8); neglect of the temple cult and diatribe directed against the priesthood (1:6-2:9; 3:6-12); religious skepticism perhaps induced by disappointment of the hopes raised by the building of the temple, as in Haggai (2:17; 3:13-15). Alleged lack of ac­quaintance with the Ρ legislation cannot be pressed since we cannot date the Ρ material with assurance. Malachi does not refer, directly at any rate, to either Ezra or Nehemiah, and certainly not on the basis of an arbitrary emendation of maPäk to melek (3:1b) deemed to refer to Nehemiah as Davidic messiah (as Bentzen, "Priesterschaft und Laien,** 282-83, and Kellermann, Nehemia, 2-3). If, however, the polemical note against divorce associated with violence (3:16) is not an interpolation, it could be construed as an attack on Ezra's policy of forcible separation

A JEWISH SECT 15

The last section of Malachi37 records, in the disputation form charac­teristic of the author,38 the complaint that God makes no distinction between the devout and the godless (3:13-15). The complaint is followed by the God-fearers conferring together, an action which elicits a positive response from Yhwh. A document is then written containing the names of those who fear God and esteem his name. They will be his special possession (seguila) on the day of his decisive intervention, when the distinction between the righteous and the wicked will be clearly manifest ( w 16-18). When judgment day comes, the wicked will be utterly destroyed, but those who revere the name of Yhwh will triumph and rejoice (w 19-21).

There seems no reason to doubt that those addressed in w 13-15, who are giving strong expression to their doubts about the providence and justice of God, are identical with the God-fearers who are reassured in the following verses.39 The two sections (13-15,16-21) are therefore related as problem and solution. After all, they distinguish themselves from the scoffers, they have obeyed God and led a penitential life (hâlaknû qëdorannît) in spite of their doubts, and their complaint is no stronger than reproaches uttered frequently in Psalms, not to mention Job. It is also reasonable to conclude, in view of the solution to be offered, that this crisis of faith was precipitated by delay in the anticipated parousia.40 The solution, at any rate, is eschatological.

from foreign wives. The possibility that Malachi was written after Ezra but before or during Nehemiah's administration might also be supported by complaints about nonpayment of tithes and neglect of temple maintenance (3:6-12; cf. Neh 13:10-14,31), allusion to social injustice (3:5; cf. Nehemiah 5), appeal to ethnic solidarity (2:10; cf. Neh 5:5) and emphasis on the levitical covenant (2:4-9; cf. Neh 13:29). J. M. P. Smith, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and Jonah (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912) 7, even claims that "the Book of Malachi fits the situation amid which Nehemiah worked as snugly as a bone fits its socket."

37 Mai 3:22-24 is the conclusion to Latter Prophets; perhaps to Torah and Prophets; see my Prophecy and Canon (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1977) 12-23.

38 Mai 1:2-5,6-8,13; 2:10,13-15; 3:7-8. See E. Pfeiffer, "Die Disputationsworte im Buche Maleachi," EvT 19 (1959) 546-68; J. Wallis, "Wesen und Struktur der Botschaft Maleachis," Das Ferne und Nahe Wort: Festschrift Leonhard Rost (BZAW 105; ed. E Maass; Berlin: Töpelmann, 1967) 229-37; J. A. Fischer, "Notes on the Literary Form and Message of Malachi," CBQ 34 (1972) 315-20.

39 Problematic is the adverb >äz with which the second section ( w 16-21) begins. LXX translates tauta which has led several commentators to emend yäz to zeh, ko or kèzôH. A better proposal is that of W. Rudolph, Haggai, Sachar ja 1-8, Sachar ja 9-14, Maleachi (ΚΑΤ 13/4; Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1976) 286-87, who retains >äz but translates "damals," indicating tem­poral succession. However one chooses to translate it, we may agree with J. Wellhausen, Die Kleinen Propheten übersetzt, mit Noten (Berlin: Reimer, 1893) 203: "Es sind die Frommen, welche murren; und sie werden im Folgenden nicht gestraft, sondern getröstet."

40 A suggestion which goes back to W. Nowack, Die Kleinen Propheten (HKAT 3/4; 3d ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1922) 405.

16 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

The distinction between the reprobates and the devout is already established in principle, and will be manifested for all to see on judgment day. This principle of eschatological discrimination and reversal, which reappears in the Gospels (e.g., Matt 13:37-43; 25:31-46), draws a line through the com­munity, separating the true Israel from those who are Israel only in name. Pointing in the same direction is the weighty theological term seguila, tra­ditionally used of Israel in contrast to the nations,41 but here of a minority group in contrast to the rest of Israel.

The way in which those addressed are described permits us to associate them with the "quakers" and "servants" of the last two chapters of Isaiah. While the terms are not exactly identical, they are described as God-fearers,42 God-servers,43 who esteem his name44 and mourn in the present age in anticipation of rejoicing hereafter.45 We are also told that they conferred together,46 from which it may be inferred that they entered into a covenant, constituting themselves as the true Israel, Yhwh's seguila, a term elsewhere associated with covenant making.47 The sëper zikkäron mentioned in this connection is usually explained in light of other references to an inventory or directory written by Yhwh in which he records either the names of the righteous (Exod 32:32-33; Ps 69:29; 87:6) or good and evil deeds (Isa 65:6; Neh 13:14). But we are not told that this sëper was written by Yhwh, and other allusions to a document in the form of a zikkäron refer to human records (Exod 17:14; 28:12,29; 39:6-7). I therefore propose to read Mai 3: Ιο­ί 8 as divine authentication of the parties to a covenant whose names are recorded in writing, as were the names of the signatories to the covenant in Nehemiah 10, and whose assembly prefigures the eschatological Israel.

V

I NOTED EARLIER that the designation harëd, harëdîm occurs only in the last chapter of Isaiah and in the account of the marriage crisis at the time of Ezra (Ezra 9-10). This is not the place for a detailed analysis of this passage,

41 Exod 19:5-6; Dcut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18-19; Ps 135:4. 42 Mai 1:6,14; 2:5; 3:5; cf. Isa 50:10; 63:17. 43 Mal 3:14,17,18; cf. Isa 65:8-9,13-16; 66:14. 44 Mal 3:16; cf. Isa 59:19; 65:15-16. 45 hâlaknû qëdôrannît, Mal 3:14. The adverb is hapax but derived from the verbal stem

qdr attested with the meaning "lament," "mourn." For the term "mourners" i?àbëlîm, m&abb-ëlîm) see Isa 57:18; 61:2-3; 66:10.

46 The verbal stem dbr in niphal occurs only twice elsewhere, with the meaning "talking together** (Ezek 33:30) or "plotting** (Ps 119:23). The point here is that the conferring is of the positive kind in contrast to the previous murmuring (mah nidbarnû câlêkâ, ν 13b).

4 7 M. Weinfeld, "The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and Ancient Near East," JAOS 90 (1970) 195, refers to the Akkadian cognate sikiltum used in treaty contexts.

A JEWISH SECT 17

but one or two preliminary observations are in order.48 The change from 1st to 3d person after 9:15 suggests a juxtaposition of parallel versions, consis­tent with which is the fact that Ezra is still fasting and mourning, and mea­sures still remain to be taken, after the problem appears to have been resolved by the swearing of the oath in 10:5. Both versions speak of the infidelity (macal) of the golah group (9:2; 10:6) and of marriage with "the peoples of the land(s)w (9:1-2; 10:2), and in both Ezra fasts (9:5; 10:6) and is supported by the harëdîm (9:4; 10:3). These are described in the one version as "all who tremble at the words of the God of Israel" (9:4), and in the other as "those who tremble at the commandment of our God" (10:3).

At first sight it would seem imprudent to make too much of the occur­rence of the term in Isaiah 66 and Ezra 9-10. In Isaiah the harëdîm are an ostracized prophetic-eschatological group of low social status, while in Ezra they appear to be an influential element in the golah community which dictates the measures to be taken and shares with Ezra a rigorist interpre­tation of the law.49 But it would be a serious error, if one to which students of the period have been prone, to set a prophetic-eschatological orientation over against legal rigorism. The example of the Qumran community will suffice to make the point that these are by no means incompatible, and it is gratuitous to assume that Ezra was antiprophetic or antieschatological.50

Note, too, that the opponents of the harëdîm in Isaiah were those, especially in the ranks of the priesthood, addicted to syncretistic cults, and the danger of syncretism clearly underlies the measures taken with respect to exogamous marriage (cf. Neh 13:25-27; Mal 2:10-12). The involvement of the temple aristocracy in such marriages is clearly attested (Ezra 9:1; 10:5,18,22; Neh 13:4,28); it is significant that priests take no part in the attempted marriage reform apart from having to take the oath with the others (10:5), and the high priest is conspicuous by his absence.51 The initiative comes exclusively from

48 See further my Ezra-Nehemiah. A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1988) 173-201.

49 The qualifiers in the Ezra narrative (bëdibrê Wôhê yi&r&ël, 9:4 and bëmiswat Vlôhênû, 10:3) clearly refer to concern for the law, while in Isa 66:5 the referent is ambiguous though the context suggests the prophetic word.

50 K. Koch, "Ezra and the Origins of Judaism," JSS 19 (1974) 173-97, goes so far as to claim Mno other man of post-exilic times attempted so eagerly to realize certain prophetic promises" (p. 189). This is far removed from what has been, and residually continues to be, the standard view on Ezra's place in the history of the period.

51 The Meremoth of Ezra 8:33 was not the high priest {pace Koch, "Ezra and the Origins of Judaism," 190-91) but the leading member of the panel responsible for the temple treasury (cf. Neh 12:44; 13:13). Eliashib, whose son provided accommodation for Ezra (10:6), was not the high priest either. There was a high priest of that name during Nehemiah's tenure of office (Neh 3:1; 13:28), but the name is common and not restricted to priests. If the Eliashib of Ezra

18 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

the laity—the officials (särim) in one version, a certain Shecaniah of the Elam phratry in the other (9:1; 10:2)—and the measures are carried through by lay leaders (10:8,14,16).

Another feature of the harëdîm of Isaiah 66 is that they mourn in the present age in anticipation of rejoicing at the parousia, and throughout this last part of Isaiah fasting is associated with mourning just as feasting is associated with eschatological rejoicing.52 But precisely the same association is in evidence where the Ezra narrative speaks of those who supported his program. In both versions Ezra fasts and mourns, no doubt in the company of his supporters (9:4-5; 10:6), and the parallelism between "all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the golah" in the one version (9:4) and Ezra "mourning over the faithlessness of the golah" in the other (10:6) suggests that trembling and mourning are being predicated of a penitential group within the golah community. In this respect Ezra's support group anticipates certain features of the milieu in which Dan­iel circulated: mourning, fasting, penitential prayer, all united with intense concern for the law (Dan 9:3-23; 10:1-9).

VI

No ONE WILL NEED to be reminded of the difficulties involved in plotting the social coordinates of a group or movement such as we have recomposed from the textual disiecta membra of the first century of Achemenid rule. The evidence, both textual and artifactual, which has survived points to a situ­ation of social and economic deprivation,53 the kind of situation therefore which favors social unrest and dissidence.54 These conditions would have

10:6 had been high priest we would have expected him to be so designated and, assuming the priority of Nehemiah, it would be odd to find Ezra consorting with a family which had "defiled the priesthood" (Neh 13:28-29) by doing precisely what Ezra was determined to stamp out. We are not even told that Ezra spent the night in the temple, as is generally assumed. Ezra himself is provided with a high-priestly lineage traced back to Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5), but this is clearly an editorial fiction, perhaps added to explain the strange silence on the high priest in Jerusalem at the time of his arrival.

52 See n. 45. 53 Reflected in Hag 1:6,8-11; 2:16-17; Zech 8:10; Mai 2:13-16; 3:10-11; Isa 58:3-4; 59:9-15;

Joel 1-2 and especially Neh 5:1-5. The archaeological evidence for destruction and the standard of living in the province is presented by E. Stem, Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the Persian Period538-332 B.C. (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1982).

54 In addition to the writings of Troeltsch and Weber see B. R. Wilson, Sects and Society (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California, 1961) 317-21; Patterns of Sectarianism: Or­ganization and Ideology in Social and Religious Movements (London: Heinemann, 1967) 31. Wilson, however, cautions that not all types of sect recruit from the economically deprived.

A JEWISH SECT 19

been exacerbated with the resettlement of Babylonian immigrants, many of them wealthy,55 who lost no time in recovering the land leased to the peas­antry (dallât habares) after the deportations (2 Kgs 25:12; Jer 39:11). These bënê-haggôlâ formed their own association or qähäl, no doubt reproducing the social situation in which they found themselves as an ethnic minority settled in the Nippur region of the Mesopotamian alluvial plain.56 By virtue of its control of the temple, the qèhal haggôlâ achieved social and economic dominance, rigorously controlling qualifications for membership and exer­cising the right to exclude for religious or socioeconomic reasons those who did not meet its criteria. While this collectivity can hardly be described as sectarian, we must agree with Talmon that it established a sectarian pattern manifested in its exclusivity, its strict social control of its membership and of recruitment (e.g., Ezra 6:21), and the nature of the claims which it advanced.

If our reading of the texts surveyed above is correct, it seems that this pattern proved capable of reproduction at a very early stage. Sects which emerge as the result of forcible or voluntary separation from the parent body tend to draw their legitimation from the parent body, claiming in effect to take over the function and mission which the larger entity has, for whatever reason, forfeited.57 In this and other respects the dissident group referred to obliquely in Third Isaiah satisfies many of the criteria for sect-identification of Troeltsch, Weber and others who have drawn their examples mainly from Christian ecclesiastical history.58 It was predominantly lay in character, fol­lowed a strict interpretation of the law,59 insisted on endogamy, practiced asceticism (fasting, mourning), and owed allegiance to the person and teach­ing of a charismatic individual, a prophetic figure who met a violent death under circumstances no longer known.

55 See, e.g., Ezra 2:68-69; 8:26-27,33-34; Neh 7:69-71 (offerings for the temple); Zech 6:9-14 (three wealthy immigrants who provide silver and gold for a royal crown); Neh 5:1 (the complaint of the common people and their wives against "their brethren the Jews," very prob­ably diaspora Jews).

56 This thesis is argued in my forthcoming paper "Temple and Society in Achemenid Judah."

57 Wilson, Patterns of Sectarianism, 18-19; R. Wallis, Salvation and Protest (New York: St. Martin's, 1979) 180-83.

58 In addition to the works of Troeltsch and Weber see H. R. Niebuhr, The Social Sources of Denominationalism (New York: Holt, 1929); J. Wach, Sociology of Religion (Chicago: Uni­versity of Chicago, 1944) 196-205; P. L. Berger, "The Sociological Study of Sectarianism," Social Research 21 (1954) 467-85.

59 On the issues of legal interpretation in Ezra-Nehemiah see M. Fishbane, Biblical Inter­pretation in Ancient Israel {Oidora: Clarendon, 1985) 123-34 and, more generally, my "Interpre­tation and the Tendency to Sectarianism," Jewish and Christian Self-Definition (ed. Ε. P. Sanders et al.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981) 1-26.

20 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 52, 1990

More recent studies of sectarianism have quite reasonably gone beyond Christian heresiology, working out a typology based on a broader catchment area.60 Theoretical studies based on this larger sampling have emphasized attitude to society in general as the decisive factor in determining sect type. The results are illuminating, but no one of the types identified corresponds to the conclusions reached on the basis of the text surveyed. The harëdîm/ cäbädim of the early Second Temple period were legalist and prophetic, chiliastic and adventist, but they can also be described as a pietist group, if not exactly introversionist.61 Much, of course, is and will remain uncertain. We cannot determine the degree of cohesion attained by this dissident group or to what extent it had developed structure and organization. We cannot trace its development, if indeed it remained in existence long enough to have undergone significant development. While we know nothing of its history after the mid-fifth century, and therefore can only speculate on a possible link with the "hasidic" groups which emerged in the Seleucid period, we can at least conclude that the conditions favoring the emergence of sectarianism were present from the beginning of the Second Commonwealth.

60 For a breakdown of sect types I have followed mainly Berger (η. 58) and Wilson, Patterns of Sectarianism, 25-29, revised in "A Typology of Sects," Sociology of Religion (ed. R. Robertson; Baltimore: Penguin, 1969) 361-83.

61 The term used by Wilson (see previous note) for the type of sect exemplified by the Holiness movement and the Quakers.

^ s

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