judah's covenant with death (isaiah xxviii 14-22)

7/24/2019 Judah's Covenant With Death (Isaiah XXVIII 14-22)

1/13

Judah's Covenant with Death (Isaiah XXVIII 14-22)

Author(s): Joseph BlenkinsoppSource: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 50, Fasc. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 472-483Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1585489

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2/13

JUDAH'S

COVENANT

WITH

DEATH

(ISAIAH XXVIII 14-22)

by

JOSEPH

BLENKINSOPP

South

Bend,

Indiana,

USA

Isa. xxviii

14-22

is diatribe

aimed at the

ruling

class

in

Jerusalem

corresponding

to the

denunciation

of

the

political

leadership

in Samaria

which

precedes

(w. 1-6).

The connection

is

apparent

in

the

phrase

these

also

(wegam

elleh,

v.

7)

and the

introductory

therefore

(ldken,

v.

14)

which

in

prophetic

diatribe

usually signals

the transition

from

indictment

to verdict.

Both denunciations

are occasioned

by

sarcasm

directed

at

the

prophet,

and

in

both

instances the

prophet

responds

with the

familiar

tactic

of

condemning

them

out of their

own mouths

(w.

9-10,

15).

The

strange speech

of

v.

11

corresponds

to

the

strange

operations

of Yahweh

in

v.

21,

and

in

both sections

the

coming

dis-

aster is

presented

under the

metaphor

of inundation

(w.

2,

17)

miti-

gated

by

a

positive

outlook for

the survivors

in

a more distant future

(w.

5-6,

16-17).

Then, too,

the real and doomful

import

of

the

prophetic

communication

(semui'),

eferred

to

slightingly

by

the

opponents

in

the

first

part,

is announced

in

the second

(w.

9,

19).

Isa.

xxviii

1-22

may

therefore be read

as a

fairly

well

integrated

literary

unit;'

consequently,

the invective of w.

14-22

could still

have the inebriated

priests

and

prophets

of the first section

in

view

(v. 7),

even

though

the

political

leadership

is now the

principal

target.2

This

reading

is shared

by

most

commentators; see,

for

example,

0.

Procksch,

Jesaja

I

(Leipzig,

1930),

pp.

352-63;

H.

Donner,

Israel unterden

Volkern

(Leiden,

1964),

pp.

146-53;

J. Vermeylen,

Du

Prophete

saie

a

l'ApocalyptiqueParis,

1977),

vol. I

pp.

389-99;

H.

Wildberger,

Jesaja

3.

Jesaja

28-39

(Neukirchen-Vluyn,

1982), pp.

1068-69. M.A.

Sweeney,

Isaiah

1-39 with an Introduction

o

Prophetic

iterature

Grand Rapids, 1996), pp.

361-4 reads

xxviii

5-29

as

a

single

unit.

2

mosfelm

s understood

by

Rashi

in

the sense of

makers of

proverbs,

aphorisms,

alle-

gories

with reference

to the

covenant

with death understood

metaphorically.

A similar

meaning

is taken

by

G.

Fohrer,

Das

Buch

Jesaja

II

(Zurich,

1962),

p.

54

( Spriichemacher )

and

by

O.

Kaiser,

Der

Prophet

esaja

Kapitel Gottingen,

1973), p.

199;

Eng.

trans. Isaiah

?

Koninklijke

Brill

NV,

Leiden,

2000

Vetus

Testamentum

,

4


3/13

ISAIAH

XXVIII

I4-22

After the usual

prophetic

call for

attention,

addressed to the

moselim

(rulers),

also characterized as

'anse ldson

(mockers),

the diatribe

begins

with

the familiar rhetorical device of

putting

words into the mouth

of

the

opposition

followed

by

a

crushing rejoinder.3

Since it is common

practice

to

strengthen

the

weight

of the rebuttal

by

using

the

language

of

the

citation,

it makes

sense to read

w.

17b-18,

which refer to

the

claims of the

prophet's opponents

in

inverse

order,

as the core of the

response.

The rest

is

uncertain. Allusion to

an

eventual new founda-

tion

in

Jerusalem

(w.

16-17a)

would be

rhetorically

ineffective

at

this

point

and

does not

fit

the

pattern

of

prophetic

diatribe.

Bringing up

salvific interventions of Yahweh in the

past

(v.

21)

would be

equally

out

of

place

in a

sentence of doom. The reference

to

inadequate

bed-

ding

(v. 20)

is

generally

taken to be

an

interpolated proverb,

but

I

think

Halpern correctly

identified the

mortuary

associations

in

the allu-

sion

to

a

bed

(massd')

and

covering

(massekd)

n this

verse.4 The

pas-

sage

is

rounded

off with

an

inclusion

warning against mocking

prophetic

preaching

(v.

22a,

cf.

v.

14),

which admonition

appears

to have esca-

lated into

an

adumbration

of

apocalyptic

doom at

the

hands of

a

much

later editor

(v. 22b).5

It will not be

necessary

to insist that the

words attributed to the

scornful

Jerusalemite

politicians represent

an

interested

interpretation

of

their

attitude and

policies

by

an

Isaian

author,

possibly

by

Isaiah

himself.

The

prophet's opponents

would

hardly

have admitted

taking

13-39.

A

Commentary

Philadelphia,

1975),

p.

248.

While a double

ntendre

ould

not be sur-

prising,

the context favours reference to

political

leaders

(cf.

Isa.

xiv

5;

xvi

1).

3

This tactic is much in evidence in Isaiah; see Isa. v 19; ix 9; x 8-11, 13b-14; xiv

13-14;

xxiii

4;

xxviii

9-10;

xxix

15;

xxx

10-11,

15. The standard

study

of

this rhetor-

ical

device

is

still

H.W.

Wolff,

Das Zitat im

Prophetenspruch.

Eine

Studie zur

propheti-

schen

Verkundigungsweise,

Gesammeltetudien

um

Alten

Testament

(Munich, 1964),

pp.

36-129.

4

B.

Halper,

'The

Excremental Vision':

The

Doomed Priests of Doom

in

Isaiah

28,

HAR

10

(1986),

pp.

109-21.

The verb

corresponding

to the substantive

massda

i.e.,

ys'

occurs at Isa. xiv 11

(Hophal)

in

a

mortuary

context:

tahtekd

yussa'

rimmd

uimelkassikd

dole',

beneath

you

maggots

form a

bed,

worms are

your

shroud ;

also,

masseka

nd mekasseh re similar

consonantly

and identical in

meaning.

The same

verb

(Hiphil)

is used of

making

a bed

in

Sheol at Ps.

cxxxix

8,

and

occurs

in

context

dealing with mourning (Isa. lviii 5; Esth. iv 3). Note also misckdbt Isa. lvii 2 and

lvii

7-8,

the latter

playing

on

the sexual and

mortuary

connotations of the term:

bed,

intercourse

(skb),

grave

or

mortuary

slab.

5

There

are,

needless

to

say,

differences of

opinion

in

the

commentaries,

but this

reading

of the

passage

would be

widely

accepted

with minor

modifications;

see,

for

example,

Kaiser,

Isaiah

13-39,

pp.

248-57;

Vermeylen,

Du

Prophite

sae a

l'Apocalyptique

I,

pp.

391-6;

R.E.

Clements,

Isaiah

1-39

(Grand

Rapids,

1980),

pp.

229-32;

J.

Barthel,

Prophetenwort

nd Geschichte

(Tiibingen,

1997),

pp.

306-28.

473


4/13

JOSEPH

BLENKINSOPP

refuge

in

lies

and

falsehood,

and

would

certainly

have

explained

their

agenda differently

if

they

had been

given

the

opportunity

to do so.

We are

dealing

with a

literary

creation and

only very indirectly

with

social and

political

realities

in

eighth

century

B.C.

Jerusalem.

What

at

least is clear is that

they

are

represented

as

claiming

to have

put

them-

selves

beyond

the reach

of an

imminent

disaster

as a

result of enter-

ing

into an

agreement

of some kind.

A

specific

historical context

is

not

stated,

though

the

language

of

raging

floodwater

(sot

sotep)

and

hail

(bardd)

occurring

elsewhere

in

the

book connotes an

Assyrian

Blitzkrieg.6

n

the context

of

chapters

xxviii-xxxiii as

a

whole,

this

is

generally

and I think

correctly

taken to refer to the

predictable

out-

come of

negotiations

between Hezekiah and

Merodach-baladan

II in

Babylonia

and between the

courts

ofJerusalem

and

Napata during

the

early years

of

Sennacherib's

reign,

the latter aimed at

bringing

Egypt

of the

twenty-fifth

(Nubian)

dynasty,

and

more

specifically

the

pharaoh

Shebitku,

into an

anti-Assyrian

coalition.7

While

cutting

a

deal with

Death

and

making

a

pact

with Sheol

could

be

understood

as

simply

metaphors

used to

disparage

the

prospects

of such

alliances,8

the lan-

guage

is

suggestive,

sinister and

foreboding enough,

and contains

enough

peculiar

features,

to hint that the

allegation

goes

further than that.

First, then,

the covenant and

pact.

The

term beit

occurs

only

twice

in Isaiah i-xxxix

outside of this

passage

(xxiv

5

and

xxxiii

8).9

The

context

in

which Isa.

xxiv

5

speaks

of an

everlasting

covenant

(ber^t

6

Cf. Isa. viii 7-8

in

which

the

verbs

stp

and

'br

occur with reference

to an

antici-

pated Assyrian invasion of Immanuel's land, probably Sennacherib's Palestinian cam-

paign

of 701 B.C. See also Isa. xxviii

2:

the

anticipated Assyrian conquest

of Samaria

is

compared

to

mayim

..

sotepim,

overflowing

waters,

and

zerem

bardd,

a hailstorm.

7

E.g.

K.

Marti,

Das Buch

Jesaja

(Tiibingen,

1900),

p.

207;

J.

Fischer,

Das Buch

Isaias

(Bonn, 1937),

p.

188;

Donner,

Israel unter den

Volkern,

.

153;

Kaiser,

Isaiah

13-39,

p.

252.

J.

Day,

Molech:

a

god of

human

acrifice

n the Old

Testament

Cambridge,

1989),

pp.

58-64,

rejects

any

allusion to the

Egyptian

connection and dates the

passage

to the

reign

of

Ahaz

rather

than

Hezekiah. It

is

true that the covenant does

not

refer

directly

to an alliance

with

Egypt,

but the

context of

chapters

xxviii-xxxiii

strongly

favours ref-

erence to the

political

situation under Hezekiah between the

years

704 and 701 when

the

Egyptian

connection was

politically

crucial.

8

This minimalist view has often been taken in the modern period. Robert Lowth,

for

example,

commented

that

to

be in

covenant

with,

is

a

kind

of

proverbial expres-

sion

to denote

perfect

security

from

evil and mischief of

any

sort and

goes

on

to

quote Job

v

23

and

Hos. ii 18.

See his Isaiah.

A

New

Translationwith a

Preliminary

Dissertation nd

Notes

(London,

1833;

10th

ed.), p.

276.

Similarly

Barthel,

Prophetenwort

und

Geschichte,

p.

318-9.

9

E.

Kutsch,

Verheissung

nd

Gesetz.

Untersuchungen

um

sogenannten

Bund' m

Alten

Testament

(Berlin,

1973),

pp.

34-38.

474


5/13

ISAIAH XXVIII

14-22

'olam)

the

dispersal

of

humanity,

pollution,

a curse on the

ground,

chaos

(tohu)

-

suggests

that intertextual links

with the

berit

'olam

of

Gen.

ix

8-17 would

be

worth

following up.

Isa.

xxxiii

7-9 describes

a

desperate

situation

in the

country,

presumably

Judah.

While the lan-

guage

is

unspecific,

it

seems to be

referring

to a combination

of

mil-

itary

disaster and

drought resulting

from the violation of the terms of

a

treaty:

he has violated the covenant

(treaty),

he

has

despised

the

witnesses

(xxxiii 8).'?

Drought

is listed

in

the

catalogues

of curses set

out

in

often

gruesome

detail

in

Assyrian

vassal treaties.

If

the situa-

tion described

in

this

passage

is the result of the

devastating campaign

of

Sennacherib

in 701

(natural

resources

depleted, highways destroyed,

depopulation, general lamentation),

it would be

difficult to avoid the

conclusion

that the

individual

responsible

for the violation of

the

(vas-

sal)

treaty,

in

which

we must assume Yahweh

would be invoked

as

a

witness,

was none other than Hezekiah.

The term

parallel

with

bret,

i.e., hozeh,

s

elsewhere unattested with

a

meaning compatible

with

the

present

context.

K6hler's

proposal

to

emend

to hesed'2 s

still

occasionally

adopted,

but is rendered

unac-

ceptable

by

the

occurrence of

hdazt

at

v. 18 and

by

the absence of

support

either

in

1QIsaa

and

1QIsab

or

in

the

ancient versions.'3We

might

therefore

consider the

possibility

that

these

terms,

hozeh,

hazu't,

which elsewhere

connote

a

visionary

experience,

have been chosen

advisably,

to make

a

point.

If

a double

ntendres

intended,

we

may

sus-

pect

a

mocking

allusion to the tradition

about the Sinaitic

covenant

behind Exod.

xxiv

9-11.

According

to this

tradition,

the

participants

included

community

leaders

('asile

bene

yis'rda')

cf.

moelzm,

Isa. xxviii

10

Reading

'edim

with

lQIsaa

for MT

'arim.

1

S.

Parpola

and K.

Watanabe,

Neo-Assyrian

reaties nd

Loyalty

Oaths

(Helsinki,

1988),

pp.

5,

11,

46-47. See also the

threat of

being

consumed

by

a

fiery

wind

and

being

burnt to lime

(xxxiii 10-12)

compared

with curses in

the

treaty

of Ashur-nerari V

with

Mati'ilu of

Arpad

lines

8-9;

Parpola

and

Watanabe,

p.

8.

12

L.

Kohler,

Zu

Jes

28,

15a

und

18b,

ZAW

n.F.

48

(1930),

pp.

227-8.

13

LXX

has sunthekas

parallel

with

diatheken;

ulgate: percussimusfoedus

um

morte,

um

infernoecimus

pactum.

The

verse

does not occur

in

any

of the

4Q

Isaiah

fragments.

Of

possible relevance is the term hzt in the Marseilles Tariff line 11

(CIS

I 165; G.A.

Cook,

A

Text-Book

f

North-Semitic

nscriptionsOxford,

1903],

pp.

112,

120).

In

the

con-

text it seems to

refer to

a

species

of

sacrifice,

perhaps,

as

Cook

suggests,

in

connec-

tion with

auspices

or,

possibly,

a

type

of

divination connected

with

sacrifice,

which

would

bring

it

closer

to

our

text;

see

J.

Hoftijzer

and K.

Jongeling, Dictionagy

f

the

North-West

Semitic

Inscriptions

Leiden,

1995),

vol.

I,

p.

357.

Occurrence of the

corre-

sponding

verb

(zhh)

at

Exod.

xviii

21

with the

meaning appoint

to an

office does

not

help

to

clarify

the

substantive

occurring

here.

475


6/13

JOSEPH

BLENKINSOPP

14)

and

priests,

as

here,

and

the

finalizing

of the

covenant involved a

visionary

experience (wayyehezuet-ha'elohim)

nd

sharing

in

a cultic meal.

That the

participants

avoided

death

( He

did

not

lay

his

hand on the

Israelite

nobility )

is

also reminiscent of the

prophet's

opponents par-

ticipating

in a

ritual act

which

they

anticipate

will

enable them to

avoid death.

Since the attitude of these

opponents

is

described

through-

out

the

passage

as one of

mockery

and derision

(xxviii

9-10, 14,

22),

it

may

be that

they

are

represented

as involved

in

a kind of

parody

of

the

Sinai

covenant,

something

like a Black

Mass,

involving

deities

other than Yahweh.

This last

point

remains to be demonstrated. Death

(mdwet)

nd Sheol

(se'ol),

with

whom

theJudaean

leaders entered into an

agreement,

are

routinely

linked

in

biblical

texts.'4

Certain

figures

are

associated with

death: Abaddon

(Job

xxviii

22;

Prov.

xxvii

20),

the

King

of Terrors

(Job

xviii

14),

the shades

(repda'im,

rov.

ii

18;

v

5;

vii

27)

but,

in

addi-

tion,

some

degree

of

personification

is

inevitably present

in

the meta-

phoric language

used

about death: Death addresses the

living (Job

xxviii

22), shepherds

them

(Ps.

xlix

15),

and fathers

children,

Disease

being

the firstborn of Death

(Job

xxxviii

13-14).

While there is room

for

disagreement

as to

the

extent

to

which

death is

personified

in the

biblical

texts,

death as covenant

partner

certainly

qualifies

as a

person-

ification.

Many

commentators

accept

this line

of

interpretation,

some

interpreting

it

as

a mere

figure

of

speech,

others

linking

Death and

Sheol

with Mot and

Osiris,

deities

of

the Phoenician cities and

Egypt,

Judah's

anti-Assyrian

treaty

partners,

respectively.'5

t

was,

in

any

event,

inevitable that

personified

Death would

be identified

with

the

deity

Mot

(motu),

amiliar from the

Ugaritic

texts and Philo of

Byblos.'6

Mot was

a

chthonic

deity,

lord of the

Underworld,

son

of

El,

bringer

of

drought

and

infertility,

and

opponent

of the

young god

Baal.

This

deity

would

14

2

Sam.

xxii

5;

Isa. xxxviii

18;

Hos. xiii

14;

Hab.

ii

5;

Ps.

vi

6;

xviii

5;

xlix

15;

lv

16;

cxvi

3;

Prov. v

5;

vii

27.

15

B.

Duhm,

Das

Buch

Jesaja

(Gottingen,

19224),

pp.

199-200,

suggests

that those

pacting

with Death and

the

Underworld

were

perhaps

hedging

their bets

by

covert

negotiations

with

Egypt

and

Assyria simultaneously,

and that

their

relations with

Egypt

were expressed by necromantic practices involving Osiris. See also P. Auvray, Isaie

1-39

(Paris,

1972),

pp.

250-1;

Vermeylen,

Du

Prophete

saie a

l'Apocalyptique,.

393n.

J.

Skinner,

The Book

of

the

Prophet

saiah

Chapters

-XXXIX

(Cambridge,

1915

2nd

ed.),

p.

225,

suggested

Osiris

and

Isis,

gods

of the

dead,

as

sanctioning

the alliance from

the

Egyptian

side.

16

See

TJ.

Lewis,

Mot

(deity),

ABD,

pp.

922-24;

J.F.

Healey,

Mot,

in K.

van

der Toorn

et

al.

(eds.),

Dictionary

f

Deities and Demons

n

the Bible

2nd

ed.

(Leiden

&

Grand

Rapids,

1999),

pp.

598-603;

H.-J.

Fabry,

na,

in

TDOT

VIII,

pp.

205-9.

476


7/13

ISAIAH

XXVIII

14-22

certainly

have been well

known in

eighth

century Judah,

even

though

we know

of no

cult associated

with Mot from either the

Ugaritic

or

the biblical texts. One indication of

familiarity

with Mot is the fre-

quent

allusion

to

the

voracious

appetite

of

Death and the

Underworld

(Sheol).'7

To be considered

at this

point

is

the

hypothesis,

proposed

by John

Day,

that the

covenanting

referred

to at Isa.

xxviii

15 was with

Molech,

a

chthonic

deity

to

whom,

unlike

Mot,

cult was offered

in

Jerusalem

under the

monarchy.'8

The

suggestion

is not

difficult to

entertain

since

death

and Sheol

are often

linked

in a

fairly

perfunctory way (see

n.

14).

In biblical

texts,

moreover,

the Molech cult is often mentioned

in

the context of

mortuary practices

and

necromancy

(Lev.

xviii

21;

Deut.

xviii

10-11;

2

Kings

xvii

17;

xxi

6),

and

in

Isa. lvii

9

the

sor-

ceress

('onend)

enounced

by

the

seer

is

accused

of

pacting

with

Molech

and Sheol. Both

deities

preside

over

the

Underworld,

and

deities

with

similar attributes

and functions are

often

assimilated,

e.g.,

Malik

(Molech)

with

Nergal,

both

monarchs of the

nether

regions.

But

if

the cult

of

Molech was

practised

in

eighth

century

B.C.

Jerusalem

we must

won-

der

why

mdwet,

suggestive

of the

god

Mot,

and not

Molech,

is men-

tioned at Isa. xxviii

15.

Telling

against Day's

hypothesis

is

also the

fact

that

all

biblical

references

to

Molech

mention

child

sacrifice,

of

which there is no

hint

in

the

passage

under

discussion. On

the

whole,

then,

it seems more

likely

that the

Judaean

leadership

is

being

repre-

sented as

entering

into

an

agreement

with the realm

of

the dead

and

its

ruler

in the

person

of

Mot

rather than

Molech.

The

question

now arises how

the

Judaean

ruling

class

expected

to

survive death

by

entering

into an

agreement

with Death. The answer

will

depend

on

how we

interpret

their

understanding

of the

antici-

pated

outcome of

the

pact.

What

they

foresee

happening

is that

when

the

raging

flood

(sot sotep)'9

asses

through

it will

not touch us

which,

as

we have

seen,

refers

to

an

anticipated

Assyrian

attack.

If

Mot,

god

of

the

underworld,

is

represented

as

being

their

covenant

partner,

per-

haps

a

mythological

topos

also

underlies the

raging

flood which

they

anticipate.

If

so,

we would

suspect

an

allusion to

the

northwest

Semitic

7

Isa. v

14;

Hab. ii

5;

Prov. i

12;

xxvii

20;

Job

xviii

13-14;

cf.

CTA

5.2.2.-4.

18

J. Day,

Molech,

pp.

62-64.

On

this

deity

see

G.C.

Heider,

The

Cult

of

Molek. A

Reassessment

(Sheffield, 1985)

and

Molech,

in

van

der

Toorn,

Dictionary

f

Deities

and

Demons

n

the

Bible,

pp.

581-5.

19

Reading

s.t

with

Qere

and

lQIsaa

for Ketib

sit.

477


8/13

JOSEPH

BLENKINSOPP

storm

god

Hadad

(Haddu,

Adad),

assimilated to

Baal and

therefore

enemy

of

Mot.

Hadad

bestows the

fertilizing

rain,

but is feared

as the

bringer

of destructive storms. He is also known as the Thunderer

(rammanu,

Rimmon),

and

is

represented

wearing

a

horned

headdress

and

bearing

a

stylized

lightning

bolt and

either

a

mace or

whip.20

Significantly

for

the issue under

discussion,

he was

venerated

by

the

Assyrians

as a war

deity

and as

sponsoring

their western

campaigns.

Hadad is also

named as

a

guarantor

of

treaties,

and

played

an

impor-

tant role

in

divination

and

mortuary

rites.21The

meaning

would then

be that the

ruling

class

in

Jerusalem,

aware of

the mortal

danger

in

which

they

stood on the eve of the

Assyrian

punitive

campaign,

are

represented

as

entering

into a

pact

with the

god

Mot with

the idea

of

surviving

the

danger

posed by

the

Assyrians,

represented by

and

acting

in

the name

of the storm

god

Hadad,

enemy

of Mot. To

repeat,

this is an

imaginative literary

construct

in

the

service of

polemics.

While the

charge

could

hardly

have been made

if

entirely lacking

in

plausibility,

we

obviously

have no

assurance that

the

writer's

oppo-

nents

actually

did what

they

are

alleged

to have done.

The

quote

continues with the assertion that the covenanters with

Mot have

set

up

a lie as their

refuge

and

have

sought

shelter

in

false-

hood

(v. 15b).

While

they

would

hardly

have stated their

position

in

these

terms,

the words

attributed

to

them have

in

fact a certain con-

sistency

with

the situation as described.

In

prophetic

texts the lie

(kdzab)

can

denote communications from a

(false) deity, including

visionary

experiences

and divination

(Ezek.

xiii

6-9;

xxi

34;

xxii

28),

and the

parallel

term falsehood

(seqer)

s used

routinely

inJeremiah

to describe

20

The

secondary meaning

of

sot

=

a flood of water seems to have been intro-

duced

by J.

Barth

,Ptl

Dt,

Z

WAW3

(1913),

pp.

306-7 and

Zu

tClW

Flut',

ZAW

34

(1914),

p.

69,

as

more

consonant

with the

context

at Isa. xxviii

15,

18 and

Job

ix

23

('im

sit

ydmit

pitom).

Elsewhere

the word

means

whip

or

scourge

(1

Kings

xii

11,

14

=

2 Chron.

x

11, 14;

Isa.

x

26;

Nah.

iii

2;Job

v

21;

Prov.

xxvi

3).

The

neces-

sity

of

s^t

II

-

flood

of

water

is

disputed by

H.

Gese,

die

stromende Geissel

des

Hadad und

Jesaja

28,

15 and

18,

in

A. Kuschke &

E.

Kutsch

(eds.)

Archaologie

nd

Altes

Testament.

Festschrift

ur

Kurt

Galling (Tubingen, 1970),

pp.

127-34

based on the

iconography of the storm god Hadad who whips up the storm with his scourge or

flail. It seems to

me,

however,

that

the

present

context

is not

favourable to

sot

I

whip ,

and

that it makes better sense to

speak

of a storm

passing through

a

coun-

try

('br)

and

people being trampled

down

by

it. The semantic ambivalence could be

due to

representing

a

violent storm

as a

scourge,

or even to the

mythological repre-

sentation

to which Gese

appeals.

21

J.C.

Greenfield,

Hadad ,

in

van der

Toorn,

Dictionary

f

Deities and Demons n the

Bible,

pp.

377-82

with

bibliography.

478


9/13

ISAIAH XXVIII

14-22

unacceptable

kinds

of

prophesying, including

divination

and

visions

(Jer.

xiv

14;

cf.

Zech.

x

2).

We

come

even closer to the

covenanting

moselimwith

Hos.

xii

2

which

appears

to

categorize treaty-making

with

Assyria

and

Egypt

as

a form

of

lying:

They (Ephraim)multiply

ying

(kazab)

nd

destruction:

making

a

treaty

with

Assyria,carrying

oil to

Egypt.

From the

point

of view of the

prophetic

author

of

Isa.

xxviii

15 the

lie and the falsehood

refer,

in

the last

analysis,

to

foreign

deities,

the cult offered to

them,

and

accomodations with them

which,

on the

prophetic

view,

were endemic

in

foreign

alliances sealed

by treaty.

This

is the

point

of

the rulers

identifying

their

refuge

(mahseh)

n

these

terms,

since it is

abundantly

clear

from

liturgical

piety

that for Israel

Yahweh

is the

only refuge.22

In

the context of that

place

and

time,

making

a

covenant of

any

kind involved ritual

acts,

generally including

participation

in a

meal

and

sacrifices.

The

first

part

of the

passage

under consideration

(xxviii

7-13)

may provide

a

clue to the nature of the act in this

instance

as

described,

perhaps

imagined, by

the

prophet.

It

presents

the

spectacle

of

priests

and

prophets engaged

in a

drunken

orgy, staggering

around

covered

in

vomit and excrement.

In

this condition

they

were

naturally

in

no

position

to

discharge

their

professional

duties:

for the

priests,

the

handing

down of

judicial

decisions and

teaching

in

general;

for

the

prophets,

guidance

by

means

of

divination

and

the

giving

of

oracles.23

Making

all due allowance

for

prophetic hyperbole,

the

description

sug-

gests

a

ceremonial meal of a rather

special

kind,

perhaps

in

the tem-

ple precincts

since

priests

and their

prophetic

associates are

involved,

one

in

which the

political

leaders also

participated.

22

Pss.

xiv

6;

xlvi

2;

lxi

4;

lxii

8-9;

lxxi

7;

lxxiii

28;

xci

2, 9;

xciv

22;

cxlii

6. Also

Isa.

xxv

4;

Jer.

xvii

17;

Joel

iv

16.

23

The term

pfelflyy

(7b)

is

hapax

but

cf.

pelfld

(xvi

3)

meaning,

in

the

context,

a

judicial

act,

and

pelilm (Exod.

xxi

22),

judges,

assessors. This function

of the

priest-

hood is

matched

by

that of

teaching,

cf.

yoreh

de'd,

(Isa.

xxviii

9a);

likewise the

prophet's

function is

described

in

terms of visions

(baro'ah,

emended

text,

7b)

and

communica-

tions from a

deity (snmu'a,

a).

NEB

[priest

and

prophet]

lose their

way

through tip-

pling,

and

stumble in

judgement

is based on G.R.

Driver's

emendation of

baro'eh

o

baroweh,

with the

meaning

intoxication ,

tippling drawing

on the Hebrew

verbal

stem

rwh,

drink

one's

fill ,

supported by

Theodotion and the

Peshitta.

See

G.R.

Driver,

'Another Little Drink'

-

Isaiah

28:1-22,

in

P.R.

Ackroyd

and B.

Lindars

(eds.),

Words

and

Meanings.Essays

Presentedo David Winton

Thomas

(Cambridge, 1968),

p.

52.

However,

parallelism

with

peldlyyd

and

what

appears

to be

allusion to the functions

specific

to

priest

and

prophet

at v.

9a counsel

retaining

MT.

479


10/13

JOSEPH

BLENKINSOPP

Several scholars

have noted that the

Ugaritic

text which

describes

El's

banquet

and

its aftermath

(KTU 1.114)

is

strongly

reminiscent of

Isa. xxviii

7-22.

After

inviting

the

gods

to drink wine

to

satiety,

new

wine to inebriation

(tstny

'd sb'

/

trt 'd

skr),

he feast

got underway:

il.

ytb.

bmrzhh

yst.

y]

n. 'd sb'

trt. 'd

sckr

il.

hlk. Ibth

ystql.

Ihzrh.

y'msn.nn.

kmn

wsnm.

wnginn. by.

b'l.

qrm.

wdnb.

ylsn

bhrih.wtnth.

ql.

il. km

mt

il.

kyrdm.

rs.

El

took his seat

in

his

marzihu-house;

e drankwine

to

satiety,

new wine

to inebriation.

El

went

to his

house,

stumbling

owardshis

courtyard;

tkmn nd

snm

propped

him

up.

A

demon

(?)

approached

him

equipped

with horns and tail. He wallowed24n his excrementand urine.El col-

lapsed

ike one

dead,

El

was

like those who descend nto the underworld.25

The

mention

of

El's

mrzh

(Hebrew

equivalent

marzeah)

n

the

same text

has contributed to the

hypothesis

that Isa.

xxviii

7-13

is

describing

a

marzeah

festival held

during

the

period

immediately

preceding

the

Assyrian onslaught

in

701

B.C.26 The

conjecture

is

certainly possible.

The one constant feature of the marzeah eems to

have

been

drinking

to

excess,

often

in the

context of

a

funerary

feast,

and

generally

in the

24

The

meaning

of

ylsn,

from a verbal stem

/s1

or

lws,

is

uncertain.

C.

Gordon,

Ugaritic

Textbook

Rome, 1965),

p.

427

has

knead

based on the

corresponding

Hebrew

verb

lus;

the

meaning

assigned

here seems to be better

supported;

see

the

note

of

N.

Wyatt,

Religious

Texts

rom

Ugarit

Sheffield,

1998),

p.

411.

25

For

different

angles

on this text

see

M.

Pope,

A Divine

Banquet

at

Ugarit,

in

J.M.

Efird

(ed.),

The Use

of

the Old Testament

n the

New

and Other

Essays.

Studies n Honor

of

William

Franklin

Stinespring

Durham,

N.C.,

1972),

pp.

170-203;

JJ.

Jackson,

Style

in

Isaiah

28

and a

Drinking

Bout of the Gods

(RS 24.258),

in

JJ. Jackson

and

M. Kessler (eds.), RhetoricalCriticism. ssaysin Honorof James MuilenburgPittsburg, 1974),

pp.

85-98;

B.

Margalit,

The

Ugaritic

Feast of the Drunken Gods: Another Look at

RS

24.258

(KTU 1.114),

Maarav

2

(1979),

pp.

65-120.

26

Jackson,

Style

in

Isaiah

28

and a

Drinking

Bout of the Gods

(RS

24.258),

pp.

85-98;

B.

Halper,

'The

Excremental

Vision': The Doomed Priests of Doom

in

Isaiah

28,

pp.

109-21;

K. van

der

Toom,

Echoes

of

Judaean

Necromancy

in Isaiah

28,

7-22,

ZAW

100

(1988),

pp.

199-217.

480


11/13

ISAIAH XXVIII

14-22

presence

of a

patron deity

and deceased

members of the

lineage.28

Its

social function

of

emotional

unburdening

in

a time of stress and of

bonding

within

a

specific

affinity group

would be

compatible

with the

situation which

our

text

describes. But the

parallelism

with KTU

I.

114

should

not be

pressed.

There is no

suggestion

of alcohol

intake as a

deliberate

means

of

attaining

a

state of

sacra

ebrietas,

.e.,

a

condition

of mental dissociation conducive to visions

or

making

contact with the

dead. It

is not at all clear what

happened

after

El's encounter with

the

fearsome

hby,

and the

immediate

cause of

loss of

sphincter

con-

trol,

if

that is what

happened,

and

if it

happened

to

El,

was not

alco-

holic

ecstasy

but fright

(cf.

Ezek. vii

17).29

These reservations

having

been

expressed,

it

seems

that some

form

of necromantic

practice

is not

only compatible

with the

making

of a

covenant with Death but

a

necessary part

of

it. This

reading

of

the

text

is

occasionally rejected,

but

the

arguments

do not seem to

be deci-

sive.

It

certainly

cannot be

excluded on the

grounds

that

Hezekiah's

religious

reforms would have outlawed such

practices.30

Consultation

is

not the same as

making

a

covenant,

as

Day

points

out,

but

covenanting requirescommunicating,

and

communicating

with

Death and

Sheol for whatever

purpose

is

by

definition

necromancy.31

Such

practices

tend to flourish

in

times

of

political

and social

stress

and

anomie,

and there

are indications

that the

Judaean

leadership

had

recourse to communication with

the

dead,

meaning

the

ancestors,

on

more

than one occasion

(Isa.

viii

19-23;

xxix

4,

cf.

xix

3).

Of interest in this

respect

is the

extremely vituperative

attack on

the

sorceress

('jnend)

and her

children

in

Isa.

lvii

3-13. This

symbolic

28

Much has been written on the

subject

of the

marzeah.

t will

suffice for

our

pur-

poses

to refer to

the

cautious assessments

of

TJ.

Lewis,

Cults

of

the Dead in Ancient

srael

and

Ugarit (Atlanta,

1989),

pp.

80-94;

B.B.

Schmidt,

Israel's

Benqficent

ead

(Tubingen,

1994),

pp.

62-66.

29

B.

Halpern,

'The

Excremental Vision': The

Doomed

Priests

of Doom in

Isaiah

28,

pp.

109-21.

Intoxication as

a

means of

enabling

or

facilitating

commerce

with the

dead

is

also defended

by

K.

van der

Toorn,

Echoes

ofJudaean

Necromancy

in

Isaiah

28,

7-22,

pp.

199-217.

However,

it is

difficult to find

convincing

evidence

for this

practice, quite apart

from the fact that the ancients were

probably

no less aware of

alcohol

as a

depressant

than

we are.

30

G.

Fohrer,

Das

Buch

Jesaja

II

(Zurich

&

Stuttgart,

1962),

p.

57.

31

J. Day, pp.

61-62.

Similar

objections

in

B.B.

Schmidt,

Israel's

Beneficent

ead,

pp.

160-161. It

is of

interest

to note those

occasions where

condemnation of the

Molech

cult in the

Hebrew

Bible

is associated with

reprobation

of

necromancy (Lev.

xx

2-6;

Deut.

xviii

9-11;

2

Kings

xxi

6;

Isa.

lvii

3-13).

481


12/13

JOSEPH

BLENKINSOPP

personification,

somewhat similar

to Gomer and her children

in

Hosea

and the outsider woman

('issd zdra)

of Proverbs

i-ix,

is

accused

of

engaging

in

rites of

a

sexual and

mortuary

nature

including

cult offered

to ancestors.32

The

Masoretic text bristles

with

obscurities,

in

part

due

to scribal

attempts

to soften the

sexually explicit

content of

the

pas-

sage.

At several

points

we

are reminded of the covenant with Death

and Sheol at

xxviii

14-22.

One of

the accusations directed

at the trans-

gressive

woman

(w.

8b-9)

reads:

wattikrot-ldkMhemdhabt

miskdbdm

dd

hazit

wattasuriammelekasfemenattarbiiqquihdyik

wattesalle7hi

irayikad-merahoqattaspili

ad-sf1l

You

made a

pact

for

yourself

with

them;

you

loved their

beds ;

you

gazed

on the

phallus.

You

journeyed

to the

King

with

oil,

you put

on

lots of

perfume;

you

despatched

your

envoys

afar,

you

sent down

into

the Underworld.33

The

understanding

of

v. 8b

in

terms

of

a

pact

with the dead

of the

lineage

is

textually

uncertain,

but

appears

to be confirmed

by

the mes-

sengers

(.szrfm,

f.

Isa.

xviii

2)

sent

on a mission to

Sheol. The

king

who,

on this

reading,

the sorceress

visits and for whom she makes

her-

self attractive

may

well be

Molech,

especially

in

view of

the

charge

of

cultic infanticide

levelled

against

her

(v. 5).34

The

main

point

is that

a covenant is

being

made which involves the

deity presiding

over

the

realm

of death. The

parallelism

with Isa.

xxviii

14-22

adds

plausibil-

ity

to

the

argument

that

the civil and

religious

leaders

ofJudah

in

the

last decade

of the

eighth century

B.C.

are

represented

as

following

the

same

course

of

action.35

32

Referred to as

'elfm,

divine

beings,

at 5a and

perhaps

also

qibbusim,

13a.

33

Textual notes: wattikrdt: ead

wtkrwy

second

person

fem.

sing.

with

lQIsaa;

mehem:

read

'immahem;

attadsui:

rom

sur

cf. Ezek.

xxvii

26,

possibly

Cant.

iv

8;

merdhoq:

ead

merhaq.

34

J.

Day,

pp.

50-52.

35

Other

parallels

may

be mentioned:

the term

miskcab,

w. 7-8),

bed,

with sexual

overtones

(cf.

Ezek.

xxiii

17,

miskab

dodim),

s also used of

the

grave,

or

mortuary

slab

(v.

2

cf.

hammassda

xviii

20);

YHWH

as the

only

true

refuge

v. 13b

cf.

mahsena,

xviii

15b;

in

both situations

YHWH is mocked either

directly

or

through

his

prophet

(lvii

4;

xxviii

14,

22);

both

the

sorceress

and the

Judean

leaders

are accused of

lying

and

falsehood

(seqer,

4b,

te7kazzebi,

1a,

cf.

xxviii

15b).

482


13/13

ISAIAH XXVIII

I4-22

483

Abstract

The prophetic diatribe in Isa. xxviii 7-22 is directed against the Judean political and

religious

leadership anxiously seeking

an alliance with

Egypt

of

the

twenty-fifth (Nubian)

dynasty shortly

before the

Assyrian punitive

campaign

of 701 B.C.

The

opponents

are

accused of

entering

into

a

covenant

with Death and Sheol.

It

is

suggested

that

the

covenant

is

represented

as made with the Canaanite

deity

Mot

(motu),

ather than with

Molech,

in

the

expectation

that Mot would take

up

their cause

against

his

adversary

Hadad,

personification

of the

sot

so.tep

of

xxviii

15, 18,

thus

enabling

them to

survive

the

anticipated

Assyrian

attack. Isa. xxviii 7-8

suggests

the

possibility

that the cere-

mony

by

which the

pact

was

sealed,

reminiscent of the

Ugaritic

texts

KTU

I.114,

is

represented

as

a

parody

of

the tradition about covenant

making

at Sinai

represented

by

Exod.

xxiv 9-11.

judah's covenant with death (isaiah xxviii 14-22)

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