8/3/2019 The Religion of Israel Before Sinai http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-religion-of-israel-before-sinai 1/29 Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania The Religion of Israel before Sinai Author(s): M. H. Segal Reviewed work(s): Source: The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jul., 1961), pp. 41-68 Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1453274 . Accessed: 16/11/2011 00:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of Pennsylvania Press and Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Jewish Quarterly Review. http://www.jstor.org
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Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania
The Religion of Israel before SinaiAuthor(s): M. H. SegalReviewed work(s):Source: The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jul., 1961), pp. 41-68Published by: University of Pennsylvania PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1453274 .
Accessed: 16/11/2011 00:04
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
University of Pennsylvania Press and Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania are
collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Jewish Quarterly Review.
doctrine as the unity of the divine ? For it cannot be said
that in his clan or in his family there was a tendency or adisposition favoring the development of such a doctrine.
Abraham's family was not different from its neighbours in
faith and worship. "Your fathers dwelt of old on the other
side of the river (Euphrates) and they served other gods"
(Jos. 24, 2). Terahwas the father of Abrahamand of Nachor.
Abraham's family first dwelt at Ur of the Chaldees and
then moved toHarran (Gen. II, 31). Both these places were
then the great centres of the worship of Sin, the moon god,
and it may be presumed that Abraham's family were also
devoted to the worshipof the moon. The name of Abraham's
father Terah (nrrn)s plausibly associated with the name of
the moon Yerah (nnr) and the name of Abraham's wife
Sarah (Sarai, "i-, nn', the princess) is identical with the
title of the consort of the moon god.' The devotion of his
family to this idolatry may have been the true reason forAbraham's departure from Mesopotamniand his settlement
in Canaan. His new faith must have made it impossible for
him to continue to live together with his pagan kinsmen.
Though his separationfrom them was not complete; he kept
in Canaanhis contact with at Harran(Gen.22, 20). The moral
standard of his famnilywas higherthan that of his neighbors
in Canaan. For this reason he opposed the marriage of hisson Isaac to a Canaanitishwoman and ordered his servant
to fetch a wife for Isaac fromhis kindredat Harran(Gen. 24).
Similarly in the following generation Esau's Canaanitish
wives were a cause of grief to Isaac and Rebekah, and they
ordered Jacob to go to Harran and marry into Laban's
family (Gen. 26, 35; 27, 46; 28, I-2). But Abraham refused
to let Isaac go to Harran for such a purpose (24, 6 8) for fear
lest Isaac with his softer nature might be influenced by the
1 Cf. U. Cassuto, From Noah to Abraham (Hebrew), p. I50 I56;
H. Zimmern, Keilingschriften u. das AT (I903), p. 364. In the Ugariticepos of Keret Terah is a divinity of the Negeb, the enemy of Keret;cf. R. Dussaud, Mana II La Religion des Pheniciens (I945), p. 367.
potamian background,as is demonstrated by the Mesopota-
mian coloring of the story of Eden and its rivers, of theflood, of the tower of Babel, by the names of many of the
primeval patriarchs,and by the account of the beginnings of
Abraham himself. It may therefore be reasonably assumed
that these stories in the first section of the book are based
upon Mesopotamianmaterialbroughtto Canaanby Abraham
himself whichhe purifiedfrom its pagan dross and refashioned
in the spirit of his monotheisticfaith and handed it down as aliving tradition to his descendants.
Mesopotamian civilization continues its influence also in
the second section of the book describingthe lives of the three
patriarchs (ch. I2-35).1 This is evident in the family affairs
of Abraham with Sara and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac
which are conducted in accordance with the established legal
customs of Mesopotamia, n the marriagesof Isaac and Jacob,
and in the whole of Jacob's life in Harran.The stories in thissecond section must have been fashioned and formulated
while the memory of the Mesopotamianinfluence was still
active and fresh in Israel, and before family relationships
were modified by changed conditions and by the influence
of the Mosaic law. It may therefore be assumed that these
stories originated contemporaneously with the age of the
patriarchsand handed down as a living traditionin the familyof Jacob and its Israelite descendants in Egypt.
Finally the exquisite tale of Joseph and his brethrenin the
third and last section of the book (ch. 37-50) must surelyhave
been founded on the living tradition of Israel in Egypt prior
to the exodus. At no other period in Israel's history (except
perhapsin the last days of the kingdom of Judah when Judah
had close connections with Egypt) could there have existed
in Israel such a familiarity with Egyptian manners and
1 Gen. ch. 36 looks like an orginally Edomite document which mayhave been incorporated in the book in the days of David or Solomonwhen Israel came into close contact with Edom; cf. IISam. 8, I3-15;
new faith. The meaning of the name was revealed to Moses
in the vision of the bush, viz. The One who is, i.e., who isalways (Ex. 3, I4). It is derived from the verb nmr, n older
form of rnr. t is an imperfect form of the qal in the usual
sense of the presenttense. In the vision Godspeaking Himself
uses the form of the first person of the verb: n"ne,while men
speak of Him in the third person: Imimwhich has become
n His standing name.'
Abraham'sGod is the one and only God, the God of heaven
and earth (24, 3 7), the creatorof all the world and its creatu-
res (ch. I), who appointed the regular working of the world
and provided the nourishment of its creatures (I, I4-I5
29-30; 8, 22; 9, 3). His abode is in heaven and there reside
also His angels who act as His messengers (2I, I7; 22, II I5;
28, I2). Sometimes He descends to the earth and assumes a
formvisible to man (II, 5; i8, If.); but more often His angels
act for Him (I6, 7; 24, 7; 32, 2). Man was created by God'shands and is composed of an earthen body animated by a
spirit of life breathedinto him by his creator (2, 7) who made
him in a divine image and a divine likeness (i, 26-7; 5, I),
and appointed him ruler of the earth and its creatures (I, 28;
9, 2). Manis thus a being endowedwith a moral sense and is
punished for transgressing the divine commands (3; 4, II;
5, 5-7; I9, etc.). God is the judge of the earth, and His wayis justice and righteousness (I8, 25 I9; also I6, 5; cf. Ex.
5, 2I).
Abraham and after him Isaac worshipped God at altars
which they built in His honor (I2, 8; I3, 4; 26, 25). It is not
stated that they also offered sacrifices on the altars, but it
must be assumed that they did so, as this was the usual
1 This correct explanation of the relation of 71'71K n thedivine speech (Ex. 3, I4) to the name Yhwh was first propoundedin mysterious language by the great medieval Jewish exegete Samuelb. Meir (Rashbam) in the twelfth century; cf. Masoreth u-Biqqoreth,p. 52-53.
practice in their days, and as Noah had done before them
and as Jacob did after them, and as Abrahamhimself did atMoriah(8, 20; 46, I; 22, I3).1 Abraham built his altars in the
field in propinquity of trees, and he also planted a tree and
worshippedthere (I2, 6-7; I3, I8; 2I, 32). But this must not
be interpreted (as is done by modern scholars) as a belief on
Abraham's part in the sacred character of trees as being
themselves of divine origin, or as serving as a habitation for
the divine. Such a belief would be irreconcileablewith Abra-ham's faith in the God of heaven and earth. In Mesopotaniia,too, the inhabitants had long before Abraham discardedsuch
primitive notions and had learnt to house their gods in
sanctuaries and in temples. Rather must Abraham's choice
of such a site for his worshipbe explained as an adoption for
some reason or other of a custom prevalent in Canaan(Deut.
I2, 2, etc.). Similarly Jacob followed the custom of his sur-
roundings when he set up a stone at Bethel and anointed
it with oil, and vowed to make it a house of God (28, I8-22).
Jacob could not possibly have believed that his God who was
the Godof Abraham(v. I3), and the God of heaven and earth,
would dwellin the stone as the Canaanitesmighthave believed
of their local numen. His Godwas a universal Godwho would
be with him also in Harran and who would bring him back
from Harran to his paternal home.In the same way Abraham, like other founders of new
religions, adopted from his surroundings other ideas of a
spiritual import and incorporated them in a purified form
into his own new faith. Thus when Melchizedekking of Salem
who was the priest of his local deity El Elyon (the Most High
God) had greeted Abraham, on his return from his victory
over Chedorlaomer,n the name of this God "El Elyonthe
possessor (orcreator)of heaven and earth", Abrahamadopted
1 Similarly it is stated that Jacob built an altar at Bethel, and thatMoses built an altar at Rephidim (Gen. 35, 7; Ex. I7, I5-I6), butuothing is said explicitely about the sacrifices which were certainlyoffered on those altars.
2I, 4; Lev. I2, 3). From the story of Dinah at Shechemit is
clear that circumcision was strictly observed by Abraham'simmediate descendants Jacob and his sons (34, I4-I5), and
from the story of Zipporah we learn that it had to be per-
formed in infancy, in accordance with Genesis I7.
IV. THE ORIGIN OF CIRCUMCISION IN ISRAEL
Modern biblical scholars who accept the Documentary
Theory in the composition of the Hexateuch deny the his-
toricity of the ascription to Abraham of the institution of
circumcision in Israel. They assign Genesis ch. I7 to the
priestly document, which they hold was composed in the
Babylonian exile when circumcision had assumed an exag-
gerated religiousimportanceas a distinguishingmark separa-ting the Jewish exiles from their pagan neighbors. Then
was formed the tradition that the custom had been instituted
by the first patriarch as a sign of the covenant. But the otherdocumentsof the Hexateuch have preservedearlier and more
genuine tradition of the beginning of circumcisionin Israel.
The Yahwist document (J) which belongs to the eighth cen-
tury records that it was Zipporah the wife of Moses who
introduced the custom in Israel from her Midianite home
(Ex. 4, 25-6), while the Elohist document (E), which was
abouta century earlier than J, ascribed the institution of thecustom in Israel to Joshua at Gilgal who had learnt it from
the Egyptians (Jos. 5, 3 9). But if the custom came to Israel
from Egypt it is strange that the Israelites had not adopted
if long before Joshua during their prolonged stay in Egypt.
And what impelled Joshua to introduce the operation im-
mediately on their entry into Canaanand render the Israelite
males incapacitated to meet their Canaanite enemies (cf.
Gen. 34, 25), instead of deferringthe rite until after the warwith the Canaaniteswas over? The truth is that the operationwas performedat Gilgal as a preparation for the celebrationof the passoverin whichonly the circumcisedcould participate(Jos. 5, IO; Ex. I3, 48). The account of the rite in Joshua
5, 2-9 may be of a somewhat legendary character, but so
much is clear from it which may be accepted as historical,viz. that circumcisionwas an old custom in Israel which had
been neglected during the life in the wilderness, and that it
had to be renewedin view of the forthcoming celebration of
the passover. The support for the view that Israel in Egypt
was uncircumcisedderivedfrom Joshua 5, 9: "This day have
I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you", is based
on an incorrect exegesis. The 'reproachof Egypt' does not
mean that the Egyptians had reproached Israel for being
uncircumcised. 'The reproach of Egypt' is equivalent to
uncircumcision,or more exactly: to foreskin(;n*7i) whichwas
a reproach and a disgrace in Egypt both to Egyptians and
to Israelites. Thus the sons of Jacob say at Shechem: "We
cannot do this thing to give our sister to a man who has a
foreskin (;'1i5), for that is a reproachto us" (Gen. 34, I4)
viz. the foreskin is a reproach and a disgrace among us.As for the theory that according to the alleged J document
circumcision in Israel originated with Zipporah, it is quite
incredible that the institution of circumcision, or even of
infant circumcision, could ever have been associated with a
person who played such a very a minor part in the early
religion and history of Israel. The great importance attached
to the rite in early Israel is evident from Genesis 34; Jud.
I4, 3; I Sam. I4, 6, etc; cf. also Deut. IO, i6; 30, 6, and it is
most improbable that any Israelite would have traced its
originto a Midianitewoman.The fact is that the whole strange
episodewhich befell Moses on his way to Egypt was a passing
incident which left no mark whatever in biblical history or
literature.
Much ingenuity and subtle speculation have been spent
by ancient and modern expositors1 n explaining and supple-menting the, purposely, all too brief relation of the incidentin Exodus 4, 24-6. It is best explained on the supposition of
1 Babli Nedarim, f. 3I-32, and the medieval comm entaries, especiallyof Rashbam and Ibn Ezra, ad loc.
ception of the demonic origin of man the biblical cosmogony
teaches that man was created by God in His own image and
in His own likeness and appointed ruler of the earth and its
creature (Gen. i, 26-28: cf. Psalms 8, 6-8), and instead of
man providing the food for the gods it is God who provides
the food formanand animal v. 29-30; cf. Psalms 04, 27-28;
I45, I5-I6). The conceptionof the spiritualoriginof man
and of his function in the government of the world is funda-
mental in the whole system of biblical morality and in therelationship of man to God and to his fellow creatures.
Another leading feature in the biblical cosmogony which
has its roots in Mesopotamiancivilization is the conception
of the seventh day as a divine rest day after the completion
of the work of creation. The account of how the creator
rested from all His work on the seventh day and how He
blessedand hallowedhe seventhday (2, I-3) forms hegrand
culminationof the whole story of the creationand is of course
the basis of the institution of the Sabbath in Israel (Ex. 20,
II; 3I, I7). But there can be no doubt that the Hebrew
Sabbath is somehow connected with the Accadian shappatu,
shabbatu,l but in its character and purpose the Hebrew
Sabbath is the very antithesis of the Accadian shappatu.
The shappatufell on the 7th, the I4th, the 2Ist, and on the
28th days of the lunar month (but also on the igth day ofthe lunar month which formed the completion of seven
weeks from the first appearanceof the moon on the previous
month). The shappatu was a day cursedwith ill luck so that
no enterpriseperformedon it could succeed.Whereforepeople
who could afford to postpone their work were bidden to
abstain from doing it on the shappatu, such as the king, 'the
great shepherd of the tribes' (the high priest ?). the divinerand the physician. But ordinary folk pursued their regular
employment also on the shappatu. The Hebrew Sabbath
I Cf. Cassuto, From Adam to Noah (Hebrew), p. 34-35; Commentaryon Exodus (Heb.), I69; Zimmern, KAT 3, p. 594; E. Dhorme, ManaII, Les Religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie (I945), p. 238.
We may therefore conclude with a certain measure of
probability that the tradition (at least in its pre-literaryform) underlyingthe account of the divine rest day in Gen. 2,
I-3, and with it the whole story of the creation of the world
in six days in Genesischapter i, of which the account of the
rest day forms an integral and inseparable part, belong to
the patriarchalage, and more explicitely to Abrahamhimself,
the their of Mesopotamiancivilization and the great founder
of monotheism in Israel. That the account of the divinerest day is based on a pre-Israelitetradition is also shown by
the complete absense in it of any allusion to the Israelite
Sabbath. And though the account uses the verb sbt twice,
it carefully avoids the use of the noun sabbat, no doubt
because of the close association of the noun sabbat with the
contemporary pagan institution shabbatu shappatu. Only
in the age of Moses when the pagan shabbatu shappatu
could have been no more than a faint and distant memory
to the few, Israel began to use freely its Hebrew equivalent
shabbat. For, as we shall see later, the sabbath was known
in Israel already before the Sinaitic revelation.
Before we conclude this section we may refer to an impor-
tant consequencewhich followed the severance of the seventh
day from the lunar month and its consecration as a day of
rest. This is the formation of a new unit of time, the week.Hence the use in Israel of the name sabbath as equivalent
to week (Lev. 23, I5, and often in Mishnaic Hebrew).
The division of the days into weeks independent of the
days of the month is a purely Israelite institution and
was quite unknown in ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt or
Canaan or anywhere else in the ancient world.' It was the
Jewish sabbath which introduced the week to the gentiles.
I This is admitted by such an extreme critic as S. Mowinkle, LeDecalogue (I925), p. 8i 83. Mowinkle maintains that Israel adoptedthe Sabbath from the Canaanites, but there is not a shred of evidencethat the Sabbath was known in Canaan before the coming of theIsraelites.
The Torah relates that Abrahamemigrated from Harran,
the new home of his family, by a special divine commandto
go to the land appointed for him where a glorious future
was destinedfor him (Gen. I2, I-4). Life at Harran,the other
centre of the moon worship after Ur, could not have been
more congenial to Abraham than at Ur. Yet he must have
spent a good few years at Harran since he had acquiredthereconsiderablewealth in cattle and in slaves (I2, 5). Later we
read that for his pursuit of Chedorlaomer e armedhis retain-
ers to the number of 3I8 (I4,I4). These were evidently his
slaves "born in his own house." But they could not have
been born to him in Canaan,since the Chedorlaomer pisode
occurredless than ten years after his arrival in Canaan. The
episode preceded the covenant described in Genesis I5 which
contains an allusion to the attack on Chedorlaomerand
Abraham's fear of the revenge of the enemy: "Fear not
Abraham, I am thy shield" (I5, i). But the covenant no
doubt took place before the birth of Ishmael which occurred
eleven years after Abrahams'settlement in Canaan (i6, i6;I2, 4). The 3I8 retainers must have come with Abraham
from Harran in their youth. They were Mesopotamiansborn
and bredin the Mesopotamianculture. Like Abraham(I4, I3)
they may have been of Hebrew descent. But what was their
religious faith ? It is hard to believe that they had shaken
off completely the Mesopotamian culture with its pagan
beliefs and habits. Abraham could not have forced them todo it. His religion was not of a missionary character. Thereis no biblical support whatever for the old Jewish legends
that Abraham tried to spread his faith among the heathen.His religion, like the religion of Israel in biblical times, was
the exclusive possession of himself and his own intimates.His wife Sarah seems to have shared his faith. She calls uponYhwh to judge between her and her husband (i6, 5), andshe is ranked by the divine promise as an equal to Abraham
naxned for their choice the religion of their distant forbears
in Mesopotamia and the religion of the Amorites whoseland they had occupied (Jos. 24, i6), but he did not mention
the religion of Egypt where they had dwelt so many genera-
tions. It was inconceivable that they could ever choose a
religion so utterly repugnant as the religion of Egypt.
Thus Israel formed in Egypt a closed Hebrew community
in the midst of the large Egyptian world around it, but it
remained quite impervious to any real influence from thatworld. It continued to cultivate as best it could the faith
it had inherited from the patriarchs with its few symbols,
such as cicumcision and occasional worship by sacrifices.
But it also held fast to some remnants of the Mesopotamian
civilization, such as the social and legal customs observed
also by the patriarchs, and some notions and practices of a
religious nature imported by the Mesopotamiandependants
of the patriarchs which were inconsistent with the faith of
Abraham.' These two opposing elements tended in practical
life to coalesce into a sort of syncretism which tarnished the
purity of the ancestral faith. The mission of Moses and the
great events of the exodus and the covenant suppressed, at
least outwardly, the Mesopotamianelement in the people's
life, or convertedit into rawmaterialfor the ethical legislation
of the Mosaic code. An instructive illustration of the use ofMesopotamianmaterial in the Mosaiccode is affordedby the
striking affinity, both in their literary form and in their
contents, of many civil laws in the Pentateuch (notably in
Exodus 2I-22) with the code of Hamurabiand other ancient
codes belonging to the sphere of Mesopotamiancivilization.
In the Pentateuch the Mesopotamian material has been
remoulded and revitalized by the high ethical spirit of theSinaitic revelation.
1 The pratice of Mesopotamian heathenism by Israel in Egypt isproved by the words of Joshua: "Put away the gods which yourfathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt" (Josh. 24,