a) The Hebrew Text The oldest complete Hebrew Bible manuscript that has been preserved is

Codex B19A, housed in the public library in St. Petersburg. It is known as the Leningrad Codex;
recently it has also been called the Petropolitan Codex. According to the colophon, it was written
in Cairo in the year 1008 AD. It is both the best-preserved manuscript of the entire Hebrew Bible
and the basis for most scholarly editions of the text. Only the Aleppo Codex, which is a few
decades older but lost a quarter of its content during its temporary disappearance in 1948,
surpasses it.

These and other manuscripts were written by the so-called Masoretes, who worked in Tiberias by
the Sea of Galilee from the 8th to the 10th century AD. "Masora" means "tradition" in Hebrew. It
is referred to as the Masoretic text. There were two influential scholarly families, the Ben Asher
and the Ben Naphtali. The Aleppo Codex, which served as a model for the creation of further
manuscripts, was vocalized by Aaron ben Asher, while the Petropolitan Codex was vocalized by
Samuel ben Jacob following the tradition of Aaron ben Asher.

The impetus for this work came from the sect of the Karaites ("Followers of the Scripture"),
which spread from Babylon from the 8th century onwards. The Karaites rejected the rabbinical
interpretation as preserved in the Talmud and relied solely on the Holy Scriptures themselves - a
Jewish "sola scriptura." When tradition as a guide was eliminated, even the smallest details could
no longer remain approximate. This attitude had an influence on rabbinic Judaism as well. The
Masoretes were Rabbanim.

The most important achievement of the Masoretes was the precise recording of pronunciation.
The Hebrew-Aramaic script, like all Semitic alphabetic scripts, is a consonantal script. This
brings numerous ambiguities and uncertainties. Although the text never existed without a
tradition of pronunciation - people knew how to read it - the exact reading was now fixed in
writing through a system of vowel signs and accents called "punctuation."

The vocalization subjected the language that had evolved over centuries to a unified grammatical
system. This could lead to tensions between the transmitted text (Ketib) and the masoretic
reading (Qere). The Masoretes resolved this by noting their understanding of the consonantal text
in the margin of the columns. This marginal apparatus, the "small Masora" or "masora parva,"
also provided space to transmit ancient readings and to provide statistical and grammatical notes.
Its main purpose is to protect the text from changes. "Masora is a fence for the Torah" (Rabbi
Akiba, died 135 AD). In addition to the Masora parva, there was the Masora magna at the head
and foot of the column, a parallel passage apparatus that had grown over a long tradition of
interpretation.

The resulting text displaced all other versions within rabbinic Judaism. Since unusable
manuscripts were not preserved or reused but were customarily buried ceremoniously, the older
forms of the text were lost. Inquiries into the pre-Masoretic textual history remained fruitless for
a long time, except for the knowledge from biblical quotations in rabbinic tradition that the
consonantal content closely corresponded to the text form that Judaism has preserved since the
end of the 1st century AD. It was only a sensational discovery in the second half of the 19th
century that brought about a new situation for textual scholarship: in the Genizah (Hebrew
"storage place") of the synagogue of Old Cairo, a hidden storage chamber, a large number of
manuscripts were found - estimated at 200,000 fragments - that had escaped destruction. They
are now housed in the University Library of Cambridge and other European and North American
libraries. The oldest ones date back to the 6th century AD. This discovery revealed, among other
things, that there were antecedents to the Masoretic vocalization system.

In addition to rabbinic Judaism, the Samaritans also preserved the Hebrew Old Testament. They
had their own temple on Mount Gerizim near Shechem. When they split from the Jewish
community centered in Jerusalem during the Hellenistic period, they retained the Torah as their
sacred scripture but not the rest of the Old Testament. The oldest surviving manuscripts of the
Samaritan Pentateuch date back to the 12th century AD. They contain alterations intended to
establish the primacy of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim but otherwise preserve an ancient
textual form that dates back to the Hellenistic period.

b) The Greek Text: Hellenistic Diaspora Judaism had its own version of the Old Testament: the
Septuagint. The name means "seventy" in Latin and is abbreviated as LXX with the Roman
numeral. It goes back to the legend of its origin, as transmitted in the Letter of Aristeas, written
in the 1st century BC. According to the legend, Demetrius of Phaleron, the head of the library in
Alexandria, proposed to King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC) to include the Jewish laws
in the library. For this purpose, the Torah was translated into Greek by 72 learned men, six from
each of the twelve tribes of Israel, who were sent by the high priest Eleazar from Jerusalem to
Alexandria. The translation was accepted by the local Jewish community. The account, which
later became embellished in Christian tradition, likely reflects the historical fact that in the mid-
3rd century BC, initially, the Torah was translated into Greek for the liturgical use of the
Egyptian diaspora. Subsequently, the rest of the Old Testament was translated gradually and in
different ways in each book. The prologue to the translation of the Book of Sirach (after 132 BC)
mentions the "law, prophets, and the rest of the books" in Greek translation.

The Septuagint differs from the Masoretic Text not only in language but also in its underlying
textual form. This is particularly evident in terms of its extent. The Septuagint contains a number
of books that are missing in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek versions of the Book of Daniel and the
Book of Esther are significantly longer, while others, such as the Book of Jeremiah, are shorter.
When comparing the Greek and Hebrew texts side by side, the inevitable question arises as to
which version is original. In the case of the sacred scripture, this comparison is religiously
sensitive: What should be considered as revelation? It is understood that the Hebrew text had
priority. Even in pre-Christian times, it can be observed that the Greek Bible was corrected
according to the Hebrew text. This poses a problem for textual scholarship: The Hebrew text,
which served as the basis for corrections, was no longer identical to the translation source. The
Septuagint began to lose its status as a representative of an independent textual form early on.

Since the Jewish community lost its center with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD,
the reference to the Holy Scripture gained even greater importance for religious identity. Judaism
became definitively a religion of the written text. It was no longer possible to reconcile multiple
forms of texts. From then on, they solely relied on the version that later gave rise to the
Masoretic text form and rejected all others. On the other hand, the Christians who emerged from
Judaism, in addition to the scripture, appealed to the authority of Jesus Christ and did not share
this exclusive understanding of scripture, retaining the traditional Greek Bible. As a result, the
Septuagint was exclusively transmitted by the Church and became the actual version of the
Christian Old Testament.

For the Greek-speaking Jewish community, new translations of the proto-Masoretic text emerged
in the 2nd century AD. The translation of Aquila is the most indicative of their mentality, as it
attempts to render the Hebrew text literally into Greek. Now, every detail became of theological
significance, just like in rabbinic scriptural interpretation. In the end, the sacred text becomes
untranslatable. The slightly more recent translations of Symmachus and Theodotion are closer to
the spirit of the Greek language. Eventually, the attachment to the Hebrew text became so strong
that none of these translations remained in use. They are mostly lost, except for fragments.

By abandoning the Septuagint, the Jewish community did not resolve the difference between the
Hebrew and Greek texts. It gained doctrinal significance in the dispute over the Christological
interpretation of the Old Testament. Although the Christians were convinced of the revelatory
quality of their text, the difference from the Hebrew text of the Jews caused uncertainty. This
gave rise to an early form of textual criticism.

The masterpiece of this endeavor was the Hexapla, a six-column Bible, which the great
Alexandrian theologian Origen produced in Caesarea on the coast of Palestine around 240-245
AD. Its purpose was to demonstrate or, if necessary, establish the agreement between the Greek
and Hebrew texts. This colossal work is said to have consisted of 50 volumes. It contained side
by side the Hebrew consonantal text, a Greek transcription, the translations of Aquila and
Symmachus, the Septuagint, and the translation of Theodotion. Based on this foundation,
manuscripts were created that corrected the Septuagint according to the Hebrew text. In
particular, the surplus material from the Hebrew text in the translations of Theodotion,
Symmachus, or Aquila was inserted into the Septuagint text. They were marked with asterisks
("asteriscos"), and surplus material from the Greek text was marked with obelisks ("obelos").
Over time, these symbols could easily be omitted in the further manuscript transmission,
resulting in the "hexaplaric" text, where the Septuagint lost its status as an independent text form
from the proto-Masoretic text.

Even though the Hexapla is mostly lost, except for a few fragments, Septuagint research has
found ways to reconstruct the original text. A translation of the recensional text into Syriac,
known as the Syrohexapla (616/617 AD), has preserved the textual critical marks precisely,
allowing the editing process to be traced in detail. The Church Fathers often quote the pre-
Hexapla text in their Bible commentaries. The major Bible manuscripts of the 4th century, such
as the Codex Vaticanus from the Vatican Library and the Codex Sinaiticus discovered in 1844
and 1849 at the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai (now in Leipzig and London), were only
minimally influenced by recensional changes. Papyrus discoveries attest to the pre-Hexapla
textual history from the 2nd to the 4th centuries. Furthermore, the Septuagint had already been
translated into the languages of the Christian communities of that time before the 3rd century.
Among these daughter translations, the Latin translation in the Western Roman Church (known
as the Vetus Latina), the Sahidic in Upper Egypt, and the Ethiopian translations are particularly
important.
c) Other translations: While the Septuagint has remained the Bible of the Eastern Churches to
this day, for the Western Church, the Latin Bible tradition was dominated by the Vulgate, the
Bible translation of Jerome (ca. 347-420). This undertaking can be understood as another attempt
to bridge the difference between the Hebrew text of the Jews and the Greek text of the
Christians. Commissioned by Pope Damasus I (366-384), Jerome translated the Old Testament
from the Hebrew text of that time, specifically the proto-Masoretic text form, between 390 and
405 AD (with some influence from the Vetus Latina). The Vulgate gained prominence in the
Western Church from the 8th or 9th century onwards. After the Reformation, influenced by
Humanism, returned to the Hebrew text, the Council of Trent declared the Vulgate to be the
authoritative text in matters of doctrine for the Roman Catholic Church in 1546.

Among the other translations, the Bible of the Syriac Church, the Peshitta (Syriac for "the
simple"), is the most important. It is shared by both confessions, the West Syriac Jacobites and
the East Syriac Nestorians, and therefore dates back to the time before their separation in the 5th
century. There are well-founded assumptions that the Peshitta is based on older Aramaic
translations known as the Targums. As the knowledge of Hebrew declined, it became customary
to make the Bible text read in the synagogue service understandable through an Aramaic
paraphrase. Fixed traditions emerged, which eventually were also recorded in writing. The
Targum Onkelos on the Torah and the Targum Jonathan on the Prophets have become
authoritative.

d) Qumran:

The current state of textual criticism is determined by the discoveries made between 1947 and
1956 in the Judean Desert. In the eleven caves of Qumran, located 15 km south of Jericho by the
Dead Sea, fragments of over 190 biblical scrolls were unearthed, providing a new foundation for
understanding the textual history. With the exception of the Book of Esther, all the biblical books
are represented, even if only in small fragments. Particularly impressive is the completely
preserved Isaiah Scroll (now housed in the "Shrine of the Book" in Jerusalem). The majority of
the fragments date from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, with some dating back to the 3rd century
BC.

The discoveries reveal that during the time of the turn of the era, several textual forms of the Old
Testament coexisted. Of particular importance is the widespread presence of the proto-Masoretic
text. This proves that the text which had been exclusively used by the Jewish community since
the end of the 1st century AD is not a recension but an anciently transmitted textual form.
Alongside it, there are fragments at Qumran that resemble the Samaritan textual form.
Manuscripts corresponding to the source of the Septuagint were also found. From these
discoveries, it becomes clear how closely the Greek translation adhered to its source text.
Furthermore, previously unknown textual forms unique to Qumran were found. They differ from
the proto-Masoretic text, among other things, in having a livelier and less rigid transmission
style.

The path to the original text involves comparing the Masoretic text, which can be considered the
best text for the majority of the Old Testament, with the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Qumran
fragments, and above all, the pre-Hexapla Septuagint. This comparison can reveal that for some
books, there was no single original text, but rather that the different textual forms represent
stages of a literary process that eventually branched off into separate paths.

A Library as a Book: The Canon of the Old Testament

The word "Bible" (English/French "bible") derives from the Latinized "biblia," which traces
back to the Greek word βιβλία; βιβλίον means "book," and βιβλία is the plural form, meaning
"books." The name suggests that what we hold in our hands today as a single volume, and what
we naturally perceive as a unity, the Bible, is actually a plurality. The Bible has often been called
the "Book of Books." This term not only denotes its incomparability in terms of its significance
for Jewish and Christian faith but also reflects its internal plurality. It is indeed a book composed
of a multitude of books.

For a long time, there was no specific term for this collection. The prologue to the translation of
the book of Sirach (circa 132 BC), which mentions it approximately in its present scope for the
first time, refers to it as "the law, the prophets, and the other books of our fathers." The New
Testament, when referring to the Old Testament, usually speaks of "the Law and the Prophets"
and occasionally mentions "the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms" (Luke 24:44). This
threefold division, which is still used in Jewish terminology, corresponds to the "Law (Torah),
Prophets (Nevi'im), Writings (Ketuvim)," collectively known as the Tanakh, an acronym formed
by the first letters of the three divisions. Even the name "Old Testament," which emerged in the
late 2nd century AD to counter the heretic Marcion and emphasize the indispensability of the
Holy Scriptures inherited from the Jews for Christian faith, does not describe the collection in
itself but rather serves as a term of differentiation, gaining its meaning in conjunction with the
"New Testament." It is in line with the indeterminacy of the Old Testament that it does not have
a uniformly defined extent. The number of books can vary depending on the religious
community, and the arrangement of the books also differs.

For all versions, the books that belong to them form a "canon." The term (Greek for "measuring
rod, rule") designates the collection of writings considered authoritative revelation. Those who
seek valid answers in matters of faith can align themselves with these writings.

a) The Hebrew Bible: The threefold division expressed in the earliest designations is not merely
external. It follows both religious valuation and historical development. At the beginning is the
Torah, which, according to Jewish understanding, is the Holy Scripture par excellence, even
exclusively for the Samaritans. In academic usage, the term "Pentateuch" is common (Greek for
"fivefold [book]"), as the Torah comprises the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy, also known as the five books of Moses. The Prophets follow the Torah. In
Jewish tradition, the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings are also considered
"former prophets." The actual prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the
Twelve Prophets form the "latter prophets." The Writings come at the end. When the prologue to
Sirach refers to them as "the other books," it indicates that this part of the canon was not yet
clearly defined by the end of the 2nd century BC. It contains the most recent books of the Old
Testament, and the debates about the inclusion or exclusion of individual books, conducted by
the rabbis in the 1st century AD, pertain only to this section.
The order of the books of the Torah and the Former Prophets is determined by the course of
history from the creation of the world to the conquest of Jerusalem. However, with the actual
prophetic books, it is different. The Babylonian Talmud mentions the sequence "Twelve
Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel" (Tractate Baba Batra 14b). The Septuagint follows the
customary order found in today's Bibles, "Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Twelve Prophets," which
originates from the Vulgate. The arrangement of the "Writings" varies in the Hebrew codices,
another indication of how unsettled the collection of sacred books was in terms of its sequence,
such as "Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Twelve Prophets" (Tractate Baba Batra 14b).

b) The Septuagint, based on the Hebrew canon, chose a systematic arrangement. In the large
codices, all of which are of Christian origin, the prophetic books are placed at the end. This gives
the Old Testament a future-oriented, "eschatological" finale. In exchange, the "Writings" of the
Hebrew canon are rearranged. The book of Ruth becomes an appendix to the book of Judges, and
the book of Lamentations is appended to the book of Jeremiah. The books of Chronicles, Ezra,
and Nehemiah follow the books of Kings. At the end of the historical books, the book of Esther
is included. The apocalyptic book of Daniel remains in close proximity to Ezekiel among the
prophetic books. It retains this position even in the Vulgate, although in this version, the Twelve
Prophets conclude the collection. The remaining five books of the "Writings" form a separate
block, which can be called "the teachings," positioned between the historical books and the
prophets. The order of these three historical books can vary in manuscripts: Psalms, Proverbs,
Job, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes.

These canonical sections (including the Torah), teachings, and prophets correspond to the three
dimensions of time: origin, present, and future.

c) Deuterocanonical writings: The Septuagint and Vulgate include additional books that were not
included in the Hebrew canon. Among the historical books, they include the 3rd Book of Ezra,
the Maccabees, Tobit, and Judith. Among the teachings, there are the books of Sirach
(Ecclesiasticus) and the Wisdom of Solomon. Among the prophetic books, there are the book of
Baruch (the scribe of Jeremiah) and the Letter of Jeremiah. The Greek versions of the books of
Esther and Daniel were expanded with additional legends, and the books of Chronicles were
supplemented with the Prayer of Manasseh. These additional books are collectively referred to as
"Apocrypha," meaning "hidden [writings]," a term that originally referred to heretical books in
the ancient church but now softened to denote non-canonical books. Martin Luther called them
"books that are not equal to the Holy Scriptures but are useful and good to read," placing them
between the Old and New Testaments. In the Roman Catholic Church, they remain an
authoritative part of the Bible.

Greek manuscript groups and the Bibles of the Oriental National Churches in Egypt, Ethiopia,
Syria, Armenia, and Georgia contain additional Jewish writings that did not achieve canonical
status in the ecumenical universal church. These writings include the Letter of Aristeas, the Book
of Jubilees, the Psalms of Solomon, the Book of Enoch, the 4th Book of Ezra, the Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs, and others. These

The Old Testament as the religious literary tradition of post-exilic Judaism

a) The Custodianship: The Old Testament is the sacred scripture of Judaism and the front and by
far the larger part of the sacred scripture of Christianity. It has come down to us in this form. To
understand it properly, one must know: It has never been anything else. Its present quality as
sacred scripture also determines its origin.

This statement may surprise the unbiased reader because it contradicts the self-assertion of the
text. Rather, the Old Testament presents itself to a large extent as the testimony of the history of
ancient Israel. The historical work encompassing the books of Genesis to Kings ends with the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylonians in the 6th century BCE, with that event which,
according to our current understanding, triggered the formation of the Old Testament. The Old
Testament begins where ancient Israel ends.

However, the attentive reader may have already been puzzled on the first page of the Bible: In
the beginning, there is the creation of the world. A representation that proceeds from such
metaphysical assumptions cannot reproduce history as such. In the Old Testament, a religious
community has brought its past to mind as the history of God in order to regain its future.

For this remembrance of the past, there were literary sources, but their quantity, compared to the
current text, is small. Only remnants have survived, left over from a chain of historical
catastrophes. Not only had the archives fallen victim to defeats, but also the institution for which
the documents had been written: in 722 BCE, the Israelite kingdom, and in 586 BCE, the Judean
kingdom. Literature requires an institutional framework and a genuine interest for its emergence.
This is especially true for religious literature, particularly in ancient times. This framework, as
far as we can see, was the community of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, which was rebuilt
from the ruins at the beginning of the Persian period (from 520 BCE). With great likelihood,
there was a writing chamber and a literary archive, one could even say, a theological school,
associated with this sanctuary.

b) The Literary Creative Interest: Under Persian suzerainty, the post-exilic sanctuary continued
the central cult of Judah, although it had lost its royal founder and supporter. The self-
contradiction inherent in this situation necessitated a comprehensive reinterpretation of the
inherited religion. Its expression became the notion of the immediate rule of God, no longer
mediated by the monarchy.

However, this innovation was not to be regarded for what it was, as it served to preserve or
restore continuity with the past. Therefore, it was understood as the principle that had always
determined history and saw the past in its light. This gave rise to a comprehensive process of
interpretation in dealing with the existing sources, whereby the living conditions of the post-state
period were transported to the origins of their own national history. In exaggerated terms: In
sharp contrast to the religious history of Iron Age Syria-Palestine, the fiction arose that Judaism
had been constituted at Mount Sinai in ancient times.

Initially, this reinterpretation referred to the historical works of the 6th century BCE, to the
preserved legal codes, namely Deuteronomy and the Book of the Covenant, to a basic stock of
cultic lyrics and wisdom writings, as well as to the written sayings of the prophets. However, it
was not a one-time event but unleashed ever-new reinterpretations over the course of the Persian
and Hellenistic periods. There were many occasions for this. The Judean cult was no longer self-
contained. It was exposed to the religious competition of the great powers and neighboring
peoples, especially as its God Yahweh had experienced a terrible defeat with the destruction of
the temple and

c) The Nature of the Process of Interpretation

The origin of the literary development of a sacred scripture is rooted in the experience that there
is indeed an effective word of God. In Israel and Judah, this experience was connected with
prophecy. The key event was the downfall of Jerusalem, which the prophets had predicted as an
act of the God Yahweh against his own people; at least, their words could be retrospectively
understood in that way. History had confirmed the prediction. From then on, the words of the
prophets were guaranteed as true words of God.

They were compiled in collections and began to be transmitted. The interpretation given in them
gave meaning to what had happened: the catastrophe was God's punishment. As terrible as this
interpretation was, it was better than blind fate. And it offered the possibility of stepping out of
mere suffering. If the catastrophe was a punishment, the cause could be eliminated in the future
by changing behavior: turning toward the future. Around the same time, the initial versions of
the major historical works were also created. Since they were religious interpretations of history,
the same criteria of transmission were applied to them. Henceforth, religion lived through the
scriptures.

The attitude under which the transmission of the guaranteed word of God took place can best be
characterized by the so-called "canon formula." It is attested as a kind of notarial postscript in
Assyrian treaties but was also applied to the Old Testament collections of laws:

"You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the
commandments of the Lord your God that I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2; cf. 13:1).

What was demanded for the commandments applied to the written word of God as a whole:
Because it was considered normative, it was subject to strict immutability.

This condition resulted in a dilemma. Preserving the scripture was not done for its own sake. It
was meant to secure the validity of God's word for the present. However, this is only possible if
the word is not only transmitted but also brought into conversation with the present. Inevitably, it
undergoes changes in the process. There is no living reference to scripture without interpretation.

The solution was to leave the transmitted word unchanged but add interpretation to it. Until the
end of the Persian period, the canon formula only applied half to the Torah, and for the other
writings, it took even longer. In fact, nothing was taken away: the given text generally remained
unchanged and was certainly not shortened. However, additions were continuously made in large
quantities. This is how the Old Testament grew into what it is. The collection that formed the
beginning in the 6th century comprises hardly more than a tenth of the present book.
The ongoing interpretation did not seek to add something new and foreign to the text but to bring
its deep meaning to light. In Hebrew, such textual exploration is called "midrash." Unlike later
Jewish midrash, the Old Testament did not distinguish between interpretation and the given
tradition. They existed as a unity at each stage: a single text that was interpreted in the same way.
One can call the nature of this growth a "snowball system": Once set in motion, the snowball
gains a new layer with each turn. To a large extent, the Old Testament is its own interpretation,
"sacra scriptura sui ipsius interpres." There is hardly any textual unit that does not consist of
several literary layers. The overall unit is interwoven with significant cross-references to an
extent that can hardly ever be fully explored.

The growth mostly occurred without rules. This was appropriate: One does not "create" a sacred
text; one receives it from tradition, only interpreting it for the needs

d) Literary analysis deals with a very complex subject that can be thoroughly misunderstood if it
is blindly regarded as a primary source. The respective relevance to life - and thus the meaning
of the statement - as well as the historical value of the source become apparent only when one
begins to see the historical deep structure of the text.

The variety of hypotheses regarding the origin and history of the text is vast. Even fundamental
facts remain disputed. This is a normal condition in a lively scientific discussion. However, there
are indications that the analysis can rely on to counter arbitrariness: breaks in form, irregular
sentence structure, content discrepancies (which have occasionally been addressed within the
literary process itself), as well as quotations and references to other parts of the scripture.
Improvements in manuscripts, attempts at resolution in ancient translations, and the history of
interpretation show that the problems were not only brought forth by modern criticism of the
text.

Because the given tradition was fundamentally inviolable, the interpreter is in the fortunate
position of being able to work like a textual archaeologist. When removing younger layers, one
can expect to encounter an older, intact textual representation each time. Dating is established
through comprehensive comparison. It can almost exclusively be related to the mutual
relationship between layers and writings (relative dating). External events that allow for absolute
dating are very rare. Therefore, the proposals vary widely and have led to very different designs
of literary and religious history.

4. Remnants of Ancient Israelite Literature

With the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age between 1200 and 1000 BCE, the
kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged in Palestine. This marked the emergence of a Hebrew
literary culture. Although the courts in Jerusalem and Samaria were, by our standards, little more
than feudal lordships that had attained the status of small territorial states based on mercenary
forces, they were nevertheless associated with political foundations. There were relationships
between the courts, giving rise to diplomatic correspondence. There were annals, indicating the
beginnings of historiography. There were taxes and their administration. There was a state cult
with festivals, myths, and liturgies for religious legitimacy, without which no rule existed in
antiquity. There was a legal system, overseen by the king, who guaranteed the internal order of
the land through his power. And there was a staff of officials who ensured the implementation of
all these aspects, including appointed priests and prophets who possessed understanding of the
future.

It would be an overstatement to claim that this already marked the beginnings of literature.
However, it established a prerequisite: a caste of scribes. The small cultural elite inherited the
legacy of Late Bronze Age city-states, some of whose correspondence with the pharaohs of the
18th Dynasty (14th century BCE) has been partially preserved in the Egyptian city of Tell el-
Amarna (TUAT I/5, 512–520). At that time, Akkadian was the language of diplomacy, written in
cuneiform on clay tablets. There was an educational canon, a "classical literature," for learning it.
In Megiddo, a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh was found (TUAT III/4, 646–744). The most
famous scene from the epic, the Flood Myth that can be traced back to Sumer in the 3rd
millennium BCE (TUAT III/3, 448–458), also found its way into Hebrew literature (Genesis 6-
8).

The intellectual horizon of the scribes extended beyond the boundaries of individual kingdoms.
Their sense of identity can be impressively seen in Egyptian tombs. However, one should not
imagine the conditions in Iron Age Palestine to be too grand. Archaeological findings indicate a
slightly broader literary culture only since the 7th century BCE. Writing was done in Old
Hebrew script, a close descendant of the Phoenician alphabet script, the mother of all alphabetic
scripts, which was invented in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Letters, accounts, and
notes were written on pottery sherds (so-called ostraca). Leather or papyrus scrolls were used for
literary texts. Unlike clay tablets, these have all been lost; only remnants have been preserved in
the desert climate of Egypt and the Judean Desert.

a) Wisdom Books The scribes had a professional ethos that guided their tasks. They primarily
adopted it from their counterparts in culturally superior Egypt. Furthermore, they served as
advisors in decision-making processes. They honed their knowledge through inherited wisdom
writings, which contained a wealth of astute observations and insight into human nature.

This is the origin of Israelite wisdom literature. Traces of it have been preserved in the oldest
part of the Book of Proverbs: in the core collections "Proverbs of Solomon" (Proverbs 10:1-
22:16), "Sayings of the Wise" (Proverbs 22:17-24:22) with the appendix "These also are sayings
of the wise" (Proverbs 24:23-34), as well as in the collection "These also are proverbs of
Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied" (Proverbs

In the year 1924, the discovery caused considerable sensation that the first half of the collection
"Words of the Wise" (Proverbs 22:17-23:11) has a close parallel in the Egyptian teaching of
Amenemope, which was written around 1100 BCE in the New Kingdom (TUAT III/2, 222-250).
The content relates to the duties of officials, good manners, and admonition for restraint in
disputes. The sayings are attributed to a member of the lower temple hierarchy and are divided
into 30 chapters.

Section 21: The crocodile that lacks a tongue: its reputation is venerable. Do not empty yourself
among people, and do not harm your reputation. Do not let your words circulate among people,
and do not fraternize with the unruly. // Do not speak before the ears of the foolish; for he
despises the wisdom of your speech (Proverbs 23:9).

Section 23: When you eat bread in the presence of an official, do not touch it with your mouth
before him. If you satisfy yourself with unlawful morsels, it is only pleasurable in your saliva.
Look at the dish in front of you and let it meet your needs. The great one, the official in his
profession: he is like many wells. // When you sit at the table with a high lord, consider well
what is before you and put a knife to your throat if you are greedy; do not desire any of his
delicate foods, for it is deceptive bread (Proverbs 23:1-3).

Respect for order was important. The ancient world had the realistic sense that successful life is
always threatened. Being is a small island surrounded by non-being, the imminent chaos. Order
is the power that maintains being in the face of chaos. Those who bring their lives into
accordance with the order of existence create the conditions for its success. This required strict
adherence to social barriers, as well as to law, especially the rights of the weak, ritual order, and
honesty in trade. If one violated these, it was believed that they themselves fell into the vortex of
violated order.

The basic form of such wisdom is admonition. It can also be dressed in the form of a statement.
A specific moral or immoral, wise or foolish behavior is named, with no clear boundary between
morality and wisdom, and the consequences are described as experiential facts: Whoever loves
discipline is wise, but whoever hates correction is stupid (Proverbs 12:1).

The boundaries between the wisdom of the scribes and courtiers and the universally valid
educational rules that determine family life ("family wisdom") are fluid. In general, one should
not think of the court as being too far removed from the circumstances of ordinary people at that
time.

The classic genre of such pedagogy is the proverb. Its effectiveness and memorability are
emphasized through poetry. The stylistic elements are rhythm and rhyme, as everywhere else.
The Hebrew meter is still puzzling today because we lack a bridge to the living language. The
most plausible hypothesis is the accentuating system, in which each significant semantic unit
receives a stress accent. This results in the most frequent verse measures being the double triple
(3 + 3) and the quintuple (3 + 2 or 2 + 3). The prerequisite is the poetic interplay of at least two
clauses or phrases. These pairs of clauses, called "parallelism membrorum," form a rhyme of
thought. It is familiar to German ears as an expression of successful poetry:

He is the shore where they land, are two thoughts in agreement. (Karl Kraus: "The Rhyme")

The two (or more) lines play around the same thought from different aspects. The characteristic
that determines

Annals were also kept for the temple. They recorded, among other things, the financial status of
the sanctuary. That is why they are mentioned multiple times in the books of the Kings. From
this source, we learn about several campaigns and wars. Of a completely different nature are the
great historical narratives that have been preserved in the books of Judges to Kings. The
locations and people involved refer to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, indicating a very high
literary culture. These texts are the best-preserved examples of ancient Hebrew prose. The
collection includes the account of the murder of the Moabite king Eglon (Judges 3), the story of
Abimelech's kingship (Judges 9), the core of the narratives of Saul, David, and Solomon (1
Samuel 11 to 1 Kings 1), the accounts of the wars with the Arameans (1 Kings 20, 22, and 2
Kings 6-7), the report of the campaign against Moab (2 Kings 3), and finally, the particularly
impressive account of the military coup by Jehu (2 Kings 9-10). In their virtuoso sequence of
scenes and their stage-worthy dialogues, these narratives are unparalleled in ancient Near Eastern
literature.

Based on their subjects, such narratives are "courtly" literature in which the self-image of ruling
military leaders, who remained the kings of Israel and Judah, is expressed. They seek to
legitimize and glorify their chivalry. The focus is on memorable events. Historical sources are, at
best, indirectly involved. Causes and overarching connections are beyond the scope.
Occasionally, they can be regarded as propaganda pieces, such as the story of Naboth's vineyard
(1 Kings 21:1-16*), which accuses King Ahab and his Phoenician wife Jezebel of committing
judicial murder to justify the bloody end that the House of Ahab met through Jehu's coup (842
BCE).

The books of Judges to Kings are probably based on collections and cycles. The majority of the
narratives come from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. When the Assyrians conquered Samaria in
722 BCE, the texts must have been brought to Judah by the fleeing courtiers. This explains why
they have been preserved and were included in the emerging Old Testament since the 6th century
BCE.

c) Legal Books The written preservation of the legal tradition in the Old Testament also has its
roots in courtly sources, although its origin is predominantly elsewhere. The practice of law
usually took place locally, where full citizens decided their legal disputes in the assembly at the
city gate, according to ancient custom. They also ensured that revenge, which served as a
"socially regulated private punishment" in the absence of public prosecution, was kept in check:

Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for
wound (Exodus 21:23–25).

This principle of "lex talionis" (Latin for "law of retaliation") forms the basis of an orderly
criminal law because it limits the punishment to the actual harm inflicted. However, the exact
identity of the offense and punishment sounds like a postulate. In actual execution, the "lex
talionis" likely served as the basis for compensation.

Most conflicts belonged to the realm of civil law. An elaborate customary law developed as the
basis for decision-making. Precedent cases were passed down through a long tradition,
solidifying into legal maxims with a "if-then" structure of circumstances and consequences, cases
and decisions. This is known as casuistic (case-based) law: If one person's ox hurts another's, so
that it dies, then they

d) Cultic Poetry
The courtyard and the sanctuary established there served as the venue for official worship. The
king maintained the cultic site, and in the performance of the rituals, he played the key role as the
vassal of the deity, while the priests served as his attendants. Naturally, the practice of religion
was not limited to the royal sanctuary.

Cultic rituals can be simplified and categorized into regular and extraordinary events. The
regular rituals followed the sequence of seasons and harvest cycles, and they were observed by
the local community. The extraordinary rituals were related to individual fate and family events
such as pregnancy, birth, weaning, coming of age, marriage, illness, and death. Local cults and
family cults had their own distinct characteristics, which differed from the evidence found in the
courtly cult. The diversity of idols and inscribed conceptions of gods discovered by archaeology
in recent times has greatly surprised biblical scholars.

Regarding written records, the religion of the court had the most significant impact. Only in the
official cult were there opportunities and reasons to record religious testimonies. However, one
should not envision strict boundaries between family religion, local cults, and the court. It can
even be said that the various levels intersected in the religion of the court. The personal fate of
the king was considered a condition for public order and welfare. The occasion for its cultic
observance was the accession to the throne.

The natural and political conditions found their expression in myth. It was celebrated in the cult
as the coronation of the god, probably on an annual basis. The seasons in Palestine are marked
by stark contrasts. During the summer dry season, there is a complete absence of rain, causing
the land to wither. However, in the autumn, the winter rain arrives accompanied by dramatic
thunderstorms, anticipated with both hope and fear, and fierce autumn storms over the
Mediterranean Sea. From Ugaritic epics such as the Baal Cycle written in the 14th century BC
(TUAT III/6, 1091–1198), it becomes apparent that this extreme change was understood as a
struggle of the gods for kingship. The myth tells the story: In summer, the weather god
disappears from the earth, defeated by the god of death. But with the onset of winter rain, he
reassumes the kingship after previously achieving victory in a dramatic battle against the chaotic,
life-hostile sea god.

Yahweh has become king! He has put on his royal robes, put on Yahweh, he has girded himself
with strength. The rivers lift up, Yahweh, the rivers lift up their voice. Mightier than the thunders
of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, mighty on high is Yahweh, Yahweh for all
time (Psalm 93*).

"Rivers," "water," and "sea" symbolize those destructive forces that surge against the earth from
all sides. The experience of taming and restraining these chaotic forces is equated with the
establishment and preservation of the cosmos, that is, with creation. Although the Old Testament
did not preserve the myths themselves, the oldest hymns of the Psalter indirectly reveal the
dramatic ritual performances. In Jerusalem (and Samaria), there was a certain programmatic
exclusivity to the worship of the weather god Yahweh as the state and dynastic god. He is the
local manifestation of the deity who was worshipped elsewhere under the names Hadad, Adad,
or Baal. Just as political rivals were expected to submit to the king, the competing gods were to
be subjected to the god Yahweh. The journey from this religion, which was related to the natural
and political order, to the later exclusive worship

The liturgical sequence can also be traced based on Mesopotamian sources. The lamentation
prayer was usually accompanied by a sacrifice. If the sacrifice was pleasing, the prayer was
considered accepted. The response of the deity was given in a salvation oracle. Such oracle
responses have been preserved in written form from the time of the Assyrian kings Ashurbanipal
(681–669) and Assurbanipal (669–631).

"Asarhaddon, king of the lands, do not be afraid! Who is the wind that blew upon you, whose
wings I have not clipped? Your enemies, like apples of the Siman month, roll before your feet. I
am the great lady. I am Ishtar of Arbela, I torment your enemies, I deliver them to you. I, Ishtar
of Arbela, go before you, follow after you, do not be afraid." (TUAT II/1, 56-57).

The salvation oracles in the second part of the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 41:8–13; 43:1–7), which
are rightly regarded as the priest's response to the lamentation, follow the same form in precise
details.

The response to the salvation oracle is the song of trust. One must imagine the king, after
receiving the assurance of salvation, appearing before the assembled troops and conveying the
joyful message for general encouragement:

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my
life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh— my adversaries
and foes— they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not
fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. For he will hide me in his shelter in
the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock.
Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me." (Psalm 27A*; cf. Psalms 3, 23,
118:6–7, 10–13).

After deliverance, the thanksgiving psalm follows, again at the cultic site. Here is an example
following the healing of a life-threatening illness:

"I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. O
Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you brought up my soul
from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Sing praises to the Lord,
O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his
favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for
me, I said in my prosperity, 'I shall never be moved.' By your favor, O Lord, you had established
me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cried, and to the
Lord I made supplication: 'What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust
praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my
helper!'" (Psalm 30*).

e) Priests and Prophets

For the ritual practices, experts who understood the will of the deity were needed. All major
sanctuaries in the land were operated by priests. They were responsible for the sacred area,
guarding the divine image, determining the legitimacy of sacrifices, providing guidance and
advice to those seeking help from God, such as healing or a divine judgment, and they sustained
themselves through the offerings. The sanctuary was their livelihood. Such a position was often
inherited, leading to the formation of a priestly caste. Certain families traditionally held the
priesthood.

In ancient times, the Levites were prominent. Their sense of status can be inferred from the
narratives about Moses (Exodus 2–4*). Moses, judging by his name, had Egyptian origins
(compare the names of the pharaohs of the 17th–20th dynasties: Kamose, Ahmose, Thutmose,
Ramses). However, he was declared a Levite on both his father's and mother's sides and was said
to have been raised by the daughter of the Pharaoh. The story of his mother placing him in the
river (Exodus 2:1–10*) mirrors a motif that is similarly found in the birth legend of Sargon I
(around 2370 BCE), the legendary founder of the Old Akkadian Empire, as known from Neo-
Assyrian sources (TUAT.E 56–57).

Like the priestly positions, the professional knowledge was passed down within priestly families.
There was no need for a codified priestly doctrine. However, it appears that written sources also
existed behind the sacrificial regulations in Leviticus 1–7, the purity laws in Leviticus 11–15,
and the laws of the ordeal in Numbers 5, which undoubtedly have ancient traditions at their core.

In addition to the priests, there were prophets. The functions are not always clearly
distinguishable, as divination relied on various methods, including the observation of sacrifices,
and priests also made predictions. Prophecy existed and continues to exist everywhere. All
planning relies on forecasts, particularly in times of crisis, such as personal distress or war.
While technical divination prevailed in Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, and Greece, inspirational
prophecy is characteristic of Israel.

In later times, the term "prophet" (Hebrew: nābîʾ) became a collective term for various
manifestations of religious individuals, as the prophet was considered the ultimate medium of
revelation. That this represents a secondary development was known: "Formerly, people called
what we now call prophets 'seers'" (1 Samuel 9:9). This explanatory remark can be found in the
tradition of Samuel. Samuel, of priestly origin, was dedicated to the sanctuary by his mother (1
Samuel 1–3). He is consulted as a seer by Saul, who is searching for his father's lost donkeys (1
Samuel 9), and on the same occasion, he acts as an exponent of political religion by anointing
Saul as king in the name of Yahweh.

Another type is encountered in the person of Elijah. According to the narrative framework in 1
Kings 17–18*, he acts as a rainmaker. A multi-year drought that breaks out in Samaria is
attributed to Elijah's pronouncement. The king and his steward search far and wide for water.
Then Elijah appears and promises the king that the rain will return soon.

Translation to English: Later, a programmatic scene of a sacrifice competition between Baal and
Yahweh was inserted into this narrative, in which Elijah is the central figure. It culminates in the
public demonstration "Yahweh is God". As this is the Hebrew meaning of the name Eliyyahu,
this narrative can be considered an authentic Elijah tradition. In fact, it appears that at that time,
the turning to Yahweh as the dynasty god had taken place in Samaria. With the second
generation of the Omri dynasty, the kings of Israel (and soon also of Judah) begin to have names
composed of Yahweh. However, the exact age of the Elijah tradition is difficult to determine, as
the narratives were probably inserted into the books of kings afterward.

This is also true for a second cycle: the stories of Elisha (2 Kings 2; 3,4-8,15; 9,1-10; 13,14-21).
Elisha was a wonder worker and the head of a group of so-called "prophet disciples". Short,
anecdotal miracle stories tell of how he helped his followers in emergencies in supernatural
ways. Elisha seems to have been even more politically active than Samuel and Elijah. The report
of the coup d'etat of Jehu has a disciple of Elisha anointing Jehu as king to assert that the usurper
had been legitimized by Yahweh.

Just as these three exponents of preceptual prophecy were close to the kingship, there were also
prophets who held an official position at the court and in the associated sanctuary. The title nabi'
was probably originally connected with this office. One of the key figures in the succession of
David, the prophet Nathan (1 Kings 1), was such a cult prophet. It must be assumed that there
were far more bearers of this office than are recorded. They were consulted by the king on
important state affairs. They also spoke up on their own behalf.

Among the Old Testament prophets, the prophet Nahum, whose message was the destruction of
the Assyrian capital Nineveh (612 BC), appears to have belonged to the cult prophets. The book
of Habakkuk can also be understood in this way, provided that its message is directed against the
Neo-Babylonians (Hab 2). By predicting disaster for the enemy, such prophets proclaim
salvation for their own people. This was customary.

It seems that Isaiah was also a cult prophet. He was called in the temple of Jerusalem. The event,
dated to the year of King Uzziah's death (736 BC), is reported in Isaiah 6 as a legitimizing
narrative. The prophet sees the enthroned God, whose royal terror-filled the temple and the entire
world. Winged serpent creatures (seraphim) join in the liturgy as companions of Yahweh, where
the adoration of the heavenly beings merges indistinguishably with the liturgical singing in the
temple. In the face of this vision, the prophet realizes that as an impure person, he is doomed to
death. However, one of the seraphim steps out of the realm of terror and touches the prophet's
lips with a glowing coal. After this mouth purification, Isaiah receives the mission of Yahweh
and henceforth becomes his authentic voice.

The message he had to convey is best captured in the symbolic naming of his son. "And Yahweh
said to me, 'Take a large tablet and write on it in clear letters: 'Quick to the plunder, swift to the
spoil!'" And I approached the prophetess; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And
Yahweh said to me, 'Call him Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil! For before the boy knows
how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will
be carried off by the king of Assyria'" (Isaiah 8:1-4*).

Yahweh conveys a threat to the prophet, which takes on a twofold form. On the one hand, Isaiah
is to write the slogan "Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil" on a large tablet. The fact that it is
fixed in writing has documentary, perhaps even magical, significance. This provides a possible
explanation (among others) for why and how prophetic words have been written down.

In the second step, Isaiah sets a living sign in the world. He fathers a son with "the prophetess,"
whose title indicates that she also held an official position at the cult site. The oracle that follows
repeats the threatening slogan as the name of the unborn child. Now it becomes clear who the
threat is directed against, and a time perspective is given: As soon as the boy begins to speak,
Assyria will have destroyed the two states of Aram ("Damascus") and Israel ("Samaria"). This
prophecy likely had its basis in a campaign undertaken by Aram and Israel against Jerusalem in
the year 734 or 733 BC (cf. 2 Kings 16:5, 8-9). The prediction that the two enemies would soon
meet their end was realistic given the expansionist ambitions of the Assyrians. It was a hopeful
prophecy for Judah, a calculated political prophecy of salvation. The cult prophet proclaims
God's judgment on the enemies.

It seems that the prophecy of Hosea had the same basis. The first three chapters of the book,
which contain Hosea's symbolic connection with a prostitute, are hardly independent of Isaiah's
sign. Their core in Hosea 1* appears to be a triple reflection of the symbolic action from Isaiah
8: "And Yahweh said to Hosea, 'Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of
whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking Yahweh.' So he went and took
Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And Yahweh said to
him, 'Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood
of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And she conceived again
and bore a daughter. And Yahweh said to him, 'Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have
mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
and I will save them by Yahweh their God.'" (Hosea 1:2-7)

This time, the threat is directed exclusively against the northern kingdom of Israel, and it is
openly proclaimed as the announcement of Yahweh's punishment. Unlike "Quick to the plunder,
swift to the spoil," which, with its childish language development, becomes a living threat to
Judah's enemies, Hosea's children are mere name-bearers. The "threatening naming" has become
a topos. Now, the choice of the mother also carries a symbolic meaning: as a prostitute, she
represents Israel's whoring apostasy from Yahweh. The reason for the guilt is mentioned as the
bloodshed of Jezreel, probably an allusion to the fact that during Jehu's coup, a number of Judean
princes also lost their lives (2 Kings 10:12-14). However, this event was over a century ago, so it
served as a pretext. The message is better explained once again by the current state of war. The
fact that Israel was in conflict with Judah did not align with both states worshiping the same
dynastic god. Therefore, the prophecy asserts that Yahweh hates Israel and has severed his
relationship with them. Judah claims the god Yahweh for itself alone in order to lead him into
battle against the enemy attack. It is unlikely that this prophecy originated in the north, as the
tradition claims for obvious reasons. Hosea was an Isaiah in a different form.

The prophet Amos came from Thekoa near Bethlehem, so he was a Judean. Judging by its core,
his message is closely aligned with those of Isaiah and Hosea, so it is best understood within the
context of the military conflict between Israel and Judah. The dating that associates the prophet
with King Jeroboam II (790–750) is fictional. Regardless of interpretations of his message, it is
unequivocal that Amos, as a Judean, pronounced judgment upon Israel, and this occurred in the
8th century when "Israel" did not yet refer to the chosen people but was the name of the Northern
Kingdom:

"So the Lord God showed me, and behold, a basket of summer fruit." And the Lord said to me,
"Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me,
"The end has come upon my people Israel" (Amos 8:1-2).

This fourth (and originally the only) vision in the book is based on a keyword assonance: Amos
envisions a still life that inherently evokes positive associations. When the Lord asks him to
name the image, the similar-sounding qeṣ "end" is derived from qayiṣ "summer fruit." The
interpretation naturally follows: "The end has come upon my people Israel." In other words, this
is the essence of Hosea's symbolic action: "You are not my people, and I am not your God,"
except that where Hosea announces the immediate punishment of the Lord, "I will punish,"
Amos presents an indirect prophecy, similar to Isaiah. Originally launched from Judah against
hostile Israel with a salvific intent, this "no" from Amos eventually became the key to
interpreting the catastrophe of the South one and a half centuries later (cf. Jeremiah 1:11-14;
Jeremiah 24; Ezekiel 7) and established the theological significance of prophecy.

Even Jeremiah, the last great pre-exilic prophet, takes the side of Judean politics, albeit in a
nuanced manner. He criticizes King Jehoiakim and advises and warns King Zedekiah.
Apparently, some time before Jerusalem was conquered for the second time, he became
embroiled in the conflicts of the court factions. According to the account in Jeremiah 37-38, he
was imprisoned in the guardhouse for a while.

The oldest datable word of Jeremiah concerns the tragic end of King Josiah, who lost his life in
609 at Megiddo at the hands of Pharaoh Necho (Jeremiah 22:10). The Judahites placed Jehoahaz
on the throne, but the Pharaoh deported him to Egypt and appointed Jehoiakim as king. Jeremiah
declares Jehoahaz's fate final. He severely criticizes Jehoiakim, the vassal of the conquering
power:

"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice... "Do
you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and
yet uphold justice and righteousness, and it went well with him?" (Jeremiah 22:13-15).

Since then, his father, namely Josiah, has been regarded as the epitome of a good king. However,
even more significant for Jeremiah than such political statements are the words about the enemy
from the north. Since Egypt's defeat at Carchemish in 605 BCE, the Neo-Babylonians held
hegemony over Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar first captured Jerusalem in 597 BCE. Jehoiachin and
his court were deported, and Zedekiah was installed as a compliant vassal. Following his
rebellion, the second conquest occurred in 586 BCE, resulting in the destruction of the dynasty,
the temple, and the city fortifications.

"The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out
from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant. For this
put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us"
(Jeremiah 4).
These stirring poems of great linguistic power are not strictly prophecies but laments. They
suggest a connection between societal and external political catastrophe. The decline of morals
and mutual trust is mourned (Jeremiah 5:1-6; 9:1-9). General perplexity prevails (Jeremiah 8:4-
7). It is difficult to ascertain how much of it is still prediction or if the calamity has already
occurred, especially since the catastrophe unfolded in several waves between 609 and 586 BCE.
Unlike in Hosea, the "enemy from the north" is the cause of the disaster, never Yahweh. The
accusation that the Judeans had turned away from their God Yahweh is completely absent.