Passion, Persecution, and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen, Pierre J. Jordaan, József Zsengellér, Nicholas Peter Legh Allen, Pierre J. Jordaan, József Zsengellér

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000767322
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire antique

This volume examines Jewish literature produced from c. 700 B.C.E. to c. 200 C.E. from a socio-theological perspective. In this context, it offers a scholarly attempt to understand how the ancient Jewish psyche dealt with times of extreme turmoil and how Jewish theology altered to meet the challenges experienced.

The volume explores various early Jewish literature, including both the canonical and apocryphal scripture. Here, reference is often made to a divine epiphany (a moment of unexpected and prodigious revelation or insight) as a response to abuse, suffering and passion. Many of the chapters deal with these issues in relation to the Antiochan crisis of 169 to 164 B.C.E. in Judea, one of the more notable periods of oppression. This watershed event appears to have served as a catalyst for the new apocalyptic texts which were produced up until c. 200 C.E, and which reflect a new theological dynamic in Judaism – one that informed subsequent Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.

Passion, Persecution and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature will be of interest to anyone working on the Bible (both Masoretic and LXX) and early Jewish literature, as well as students of Jewish history and the Levant in the classical period.

1 Passion, persecution, and epiphany

The David-Bathsheba-Uriah affair according to the LXX, Josephus, and the Rabbis

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

1 Introduction

The story of David and Bathsheba is well-known: Whilst walking on the palace roof, King David accidentally espies the beautiful Bathsheba bathing. Despite the fact that she is married to Uriah, David is so driven by his passion¹ that he summons her, seduces her, and makes her pregnant. As a consequence, David fervently needs to avoid detection as the illegitimate father of the child. Accordingly, David tries to create a situation whereby Uriah can quickly sleep with Bathsheba and subsequently assume paternity. David’s plans miscarry; Uriah does not sleep with his wife, and as a consequence, David resolves to eliminate Uriah—namely, he jeopardises Uriah by having him placed in a dangerous situation where he is guaranteed to be killed by warring Ammonites. God is so displeased by this adulterous affair that he punishes David in various ways for the rest of his life, even denying him the right to build the Holy Temple.

The older LXX 2 Samuel 11 and 12 narrative takes the form of a “passion” (David’s initial lust or yearning for Bathsheba), followed by a “persecution” (David’s attempts to first deceive and then kill Uriah), and finally an “epiphany” (where David becomes fully aware that God is punishing him for his iniquities).

This chapter seeks to compare the employment of rhetoric as commissioned in various versions of the fabula and associated sjuzhets particular to the two narrative versions of the David and Bathsheba tale (i.e., the LXX 2 Samuel 11 and 12 and Antiquitates judaicae narratives respectively). In addition, comparisons between the two narratives as well as certain apologetic tractates from the later rabbinic literature will be made. Here, I am particularly interested in discrepancies between the narrative constructions applicable to the following versions of the tale:

1. 1 LXX version (i.e., 2 Sam 11.1–27 and 2 Sam 12:1–25);
2. 2 Josephus Flavius (Ant. 7.7.1/130 to Ant. 7.7.3/153);
3. 3 Certain midrashim (inter alia, Pesikta Rabbati [ed. Friedmann (Ish—Shalom)], para. 6; Midrash Tehillim 3:3; Midrash Eshet Hayil 31:22; Midrash Tehillim [ed. Buber], 18:25; Tanhuma, Shemot 1; Lev. Rabbah 12:5; and Sifrei Zuta on Numbers 10:29); and
4. 4 Certain tractates from the talmudim (inter alia, y. Ta’anit 2:10, 65d; b. Avodah Zarah 4b—5a; b. Bava Metzi’a 58b—59a; b. Ma’aserot 2:8; b. Megillah 14b; b. Sanhedrin 22a, 69b, 101b, 107a—b; b. Shabbat 56a; b. Sotah 21a; and b. Yoma 22b).

NB. The last examples make either direct or veiled references to the affair.

2 Methodology

Here, an interpretivist/constructivist approach will be taken. According to Cohen and Manion, this methodology has the intention of understanding the world of human experience better because it accepts that reality is, as Mertens confirms, “socially constructed.”² Here it is assumed that the constructed worldviews of all role-players reviewed in this research project (including that of the researcher) will impact on the research findings.

This approach also allows the researcher to make use of, where relevant and applicable, a wider range of methods which, when triangulated, may better assist in establishing greater validity of interpretation. According to Mackenzie and Knipe,

The constructivist researcher is most likely to rely on qualitative data collection methods and analysis or a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed methods). Quantitative data may be utilised in a way, which supports or expands upon qualitative data and effectively deepens the description.³

3 A comparison of the three sources

The original story, as told in the LXX 2 Sam 11.1–27 and 2 Sam 12:1–25 narrative, is quite clear: Both David and Bathsheba transgressed against God, and they both paid the price. The LXX and Josephan narratives are directly comparable to each other as regards basic content. However, the combined rabbinic literature really only focusses on an apologetic to counter the claims of guilt on behalf of both David and Bathsheba. Garsiel reminds us that Chronicles also neglects to mention this particular episode, probably because it is “injurious” to David’s image.⁴ Regardless, Josephus’s account seems to take a position somewhat midway between the LXX and rabbinic material albeit for important rhetorical purposes. In this regard, the following table (Table 1.1) compares the respective fabulae and sjuzhets of the LXX and Josephan versions of the narrative as well as the contributions made by the rabbinic literature:

Table 1.1 Comparison of Texts

LXX (2 Sam 11 and 2 Sam 12)	Josephus	Rabbinic Literature
No transgression is anticipated (2 Sam 11–12)	Transgression is anticipated (Ant. 7.7.1/130)	David is only human (b. Sanh. 107a)
Late one afternoon, David walked on the roof of the king’s house, (incidental) (2 Sam 11:2)	Late in an evening, David walked on the roof of his royal palace (incidental but habitual occurrence) (Ant. 7.7.1/130)	In the evening, David walked on the roof of the king’s house (incidental) (b. Sanh. 107a)
He sees a nameless woman (2 Sam 11:2)	He sees a nameless woman (Ant. 7.7.1/130)	He sees a nameless woman (b. Sanh. 107a)
David saw from the roof a woman bathing; (purification ritual) (2 Sam 11:2)	David saw a woman washing herself in her own house (Ant. 7.7.1/130)	David saw a woman washing herself—“cleansing her hair behind a screen” (b. Sanh. 107a)
The woman was “very beautiful” (2 Sam 11:2)	The woman had “extraordinary beauty” (Ant. 7.7.1/130)	The woman was “very beautiful” (b. Sanh. 107a)
David inquired about the woman. David is told that she was “Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite” (2 Sam 11:3)	The reader is told that her name is “Bathsheba” (Ant. 7.7.1/130)	The reader is told that her name is “Bath Sheba” (b. Sanh. 69b and 107a)
David sent for her (2 Sam 11:4)	David sent for her (Ant. 7.7.1/131)	David sent messengers (b. Sanh. 69b and 107a)
David lay with her (2 Sam 11:4)	David lay with her (Ant. 7.7.1/131)	Bathsheba came to David with sorrow. David took her, and she came unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanliness: and she returned unto her house (b. Sanh. 107a)
She conceived a child (2 Sam 11:5)	She conceived with child (Ant. 7.7.1/131)	Bathsheba’s pregnancy mentioned in passing (b. Sanh. 69b)
Bathsheba informed David of her condition (2 Sam 11:5)	Bathsheba wanted to contrive some way for concealing her transgression (Ant. 7.7.1/131)	Not mentioned
David sent for Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam 11:6)	David sent for Joab’s armour-bearer (Ant. 7.7.1/131)	Not mentioned
David asked Uriah how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going (2 Sam 11:7)	David inquired of Uriah about the army, and about the siege (Ant. 7.7.1/131)	Not mentioned
David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king (2 Sam 11:8).	David bade him go home to his wife (Ant. 7.7.1/132)	David bade him go home to his wife (b. Šabb. 56a)
Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord (2 Sam 11:9)	Uriah slept near the king with the rest of his armour-bearers (Ant. 7.7.1/132)	Uriah was rebellious against royal authority (b. Šabb. 56a)
Uriah’s reasons for disobeying David
“The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Passion, persecution, and epiphany: the David-Bathsheba-Uriah affair according to the LXX, Josephus, and the Rabbis
• 2 Victorious victims and prayers for the deceased: possible links between conceptual tension and progressive doctrine in 2 Maccabees 12
• 3 Did the devastating persecution and reforms of Antiochus IV Epiphanes have an impact on the LXX version of Proverbs?
• 4 Passion, persecution, and the strategic discourse of the body in 2 Maccabees 7
• 5 Martyr’s motivations: religion and politics
• 6 Human and divine persecution in the MT and LXX Lamentations 3:52–66
• 7 Establishing and maintaining communal identity through food in times of persecution: an interpretation of Daniel 1:8–16
• 8 The death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 2 Maccabees 9: persecution and epiphany as dramatic irony
• 9 Pathos and passions in Josephus’s Judaean War: a tragic vision of history and politics
• 10 “Let us test him with cruelty and with torture” (Wisdom 2:19)
• 11 Persecution and divine epiphany in 2 Maccabees
• 12 A battle of honour! Persecution in 2 Maccabees 7:1–42 as part of a post-war ritual in a challenge for honour to establish power and dominion
• 13 Samaritan persecution in the Hellenistic period: according to Josephus Flavius
• Classical index
• Biblical index