Temples, Tithes, and Taxes , livre ebook

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159 pages

English

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The temple in Jerusalem was both the center of ancient Israel's religious life and also an economic center for the nation. In this groundbreaking study of the economic functions of the Jerusalem temple, Marty E. Stevens, who worked for fifteen years as a certified public accountant prior to getting a PhD in Old Testament, demonstrates that the temple acted as the central bank, internal revenue collector, source of loans, and even debt collector for ancient Israel. Applying a broad knowledge of temple-systems throughout the ancient Near East, Stevens sheds light on the roles played by various officials mentioned in Scripture and their tasks within the temple complex. Neither "Big Brother" nor "big business," the temple still served government and commerce in the course of conducting its religious functions. This fascinating book opens new avenues for understanding the Jerusalem temple and its impact on Israelite society.

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 novembre 2006
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441242075
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0749€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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© 2006 by Marty E. Stevens
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2012
Baker Academic edition published 2010
Previously published in 2006 by Hendrickson Publishers
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4207-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Cover Art: The cover artwork shows a scale model of the temple compound of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of King Herod the Great (ca. 20 B.C.E ). Location: Holy Land Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel. Photo Credit: Eric Lessing / Art Resource, N.Y. Image reference: ART47964. Used with permission.
Table of Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABBREVIATIONS
1. INTRODUCTORY MATTERS
Basic Terminology
Sources of Information
Ancient Record-Keeping
Ancient Israelite Economy
Brief History of Israel/Judah
Assumptions
Purposes of Study
Guide to Foreign Words
2. TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION
The Wilderness Tabernacle
The Jerusalem First Temple
The Jerusalem Second Temple
Excursus Temples to YHWH outside Jerusalem
3. TEMPLE PERSONNEL
Priests
Gatekeepers and Keepers of the Threshold: Gate Accountants
Scribes: Storehouse Accountants
Craftsmen
Administrators
4. TEMPLE INCOME
Land Ownership
Tithes
Taxes
Gifts
Trade
5. TEMPLE EXPENSES
Personnel
Taxes
Royal Provisioning
Appropriations
Community Welfare
6. TEMPLE AS “BANK”
Sacred Space
Deposits
Loans
Vows
Excursus Birth Narrative of Samuel
7. CONCLUDING MATTERS
An Economic Model of the Temple in the ANE
Specific Findings regarding the Jerusalem Temple
Contribution
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS
INDEX OF FOREIGN WORDS
INDEX OF ANCIENT SOURCES
NOTES
Acknowledgments
T his constructive work of scholarship is a product of all my life experiences to date: academy, church, business, and family. First and foremost, I owe a debt of sincere gratitude to my mentors and advisors in graduate school at Union Theological Seminary, William P. Brown and S. Dean McBride Jr. With patient grace, both showed unflagging commitment to developing my scholarly potential and each appreciated the economic perspective I brought to the ancient texts. My professors at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary initially recognized my potential for scholarship and were strong advocates on my behalf.
My business experience as a Certified Public Accountant and financial management executive was valuable in learning the ways of the world. The adventure of reading ancient texts with financial expertise was undertaken with a commitment to serve the church through biblical scholarship. Three church families in North Carolina formed me into a person of faith: Starmount Presbyterian, Christ Lutheran, and St. John’s Lutheran. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the unfailing love and support of my parents gave me the confidence to follow my vocation.
Any worthwhile contribution is the result of all of these influences, while any errors in fact or judgment are completely my own.
Abbreviations
General
c.
century
ca.
circa
LXX
Septuagint
m.
Mishnah
MT
Masoretic Text
Primary Sources
Ant.
Josephus. Jewish Antiquities. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray and Ralph Marcus. LCL
Geogr.
Strabo. Geographica. Translated by Horace L. Jones. LCL
Hist.
Herodotus. Historae. Translated by A. D. Godley. LCL
J.W.
Josephus. Jewish War. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray. LCL
Šeqal.
Šeqalim
Spec. Laws
Philo. On the Special Laws. Translated by F. H. Colson. LCL
Secondary Sources
AASOR
Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
AB
Anchor Bible
ABD
Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols. New York, 1992
AJSL
American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature
AnBib
Analecta biblica
BA
Biblical Archaeologist
BAR
Biblical Archaeology Review
BASOR
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BDAG
Bauer, W., F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3d ed. Chicago, 1999
BDB
Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford, 1907
CAD
The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago, 1956–
CAH
Cambridge Ancient History
CANE
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Edited by J. Sasson. 4 vols. New York, 1995
CBQ
Catholic Biblical Quarterly
ConBOT
Coniectanea biblica: Old Testament Series
CH
Code of Hammurabi from Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. 2d ed. Martha T. Roth. SBLWAW 6. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997
CHJ
Cambridge History of Judaism. Ed. W. D. Davies and Louis Finkelstein. Cambridge, 1984–
EncJud
Encylcopedia Judaica. 16 vols. Jerusalem, 1972
HSM
Harvard Semitic Monographs
HSS
Harvard Semitic Series
HUCA
Hebrew Union College Annual
IEJ
Israel Exploration Journal
JAOS
Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL
Journal of Biblical Literature
JBR
Journal of Bible and Religion
JCS
Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JJS
Journal of Jewish Studies
JNES
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JQR
Jewish Quarterly Review
JRS
Journal of Roman Studies
JSJ
Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods
JSOTSup
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series
JSS
Journal of Semitic Studies
JTS
Journal of Theological Studies
LCL
Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1900–
NBAD
Neo-Babylonian Business and Administrative Documents. Ellen W. Moore. Ann Arbor, 1935
OBO
Orbis biblicus et orientalis
OIP
Oriental Institute Publications
OLA
Orientalia lovaniensia analecta
OTL
Old Testament Library
RCAE
Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire. Leroy Waterman Ann Arbor, 1930–1936
SBLDS
Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SBLMS
Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series
SBLSP
Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers
SBLSymS
Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series
SBLWAW
Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Ancient World
TZ
Theologische Zeitschrift
UF
Ugarit-Forschungen
USQR
Union Seminary Quarterly Review
VT
Vetus Testamentum
VTSup
Vetus Testamentum Supplements
WUNT
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
YOS
Yale Oriental Series
ZAW
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Introductory Matters
T his book is about the temple in Jerusalem in its role as the central religious and socioeconomic institution in ancient Israelite society. As the central sanctuary from the time of King Solomon through the time of Jesus, the Jerusalem temple played an important economic role in the community. But why would one even suspect that the Jerusalem temple has anything to do with economics? The cynic may answer, “ Everything has to do with economics, even religion!” Certainly, there is some truth in that remark, since religious institutions must manage economic resources in their efforts to serve the community. In fact, some would say the major problem with religious institutions today is that they do not pay enough attention to their role as economic enterprises. But the connection between the Jerusalem temple and economics lies not in the overarching role of economics in society, but in the overarching role of the temple in society.
For most of Israel’s history, the political and religious authorities cooperated to govern the community in all spheres of life. The temple, therefore, functioned in ancient Israelite society as a central and centralizing institution. Concerned with matters far beyond the modern notion of “religion,” the Jerusalem temple played an important role in the economic life of the people and the nation. Yet very little attention has been paid to the economic role of the Jerusalem temple. Most scholarly discussion of the temple has focused on the development of Israelite religion and its relationship to neighboring cultures. Even if scholarship has acknowledged some impact of the temple on economic life, there has been no sustained attention to the question of how the temple functioned economically in ancient Israelite society. I intend to step into this gap.
Basic Terminology
It may be helpful to begin with a brief exploration of some basic terminology regarding ancient societies. [1]
Israel and Judah. The term “Israel” is fraught with multiple meanings a person, a small geographic area in the eastern Mediterranean, an even smaller geographic area, a self-identified religious group. Likewise, “Judah” is both a person and a geographic area. According to the narrative in Genesis, the patriarch Abraham began his relationship with YHWH [2] when he was asked to leave his home and kindred and embark on a journey to “the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1). [3] After a detour to Egypt, Abraham and Sarah settled in the land of Canaan and bore the miracle-baby they named Isaac (“laughter”). Isaac and Rebekah bore twins, Esau (“hairy”) and Jacob (“grabby”). As a grown man who had lived out his “grabby” character in Canaan and in Haran with his uncle Laban, Jacob wrestled with an angelman one night at the River Jabbok. The lasting result, besides a permanent limp, was that his name was changed to Israel, which may mean “he strives with God” (Gen 32:28). Later narratives and prophetic oracles used the name Israel to refer to the person of Jacob, the ancestor of th