Sárospataki Füzetek 18. (2014)
2014 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Jacob J. T. Doedens: The Return of YHWH and the End of the Exile
Jacob J.T. Doedens Defeat and exile53 evoked deeper questions which had to be worked out. Predominant was the notion of sin and punishment. They had been disobedient to Yhwh and now suffered the consequences. All kind of questions arose: Were the deported people the sinners to whom punishment was meted out? Or were the ones who remained the righteous ones, entitled to inherit the properties of the exiles?54 Moreover, not only the exile had to be coped with, but also the defeat, the destruction of the temple, the end of the Davidic monarchy, the fragmentation of the social structures, the economic collapse, the refugees, the suffering. As mentioned above, the situation after the fall of Jerusalem can be qualified sociologically as a ‘post-collapse society’. The upheaval and insecurity of these times appears to be reflected in the variety of answers given in the Old Testament. The interesting fact in this kind of Vergangenheitsbewältigung is that, in their reflection, biblical authors did not try to finde excuses for what happened, which implied an openness about their own guilt.55 In such circumstances, it is to be expected that different assessments on defeat and exile are to be found within the Old Testament scriptures. These different opinions may well be viewed as complementary, although conflicting statements may also be present. Albertz mentions three mainstreams in how Old Testament authors viewed the exile. The first approach of the exile encompasses the view on the exile as a missed opportunity.56 This thought is found in Jer 39-43: Nebuchadnezzar implements the social justice, that should have been exercised by the inhabitants of Judah. The “poor people who owned nothing” were given vineyards and fields (Jer 39:10). Jeremiah is set free (Jer 39:11-14) and under the government of Gedaliah a new beginning seems possible, even though this will be under Babylonian supremacy (Jer 40:7-12). This new beginning did not take off at that time, but still, Jeremiah had already announced that after 70 years the exile would come to an end (Jer 25:11; 29:10). The second approach predominantly depicts the exile as ‘the end of history’.57 This view is found in the description of the disaster in 2 Kings. In the Northern Kingdom the process leading to the expulsion from the land began with the ‘sin of Jeroboam’, the golden calves in Bethel and Dan (1 Kgs 12:28-30; 2 Kgs 17:22-23). 53 For an analysis of the meaning of the verb rhx, see David K. H. Gray, "A New Analysis of a Key Hebrew Term: The Semantics of Galah ('To Go into Exile')." Tyndale Bulletin 58 no. 1 (2007): 49- 59. Gray discerns between nbi I ('to uncover, reveal') and II ('tp go into exile, to depart, to leave'), verbs which are, in his opinion, unrelated in meaning. 54 Cf. Lipschits, The Fail and Rise of Jerusalem, xiii. 55 Cf. Rainer Albertz, Die Exilszeit: 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr. (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2001), 325-326. For a view on 'exile' in the biblical thought world, see also Shemaryahu Talmon "'Exile'and 'Restoration' in the Conceptual World of Ancient Judaism," in Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives (JSJSup 72; ed. James M. Scott; Leiden: Brill, 2001), 110-112. 56 Cf. Albertz, Israelin Exile, 5-7. 57 Cf. Albertz, Israelin Exile, 8-12. 36 Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam I 2014 | 1
