The Concept of Covenant in Judaism in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Culture of Legal Code

Year 2015, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 77 - 105, 28.07.2015

Eldar Hasanoğlu

Abstract

Ancient Near Eastern nations thought they followed the legal codes which had been given by God. This approach was shared by ancient Hebrews also. The Hebrew believed that God did make covenants with the humankind and put laws as the content of them. There were great similarity between the concept of the covenant found in Jewish sacred texts and the patterns of legal codes found in ancient Near Eastern nations. This similarity can be seen in the nature, in the structure and format, in the scene of making covenant.

Keywords

Judaism, Ancient Israelites, Covenant, Ancient Near East, Legal Codes

Eski Yakındoğu Kanunname Kültürü Işığında Yahudilikte Ahit Anlayışı

Abstract

Eski Yakındoğu halkları uydukları kanunların tanrı tarafından verildiğini düşünmüşlerdir. Bu yaklaşım eski İbraniler tarafından da paylaşılmıştır. İbraniler Tanrının insanlıkla ahitleştiğini, ahdin içeriği olarak kurallar koyduğuna inanmışlardır. Yahudi kutsal metinlerinde yer alan ahit olgusu çevre halklarının kanunname örnekleriyle büyük benzerlik sergiler. Bu benzerlik hem ahdin mahiyetinde, hem yapısı ve biçiminde, hem de ahitleşme sahnesinde kullanılan terimlerde tebarüz etmektedir.Eski Yakındoğu bölgesinde ortaya çıkarılan arkeolojik bulgular sebebiyle 19. yüzyılda Yahudi kutsal metinleri, yani Tanah üzerine çalışmalarda önemli açılımlar yaşanmış, akademik çalışmalar ivme kazanmıştır.1 Dönemin akademik atmosferi gereği uzmanlar Tanah’ın kaynağı meselesine de eğilmiş, hem metin hem içerik tenkidi yöntemini uygulamışlar. Ahit konusu da bu bağlamda incelenen konular arasında yer almıştır.

 

Keywords

Yahudilik, Eski İsrailoğulları, Ahit, Eski Yakındoğu, Kanunname

References

• Aharon Kirşenbaum, “Ha-Berît ‘im Bney Noa mul ha-berît ba- Sinay”, Dine Yisrael, 6 (1975), 31-48.
• Alan J. Avery-Peck, “Covenant”, The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, [ed. J. Neusner, A.J. Avery-Peck, W.S. Green], I, 136-151.
• Baki Adam, “Yahudilikte Din Kavramı ve Din Anlayışı”, Dinler Tarihi Araştırmaları, Ankara: Dinler Tarihi Derneği, 2000, s. II, 129-134.
• Carlo Zaccagnini, “Sacred and human components in Ancient Near Eastern Law”, History of Religions, 33:3 (1994), 265-286.
• Cleon L. Rogers, “The Covenant with Abraham and its Historical Setting”, Bibliotheca Sacra, 127: 507 (1970), 241-256.
• Daniel Elazar, Covenant and polity in Biblical Israel: Biblical foundati- ons and Jewish expressions I: The Covenant Tradition in Politics, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1995.
• Daniel J. Elazar, “The political theory of covenant: Biblical origins and modern developments”, Publius: The journal of federalism, 10:4 (1980), 3-30.
• David Noel Freedman, “Divine commitment and human obliga- tion: the covenant theme”, Interpretation, 18, (1964), 419-431.
• David Novak, The election of Israel: the idea of the chosen people, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.
• David Novak, The Jewish social contract: An essay in political theo- logy, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 2005.
• Delbert R. Hillers, Covenant: the history of a Biblical idea, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1989.
• Dennis J. McCarthy, Old Testament Covenant: a survey of current opi- nions, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1973.
• Dennis J. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and in the Old Testament, Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1963.
• Dennis Swanson, “Bibliography of works on the Biblical Cove- nants”, The Master Seminary Journal, 10:2 (1999), 271-280.
• Edward J. Young, An introduction to the Old Testament, Michigan: Grand Rapids, 1989.
• Eldar Hasanov, Yahudi ahit geleneğinde Nuh Kanunları ve Nuhilik, (Yayınlanmamış Doktora tezi), İstanbul: Marmara Üniversi- tesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2012.
• Ernest W. Nicholson, God and His people: Covenant and theology in the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon, 1986.
• Eugene J. Lipman, The Mishnah: oral traditions of Judaism, New York: Schocken Books, 1974.
• Gary N. Knoppers, “Ancient Near Eastern Royal grants and the Davidic Covenant: A Parallel?”, Journal of the American Orien- tal Society, 116:4 (1996), 670-697.
• George Mendenhall, “Covenant”, The Interpriter’s Dictionary of the Bible, [ed. George Arthur Buttrick], New York: Abingdon, 1962, I, 714-723.
• George Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and Ancient Near East, Pittsburg: Biblical Colloquium, 1955.
• Gordon Freeman, The Rabbinic understanding of covenant as a politi- cal idea, Philadelphia: Center for Jewish Community Studies, 1977.
• Gordon V. Child, Kendini Yaratan İnsan, [trc. Filiz Ofluoğlu], 3. bs, İstanbul: Varlık, 1988.
• Irvin A. Busenitz, “Introduction to the Biblical covenants; the Noa- hic covenant and the priestly covenant”, The Master Seminary Journal, 10:2 (1999), 173-189.
• J.A. Emerton, “Ernest Nicholson’s contribution to Old Testament studies”, Covenant as context: essays in honour of E.W. Nichol- son, [ed. A.D.H. Mayes, R.B. Salters], New York: Oxford UP, 2003, xvii-xl.
• Jeffrey Jay Niehaus, Ancient Near Eastern themes in Biblical theology, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2008.
• John A. Thompson, “The Significance of the Ancient Near Eastern Treaty Pattern”, Tyndale Bulletin, 13 (1963), 1-6.
• John A. Thompson, The Ancient Near Eastern Treaties and the Old Testament, London: Tyndale, 1964.
• John H. Walton, Ancient Israelite literature in its cultural context: a survey of parallels between Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990.
• Julius Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel, Glo- ucester: Peter Smith Publisher, 1973.
• Kenneth A. Kitchen, “The fall and rise of covenant, law and tre- aty”, Tyndale Bulletin, 40:1 (1989) 118-135.
• Kenneth A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, London: In- ter-Varsity Press, 1966.
• Klaus Baltzer, The covenant formulary in Old Testament, Jewish and early Christian writings, [trc. David E. Green], Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1971.
• Kürşat Demirci, “İbrani Yasaları ve Eski Önasya Hukuku Arasın- daki Paralellikler”, Anadolu Araştırmaları, 12 (1990), 203-213.
• Mebrure Tosun, “Sümer, Babil ve Assur’larda hukuk, kanun ve adalet kavramları ve bunlarla ilgili terimler”, Belleten, 37:148 (1973), 557-581.
• Mehmet Erdoğan, Fıkıh ve Hukuk Terimleri Sözlüğü, İstanbul: En- sar, 2005.
• Moshe Weinfeld, “Berit”, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testa- ment, [ed. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, Heinz-Jo- seph Fabry], II, 253-279.
• Moshe Weinfeld, “Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East”, Journal of the American Oriental Soci- ety, 90:2 (1970), 184-203.
• Moshe Weinfeld, “Covenant terminology in the Ancient Near East and its influence on the West”, Journal of American Oriental Society, 93:2 (1973), 190-199.
• Moshe Weinfeld, “Covenant”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, V, 249-253.
• Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic School, Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
• Necip Bilge, Hukuk Başlangıcı, 15. bsk., Ankara: Turhan Kitabevi, 2001.
• Paul Kalluveettil, Declaration and Covenant: A Comprehensive Revi- ew of Covenant Formulae from the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East, Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1982.
• Petrus J. Grabe, New covenant, new community: the significance of Biblical and Patristic covenant theology for contemporary unders- tanding, Milton keynes: Paternoster Press, 2006.
• Rene Lopez, “Israelite covenants in the light of the Near Eastern covenants-I”, Chafer Theological Seminary Journal, 9 (Fall, 2003), 92-111.
• Rene Lopez, “Israelite covenants in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Covenants-II”, Chafer Theological Seminary Journal, 10 (Spring 2004), 73-106.
• Scott Hahn, “Covenant in the Old and New Testaments: some cur- rent research (1994–2004)”, Currents in Biblical Research, III:2 (2005), 263-292.
• Steven Wilf, The law before the law, Lanham: Lexinton Books, 2008.
• Walter C. Kaiser, A history of Israel, Nashville: Broadman&Holman Publishers, 1998.
• Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, [trc. John Baker], Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961.
• Will Durant, Kıssatu’l-hadâre, [trc. Zekî Necib Mahmûd], 3. bsk., Kahire: Câmiatü’d-Düveli’l-Arabiyye, 1968, I.
• William Foxwell Albright, Archaeology and the religion of Israel, Bal- timore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1942.
• William J. Dumbrell, Covenant and creation: a theology of the Old Tes- tament Covenants, Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2002.
• William L. Moran, “A Note on the Treaty Terminology of the Sefi- re Stelas”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 22:3 (1963), 173-176.