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Of Covenants Ancient and New: The Influence of Secular Law on Biblical Religion*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

Edward McGlynn Gaffney Jr.
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Extract

Professor Harold Berman has described the relationship between law and religion as an interaction, stating: “The principal affirmation is that law and religion are two different but interrelated aspects of social experience—in all societies, but especially in Western society, and still more especially in American society today. Despite the tensions between them, one cannot flourish without the other.” Berman illustrates his thesis largely by demonstrating that much of Western legal thought and many institutions find their source and origin in medieval European Christian civilization.

In another essay I have suggested that biblical religion has influenced many of the legal concepts and human values protected in the American constitution. In this essay I wish to suggest that the secular phenomena of ancient Near Eastern law played a significant role in the shaping of biblical religion. This is done principally by a review of the literature on the central biblical category of covenant. I also wish to suggest that American constitutional law continues to influence religious concepts and institutions today.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , 1984 , pp. 117 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 1994

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Footnotes

*

© 1984 Edward McGlynn Gaffney, Jr.

References

1. Berman, H., The Interaction of Law and Religion 11 (1974)Google Scholar.

2. Berman, , Origins of Western Legal Science, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 894 (1977)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Berman's, masterful volume, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (1983)Google Scholar.

3. See Gaffney, , The Interaction of Biblical Religion and Constitutional Law, in The Bible and American Law, Politics and Political Rhetoric (Johnson, J. ed. 1983)Google Scholar.

4. Berman, supra note 1, at 31.

5. Id.

6. See, e.g., Mowinckel, S., The Psalms in Israel's Worship (1962)Google Scholar.

7. Wellhausen, J., Die Composition des Hexateuchs (1885)Google Scholar; and Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel (1885, 1957)); see also Perlitt, L., Vatke and Wellhausen (1956)Google Scholar.

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10. I am indebted to my colleague, Joseph Blenkinsopp, for the observation reported here. For further discussion of the Josian reform, see infra text accompanying notes 42-46.

11. See the Nabanaid, Harran inscription in The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament 560–562 (Pritchard, J. ed. 1969)Google Scholar.

12. de Wette, W., Disseratio critico-exegetica, qua Deuteronomium a prioritus Pentateuchi libris diversum, alius evivsdam recentioris auctoris opus esse monstrator (1805)Google Scholar. For a thorough exploration of the documentary hypothesis, see Eissfeldt, O, The Old Testament: an Introduction 158–241 (1965)Google Scholar.

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16. For example, there are distinct similarities in form and content between the casuistical law found in the Hebrew Scriptures and the casuistical law found in the Code of Hammurabi (1972-1686 B.C.E.). Compare, e.g., Dt. 19:16-21 with The Code of Hammurabi (CH) 1, reprinted in 1 The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (ANE) 139 (Pritchard, J. ed. 1958)Google Scholar; compare Ex. 22:1-4 with CH 8, reprinted in ANE at 140; compare Ex. 21:16; Dt. 24:7 with CH 14, reprinted in ANE at 141; compare Ex. 22:2-3 with ch 22, reprinted in ANE at 141; compare Dt. 21:1 ff. with CH 24, reprinted in ANE at 142; compare Lev. 19:23-25 with CH 60, reprinted in ANE at 146; compare Ex. 21:2-11; Dt. 15:1218 with CH 117, reprinted in ANE at 151; compare Ex. 22:6-8 with CH 120, reprinted in ANE at 151; compare Dt. 22:22 with CH 129, reprinted in ANE at 152; compare Dt. 22:23-27 with CH 130, reprinted in ANE at 152; compare Num. 5:11-31 with CH 132, reprinted in ANE at 152; compare Lev. 18:6-18; 20:10-21; Dt. 27:20, 22-23 with CH 154, reprinted in ANE at 155; compare Ex. 21:15 with CH 195, reprinted in ANE at 161; compare Ex. 21:22-27; Lev. 24:19-20; Dt. 19:21 (law of the talion) with CH 196-214, reprinted in ANE at 161-162; compare Ex. 21:28-36 with CH 250, reprinted in ANE at 165; compare Ex. 22:10ff. with CH 266, reprinted in ANE at 166. For an earlier law code of a Sumerian city-state, see The Laws of Eshnunna (ca. 1900 B.C.E.), reprinted in ANE at 133-138.

17. For example, there are striking parallels in thought and structure between Egyptian and Hebrew wisdom literature. See, e.g., The Instruction of Vizier Ptah-Hotep (ca. 2450 B.C.E.), reprinted in ANE, supra note 1 11B, at 234-237, with references to the biblical book of Proverbs in the margin. See also The Instruction of Amen-em-Opet (ca. 7th-6th cen. B.C.E.), reprinted Id. at 237-243, with references to Proverbs in the margin.

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20. Eichrodt, W., Theology of the Old Testament (1961–1967)Google Scholar; see also Hillers, D. R., Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea (1969)Google Scholar.

21. Mendenhall, supra note 19, at 32-36; see also Mendenhall, , Covenant, 1 Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible 714–15 (1962)Google Scholar.

22. Mendenhall, supra note 19, at 35-41.

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24. Moran, , Moses und der Bundesschluss am Sinai, 170 Stimmen der Zeit 120–33 (1961)Google Scholar; in Latin, , 40 Verbum Domini 3–17 (1962)Google Scholar.

25. Mendenhall, supra note 19, at 28.

26. Moran, , The Ancient Near Eastern Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy, 29 Cath. Bib. Q. 543–54 (1967)Google Scholar.

27. Hillers, , A Note on Some Treaty Terminology in the Old Testament, 176 Bull. Am. Sch. Oriental Res. 46–7 (1964)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Moran, , A Note on the Treaty Terminology of the Sefire States, 22 J. Near E. Stud. 173–76 (1963)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Malamat, , Origins of Statecraft in the Israelite Monarchy, 28 Biblical Archaelogist 34–65 (1965)Google Scholar.

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29. See, e.g., Erica Reiner's translation of Akkadian treaties from Syria and Assyria, including the treaty of Esarhaddon, in 2 The Ancient Near East: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures 45–69 (Pritchard, J. ed. 1975)Google Scholar.

30. J. Blenkinsopp, supra note 9, at 24.

31. See my discussion below at pp. 129-134.

32. McCarthy, D., Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and the Old Testament (1963)Google Scholar.

33. McCarthy, supra note 23, at 14.

34. Mendenhall, supra note 19, at 17-19.

35. Id. at 44-47.

36. For an account of revelation in these terms, see Baum, G., Man Becoming: God in Secular Experience (1970)Google Scholar; and see Somerville, J., Total Commitment: Blondel's L'Action (1968)Google Scholar.

37. Lohfink, , The Great Commandment, in The Christian Meaning of the Old Testament 93 (1968)Google Scholar.

38. Id.

39. Id. at 93-94.

40. Id. at 94.

41. Id. at 94-96.

42. Id. at 94-101.

43. Rad, von, The Form Critical Problem of the Hexateuch, in The Form Critical Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays 28 (1966)Google Scholar.

44. Sanders, supra note 8, at 41.

45. von Rad, supra note 43, at 27.

46. Id.

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49. For a succinct, current statement of scholarship on these prophets, see Blenkinsopp, J., A History of Prophecy in Israel: From the Settlement in the Land to the Hellenstic Period 86–96, 118–125 (1983)Google Scholar. Since another Judean prophet, Hosea, was not primarily interested in social injustice, he did not contribute significantly to the Deutero-nomic reform in this respect.

50. Blenkinsopp, supra note 9, at 24-35; and see Weinfeld, M., Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School 171–178, 320–365 (1972)Google Scholar.

51. I am indebted to my colleague, Joseph Blenkinsopp, for this summary of the social reforms of Deuteronomy.

52. Blenkinsopp, supra note 9, at 29.

53. Sanders, supra note 8, at 39.

54. Id. at 44.

55. Frankena, , The Vassal-Treaties of Esarhaddon and the Dating of Deuteronomy, 14 Oudtestamentische Studies 122–54 (1963)Google Scholar.

56. McCarthy, supra note 23, at 71.

57. Wellhausen, J., Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel 389–90 (1957)Google Scholar.

58. Id. at 402.

59. Lohfink, supra note 37, at 98-101, 103-19.

60. Blenkinsopp, supra note 9, at 21-22. In a footnote Blenkinsopp adds: “The virulent anti-Judaism of Hegel's earlier writings, never disavowed, entitles him to be considered one of the founders of modern intellectual anti-semitism. …” Blenkinsopp, supra note 9, at 158 n.30.

61. Beyerlin, W., Origins and History of the Oldest Sinaitic Traditions (1965)Google Scholar.

62. von Rad, supra note 43.

63. McCarthy, supra note 23, at 19.

64. Li, W. Zimmer, The Law and the Prophets 52–57 (1965)Google Scholar.

65. See Hillers, D., Treaty-Curses and the Old Testament Prophets (1964)Google Scholar; Fensham, supra note 14; Fensham, , Salt as Curse in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East, 25 Bib. Archaeologist 49–50 (1962)Google Scholar; Fensham, , Common Trends in Curses of the Near Eastern Treaties and Kudurru-Inscription Compared with Malediction of Amos and Isaiah, 75 Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 155–75 (1963)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

66. See, e.g., Huffman, , The Covenant Lawsuit and the Prophets, 78 J. of Bib. Literature 286–95 (1959)Google Scholar; and Wright, , The Lawsuit of God: A Form-Critical Study of Deuteronomy 32, in Israel's Prophetic Heritage: Essays in Honor of James Muilenberg (Anderson, B. & Harrelson, W., eds. 1962)Google Scholar.

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68. Sanders, supra note 8, at 73-90.

69. Neuhaus, R. J., Time Toward Home: The American Experiment as Revelation 153 (1975)Google Scholar.

70. For a challenging statement of the political implications of the exodus story, see Cox, H., The Secular City: Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective (1965)Google Scholar; and Gutierrez, G., Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation (1973)Google Scholar.

71. See, e.g., Stewart, , Abolitionists, the Bible, and the Challenge of Slavery, in The Bible and Social Reform, 35–57 (Sandeen, E. ed. 1982)Google Scholar, and The Abolitionists: A Collection of Their Writings, (Rachames, L. ed. 1963)Google Scholar.

72. Rachames, supra note 71, at 79.

73. Id. at 58.

74. Id. at 49.

75. Issues in American Protestantism: A Documentary History from the Puritans to the Present 183–84 (Ferm, R. ed. 1976)Google Scholar.

76. Balme, J., American States, Churches, and the War 38–39 (1865)Google Scholar.

77. Ferm, supra note 75, at 189, 190, 197.

78. 163 U.S. 537 (1896).

79. 345 U.S. 972 (1954).

80. See, e.g., Schussler-Fiorenza, , Discipleship and Patriarchy: Early Christian Ethos and Christian Ethics in a Feminist Theological Perspective, in Annual of the Soc. of Christian Ethics 131–72 (Waterloo, Ont.: Council for the Study of Religion, 1982)Google Scholar; Schussler-Fiorenza, , Word, Spirit and Power: Women in Early Christian Communities, in Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions 29–70 (Reuther, R. and Mclaughlin, E. eds. 1979)Google Scholar; Schussler-Fiorenza, , Feminist Theology as a Critical Theology of Liberation, 36 Theological Studies 605 (1975)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

81. See, e.g., Sexism and Church Law: Equal Rights and Affirmative Action (Coriden, J. ed. 1977)Google Scholar; Women Priests: A Catholic Commentary on the Vatican Declaration (Swidler, A. and Swidler, L. eds. 1977)Google Scholar; Religion and Sexism: Images of Women in the Jewish and Christian Traditions (Reuther, R. ed. 1974)Google Scholar; and Women of Spirit, supra note 80.

82. 411 U.S. 677 (1973).

83. 425 U.S. 190 (1976).

84. For a challenging study of the prophetic role of an independent judiciary in protecting human rights, see Perry, M., The Constitution, The Courts, and Human Rights: An Inquiry into the Legitimacy of Constitutional Policymaking by the Judiciary (1983)Google Scholar.

85. Berman, supra note 1, at 11.