Economics in Persian-Period Biblical Texts (eBook)

Their Interactions with Economic Developments in the Persian Period and Earlier Biblical Traditions

Peter Altmann (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2016 | 1. Auflage
354 Seiten
Mohr Siebeck (Verlag)
978-3-16-154938-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Large-scale economic change such as the rise of coinage occurred during the Persian-dominated centuries (6th -4th centuries BCE) in the Eastern Mediterranean and ancient Near East. How do the biblical texts of the time respond to such developments? In this study, Peter Altmann lays out foundational economic conceptions from the ancient Near East and earlier biblical traditions in order to show how Persian-period biblical texts build on these traditions to address the challenges of their day. Economic issues are central to the way that Ezra and Nehemiah approach the topics of temple building and of Judean self-understanding. Economic terminology and considerations also appear in Second Isaiah and the 'Holiness Code.' Following significant interaction with the material culture and extra-biblical texts, the author devotes special attention to the ascendancy of economics and its theological and identity implications as structuring metaphors for divine action and human community in the Persian period.

Born 1974; 2004 ThM and 2010 PhD in Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary; 2016 Habilitation from the University of Zurich; since 2008 doctoral and then post-doctoral researcher in Hebrew Bible Studies at the University of Zurich.

Inhalt

Cover 1
Preface 6
Table of Contents 8
Abbreviations 12
Chapter 0: Introduction 14
Chapter 1: History of Scholarship and Methodology 18
1.1. Taking an Outside View 18
1.1.1. Economics in Old Testament Studies 18
1.2. Philosophical Methodology 24
1.3. Approaching a Definition and Methodology for Understanding the Economy and Economic Structures of Ancient Israel 29
1.3.1. Definitions of ‘Economics’ and ‘Value’ 29
1.3.2. Current Approaches to Ancient Economics: Modernist, Marxist, and Substantivist Analysis 33
1.3.3. A Way Forward: New Institutional Economics 42
Chapter 2: The Traditionally Royal Role of Economics in Mesopotamia 46
2.1. Prices 49
2.2. Wages 53
2.3. Debt and Interest 54
2.4. Conclusions 59
Chapter 3: Economics, Cult, and Society in Preexilic Biblical Texts 61
3.1. Economics in Preexilic Israel and Syro-Palestine 62
Excurses: Prices and Exchange 74
3.2. Economics in Preexilic Biblical Texts 78
3.2.1. Prophets 79
3.2.2. Legal texts 83
3.2.3. Kings 88
3.3. Conclusions 90
Chapter 4: The Economic Background of the Persian Period 92
4.1. The Babylonian Period in Yehud 93
4.2. The Transition to Persian Hegemony 95
4.3. Persian Imperial Economy 102
4.3.1 The Rise of Coinage: Historical and Methodological Reflections 108
4.3.2. The Coinage of the Greater Persian Economy 113
4.3.3. Persepolis 118
4.3.4. Babylonia 125
4.3.5. The “Greek World” 141
4.3.6. The Phoenician City-States 148
4.3.7. The Philistine Coast 153
4.3.8. Egypt and Elephantine 158
4.3.9. Samaria and Wadi Daliyeh 163
4.3.10. Idumea 168
4.3.11. Conclusions 172
4.4. Yehud: The Record of its Material Culture in the Persian Period 172
4.4.1. The Rebuilding of the Temple, the City of Jerusalem, and Demography 177
4.4.2. Yehud Coinage 181
4.4.3. Changes in the Fourth Century – Historical and Economic 186
4.4.4. Conclusions from the Material Culture and Coins 188
4.5. Persian-Period Economics in Yehud 190
Chapter 5: Economics in Persian Period Biblical Texts: Broad Contexts 201
5.1. Chronicles 202
5.2. Priestly Document 205
5.3. The “Holiness Code” 209
5.4. Deutero-Isaiah 214
5.5. Haggai and Zechariah 219
5.6. Trends and Conclusions 222
Chapter 6: The Historical and Composition-Critical Setting of Ezra-Nehemiah 223
Chapter 7: Who Pays? The Economics of a Theological Question in Ezra 1–8 234
7.1. Ezra 2:68–69 236
7.2. Ezra 3:7 238
7.3. Ezra 4:13, 20 242
7.4. Ezra 6:4, 8–10, 13 246
7.5. Ezra 7:14–24 250
7.6. Conclusions from the Book of Ezra 255
Chapter 8: Nehemiah: The Community-Defining Economic Ethics of Tithes, Taxes, Commerce, and Debt 257
8.1. Nehemiah 3: Pelek as Work or Military Service 259
8.2. Nehemiah 5:1–13: Lending and Judean Identity 262
8.2.1. Philological Reflections on Economic Terms in Neh 5:1–13 265
8.2.2. Compositional and Historical Location of Neh 5:1–13 272
8.2.3. Interpretation of Neh 5:1–13 279
8.3. Nehemiah 5:14–19: The Economics of Nehemiah’s Table 283
8.3.1 Philological, Text-Critical, and Composition-critical Observations 284
8.3.2. The View from Persepolis 291
8.3.3. Greek Views of Persian Feasting 295
8.3.4. Nehemiah’s Feasting – The Economics of Distribution 297
8.4. Nehemiah 13:4–14: The Economics of Temple Affiliation 300
8.5. Nehemiah 13:15–22: Economics and Sacred Time 306
8.6. Conclusions from the Book of Nehemiah 311
Chapter 9: Conclusion 313
Bibliography 318

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.11.2016
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Christentum
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 3-16-154938-4 / 3161549384
• ISBN-13: 978-3-16-154938-0 / 9783161549380