Is exclusive Yahwehism even plausible prior to the Hasmonaeans?
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:20 pm
The cult prescribed by the Torah is an extremely militant xenophobic and exclusive cult that is highly intolerant of other religions and of any authority other than Jewish priestly authority.
It is quite difficult to envision how such a cult would have arisen and existed under any sort of vassal administration, much less under conditions of more direct foreign rule.
It seems highly doubtful that the Babylonians or Persians would have allowed such a cult to exist, much less that the Persians would have supported the existence of such a cult. It is difficult to imagine how the Torah could have been compatible with Persian administration. The same goes for the Ptolemaic and Seleucid eras. Indeed the Maccabean Revolt shows exactly why such cults wouldn't have been tolerated.
But more, how would such a cult envision its own power without the means to actually realize it? In other words, would a priesthood develop such a cult and such a set of religious documents in an environment in which they would have been unable to fulfill the very laws they deemed divine? Why would a priesthood lay out a set of conditions they would have been unable to fulfill?
So we have to ask, at what point was the Jewish priesthood actually able to fulfill the "Laws of Moses"?
Would they have been able to meet the requirements of the Torah at any point prior to the Hasmonaean dynasty? Would they have actually produced a set of scriptures under Ptolemaic rule (and been invited to translate them) that would have directly put the Jewish priesthood and people into conflict with their Ptolemaic overlords? Would they have produced a set of scriptures that they would have been unable to fulfill? Or was adherence to the Torah possible under Ptolemaic rule?
It is quite difficult to envision how such a cult would have arisen and existed under any sort of vassal administration, much less under conditions of more direct foreign rule.
It seems highly doubtful that the Babylonians or Persians would have allowed such a cult to exist, much less that the Persians would have supported the existence of such a cult. It is difficult to imagine how the Torah could have been compatible with Persian administration. The same goes for the Ptolemaic and Seleucid eras. Indeed the Maccabean Revolt shows exactly why such cults wouldn't have been tolerated.
But more, how would such a cult envision its own power without the means to actually realize it? In other words, would a priesthood develop such a cult and such a set of religious documents in an environment in which they would have been unable to fulfill the very laws they deemed divine? Why would a priesthood lay out a set of conditions they would have been unable to fulfill?
So we have to ask, at what point was the Jewish priesthood actually able to fulfill the "Laws of Moses"?
Would they have been able to meet the requirements of the Torah at any point prior to the Hasmonaean dynasty? Would they have actually produced a set of scriptures under Ptolemaic rule (and been invited to translate them) that would have directly put the Jewish priesthood and people into conflict with their Ptolemaic overlords? Would they have produced a set of scriptures that they would have been unable to fulfill? Or was adherence to the Torah possible under Ptolemaic rule?