'And they disregarded my Sabbaths': A re-examination of arad ostracon No. 7
In: Trbys, Jg. 70 (2001), Heft 3-4, S. 317-325
Online
academicJournal
- print; V [10 p.]
Zugriff:
As commonly interpreted, ostracon 7 from Tel Arad orders Elyashib - the commander of the Judean fortress of Arad - to issue supplies for a troop of soldiers who were supposed to pass through Arad at the first day of the tenth month, and to record that event at the second day of the month. The conventional explanation for this one-day delay is that it involves the custom to rest from work on the first day of the month (New Moon's day) - a custom maintained in the biblical period. This explanation is puzzling, because in this very ostracon Elyashib is ordered to profane the sanctity of the New Moon's day by issuing supplies. As the author shows, the prohibition of issuing loads was essential to the character of the Sabbath in the ancient periods, and it is the only prohibition explicitly mentioned in the Bible regarding the New Moon's day. This article suggests that the words bsnim lrds b'sri 'in the second (day) of the tenth month' - do not specify the date of the supposed documentation, as commonly believed, but rather are the very words that Elyashib is ordered to write down. That is, the sender instructs Elyashib to forge, wittingly, the date of the issue. Evidently, some attempt was made to hide the fact that supplies had been distributed on the New Moon's day - since such an act was forbidden. According to this understanding of the ostracon, we may reconfirm on more solid grounds the assertion that the New Moon's day was in the biblical period a sabbatical day. The author further suggests that the specific motive behind the instruction of fraud was the writer's fear that breaking religious law would enrage the priests who served in the Arad temple - a temple that has been unearthed in Arad excavations. This assumption may be corroborated through sayings of the contemporary prophet, Ezekiel, from which we learn that one of the priesthood's duties was responsibility for the observance of Sabbath by the people. Ostracon 7 from Arad exposes their attempt - and th.
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'And they disregarded my Sabbaths': A re-examination of arad ostracon No. 7
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | SHVEKA, Avi |
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Zeitschrift: | Trbys, Jg. 70 (2001), Heft 3-4, S. 317-325 |
Veröffentlichung: | Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2001 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
Umfang: | print; V [10 p.] |
ISSN: | 0334-3650 (print) |
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