Thursday, November 21, 2019

Juha Pakkala on 2 Samuel 15:8 and the Temple in Hebron


Commenting on the difference between the Lucianic text of 2 Sam 15:8 and the MT, Juha Pakkala wrote:

The Temple of Yhwh in Hebron Omitted in 2 Sam 15:8

The Lucianic text may preserve an ancient reference to the temple of Yhwh in Hebron, while the reading has been omitted in the MT. The other Greek witnesses seem to have been harmonized after the MT:

2 Sam 15:8b MT
2 Sam 15:8b LXXL
כי־נדר נדר עבדך
בשׁבתי בגשׁור בארם לאמר

אם־ישׁיב ישׁוב ישׁיבני יהוה
ירושׁלם
ועבדתי את־יהוה
οτι ευχην ηυξατο ο δουλος σου
οτε εκαθημην εν (εις) Γεσσειρ εν Συρια
λεγων
Εαν επιστρεφων επιστρεψη μη κυριος
εις Ιερουσαλημ
Και λατρευσω τω κυριω εν χεβρων
For your servant vowed a vow while I dwelt
at Geshur in Aram, saying, "If Yhwh brings
me back
to Jerusalem,
I will offer worship to Yhwh"
For your servant vowed a vow
while I dwelt at Geshhur in Syria, saying,
"If Yhwh brings me back
to Jerusalem,
I will offer worship to Yhwh in Hebron"

The difference between the Lucianic text and the other witnesses has been discussed since early research, but Philippe Hugo has recently raised the issue and argued that the Lucianic text is probably original. This view was already represented by Karl Budde and Henry P. Smith, while other scholars have assumed that the Lucianic text is a later addition. The primacy of the Lucianic reading is suggested by the incongruity with several theologically important passages in the Hebrew Bible. It suggests that there was a temple of Yhwh before Solomon thus conflicting with the idea that no such temple existed (cf. 1 Kgs 5-8; 1 Kgs 5:3 and 1 Chr 28:3). It also conflicts with the idea of cult centralization, which according to 1-2 Kings was one of the main criteria for evaluating Israelite and Judean kings. Moreover, the passage seems to imply that Yhwh's temple in Hebron was the main Yahwistic sanctuary of the royal dynasty. That Absalom vows to go there if he may return to Jerusalem underlines the primacy of this temple, because Aram or Geshur, regardless of where exactly it was originally located, was north of Jerusalem. Returning from there one would have to pass Jerusalem in order to reach Hebron. This would undermine the role of Jerusalem as the main cult cite.

In contrast, the opposite direction of development, the secondary addition of Hebron in the Lucianic text, would be very difficult to explain because it runs counter to the increasing influence of Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic conceptions throughout the Hebrew Bible. It would be difficult to see the addition of a reference to a main cult site in Hebron, harbored by King David. Accordingly, the omission of Hebron should be seen as part of the Deuteronomization of 1-2 Samuel by later editors. Although the Duteronomization usually was achieved by the addition of Deuteronomistic phrases and conceptions, in this passage and explicitly anti-Deuteronomistic conception, the existence of Yhweh's main cult site in Hebron, had to be omitted. (Juha Pakkala, God's Word Omitted: Omissions in the Translation of the Hebrew Bible [Forschungen zur Religion und Lieratur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 251; Bristol, Conn.: Vandenhoeck and Reprecht, 2013], 221-22; cf. "References to the Temple of Yhwh Omitted in 2 Samuel," pp. 213-21)

Such would have implications for the Book of Mormon, including the propriety of having a temple outside of Jerusalem (see 2 Nephi 5).