The history of Judaism

The distinctive features of Israelite religion appear with Moses. The proper name of Israel’s God, YHWH, was revealed and interpreted to Moses as meaning ehye asher ehye—an enigmatic phrase of infinite suggestiveness, literally meaning “I am/shall be what I am/shall be.” The covenant, defining Israel’s obligations, is ascribed to Moses’ mediation. It is impossible to determine what rulings go back to Moses, but the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, presented in chapter 20 of Exodus and chapter 5 of Deuteronomy, and the larger and smaller covenant codes in Exodus 20:22–23:33 and 34:11–26 are held by critics to contain early covenant law. From them the following features may be noted: the rules are formulated as God’s utterances—i.e., expressions of his sovereign will, directed toward and often explicitly addressed to the people at large, Moses merely conveying the sovereign’s message to his subjects—and, publication being of the essence of the rules, the people as a whole are held responsible for their observance.

The liberation from Egypt laid upon Israel the obligation of exclusive loyalty to YHWH. This meant eschewing all other gods—including idols venerated as such—and the elimination of all magical recourses. The worship of YHWH was aniconic (without images); even figures that might serve in his worship were banned, apparently because their use suggested theurgy (the art or technique of influencing or controlling a god by fixing his presence in a particular place and making him accessible). Although there is a mythological background behind some cultic terminology (e.g., “a pleasing odor to YHWH” and “my bread”), sacrifice is conceived as tribute or is regarded (in priestly writings) as purely a sacrament—i.e., as a material means of interacting with or making a connection to God. Hebrew festivals also have no mythological basis; they either celebrate God’s bounty (e.g., at the ingathering of the harvest) or his saving acts (e.g., at the festival of unleavened bread, which is a memorial of the Exodus).

The values of life and limb, labor, and social solidarity were protected in the rules governing interpersonal relations. The involuntary perpetual slavery of Hebrews was abolished, and a seven-year limit was set on bondage. The humanity of slaves was defended: one who beat his slave to death was liable to death; if he maimed a slave, he was required to set the slave free. Murderers were denied asylum and could not ransom themselves from death, and for deliberate and severe bodily injuries the lex talionis—the principle of “an eye for an eye”—was ordained (see talion). Theft and harm to property were punished monetarily rather than by death.

Moral exhortations called for solidarity with the poor and the helpless and for brotherly assistance to those in need. Institutions were created—e.g., the sabbatical, or seventh, fallow year, in which land was not cultivated—to embody such exhortations in practice.

Since the goal of the Israelites was the conquest of a land, their religion had warlike features. Organized as an army (called “the hosts of YHWH” in Exodus 12:41), they encamped in a protective square around their palladium—the tent housing the ark in which rested the stone “Tablets of the Covenant.” When journeying, the sacred objects were carried and guarded by the Levite tribe or clan, whose rivals, the Aaronites, exercised a monopoly on the priesthood. God, sometimes called “the warrior,” marched with the army; in war, part of the booty was delivered to his ministers.

The religious and political problem

The decentralized tribal league could not cope with the constant pressure of external enemies—camel-riding desert marauders who pillaged harvests annually and iron-weaponed Philistines (an Aegean people settling coastal Palestine c. 12th century bce) who controlled key points in the hill country occupied by the Israelites. In the face of such threats, a central authority that could mobilize the forces of the entire league and create a standing army had to be established. Two attitudes were distilled in the crisis—one conservative and anti-monarchic, the other radical and pro-monarchic. The conservative attitude appears first in Gideon’s refusal to found a dynasty in Judges 8:23: “I will not rule you,” he tells the people, “my son will not rule over you; YHWH will…!” This theocratic view pervades one of the two contrasting accounts of the founding of the monarchy fused in chapters 8–12 of the First Book of Samuel (see Samuel, books of). The popular demand for a king was viewed as a rejection of the kingship of God, and in response to the demand there appeared a series of inspired saviors, from Moses and Aaron (14th–13th century bce) through Jerubbaal, Bedan, and Jephthah to Samuel (11th century bce) himself. The other, more radical account depicts the monarchy as a gift of God, designed to rescue his people from the Philistines (1 Samuel 9:16). Both accounts represent the seer-judge Samuel as the key figure in the founding of Israel’s monarchy, and it is not unlikely that the two attitudes struggled within him.

The Benjaminite Saul was made king (c. 1020 bce) by divine election and by popular acclamation after his victory over the Ammonites (a Transjordanian Semitic people), but his career was clouded by conflict with Samuel, the major representative of the old order. Saul’s kingship was bestowed by Samuel and had to be accommodated to the ongoing authority of that man of God. The two accounts of Saul’s rejection by God (through Samuel) involve his usurpation of the prophet’s authority. King David (10th century bce), whose forcefulness and religious and political genius established the monarchy on an independent spiritual footing, resolved the conflict.