Hebrew Prophecy and the Negation of Empire 750–500 BCE

Abstract

Hebrew prophecy and much else in the Bible was a product of the two and a half centuries from 750 to 500 BCE,* the historical juncture when the centre of civilization was about to be wrenched from the Near East to Europe. Hebrew prophecy is generally regarded as the greatest and most lasting and influential artistic creation of a powerful but dying near eastern civilization built upon imperialism and the newly harnessed technology of the Iron Age. We know of three major waves of Hebrew prophecy. Each accompanied a wave of imperial conquest, first by Assyria in the late 8th century, then by Babylonia in the late 7th and early 6th centuries, and finally by Persia in the mid-6th century. Many Hebrew prophetic poems were written in direct reaction to imperialism. They often describe specific events in the lives of empires — the fall of Nineveh in 612, for example, the battle of Carchemish in 605, or the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539. Prophecy taught an alternative to imperialism, the basis of modern religion: belief in one abstract God, the only eternal imperial conqueror, demanding adherence to moral principles and laws.KeywordsMediterranean CoastTrade RouteRoman EmpireImperial ExpansionHistorical JunctureThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.