Scripture in the Shadow of the Temple

Abstract

The Persian period brings an end to royalist-centered biblical literature. The Davidic kings vanish from the scene, and the leadership of the Jewish community in Jerusalem passes to the priests. The identity of the Jewish people will be centered increasingly in the Jerusalem Temple. The composition and editing of biblical literature will be located in the Jerusalem Temple. The production of written literature will be controlled by the priests. The sons of David are not forgotten, but they are dispossessed. The priests are no longer interested in the sons of David as princes of Israel. Rather, David and his sons become patrons of the temple, its priests, and its services. In David's place, the priest and scribe Ezra arises. With the hand of God upon him, like a second coming of Moses, Ezra leads the post-exilic community. At the center of the priestly leadership will be the Book of Moses. The priests become the guardians of the Mosaic Torah and the sacred writings of ancient Israel. The oral word of God through the prophets comes to an end as the temple priests and scribes will textualize the word of God. This chapter will deal with writing in the fifth through third centuries b.c.e. , that is, from the mid-Persian into the Hellenistic period. Although the Persian period proper begins with the Persian king Cyrus's conquest of Babylon in 539 b.c.e. , the continuing role of the Davidic royal family made for continuity into the first years of Persian rule in Jerusalem in the late sixth century b.c.e. The Davidic royal family disappears by the end of the sixth century b.c.e. , and leadership apparently transfers to the priests.