"Sonne der Gerechtigkeit": Studien zur Solarisierung der Jahweh-Religion im Lichte von Psalm 72

Abstract

Sonne der Gerechtigkeit: Studien zur Solarisierung der Jahwe-Religion im Lichte von Psalm 72, by Martin Arneth. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur Altorientische and Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000. Pp. ix + 244. DM 98.00. In this book Arneth is not interested in whether Yahweh is related to the ubiquitous sun-deities in any of their ancient Near Eastern variations and adaptations (lama in Mesopotamia [mast.]; Sapsu in Canaan [fem.]; Re in Egypt), or in examining solar motifs within popular Israelite religion per se. Based on a dissertation directed by Otto Eckart, this monograph begins rather with Ps 72 and proceeds exegetically to explore the breadth and depth of solar Leitworten animating explicitly Yahwistic theological discourse within the OT. The book's goal is to prove that in addition to the rejection of Assyrian solar religion (2 Kgs 23:11), is also a positive reception of Assyrian Samas-ideas with anti-Assyrian intentions in late-eighth-century Yahwism (p. 17). In carefully constructed arguments, Arneth moves from close textual analysis to insightful literary analysis to exhaustive comparative analysis, focusing mostly on Hebraic and neoAssyrian sources. Ameth reminds us that previous approaches to this sensitive question tend to oscillate between two poles. J. Morgenstern, for example (The Gates of Righteousness, HUCA 6 [1929]: 137), posits a full-blown sun-cult behind OT solar language, and tries even to prove that the Jerusalem temple, because of its east-west orientation, is a solar cult-site. Subsequent scholarship has been quick to dismiss such theories, though not so quickly the Bible's unavoidable solar rhetoric, particularly as it is enunciated in the Psalms (Pss 19:5-7; 72:5, 17; 84:12; 104:2-3). Thus the question remains: How did this language get here and how does it function? With H.-P. Stahl (Solare Elemente im Jahweglauben des Alten Testaments [OBO 66; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1985], 28-39), Arneth agrees that there are two lines of Old Testament tradition on this matter-one deuteronomistic and the other characterized by problemless, positive acceptance of solar elements (pp. 5, 201). Without denying the importance of the first, Arneth chooses to investigate the second, discovering (with Stahli) that within it one finds two primary roles enacted by Yahweh: righteous judge and compassionate healer. Since the same two themes appear in the solar language of the coronation literature of Israel's neighbors (particularly Assyria), the bulk of the study asks whether Hebrew tradents from this second line have not deliberately and intentionally adopted and subordinated these traditional solar roles to Israel's God, their purpose being to enhance Yahweh's regal reputation at a difficult moment in Judahite history. To answer this question, Arneth begins with a thorough textual analysis and proceeds to a rigorous literary analysis of Ps 72. Whereas previous scholarly opinion tends to view the psalm as unstructured and randomly repetitive (e.g., Gunkel), Arneth sees a highly developed ABB'A' structure in w. 9-11, symmetrically sandwiched between two chiasms: IMAGE FORMULA5 Since similar chiasms appear also in Old Babylonian (Codex Hammurabi) and neoAssyrian sources (particularly in the Assurbanipal coronation literature), the poetic juxtapositions of fertility, justice, judgment, and cosmic/sun-moon motifs in Ps 72 seem neither accidental nor unprecedented. In my opinion, Arneth is to be applauded for successfully positioning Ps 72 within this plausible sociohistorical matrix. Where the book is less successful is in its insistence on a (written? …