Yhwh Tsevaot before Samuel: canonical foundations for a Davidic title
Article Sidebar
Issue:
Published:
Apr 1, 2022Keywords:
Lord of Hosts, Yhwh Tsevaot, salvation history, council of Baal, 1 Sam 1:3, armies, warfare, exodus, El Shaddai, God of IsraelMain Article Content
Abstract
It is argued that the title, Yhwh Tsevaot, first appearing in Samuel, is rooted in the pre-Samuel canon. ‘Host’ language in Genesis–Judges is assessed, as are comparable expressions to Yhwh Tsevaot, including ‘hosts of Yhwh’ and ‘God of Israel’, to conclude that Yhwh Tsevaot refers to the deity of the federated tribal armies of Israel. The new term is designed to demarcate a new salvation-historical era, like ‘El Shaddai’ and ‘Yhwh’. It marks the age of military victory and rest attained under the Davidic monarchy. The canonical background does not suggest an angelic meaning and gives quite a different concept to the Canaanite council of the gods.
Article Details
The Author/s grant/s to the Journal the rights to edit the Work and to reproduce and distribute the Work in the Journal, in reprints, as a contribution to a collection published by the Journal, and by means of an Internet or Intranet site over which the Journal exercises effective control, and also by means of third-party online legal information providers. The Author/s grant/s the above rights without claim of royalties or other compensation. The copyright in the Work shall remain with the Author/s and the copyright in the reproduction format shall remain with the Journal. Notwithstanding, the copyright notice in publication shall be stated as belonging to the Journal. The Author/s agree/s not to publish the Work elsewhere without the permission of the Journal for a period of five years commencing from the date of first publication by the Journal.
References
Acosta, Dempsey Rosales, ‘Lord of Hosts’, The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), electronic.
A?ituv, Samuel, Esther Eshel and Ze'ev Meshel, ‘The Inscriptions’, Kuntillet 'Ajrud (?orvat Teman): An Iron Age II Religious Site on the Judah-Sinai Border, ed. Ze'ev Meshel (Jerusalem Israel Exploration Society, 2012), 73–142.
Albright, William Foxwell, From Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and the Historical Process (New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1957).
Albright, William Foxwell, From the Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and the Historical Process (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957).
Alden, Robert L., Job: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, NAC (Nashville: B. & H., 1993).
Alexander, T. Desmond, Exodus, AOTC (London: Apollos, 2017).
Andersen, Francis I., Job: An Introduction and Commentary, TOTC (Leicester: IVP, 1976).
Anderson, B. W., ‘Hosts, Host of Heaven’, IDB, Vol. 2, ed. George Arthur Buttrick (New York: Abingdon, 1962), 654–656.
Arnold, W. R., Ephod and Ark (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917).
Ash, Christopher, Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014).
Baldwin, Joyce G., First and Second Samuel, TOTC (London: IVP, 1988).
Barton, George A., ‘Native Israelitish Deities’, Oriental Studies: A Selection of the Papers Read before the Oriental Club of Philadelphia, 1888–1894 (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1894), 86–114.
Biale, David, ‘The God with Breasts: El Shaddai in the Bible’, HR 21 (1982), 240-256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/462899
Brown, Francis, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon, 1977).
Broyles, Craig C., Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999).
Childs, Brevard S., The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 2004 [1974]).
Choi, John H., ‘Resheph and Yhwh S?e?ba??o?t’, VT 54, no. 1 (2004), 17–28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156853304772932915
Clines, David J. A. (ed.), DCH, Vol. 6 Samekh-Pe (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2008).
Cole, Alan, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary, TOTC (London: Tyndale, 1973).
Cross, Frank Moore, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674030084
Cross Jr., Frank Moore, ‘Yahweh and the God of the Patriarchs’, HTR 55 (1962), 225-259. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816000007914
De Moor, Johannes C., The Rise of Yahwism: The Roots of Israelite Monotheism (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1997).
Declaissé-Walford, Nancy, Rolf A. Jacobson and Beth Laneel Tanner, The Book of Psalms, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Dozeman, Thomas B., Commentary on Exodus, The Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009).
Driver, Godfrey Rolles, ‘Reflections on Recent Articles’, JBL 73, no. 3 (1954), 125–136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3261725
Driver, Samuel Rolles and George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Job, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1921).
Eaton, John, The Psalms: A Historical and Spiritual Commentary with an Introduction and New Translation (London: T&T Clark, 2003).
Emerton, John A., ‘New Light on Israelite Religion: The Implications of the Inscriptions from Kuntillet ?ajrud’, ZAW 94, no. 1 (1982), 2–20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/zatw.1982.94.1.2
Freedman, David Noel, ‘Name of the God of Moses’, JBL 79, no. 2 (1960), 151–156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3264465
Freedman, David Noel and M. P. O’Connor, ‘The Figure of Yahweh’, TDOT, Vol. 5, eds G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren and Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans. David E. Green (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986 [1977]), 517–521.
Fried, Lisbeth S., The Priest and the Great King: Temple-Palace Relations in the Persian Empire (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2004). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575065502
Garrett, Duane A., A Commentary on Exodus (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2014).
Gelb, Ignace J., Benno Landsberger and A. Leo Oppenheim, The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 16, ? (Illinois: University of Chicago, 2004 [1962]).
Gordon, Robert P., 1 & 2 Samuel: A Commentary, Library of Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986).
Gray, George Buchanan, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912).
Hartley, John E., The Book of Job, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988).
Heiser, Michael S., ‘Divine Council’, The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), electronic.
Hood, Jared C., ‘I Appeared as El Shaddai: Intertextual Interplay in Exodus 6:3’, WTJ 76, no. 1 (2014), 167–188.
Hood, Jared C., ‘Yhwh Tsevaot in Samuel: God of the David Age’, JETS 62, no. 3 (2019), 495–513.
Joüon, Paul and Takamitsu Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Roma: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2006).
Keil, C. F. and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 2 (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996).
Kim, Ee Kon, ‘Who Is Yahweh? Based on a Contextual Reading of Exodus 3:14’, AJT 3 (1989), 108–117.
Klein, Ralph W., 1 Samuel, 2nd edn, WBC (Waco: Word, 2008).
Mays, James Luther, Psalms, Interpretation (Louisville: John Knox, 1994).
McCarter, Peter Kyle, I Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes & Commentary, Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1980). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261196
McKane, William, Jeremiah 1–25, Vol. 1, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1986).
Mettinger, Tryggve N. D., ‘Yahweh Zebaoth’, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd edn, eds Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking and Pieter W. van der Horst (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 920–924.
Mettinger, Tryggve N. D., ‘Yhwh Sabaoth: The Heavenly King on the Cherubim Throne’, Studies in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essays, ed. T. Ishida, International Symposium for Biblical Studies, Tokyo, 1979 (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1982), 109–138.
Miller, Patrick D., The Divine Warrior in Early Israel, Harvard Semitic Monographs (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004385887
Moberly, R. W. L., The Old Testament of the Old Testament: Patriarchal Narratives and Mosaic Yahwism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992).
Mullen, E. Theodore, Jr, The Divine Council in Canaanite and Early Hebrew Literature, Harvard Semitic Monographs 24 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1980). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004387065
Mullen, E. Theodore, Jr, ‘Hosts, Host of Heaven,’ AYBD, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 301–304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261899-0369
Na'aman, Nadav, ‘The Inscriptions of Kuntillet ?Ajrud through the Lens of Historical Research’, UF 43 (2011), 299–324.
Osborn, Noel D. and Howard A. Hatton, A Handbook on Exodus (New York: UBS, 1999).
Rashi, Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos, Haphtaroth and Rashi’s Commentary, trans M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 5 vols, vol. 2, Exodus (Jerusalem: The Silbermann Family, 1930).
Reyburn, William David, A Handbook on the Book of Job (New York: UBS, 1992).
Reyburn, William David and Euan Mcg. Fry, A Handbook on Genesis (New York: UBS, 1998).
Ringgren, Helmer, ‘?????’, TDOT, Vol. 12, eds G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren and Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans. Douglas W. Stott (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003 [1988]), 211–215.
Rose, Martin, ‘Names of God in the OT’, AYBD, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1001–1011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261905-782
Ross, John Paton, ‘Jahweh Seba?'o?t in Samuel and Psalms’, VT 17, no. 1 (1967), 76–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156853367X00321
Sarna, Nahum M., Exodus = Shemot: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New Jps Translation (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991).
Seitz, Christopher R., ‘The Call of Moses and the “Revelation” of the Divine Name: Source-Critical Logic and Its Legacy’, Theological Exegesis: Essays in Honor of Brevard S. Childs, eds Christopher R. Seitz and Kathryn Greene-McCreight (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 145–161.
Seow, Choon Leong, ‘Hosts, Lord Of’, AYBD, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 304–307. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261899-0370
Smith, James E., 1 & 2 Samuel (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 2000).
Steinmann, Andrew, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, TOTC (Nottingham: IVP, 2019).
Stuart, Douglas K., Exodus, Vol. 2, NAC (Nashville: B. & H., 2006).
Tsevat, Matitiahu, The Meaning of the Book of Job and Other Biblical Studies (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1980).
Tsevat, Matitiahu, ‘Studies in the Book of Samuel’, Hebrew Union College Annual 36 (1965), 49–58.
Tsumura, David Toshio, The First Book of Samuel, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).
Vanderburgh, Frederick Augustus, Sumerian Hymns from Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum (New York: Columbia University Press, 1907).
Von Rad, Gerhard, Old Testament Theology, 2 vols, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962).
Waltke, Bruce K., An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007).
Wellhausen, Julius, Die Composition Des Hexateuchs Und Der Historischen Bücher Des Alten Testaments, 3rd edn (Berlin: De Gruyter, [First published 1866 (1st edn)] 1963). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110820089
Wifall, Walter R., ‘El Shaddai or El of the Fields’, ZAW 1 (1980), 24-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/zatw.1980.92.1.24
Young, Edward Joseph, ‘The Call of Moses’, WTJ 29 (1967), 117–135.
Young, Edward Joseph, ‘The Call of Moses (Part II)’, WTJ 30 (1967), 1–23.
Zobel, Hans-Jürgen, ‘??????????’, TDOT, Vol. 6, eds G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren and Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans. Douglas W. Stott (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990 [1977]), 215–232.
Zobel, Hans-Jürgen, ‘???????? Tseva'oth’, TDOT, Vol. 12, eds G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren and Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans. Douglas W. Stott (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003 [1988]), 215–232.