Subject: Re: israelite monotheism and isonomia
From: Richard Landes (rlandes@bu.edu)
Date: Sun Sep 19 2004 - 20:08:15 EDT
At 06:56 PM 9/19/2004, you wrote: >For a patriarchal society of the first born ones isonomia has to be an >oxymoron. inheritance laws are an interesting exception to the rule, but i don't think they call into question the general principle. that is about personal disposable wealth. > > This topic doesn't appear to be first-century Judaism, > > but my posting of Bellah's request seems to have > > spawned threads that I didn't expect. Anyway, I have a > > question about what is meant by isonomia here. the early greeks used it to mean equality before the law, and in the early stages was more or less synonymous with democracy. > > I've also heard it said that the law of ancient Israel > > applied equally to all (isonomia?). The statement even > > appeared in a history text that I used last semester > > with my students in a Western civilization course. that's good. who wrote it? > > But the Israelite laws often do make distinctions. For > > example, penalties for killing a slave differ from > > those for killing a nonslave. that's true. on the other hand, within the polity there is no distinction btw commoners and nobles. even priests don't have any exceptions from the criminal code as far as i know. >And different purity > > laws apply to priests than to others. purity laws are a different kettle of fish -- obviously. but consider the degree to which the israelite commoner is expected to engage in religious disciplines and to be holy (lev. 19), a degree unmatched, i think, in any other nation. >I'm sure that I > > could compile a list, chapter and verse, demonstrating > > this (if I had some time). i doubt you'd find much that would involve civil and criminal law. even slaves (jewish ones) are to be freed after 6 years of labor. in principle everyone is a free citizen and everyone is equal before the law. slaves represent the major exception. > > So, what is meant by "isonomia" in this context of > > ancient Israelite law? hope i've clarified the argument. the key, in my reading, is the normally immense legal distinction btw commoners and lords/aristocrats, a distinction that is not abolished in the west until the late 18th cn, and then only in principle. r > > > > Jeffery Hodges > > > > P.S. Have any books been written on this issue? good question. Moshe Weinfeld has a book on Social Justice in Ancient Israel and the Near East. r > > > > ===== > > University Degrees: > > > > Ph.D., History, U.C. Berkeley > > (Doctoral Thesis: "Food as Synecdoche in John's Gospel and Gnostic Texts") > > M.A., History of Science, U.C. Berkeley > > B.A., English Language and Literature, Baylor University > > > > Email Address: > > > > jefferyhodges@yahoo.com > > > > Office Address: > > > > Assistant Professor Horace Jeffery Hodges > > Department of English Language and Literature > > Korea University > > 136-701 Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu > > Seoul > > South Korea > > > > Home Address: > > > > Sun-Ae Hwang and Horace Jeffery Hodges > > Seo-Dong 125-2 > > Shin-Dong-A, Apt. 102-709 > > 447-710 Kyunggido, Osan-City > > South Korea > > > >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Sat Sep 25 2004 - 23:50:09 EDT