Covenant Class, Lesson 8-A

The Covenant Relationship Lesson Eight (part one)

3. Moses:  The covenant made under the leadership of Moses (called the “Mosaic covenant”) between God and Israel sustained the Jewish people in a nation that endured for over a millennium.  This covenant established Israel as a nation or commonwealth in the form of a theocracy under God.  The covenant obligations were expressed in the Law (or Torah), most simply in the Ten Commandments (or Decalogue) and expansively including all the commandments, ordinances, and laws enacted by Israel’s God (Maimonides counted 613 total; 365 positive and 248 negative). 

 

Suzerainty Treaties:  Some covenants are intimate relationships between just two people; suzerainty treaties govern the political relationships of entire nations.  The suzerain king exercised limited authority and control over a subordinate king, called the “vassal.”  The Mosaic covenant takes the form of a “suzerainty treaty” between God and the nation of Israel.  We will contrast treaties of the Assyrians with those of the Hittites.  The Assyrian suzerainty treaties (500-700 BC) came after military conquest, and were essentially the “terms of surrender” imposed by the victor over the vanquished with dire consequences threatening upon any failure or disloyalty.  Threats, intimidation, and one-sided expressions of honor caused vassal kings to grovel before the Assyrian overlord.

Google “The Black Obelisk,” and look for a photo of a stone carving that portrays the Israelite king, Jehu, the vassal of the Assyrian suzerain, Shalmaneser, who overthrew Israel in 721 BC.  Jehu bows in fearful subjection while two sword-bearing guards flank him.  Assyrian treaties compelled loyalty with fear and intimidation.

The Hittite treaties (1200-1400 BC), contrariwise, were happy arrangements for both sides.  The Hittites often entered a suzerainty treaty after it was requested by the vassal.  The vassal needed the military protection of the Hittites against threatening enemies.  He was happy to provide loyalty, taxes, or other benefits, and the Hittite ruler was happy to have him “on board” because it bolstered his own power and brought commercial benefits as well.  When a vassal visited the Hittite throne, the inferior king was received with honors and celebrated.  The form of the Sinai covenant resembles Hittite treaties.

 

Common elements in suzerainty treaties:  Careful comparison shows that the Mosaic covenant more closely resembles the happy Hittite arrangement rather than the fearful Assyrian one.  While treaty forms vary somewhat, common elements include:

1. The preamble—identifying the parties and their status.

Hittite:  “Thus says NN…the valiant, the great king, king of Hattiland…”

Moses:  “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”  (Ex. 20:1) 

2. Historical Prologue—set forth the historical background that led the parties to enter a covenant or treaty.  This is the most common element in the 18 known Hittite treaties.  The Prologue sets forth some benevolent benefit bestowed by the Hittite king upon his vassal, and this kindness creates the moral and legal obligation of the vassal to show him loyalty.  Vassals often requested the treaty, and God showed the kindness of the Exodus rescue only after the children of Israel “cried out” to Him (Ex. 2:23).  In the Preamble (above), God identified Himself as the rescuer of Israel.  Joshua Berman[1] notes, “Notice the moral or legal basis on which God enjoins the children of Israel.  He identifies himself not as the God who created heaven and earth but as the God who bestowed a great favor on the “kingdom” of Israel, and is thus deserving of their subordinate loyalty.”

Hittite:  “I sought after you…sick and ailing…but I put you in the place of your father (as King) and took your brothers and sisters and…Amurruland in oath for you.”

Moses:  “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians…brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage…”  (Ex. 19, 20).

3. Stipulations—the vows, laws, and other obligations for one or both parties.  Typically, these revolved around security and defense issues for the nations.  Thus, it was common for the vassal to be restricted in his political activity.  This is also the basis for God being characterized as a “jealous” God (only one Egyptian god, and very briefly in history, ever required exclusive loyalty).  The terms “love and hate” were used not to identify emotions, but were expressions of covenant loyalty or covenant treachery. 

Hittite:  You shall not make a treaty with a foreign power.

Moses:  “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7)[2]

Hittite:  You must answer the King’s call to arms.

Moses:  “the Lord your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall utterly destroy them” (Deut. 7:2).

Hittite:  Your loyalty prohibits “murmuring” or rumors against the King.

Moses:  “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah” (Ex. 17:7; Deut. 6:16).

Hittite:  You shall not give refuge to enemies of the King.

Moses:  “You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them…”  (Deut. 7:16).

4. Depository—requirement that a copy of the treaty be stored in the temple of the god(s) of the vassal.  This guaranteed its obligations would be given a central place in the value system of the vassal kingdom.  Thus, the Decalog (10 Commandments) were stored in the Ark of the Covenant, which was kept in the Holy of Holies in the Temple.  Berman notes:  “If the tablet bearing the copy of the treaty was lost or stolen, it had to be replaced.  In this vein, one Hittite king remarked to his subordinate, Talmi-Sharrumma of Aleppo—referring to him in the third person—‘My father . . .made a treaty tablet for Talmi-Sharrumma, King of Aleppo, but the tablet has been stolen.  I, the Great King, have written another tablet [for him], have sealed it with my seal, and have given it to him.’  The apparent need for a replacement copy of a treaty tablet is well attested in the pentateuchal sources as well.  The breaking of the Tablets of the Covenant by Moses necessitates the drafting of a new set of tablets (Exod. 34:1– 4).  Whereas the Hittite king grants the treaty tablet royal legitimation by sealing it with his seal, the Tablets of the Covenant are consecrated by the fact that they are inscribed by God (Exod. 32:15–16; 34:1, 28; Deut. 10:1– 4).”

5. Witnesses—including humans, God or god(s).  The idolatrous gods were often gods of nature, and so their corresponding natural features like rocks, the heavens, rivers, etc. were often called as witnesses.  One treaty reads, “The mountains, the rivers, the springs, the great sea, heaven and earth, the winds and the clouds.  They shall be witnesses to this treaty and this oath.  All the words of the treaty and oath which are written on this tablet—if Tette does not observe these words of the treaty and oath, but transgresses the oath, then these oath gods shall destroy Tette.”  In the Bible, this practice is transformed, so that the natural elements of God’s creation serve as His witnesses.

6. Curses or blessings—the consequences for honoring or dishonoring the treaty.  One treaty reads,

 If you . . . do not observe the words of this treaty, the gods . . . shall destroy you . . . they will draw you out like malt from its husk.  As one does not get a plant from the midst of [tablet broken] . . . so you, together with any other wife whom you might take. . . .  And these gods . . . shall allot you poverty and destitution. . . .  Your name and your progeny . . . shall be eradicated from the earth.  The ground shall be ice, so that you will slip.  The ground of your land shall be a marsh of [tablet broken] . . . so that you will certainly sink and be unable to cross. 

If you observe this treaty and oath, these gods shall protect you . . . together with your wife . . . her sons and grandsons. . . .  And the land of Mittanni shall . . . prosper and expand.  And you . . . the Hurrians shall accept you for kingship for eternity.

A summary of the Sinai blessings/curses reads:  “You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them, for I am the Lord your God—a jealous God, who visits the sin of the fathers upon children to the third and fourth generations for my enemies.  But who shows kindness for thousands [of generations] to those who love Me and observe My commandments” (Ex. 20:5-6)

7. The covenant oath—the actual pledge made by the vassal to the lord, including vows of love and loyalty and agreement to the stipulations of the covenant.

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[1] Joshua Berman, a rabbi from Jerusalem, has written an excellent book containing many of the insights into the Sinai Covenant contained in these lessons.  See Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought.

[2] Berman writes, “The opening stipulation of the Decalogue, ‘You shall have no other gods beside Me,’ is readily understood by a contemporary reader from an epistemological perspective:  the Lord God who took the Children of Israel out of Egypt is the only true god, and hence the need to underscore the falsehood of placing stock in any other god.  Yet the command takes on a different light when seen in the context of ancient Near Eastern treaty formulations.  God is the sovereign, Israel the subordinate.  To revere another god is to violate a relationship; it is to express implicit ingratitude in light of the favor and grace bestowed on Israel the subordinate by God the sovereign, as laid down in the “historical prologue” of the Decalogue, indeed, as laid out in the entire narrative of the book of Exodus to that point.  For the subordinate king to establish treaties or other ties with another power would be tantamount to treason.”