Bibliography
| Title: Hasmoneans, Herodians and Davidic Descent. King and Kingship in Post-Biblical Jewish Literature Type: Thesis Year: 1996 Abstract: "Shortly after the creation of the Hellenistic kingdoms, philosophic and political writings began to focus on political theory, attempting to refine and improve government. Many of these discussions took the form of pamphlets entitled "On Kingship". These literary endeavors, although never actually put into practice during the Hellenistic or Roman periods, left their impact on the various non-Greek societies of the times. This dissertation explores the rich literature of the Post-biblical Jewish world and finds that the Jews were as deeply involved in such thinking as their neighbors. The specific focus is on the means of legitimation for the two non-Davidic dynasties of the Second Temple era, the priestly Hasmoneans and the Idumean Herodians. The discussion of the texts allows for an understanding of the definition of kingship which permits (or denies) non-Davidic claims to kingship. This study consists of three parts - first, an overview of the four available models of kingship which the Jewish writers had to work with, that of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt (referred to as "Kingship and the Gods"), the biblical variation on the Near Eastern model ("Davidic kingship"), the other biblical model ("kingship as concession to the people"), and Hellenistic Kingship. This is followed by an exploration into the later biblical works, those of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, in order to get an indication of the direction Jewish political thought was headed towards when Alexander the Great arrived. Beginning with chapter two, we analyze the literary creations of the Jewish world, divided into separate categories: apocalyptic literature, expansions of the biblical texts, liturgical writings, historical writings, including the Books of Maccabees and Josephus, Hellenistic writings such as Philo and the Letter of Aristeas, and the sectarian literature as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The third part of the dissertation briefly examines two different bodies of literature which combined elements from all of the above categories: the New Testament and Tannaitic literature. In each case, the texts are reviewed with an eye towards understanding the basic definitions of kingship and attempts to understand how each appreciated (or failed to appreciate) one or both of the Second Temple dynasties. The above analysis proves the existence of three distinct views of kingship: a variation of the Davidic model of kingship, an elevation of Moses as the ideal king, and a messianic model, which corresponds to the earlier "kingship and the gods" view, where God is the actual king and his chosen leader is the vice-regent, who rules as king of the Jews. In the process, we see that the Jews were able to contribute successfully to the discussion of the times". Keywords: Cultural and Religious History of Ancient Judaism |