Mark Leuchter, «Inter-Levitical Polemics in the late 6th century BCE: The Evidence from Nehemiah 9», Vol. 95 (2014) 269-279
The Levitical prayer in Nehemiah 9 contributes to the gola-ideology running throughout Ezra-Nehemiah, but scholars have generally recognized that its compositional origins are to be connected to the Homeland communities of the exilic or early Persian periods. The present study identifies features in the prayer which suggest that its authors were Levites associated with the Homeland communities and that these authors crafted the prayer in response to the exclusive and elitist ideology of the gola groups. The prayer testifies to tensions within Levite circles well into the Persian period and possibly even beyond.
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274 MARK LEUCHTER 274
operating in such an environment 25. This fixed the linguistic genotype of
the prayer before these populations eventually returned south in the latter
part of the 6th century BCE, where it probably obtained public currency
even before the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple 26.
Other factors also suggest a Levitical imprimatur on Nehemiah 9. Apart
from the text’s own conceit that the prayer is voiced by Levites 27, Nehemiah
9 invokes the images and concepts that all Levites would have affirmed:
the Exodus, the Sinai revelation, and the agency of Moses (Neh 9,9-14) 28.
The authors of Nehemiah 9 also employ variations on the hzh ~wyh d[
formula (Neh 9,10.32) common to both the Deuteronomistic and Jeremi-
anic traditions 29, as well as the memory of the rejection and slaying of
prophets (Neh 9,26.30; cf. Jer 2,30) 30, and appeal to legal tradition in a
manner similar to late-monarchic penitential prayers in Jeremiah 31. Two
other features are especially hallmarks of Levite tradition. The first is a
cluster of terms recalling divine mercy in the wilderness:
But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and full of compassion
(!wnxw ~wxr), slow to anger (~ypa $ra), and plentiful in mercy (dsx[w] brw),
and forsook them not […] (Neh 9,17)
The language here draws directly from the liturgical formula in Exod
34,6-7, where Moses declares the attributes of divine mercy. Research into
the formation of the Book of the Twelve has demonstrated that this formula
is deployed at regular and strategic intervals throughout the work 32. No-
25
See similarly RENDSBURG, “Northern Origins”, 354.
26
BODA, Praying The Tradition, 190-195.
27
MT; the LXX ascribes the prayer to Ezra.
28
Pace TIEMEYER, “Abraham”, 63, who states that Moses receives no
mention in the prayer.
29
J.C. GEOGHEGAN, “Until This Day”; ID., The Time, Place, and Purpose
of the Deuteronomistic History. The Evidence of “Until This Day” (BJS 347;
Providence, RI 2006) 159-164.
30
BODA, Praying the Tradition, 81-87.
31
On the role of law in the prayer, see P.M. SPRINKLE, Law and Life. The
Interpretation of Leviticus 18:5 in Early Judaism and in Paul (WUNT 2,241;
Tübingen 2008) 41. See further M.J. BODA, “From Complaint to Contrition: Peering
Through the Liturgical Window of Jer 14,1 – 15,4”, ZAW 113 (2001) 195-197.
32
See especially J. WÖHRLE, “So many Cross-References! Methodological
Reflections on the Problem of Intertextual Relationships and their
Significance for Redaction Critical Analysis”, Perspectives on the Formation
of the Book of the Twelve. Methodological Foundations – Redactional
Processes – Historical Insights (eds. R. ALBERTZ – J.D. NOGALSKI – J.
WÖHRLE) (BZAW 433; Berlin – Boston, MA 2012) 3-20.
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