John Van Seters, «Dating the Yahwist’s History: Principles and Perspectives.» biblica, Vol. 96 (2015) 1-25 page 7

Vol 96 (2015)

John Van Seters, «Dating the Yahwist’s History: Principles and Perspectives.», Vol. 96 (2015) 1-25

In order to date the Yahwist, understood as the history of Israelite origins in Genesis to Numbers, comparison is made between J and the treatment of the patriarchs and the exodus-wilderness traditions in the pre-exilic prophets and Ezekiel, all of which prove to be earlier than J. By contrast, Second Isaiah reveals a close verbal association with J’s treatments of creation, the Abraham story and the exodus from Egypt. This suggests that they were contemporaries in Babylon in the late exilic period, which is confirmed by clear allusions in both authors to Babylonian sources dealing with the time of Nabonidus.

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Yahwist history

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01_VanSeters_copiaaaa_01_25 28/04/15 11:15 Pagina 7 DATING THE YAHWIST’S HISTORY: PRINCIPLES AND PERSPECTIVES 7 a. The Patriarch Abraham This comes out in the prophet’s first mention of the patriarch Abraham: But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend, whom I brought from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners. To you (Jacob) I say, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and not abandoned you” (Isa 41,8-9). Here, in contrast to Ezekiel, Second Isaiah affirms the Abraham story, as presented by the Yahwist, that Abraham was called by God from distant Mesopotamia (Gen 11,31 – 12,7; 15,7), that he was the specially favored one who was given the divine promises of land and offspring (Gen 12,1-3; 13,14-17; 15; 22,15-18), and that he was the ancestor of Jacob, combining these two ancestral tradi- tions so that the promises to Abraham apply to Jacob as well. Thus, the deity cannot abandon Jacob, the offspring of Abraham. The whole logic of this unit in Second Isaiah depends entirely upon fa- miliarity with J’s presentation of the patriarchal story. Furthermore, in the treatment of a special unconditional covenant with Abraham that includes both land and future progeny in Genesis 15, there is a range of terminology that is also picked up by Second Isaiah. YHWH comes to Abraham in a vision and declares to him, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward will be great” (v. 1). This poetic use of language, which is appro- priate to a great military campaign, is used by Second Isaiah right after his reference to the election of Abraham: “Fear not for I am with you […]. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will support you with my victorious right hand” (Isa 41,10). This phrase “fear not” is repeated again three times in the same context (vv. 13-14) and becomes a major theme of the prophet (see also Isa 43,1-7; 44,1-5), just as it is for J in the exodus story (Exod 14,13). In Isa 40,9-10 the declaration of the herald to Jerusalem to the inhabitants to “fear not” because of the immanent coming of Lord YHWH, is followed by the promise that he brings a “reward” (rkf), the same term used in Gen 15,1 by J. This very close coherence in theme and language cannot be merely fortuitous. Another connection with the Abraham story is given in Isa 51,1-2: