Tanakh & the Ancient Near East Index – Parashat Vayera
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Overview
Knowledge of the history, law, cultic practices and realia of the Ancient Near East can often shed much light on Tanakh. This index contains a list of links to articles which touch on the connections between Tanakh and ancient cultures.
Banishment of Yishmael
Dr. Yoshi Fargeon, in his lecture סיפורי האבות בהשוואה לחוקי המזרח הקדום, attempts to demonstrate that the Patriarchs and Matriarchs might have often acted in accordance with the norms of their time rather than the later laws of Torah. Thus he notes that Sarah and Avraham's actions in banishing Yishmael and Hagar align with the laws set forth in the Law Code of Lipit Ishtar. The law code states that if both a slave wife and real wife bear children, if one does not want the slave-wife's children to share in the inheritance, one sets the slave and her children free. Thus, Sarah asks of Avraham to send away Yishmael so that Yitzchak alone can inherit.
Anachronisms?
See Tanakh and Archaeology (3), by R. Amnon Bazak, for discussion of claims that certain details included in the Patriarchal narratives appear to be anachronistic. Some argue that the city of Be'er Sheva was not inhabited during the era of the forefathers, and thus its mention is anachronistic. Similarly, some have asserted that the Philistines first arrived in Israel in the Iron Age, questioning how, then, they are mentioned in Sefer Bereshit. R. Bazak presents several approaches to resolving these issues.1
Listen to Kesut Einayim: Unraveling a Biblical Enigma, by R. Yitzchak Etshalom, for analysis of aspects of the story of Sarah in Avimelekh’s palace in the context of Ancient Near Eastern customs of modesty, and a novel interpretation of Avimelekh’s gift of “כְּסוּת עֵינַיִם”.
The Akeidah & Child Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East
In The Binding of Isaac, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks argues that the Akeidah is meant to be understood as a polemic against the inhumanity of pagan ritual.
In Child Sacrifice, Ethical Responsibility and the Existence of the People of Israel, Omri Boehm argues that it is not tenable in historical context to argue that the story of the Akeidah is a polemic against child sacrifice. Instead, he reads several of the interwoven stories of the Avraham narrative as “reflection stories” of Ancient Near East myths of child sacrifice, which serve to reject broader motifs and ethical messages of Ancient Near East traditions.