We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Sojourners and Levites in the Kingdom of Judah in the Seventh Century BCE.
- Authors
Na'aman, Nadav
- Abstract
The present article sets out from the conclusions drawn in a previous article, namely, that Sennacherib's campaign against the Kingdom of Judah brought about far-reaching changes in the kingdom's settlement pattern and demography. In the course of the Assyrian campaign, thousands (or tens of thousands) of refugees fled from the destroyed cities and villages and found shelter in Jerusalem and other parts of Judah that were not conquered and devastated. On the basis of these conclusions, the article systematically examines the references to the sojourners (gērîm) and Levites that appear in the Book of Deuteronomy and other biblical texts dated to the pre-exilic period. Since the beginning of modern biblical scholarship, the status of these two groups has been explained in the context of the early history of Israel and Judah, or the time of the United Monarchy. This article suggests that the emergence of these two low-class groups, sojourners and Levites, was a product of Sennacherib's 701 BCE campaign. Their social and economic status reveals the impact of the Assyrian campaign on the society and economy of Judah throughout the seventh century. The uprooted elements, having neither land nor property, and unable to recover from the destruction and desolation that befell them, formed the lower class in cities and villages all over the country, and were considered gērîm where they lived. The article further investigates the origin of the Levites, and tries to explain their depiction as both a 'secular' and a priestly tribe, and the emergence of the biblical concept of the Levites as an uprooted people having no territory of its own among the tribes of Israel.
- Subjects
JUDAEA (Region); TRIBES; HISTORY of religion; LEVITES; ASSYRIANS; SOCIOECONOMICS; ISRAELI history; JEWISH diaspora; TWELVE tribes of Israel
- Publication
Tarbiz / Trbyṡ, 2008, Vol 77, Issue 2, p167
- ISSN
0334-3650
- Publication type
Article