Introduction
We see that the internal history of Israel progressed through the conclusion of ritual contracts: under Joash, the pure worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem was established, and later under Josiah, the Deuteronomy was adopted The code of law, according to legend, was accomplished through a contract (berith); in the same way, Zedekiah made the decision to free the debt slaves in accordance with the law, and under the leadership of Nehemiah, the Gemeindeordnung was once again solemnly adopted ).
In the latter, just like in the curse ceremony, some particularly important regulations were selected and, in accordance with the customary way of handling official documents at that time, solemnly signed and sealed by the heads of the clans who were forced to live together. What is decisive in the context of our considerations here is the ancient, pre-captive, and in these cases, the legal, universal covenant of Israel.
▲ Ancient Israel
This kind of contract is clearly related to the conclusion of a contract between individuals or with sojourners. It is not just that the parties to the contract conclude a contract with each other under the protection of God, who is the witness of the contract and the avenger of perjury. The establishment of a brotherly relationship is not a covenant with God himself, and this is especially the ancient view represented by the so-called "Yahwisten" (Yahwisten). According to this view, when a contract is broken and God takes revenge, what God insists on is not only the rights of the faithful contract parties under his protection, but also the contract rights of God himself. This very important concept profoundly affected the religious character of Israel.
The dire threat of calamity announced by the god of the prophets is based on the breach of loyalty to the covenant directly sworn to God himself as a party to the contract, and on the other hand God himself is reminded of his loyalty to the covenant. A promise that the patriarchs of Israel swore to give. The comprehensive relationship between the ancestral gods of Israel in the legend, and the concept of descendants determined through the priests in captivity, was realized from the beginning in the conclusion of constantly updated contracts: in the contract with Noah, with Abraham, The covenants of Isaac, Jacob, and finally the Sinai covenant . However, in the meantime, as the view of God changed, the anthropomorphic view of the bilateral contract gradually weakened into a divine plan of disposition, and this disposition was guaranteed only through special promises.
▲Israeli President
Even the future hope announced by Jeremiah is the same in the end: Jehovah will once again make a covenant with his people, but the terms will be more favorable than when he made a covenant with his ancestors. - Where does this peculiarity of Israel’s concept of covenant come from? At its source, it is the convergence of certain general political conditions and a special event in the history of religion. For Israel, the concept of "covenant" is of great significance because: Israel's ancient social system is partly and quite essentially based on all the warrior clans and guest tribes (Gaststämmen) of the land - as a legal Protected sojourners, including migrating shepherds, guest craftsmen, merchants, and priests, established permanent relationships through contracts.
This complex entanglement of sworn brotherhood, we see, dominates the social and economic structure of Israel. However, the covenant with God Jehovah himself became a fundamental concept for Israel in judging its status among other nations, and this is closely related to the following situations. As mentioned before, all political groups of Bedouins and pastoralists are extremely unstable due to living conditions: all these tribal organizations are prone to splitting into clans and regrouping again. The fate of the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Maccah on the one hand, and the fate of the tribe of Judah on the other hand, all show such examples. In sharp contrast to this instability is the extraordinary stability of a specific type of community, and this type of community can be found precisely among these not yet fully settled strata: the religious order (derreligiöse Orden) or religious order Sex priest group (derordensar-tigeKultverband).It seems that only such a religious group is the appropriate basis for permanent political and military organization.
▲The religious culture of Israel
The Rechabites are one example: over the centuries, from the time of Jehu to Jeremiah, we see that they continued to exist and were active in religious politics. A Rechabite is also mentioned in Nehemiah's Annals. In the Middle Ages, Benjamin Tudela claimed that he encountered them in the desert of Babylon under the rule of a "Nasi" (chief), and Other travelers believe they can still be found in 19th-century Mecca. The Keni tribe, to which the Rechabites belonged, and which strictly worshiped Jehovah, seemed to be essentially a group based on religion. Because Stade's argument at least makes it very likely that the "mark of Cain", that is, the tribal tattoo of the Kenites, is not only the mark of the tribe, but, and naturally first and foremost, the mark of the sacrificial community. . The sectarian mark of the Indians should also be a simulation.
In the same area, in principle, the largest example of a sectarian group with exactly the same nature is Islam and its warrior sects. They have created many long-lasting Islamic countries. Base. -Here, the point of fact is not that Bedouin and semi-nomadic living conditions "produced" the order, but the establishment of the order was seen as an "ideological index" of its economic conditions of existence. This materialistic construction of history is inappropriate here as elsewhere. The key point of the fact is that once such a religious group is formed, under the living conditions of these classes, it will have the strongest opportunity to win in the elimination struggle compared with other less stable political bodies. However, whether a religious order is formed or not depends on completely specific religious history and often extremely personal circumstances and destiny.
▲Islamic Mosque
Once a religious fraternal group proves its ability as a means of political and economic power and is recognized, this will naturally greatly contribute to the popularity and expansion of the religious order. The religious proclamations of Muhammad and Jonadabben Rechab, the son of Rechab, cannot be "explained" as a product of demographic or economic conditions, although a considerable part of their content was contributed to by these conditions. These religious pronouncements are rather expressions of personal experience and intentions. However, the spiritual and social means employed and the creation of significant results of this type should indeed be understood through the conditions of its life, also in ancient Israel. Just as the Rechabites owed their importance to their cohesion into a religious order, so Judah's importance as a sworn fraternity might be due to its strength as a sworn fraternity through the special covenant of Yahweh. The tribe
only appeared on the historical stage later. They are not in the Song of Deborah. Historical sources sometimes refer to them as clans, in a manner typical of pastoralists. In the days of Moses' blessing, they were in a politically oppressed state, and in Saul's day they were a Philistine tribe with servitude obligations. On the contrary, in Jacob's blessing, Judah became the ally of Israel and also a grape grower. However, in the patriarchal legend originating from the circle of livestock herders, Abraham did not offer wine even though he lived in Hebron, Judah, which was famous for its wine. To the messenger from heaven. Thus this tribe - although it is difficult to say that it came into existence through David, as Guthe supposes - may be said to have expanded under him, and apparently to have settled with admixture with the Canaanites. .
▲The logo of the tribe of Judah
was later counted as the clans of the tribe of Judah according to the official sequence and genealogy. Some are certainly Canaanite, and some are obviously derived from Bedouin: the Kenites who sometimes allied with the Amalekites. That’s it. The tribe of Simeon was partly integrated into Judah and partly among the Edomites. One of the earliest Levites mentioned in is said to be a Judahite: in general, the tribe of Levi was obviously absorbed into Judah. This tribal status formed under Saul still existed in another form in the Davidic dynasty: under Solomon, at least most of its territory did not belong to the states and provinces of the kingdom, but directly belonged to the royal authority. under.
Conclusion
In short, it was through David's military monarchy that Judah achieved its final size and was associated with its inheritance of pure worship of Jehovah. It seems that, as Luther postulated, a characteristic of this tribe was the important position of the priests in judging (by litigating oracles), and this already suggested a special religious fraternal group. It is the foundation of its solid tribal cohesion.
