Judaism: The First Phase: The Place of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Origins of Judaism.

• Author: Fried, Lisbeth S.
• Position: Book review

Judaism: The First Phase: The Place of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Origins of Judaism. By JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING CO., 2009. Pp. xiv + 262. $30 (paper).

Blenkinsopp's new book explores the origins of Judaism and the place of Ezra and Nehemiah in its formation. He defines a religion (p. 1) as consisting of an object of worship, religious institutions (priesthood, prophecy, etc.), narrative and legal traditions, social organization, and demographics. Rather than addressing the first two of these attributes, he focuses on the latter two, asking if the definitions of the terms yehudim and "Israel" had changed their meanings from a national-political definition to a religious one by the period of Ezra-Nehemiah.

In arguing for a change in meaning, Blenkinsopp (p. 24) writes that the members of the garrison at Elephantine, although from Israel (the word "Israel" never appears in the papyri), were not ethnically Judean, even though they referred to themselves as yehuday[e.bar]. As evidence, Blenkinsopp points to the sums donated to the gods Bethel, Eshembethel, and Anathbethel along with those donated to YHWH. This does not prove Israelite origin. It is more likely that these Judeans included some persons who worshipped Aramean gods.

The author turns next (p. 25) to Josephus (Ant. 11:173) to argue that the name loudaioi was given to this people only from the time they came up from Babylon in 538. But Blenkinsopp misunderstands the historian. Josephus states that the name Ioudaioi "is derived from the tribe of Judah; as this tribe was the first to come to these parts." Admittedly, Josephus uses the designation "members of the tribe of Judah," [epsilon][kappa] [tau][eta][zeta] 'Iov[delta][alpha] [phi]v[lambda][eta][zeta], for the period under the monarchy and switches in Ant. 11:22 to the term 'Iov[delta][alpha]ioi of for the post-exilic period. Nevertheless Josephus does not suggest that those returning to Judah are different from those exiled. He alters his Vorlage in 1 Esdras 2: 18, which reads "the 'Iov[delta][alpha]ioi who came up from you to us" to read "the 'Iov[delta][alpha]ioi which were carried off to Babylon. are come into our country" (Ant. 11:22); that is, Josephus clarifies that the ones who returned from Babylon are the very ones who had been carried off to it.

Blenkinsopp also cites Josephus to argue that although the Samaritans referred to themselves as Hebraioi and denied being loudaioi...