Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1)
LA JOLLA, California — I have chosen three passages from the parasha for comparison with ancient non-Israelite practices concerning divinely appointed priests and poliical leaders; and the inheritance rights of daughters.
I. Numbers 25:12: “I grant him (Pinchas) my pact…a pact of priesthood…because he took impassioned action for his God…”
I could find no analogous example of a pagan god selecting a human official. On the contrary:
Ancient peoples were frightened by the lethally destructive forces of nature, e.g. volcanoes, earthquakes, thunder, hail, wind, fire, and disease. Leaders personified such forces into gods with human-like personalities. Gods were jealous, vengeful, angry, capricious, or even careless.
Early religions were less about controlling people and more about controlling the gods. A common approach was to appease them by feeding their appetites. The fire-god, they likely argued, must like consuming a fair number of people per month, the hail god must like pelting a certain number of people, and the god of the ocean gets hungry for some sailors during fishing season.
What to give them? Pagans figured it’s easiest to give up their weak children, virgin girls, or extra cattle. Priests opportunistically figured on getting a cut of the action,e.g. prime food portions, virgin girls, etc.
They presumed gods’ wishes were similar to those of the bullies in their society, to be paid off periodically. Ultimately there was an evolution toward the Biblical model, of a loving God toward a loving people. [1]
II. Numbers 27:1-7: The daughters of Zelophehad…stood before Moses… and…said “Our father died…and he has left no sons…Give us a holding…the Lord said…you should give them a hereditary holding…their father’s share to them.”
Jacob Milgrom in acknowledgement of contrasts between Israelites and their neighbors, points out what he learned in his scholarly quest:
Sumerian law (c. 4000 BCE) ordained that an unmarried daughter may inherit when there are no sons (Mesopotamia).
Decrees of Gudea (c. 2150 BCE), ruler of Lagash offered the same sentiment (Mesopotamia)
Documents of Nuzi and Ugarit during the middle and second half of the 2nd millennium BCE allowed that daughters inherited in the absence of sons.
Hammurabi’s laws (1754 BCE) implied that daughters shared in the paternal estate alongside their brothers.
Documents of ancient Elam (c. 2300 BCE-SW Iran today) verify that daughters were equal to sons in inheritance.
During the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2050-1786 BCE), a woman could inherit from her husband. In the New Kingdom (1560-1050 BCE), a wife inherited a third of an estate, and the rest was divided equally among the children, male and female alike. Later Ptolemaic Law stipulated that a daughter had a legal right to share the inheritance with her brothers if the father died without a will.
Hittite law (c. 1300 BCE) had wives and daughters inheriting freely.
Milgrom observed that the Bible seems to have more restrictions on daughters’ inheritance than these pagan cultures. He rationalized this to be related to the fact that the Hebrew society, in its earliest stages was a tightly knit clan structure, whereas the above pagan societies were already urbanized, presumably more sophisticated. [2]
III. Numbers 27:15-20 “Moses spoke…Let the Lord…appoint someone…who shall…take (the community) out and bring them in…the Lord answered…’Single out Joshua…invest him with…authority…so…the whole Israelite community may obey…”
I found no instance on the internet of a pagan god alleged to have directly assigned a human leader. It is true that kings and emperors often declared themselves to be gods, and acted as such.
Of tangential interest, I did find a Christian fundamentalist article (2018) arguing that President Trump is a modern-day Cyrus.
Cyrus was the ancient Persian Emperor who conquered Babylon (539 BCE) and permitted exiled Hebrews to return to Judea and rebuild the Temple. Jews labeled Cyrus as an instrument of God, an unlikely, though flawed, “vessel” chosen for an important historical purpose. . See Isaiah Chapter 45. Note also the coincidence that Trump is the 45th US president.
The growing threats from China, Russia, and Iran are seen by these evangelists as challenged at last by Trump, who must also, though flawed, be a messenger of God.
Israelis are in the act also because Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem against prevailing political correctness. An Israeli organization, the Mikdash Education Center, minted a commemorative “Temple Coin” depicting busts of Trump and Cyrus side by side!
Even Prime Minister Netanyahu suggested that Trump is Cyrus’s spiritual heir.
As for the US, we have long dwelt on notions that the USA is favored by God. Early on, Puritan settler John Winthrop referenced “city on a hill,” an image from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount to describe how the new American colonies would serve a a model for Christian living. A good later example was the notion of “Manifest Destiny,” our imperialist expansion across the North American continent through the 19th century. [3]
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NOTES
1] https://www.quora.com/Why-did-ancient-people-believe-that-sacrificing…pie-the -idea-Are-there-records-of-who-started-the-practice-if-so-who
[2] The JPS Torah Commentary, Numbers, Milgrom, The Jewish Publication Society, 1989, p. 482
[3] https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/5/16796892/trump-cyrus-christian-right-bible-cbn-evngelical-propaganda
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.