J as a Constitutionalist: A Political Interpretation of Exodus 17:8-16 and Related Texts
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Description
In this Article, I argue that the pericope in Exodus 17:8-16, which recounts a wilderness battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites, should be interpreted as a political document written within the framework of the royal court in Jerusalem. The purpose of the text is to define power relations among four important institutions in the government: the king, the professional military, the priests of the official cult, and the bureaucracy of the royal court. The overall thrust is an attempt to limit the authority of the military vis-á-vis its civilian counterparts. The text, I will argue, utilized symbols of political authority in order to emphasize a meaning that would have been apparent to the participants in the power structure of the Jerusalem court. Because the text allocated, defined, and limited political power among organs of the government and because its place within the national epic made it resistant to subsequent alteration, it is appropriate to call this a “constitutional” provision. And, because it is typically attributed to the J source, this Article is title “J as Constitutionalist” – although, as will be argued, there are reasons of style and substance to suppose that this particular text may not have been committed to writing as early as the bulk of the J material. This Article is structured as follows. Part I describes the leading interpretations offered by scholars of this pericope to date than identify the shortcoming of each of these theories. Part II offers an alternative interpretation of the Amalekite episode as a political text and connects this tradition with two other Exodus texts: the immediately contiguous Exodus 18:1-27, recounting Moses’ meeting with his father-in-law the priest of Midian, and Exodus 24:12-14, in which Moses instructs the people to bring their causes before Aaron and Hur during Moses’ absence. I end with a brief conclusion.
Source Publication
Economics of Ancient Law
Source Editors/Authors
Geoffrey P. Miller
Publication Date
2010
Recommended Citation
Miller, Geoffrey P., "J as a Constitutionalist: A Political Interpretation of Exodus 17:8-16 and Related Texts" (2010). Faculty Chapters. 2016.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/2016
