Peter H.W. Lau, «Gentile Incorporation into Israel in Ezra - Nehemiah?», Vol. 90 (2009) 356-373
In contrast to other texts dated to the post-exilic period, Ezra – Nehemiah is well known for its separatist policy towards gentiles. Two exceptions in EN are the possible participation of foreigners in the Passover ceremony (Ezra 6,19-21) and the community pledge to follow the Torah (Neh 10,29[28]). An examination of antecedent Passover celebrations reveals that participation in the Passover marks out those who are members of ‘true’ Israel. This article argues that these cases indeed exhibit an anomalous inclusiveness, and discusses how it can be understood within the wider ethno-theological thrust of EN.
Gentile Incorporation into Israel in Ezra – Nehemiah? 369
clusion into ‘Israel’ would be their syncretism. 2 Kings 17 provides
the background to the adversaries: they may seek YHWH, but they also
worship other deities (2 Kgs 17,24-41). That is, they neither know
YHWH nor seek him exclusively, in the way of ‘Israel’ (esp. 2 Kgs
17,41) (54). This understanding is reinforced in EN by the contrast be-
tween the syncretists’ reference to God (‘your God’; μkyhla) and the
returnees’ response (‘YHWH, the God of Israel’; larçy yhla hwhy),
which underscores their relative lack of intimacy with the deity
(4,2-3) (55). Within the ideological framework of EN, in which holi-
ness and purity are paramount to reconstituted Israel, this syncretistic
group would have been anathema.
Nonetheless, not all those remaining in Judah would have been
accepted into ‘Israel’. By the time of the exile, the religious practices
of the indigenous Jerusalemites had become inconsistent with the
standards of behaviour advocated by the prophets such as Ezekiel
(e.g., Ezek 8), and adopted by many members of the Restoration com-
munity. It seems most likely that those living in the territory of Judah
and Benjamin were also involved (56). Only those who truly seek after
YHWH are incorporated into ‘Israel’ (57).
3. Ezra 1–6 in the Ethno-theological Context of EN
Overall, EN advocates a separatist policy towards gentiles. This is
particularly prominent in the way the ‘mixed marriage’ problem is
dealt with in Ezra 9–10, and then again in Neh 13,23-27. EN is pri-
marily concerned with maintaining religious purity. Yet this functions
(54) It is most likely that the adversaries continued the same religious prac-
tices of the original colonists under Sargon; CLINES, Ezra, Nehemiah, 73-74;
BLENKINSOPP, Ezra-Nehemiah, 106-107.
(55) In the HB, YHWH is the personal name of Israel’s God (cf. Exod
3,14-15).
(56) Other Jewish communities were involved in worshipping deities beside
YHWH, such as at Elephantine in the fifth century B.C.E. See B. PORTEN,
Archives from the Elephantine. The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony
(Berkeley, CA 1968) 173-179.
(57) That some devoted followers become part of the community may be seen
in the list of signatories in Neh 10,2-28[1-27]. Most of the priests and Levites are
familiar from other lists, but MYERS, Ezra, Nehemiah, 174-177, suggests that the
majority of the lay leaders are different from those found in the lists of Ezra 2,
Neh 7, and Ezra 8. He comments that the expanded list includes ‘the growth of
the community by the addition of those who had not gone into exile or who had
returned to the land from hideouts during the Babylonian invasion’.