Richard Whitekettle, «How the Sheep of Judah Became Fish: Habakkuk 1,14 and the Davidic Monarchy.» biblica, Vol. 96 (2015) 273-281 page 277

Vol 96 (2015)

Richard Whitekettle, «How the Sheep of Judah Became Fish: Habakkuk 1,14 and the Davidic Monarchy.», Vol. 96 (2015) 273-281

In Hab 1,14, Habakkuk complained that God had made the human targets of Babylonian aggression to be like leaderless aquatic animals. Aquatic animals are leaderless, not because they have a leader who is absent or inept, but because they simply have no leaders. Habakkuk was complaining then that God had made the targets of Babylonian aggression to have no governance system of their own. He was complaining, therefore, about the cataclysm of 586 BCE, when the native political system in Judah - the Davidic monarchy and its administrative apparatus - ceased to exist and the people of Judah were absorbed into the Babylonian Empire.

See more by the same author

Page 277/281
‹
277
278
279
280
281
›

06_AN_Whitekettle_273_281_273_281 21/07/15 11:24 Pagina 277 HOW THE SHEEP OF JUDAH BECAME FISH 277 (1,15), which is an image of deportation. The creation of a state of struc- tural leaderlessness was, therefore, accompanied by deportation. Fifth, Habakkuk’s thought in Habakkuk 1 was centered around Judah and its people: 1) he referred to God by the covenantal name YHWH (1,2.12), and as “Holy One” and “Rock” (1,12) ― common Israelite epithets for God; 2) he was concerned about justice, the Law, and righteousness (1,4.13) ― integral elements of Israelite covenantal thought; 3) he was told by God to look at the nations (1,5), indicating that he was mentally situated within Judah, outside of which were the nations. Thus, although Habakkuk was concerned about the effect of Babylonian aggression on non-Judahites (1,17), it was Judah and its people which were foremost in his mind, and around which his thoughts were centered. Turning then to the matter of when the people of Judah, through the actions of the Babylonians, were deported, and as a group entered a state of structural leaderlessness, the following chart shows some of the fun- damental aspects of the political situation in the land of Judah during the late 600s/early 500s BCE 9: Prior to 586, the people of Judah had their own political system which was centered around the Davidic monarchy and its administrative appa- ratus. Those living in the land of Judah prior to 586 were directly gov- erned by this system, even when they were dominated by foreign nations (the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians), or when a foreign power determined which member of the Davidic lineage would be on the throne (Egypt/Jehoiakim; Babylon/Zedekiah), or when the reigning Davidic 9 There is debate about some of the dates of these reigns. See, e.g., J. BRIGHT, A History of Israel. With an Introduction and Appendix by W.P. BROWN (Louisville, KY – London 42000) 316-339, 493-494; J.M. MILLER – J.H. HAYES, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah (Louisville, KY – London 2 2006) 223, 454-487. It is not clear how long Gedaliah was in office before he was assassinated.