The Larger Context of the Biblical Food Prohibitions.pdf

2020

This volume presents contributions from »The Larger Context of the Biblical Food Prohibitions: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approaches« conference held in Lausanne in June, 2017. The biblical food prohibitions constitute an excellent object for comparative and interdisciplinary approaches given their materiality, their nature as comparative objects between cultures, and their nature as an anthropological object. This volume articulates these three aspects within an integrated and dynamic perspective, bringing together contributions from Levantine archaeology, ancient Near Eastern studies, and anthropological and textual perspectives to form a new, multi-disciplinary foundation for interpretation.

2024

Anna Angelini and Peter Altmann address pivotal issues on the biblical dietary prohibitions and their significance as practices and texts through philological, zooarchaeological, iconographic, and comparative ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman lenses. They explore theoretical frameworks adopted in modern interpretation, possible origins in relation to ancient Israelite religion and society, and location in relation to Priestly terminology and Deuteronomic tradition. The authors expand the arc of investigation to the Second Temple reception of the prohibitions in both the Dead Sea Scrolls and Greco-Roman discourses from the first centuries CE. With their foundational studies, they provide an approach to the dietary prohibitions, opening the way for reconstructing their path of development into their present-day contexts. Table of contents: Preface 1. The Dietary Laws of Lev 11 and Deut 14: Introducing Their Ancient and Scholarly Contexts (Peter Altmann and Anna Angelini) 1. A Methodological View of the History of Scholarship 2. Human-Animal Relationships in Ancient Israel 3. The Hebrew Bible Context of Food and Drink Restrictions 4. Biblical Treatments of Meat Prohibitions 5. Questions for this Volume 6. Widening Horizons 2. Framing the Questions: Some Theoretical Frameworks for the Biblical Dietary Prohibitions (Peter Altmann) 1. Anthropological Terminology 2. Psychological Explanations 3. Materialist Explanations 4. Douglas and Other Structuralist Approaches to »Dirt« as Structural Anomaly 5. Synthesis 3. Traditions and Texts: The »Origins« of the Dietary Prohibitions of Lev 11 and Deut 14 (Peter Altmann) 1. Composition-Critical Concerns 2. Continuum: From »Sanctuary Ritual« to »Mundane Custom« 3. Mundane Customary Origins? 4. Sanctuary Ritual Origins? 5. The Influence of Household or Local Religion? 6. Ritual Practice and Ritual Text 7. Conclusions and a Possible Reconstruction 4. A Deeper Look at Deut 14:4-20 in the Context of Deuteronomy (Peter Altmann) 1. The Language of Deut 14:1-2, 3, 21 and 4-20 2. Abomination and Impurity in Deut 14 and Elsewhere in Deuteronomy 3. Mourning Rituals in 14:1-2 and their Link to vv. 3, 4-20 4. »You Are Children, Belonging to Yhwh Your God« 5. A Holy People and Treasured Nation: Deut 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:18 6. The Relationship between Deut 14 and 26:12-15, 16-19 7. The Stipulations of Deut 14:21 in the context of Deut 14 8. Eating in Deut 14:1-21 in the Context of Deuteronomy 13 and 14:22-27 9. Summary 5. The Terms שׁקץ Šeqeṣ and טמא Ṭame' in Lev 11:2-23 and Deut 14:2-20: Overlapping or Separate Categories? (Peter Altmann) 1. The Usage of שׁקץ and טמא in the Rest of the Hebrew Bible and Their Relevance for Lev 11/Deut 14 2. The Usage of טמא 3. The Terms in Deut 14 and Lev 11 4. Conclusion 6. Aquatic Creatures in the Dietary Laws: What the Biblical and Ancient Eastern Contexts Contribute to Understanding Their Categorization (Peter Altmann) 1. Water Creatures from Iconography and Texts of Surrounding Regions 2. Water Creatures in Levantine Zooarchaeology and Evidence of Consumption in Biblical Texts 3. Sea Creatures in the Bible 4. Discussion of the Texts of Lev 11:9-12 and Deut 14:9-10 5. Reasons for the Prohibition? 6. Conclusions 7. A Table for Fortune: Abominable Food and Forbidden Cults in Isaiah 65-66 (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: Dietary Laws outside the Pentateuch and Isa 65-66 2. The References to Food in the Structure of Isa 65-66 3. Abominable Cults between Imagery and Practice 4. The Pig: A Marker for Impurity 5. The Greek Text: Sacrificing to Demons 6. Summary and Conclusions 8. Dietary Laws in the Second Temple Period: The Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: Food in Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Law 2. Methodological Remarks 3. Main Tendencies in the Dead Sea Scroll Materials Related to Food Laws 4. Animals and the Purity of the Temple 5. Summary and Conclusions: Food Laws between Discourse and Practice 9. Looking from the Outside: The Greco-Roman Discourse on the Jewish Food Prohibitions in the First and Second Centuries CE (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: The Origins of the Greek and Roman Traditions about Food Prohibitions 2. The Greek and Latin Witnesses on Jewish Food Prohibitions in the First Century CE 3. The Polemic Use of Jewish Dietary Prohibitions in Juvenal and Tacitus 4. Plutarch and The Philosophical Tradition 5. Conclusions Appendix: Plutarch's Moralia, Table Talk IV, Question 5 (669 e-671c) 10. »Thinking« and »Performing« Dietary Prohibitions: Why Should One Keep Them? One Meaning or Many? (Peter Altmann) 1. Introduction 2. (Envisioned) Practice and Significance and the Myth of the Singular Explanation 3. Knowing How and When vs. Knowing Why

The topic of dietary prohibitions in ancient Egypt needs to be explored from at least a twofold perspective: 1) firstly, the priestly theological view; and 2) secondly, actual dietary practices. Articulating these two types of evidence raises a number of issues: as a matter of fact, there is a significant gap between the realities of diet and discourses about food in Egypt.

Food Taboos and Biblical Prohibitions: Reassessing Archaeological and Literary Perspectives (Eds. P. Altmann, A. Angelini, and A. Spiciarich), 2020

Open access volume: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/food-taboos-and-biblical-prohibitions-9783161594403?no_cache=1

111 Pig Taboos in the Ancient near East Koot van Wyk* Abstract The cardinal study on the topic of pig eating in the Ancient Near East, is the work of Billie Jean Collins (2006). She focused basically on the issue as it relates to the Hittite cuneiform texts but did also probe sideways to other nations and the Bible, albeit minor comments. This study wishes to stand on the shoulders of Collins, adjusting some statements, adding other aspects from Archaeological sites and Gerhard Hasel’s explanation of Clean and Unclean in Leviticus 11. What was found in this presentation, is that chronology as backbone in the Scriptures, if taken seriously, could explain the presence or absence of pig eating practices also among the Hittites and Egyptians (the New Kingdom). This research has investigated Collins’ contribution of Hittites and Pig Consumption, Pigs in Hittite archaeology, Pigs in Egypt, Pigs in Mesopotamia, Pigs in Zoo-archaeology at Hesban in Transjordan, Pigs at Sites in Canaan, Pigs as Offerings in Hittite Rituals, Pig Taboo Rules in the Ancient Near East, Pigs as Medical Use in Mesopotamia, Pig Taboo in the Old Testament by Ackerman (1992) and Collins (2006), Pig Taboo among Later Greeks, Pig Taboo in the Old Testament by Gerhard Hasel (1991, 1994). Whereas the other Nations around Israel display an S-curve or down-trend and up-trend in the appearance and disappearance of evidence for the taboo against pig-eating, among the Israelites it was a straight line unchanged. For that matter, the sojourn in Egypt, the Exodus from Egypt, the presence in Assyria, the presence in Babylonia or Egypt later during the exiles and Persian periods, should be taken into consideration for observations from cuneiform texts, from papyri or pyramid texts or from the travel descriptions of Herodotus. The biblical reality of Israelites living in these domains under consideration and the evidence or absence of taboos against pig-eating from the same areas and times, necessitate re-evaluations of the data.

Dietary rules and regulations may govern particular phases of the human life cycle and may also be associated with special events. Dietary Laws are grounded into the religious thought, and anyone expects logical clarifications for the continuation and determination of these rules in light of the respective religious tradition. The Semitic religions: orthodox Jews, Christians and Muslims have undoubtedly directed their adherents about the foodstuff "meat" with particular terms and conditions. This study attempts to define the similarities and differences between Halal and Kashrut (Kosher) in the light of their religion's commandments. The study confined to the Holy Scriptures. A comparative approach has been applied to these dietary practices. Moreover, it was found that Halal constitutes a different dietary law (Shariah) than Kashrut and vice versa. Even though similarities are found but it does not permit for the statutes to be usually supposed as reflection of each other. This analytical work will provide theoretical orientation; make reference to relevant theoretical and empirical literature for adequate clarification and comprehension where needed. To avoid pointless details, only the verse number mentioned in footnotes and extracted commands are just mentioned in the article. Qualitative research methodology has been adopted about the dietary laws about animals in Semitic Religions.

Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2022

While a finding of pig remains has often been regarded in Iron Age archaeological studies as an indication of the inhabitants' identity, several recent zooarchaeological studies have shown that the archaeological record is more complex, and that pig remains cannot serve as an identity marker. The textual evidence analyzed in this paper supports this direction and suggests a discussion of a multistage development process leading up to various expressions of the pig taboo in ancient Israelite belief. While in the Pentateuch pigs are mentioned alongside other impure animals and are not accorded excessive impurity amongst them, the textual sources indicate that pigs received a special status and became an identity marker only from the Greco-Roman period onwards. This paper also shows that during this period even the word "pig" became taboo in certain instances, as seen from three texts preserved in the LXX of Samuel-Kings (1-4 Kingdoms) but missing from the MT.

Israel Affairs, 2019

The writings of ancient Greece and Rome and of biblical Israel are filled with descriptions of food. Tellingly, the narratives in Greek and Roman mythology and poetry often describe violent and repulsive behavior. The biblical narratives, in contrast, tend to view food in a respectful and purposeful manner. This article compares and contrasts some of these stories with regard to the specific themes mentioned in its title: restraint, respect, purpose, and order. In each comparison, patterns of eating described in biblical laws and narratives will be contrasted with those emerging from Graeco-Roman stories and customs.

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2002

A structural analysis of Deuteronomy 14:1-21 indicates a well planned composition. A comparison with the same set of dietary regulations in Leviticus 11:2-20 indicates a process of literary growth in the Deuteronomy composition. An original list of land animals was extended into a literary unit on dietary regulations. A technique of inclusio was used in different literary layers to form thisunit and to include it in the Deuteronomic Code and eventually in the Pentateuch. Different theories on Pentateuchal growth are considered so as to understand the ethical meaning of these dietary regulations within this larger literary framework.