Yehud (Persian Province)

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Jehud was an administrative unit of the Achaemenid Empire within the grand satrapy " Babylonia and Transeuphratene ". Persian rule over Palestine began with the capture of the city of Babylon (539 BC), although this peripheral area only became of strategic interest to the Persians with the advance of Cambyses against Egypt (around 525 BC). The Persian era ended with the conquest of Palestine and Egypt by Alexander the Great (332 BC).

Palestine in the Persian period. Green: Samaria Province, pink: Jehud Province (George Adam Smith: Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land , 1915)

The northern border of Yehud province ran near Bet-El , in the east the Jordan and the Dead Sea were a natural border, in the west part of the Shefela (Geser, Aseka) still belonged to Yehud, and the southern border ran near Bet-Zur. In the south it was bordered by the Kingdom of Arabia, an ally of the Persian Empire, which was converted into the Idumea province in the late Persian period II .

In religious terms, the Persian era is characterized by the fact that the world of gods in Palestine became more international, in particular Phoenician deities were Egyptized. The glyptic shows a mixed style with Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian and Greek motifs. Dedicatory inscriptions and votive offerings increased, which speaks for a more personal relationship of the individual with his deity. Box-like, stone incense altars are typical of the Persian finds.

The depiction of an aggressive lion, sometimes with a sun symbol, seems to have been used as an emblem for the Yehud province in the Persian period I. In the Persian period II it was replaced by seals with the words Jehud.

Persian period I

Ramat Rachel is the most important archaeological site of the Persian era. Here was an economic center, according to Oded Lipschits the palace of the governor of Yehud province. Photo: Water basin (background) and pipes for watering a garden
Reconstruction drawing of the representative palace and garden complex. The palace was built in the 7th century BC. Built and expanded in the Persian period (Ramat Rahel Archaeological Garden)

This period ends around 450/400 BC. In the province of Yehud no significant change in material culture and, above all, no increase in population that could be associated with an immigration of Judeans from Babylonian exile can be identified. The country had not previously been depopulated by deportations: "The exile had only affected a small part of the people, so that (contrary to the Atlas) 'exile and return' can only be seen as central issues of a minority."

On the Mediterranean coast in the area around Akko , settlements with a Phoenician-Persian mixed culture emerged, which participated in long-distance trade within the Persian Empire. Administrative buildings and ports show that an economic upswing took place here. Galilee was part of this economic system as a supplier.

The permission to return for the exiled Judeans, a very significant event for the biblical account, is likely to be connected with the expedition of Cambyses to Egypt (around 525 BC), because only now was the military strategic value of the region recognized. The edict, which allowed both the return and the rebuilding of the temple, would have been issued by Darius I (521 BC). The migration movement then took place in several waves, but historically it was a relatively small group of people. This brought with it identifying features developed in exile: organization according to extended families, circumcision , food commands , Sabbath , endogamy . "In these ritual-religious commandments, which strongly influenced the life of the individual [...], the problem of self-definition was presented to each individual Judean and brought to the fore."

Yehud was a backward and sparsely populated region in Persian times I. It is estimated that Jerusalem has a population of 500 people, and about 13,000 people for the whole of Yehud (for comparison: the population of Samaria province is estimated at 60,000 - 70,000 people). The subsistence economy (oil, wine, cereals) only fed the city of Jerusalem. There were no surpluses to sell. The fact that the Persians levied property and poll taxes in coins led to the impoverishment of the peasant population.

The administrative status of Yehud in Persian Period I is not entirely clear. Within the large satrapy there were provinces led by governors on the one hand, and vassal royalty on the other. Albrecht Alt and Herbert Donner assumed that Yehud was part of the province of Samaria and that a separate province of Yehud was only created through the work of Nehemiah . Against this is the fact that former governors of Yehud are mentioned in Neh 5:15  EU . Accordingly, Yehud had been a separate administrative unit since the beginning of Persian rule, perhaps even in the preceding Neo-Babylonian period. While Zerubbabel can be identified with some certainty as the governor / governor of the Yehud province, the role of the Sheshbazzar (last Neo-Babylonian governor?) Is unclear. Zerubbabel came from the royal family of the Davidids , and the Persians may have wanted him to establish a vassal kingdom in Yehud. This did not happen, however, and with Nehemiah the office of governor was given to a person without royal descent. During this phase, the office of high priest became more important for the Jewish population, as there was a family continuity that went back to pre-exilic times. According to Neh 5.7  EU there was an upper class consisting of priests and aristocrats. These bodies, in which one suspects many returnees from the Babylonian exile, administered the province.

The construction of the Second Temple was a project of the Persians and the people who had returned from exile and were loyal to the Persians. For around 515 BC A founding narrative was created, according to which it was the joint work of a Davidid, a priest from an old family, two prophets and the population. "Since the Persians supported the construction financially, they also had the right to participate in the cult, to the loyalty of the priests and the god Yhwh, who was worshiped there ." It seems that large parts of the rural population, including the rural upper class, benefited from the cult were excluded from the Jerusalem temple because it was controlled by the group of exiles with Persian support. Persian influence is recognizable in the designation of the now figureless god Yhwh as "God of heaven". Characteristic of the Second Temple was the strict separation of sacred and profane , with the consequence that only priests could carry out the ritual acts.

Persian period II

Silver coin that the governor Jehizqijah had minted. Front: the nymph Arethusa . Back: Owl of Athena. (Yehud province, 4th century B.C.)

From 450/400 BC Changes in the material culture of Palestine make themselves felt. Only now did the urban centers on the coast, in Galilee and the Schefela radiate into the mountains of Jehud. The population growth was modest but significant: an estimated 1,500 inhabitants in Jerusalem and around 20,000 to 25,000 in Yehud as a whole. The economic situation improved slightly (metal and precious metal in the archaeological findings).

Nehemias political activity is for the period from 450 BC. Historically plausible, because securing the southern border against Greeks and Egyptians was in the interests of the empire, and the building of fortresses was connected with it. The biblical book Nehemiah describes the construction of a (archaeologically unsecured) city wall; Jerusalem would have been the only fortified city in the Yehud province.

The mission of Ezra , who was commissioned by the Persians to put the law of the god of heaven into force in the province of Yehud, is to be set historically around 398 . It was the practice of the Persians to recognize local law as imperial law (so-called imperial authorization). But it is not clear which body of law it could have been:

The books of Esra-Nehemiah represent the measures that were implemented in Jerusalem as the restoration of very old traditions; more historically, the changes would be described as "the transformation and redefinition of what is known or ... the foundation of something new".

A characteristic of personal piety in the Yehud province during the late Persian period is that “there was a leap in the number of angels and demons, who were increasingly sorted into a hierarchy (angels under God, demons under Satan / devil). “In the upper class, the endeavor to lead a godly life according to the principles of wisdom literature led to symptoms of crisis, since the expected doing-doing-relationship did not work out as expected. These problems were reflected in the poetry of Job and later by Kohelet .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 162 f.
  2. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 169 f.
  3. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 1674 and note 248 ..
  4. ↑ a b Susan Niditch (ed.): The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel , Chichester 2016, p.227.
  5. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 174.
  6. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 160.
  7. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 164.
  8. ↑ Barbara Schmitz: Geschichte Israels , Paderborn 2015, p. 62.
  9. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 162, see also p. 173.
  10. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 160.
  11. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 166.
  12. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 160 f.
  13. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 165.
  14. ^ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 175.
  15. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 175 f.
  16. ↑ Barbara Schmitz: Geschichte Israels , Paderborn 2015, p. 60.
  17. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 160.
  18. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 165.
  19. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 166., cf. Barbara Schmitz: History of Israel , Paderborn 2015, p. 62.
  20. ↑ Barbara Schmitz: Geschichte Israels , Paderborn 2015, p. 62.
  21. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 177.
  22. ↑ Angelika Berlejung: History and religious history of ancient Israel , Göttingen 2019, p. 178.