Deuteronomy's Secret Source...

Dan McClellan Hey, everybody. I'm Dan McClellan. And

Dan Beecher I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan And this is Data Over Dogma, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and we combat the spread of misinformation about the same. How are you- ... Dan?

Dan Beecher Thank you for, uh- ... asking me that. I appreciate your concern. I'm well. Uh- Excellent ... I'm fine. How are you?

Dan McClellan Uh, I'm getting there. It's, uh, it's cold out, and, uh-

Dan Beecher You don't know where you're getting, but you're getting there. Yeah,

Dan McClellan it's hopefully away from the cold- ... uh, is where I would like to, to be getting. W- uh, that's where the getting's good, is, uh-

Dan Beecher I've heard that ...

Dan McClellan is away from the cold. Yes.

Dan Beecher I've heard that. That's a, that's a known thing. Uh, well, I'm excited about today, because today we are going to be doing a What's That, and it's going to be about a bunch of really long words. Uh, and, and you have promised that you're gonna be able to explain them to me. Uh, it, it involves Deuteronomy. It involves vassalage. Uh, it involves a, uh, a treaty that-

Dan McClellan A treaty, yes ...

Dan Beecher of, uh, uh, uh, Esarhaddon, Eszarkallat. I don't know.

Dan McClellan Esarhaddon.

Dan Beecher Yeah. That's what I said.

Dan McClellan That's the one. Yeah.

Dan Beecher I'm pretty sure I said that. Uh, anyway- ... uh, it's gonna be really interesting, and we're gonna, we're gonna dive right into it with What's That. So, as we said, uh, this week's What's That is about, uh, is about this, this darn treaty and how- Yes ... I don't... Get, get me... First of all, should we just start with the treaty? Where do we start?

Dan McClellan Yeah, let's start with the treaty, just to kinda lay the... And then, and then we'll kind of, uh, cover some, some background. So- Okay ... th- this is the Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Now, Esarhaddon was a ruler in Assyria. He reigned for- Are you

Dan Beecher sure that Esarhaddon isn't a, uh, like a- ... sci-fi novelist or something? 'Cause that's what it sounds like.

Dan McClellan S. Robert Haddon.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Um, I... Oh, gosh, if, if I ever am involved with making a TV show, I'm gonna have a character named S. Robert Haddon.

Dan Beecher Uh-huh.

Dan McClellan And then nobody will get it until they go, "Esarhaddon." And he will be, he will be a r- uh, a powerful man.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, uh, he will accede to some manner of authority around- ... 681 BCE, and then he'll reign for, uh, for about 12 years. Uh- Wow ... so this is early seventh century BCE- Okay ... uh, ruler of, of the Assyrian Empire. He was preceded by Sennacherib. Everybody knows who Sennacherib was. He was the one-

Dan Beecher Well, we, we've talked about him. I don't know if that means we know who he was. But we've definitely mentioned Sennacherib a bunch of times.

Dan McClellan Yeah, he's the one who, uh, who swung through and caused problems for Lachish, for instance, uh, and then, uh, for Hezekiah toward the end of the eighth century BCE. And then, uh, Ashurbanipal came to power after Esarhaddon. Uh, but-

Dan Beecher You're just making names up now.

Dan McClellan I, I haven't even gotten to Tiglath-Pileser III. Okay? So...

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan That's one of the greatest, uh, one of the greatest, uh-

Dan Beecher I think that's one of the cats from the show Cats, isn't it? I don't know. I'm pretty sure.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher I saw it back in the '80s. I don't know.

Dan McClellan It was... And you were probably pretty high, uh- ... when you saw it.

Dan Beecher As a, as a six-year-old, I was- Yeah ... super messed up.

Dan McClellan Well, you grew up in a, in a family of academics, so they were probably, uh, experimenting with all kinds of, uh-

Dan Beecher I think that's fair ... odd

Dan McClellan stuff, I'm sure.

Dan Beecher I think that's fair to say. They're all dead now.

Dan McClellan Um-

Dan Beecher They can't defend themselves.

Dan McClellan But, uh, so he's important because he kind of cr- he didn't really, uh, invent this thing, this convention, but he really mastered it in a way that later Israelite scribes would admire. He, uh, he mastered the art of vassal treaties.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan And vassalage is, is basically, on a geopolitical scale, it is some henchmen coming into a mom-and-pop shop downstairs, downtown, excuse me, or downstairs, I don't know- Uh-huh ... um, and saying, "This is such a lovely establishment. We would hate for something bad to happen to it." "So you pay us so much a month in protection money, and we will protect you from us." Um-

Dan Beecher "We will keep you safe from the us's that are wandering- Yeah ... the streets, uh, stealing from you and be raiding you."

Dan McClellan It is, it is basically the policy that some people in parts of the world are trying to re-implement- Yeah ... with their idea of, "Who's gonna stop us from taking over Greenland?" Um-

Dan Beecher Or, yeah, or Venezuela, or- Or is

Dan McClellan Venezuela or Cuba, or-

Dan Beecher Whatever happens to happen.

Dan McClellan Yeah. At some point, he's gonna go for Puerto Rico, and people are gonna go, "Okay, that's- ... that's enough." Um-

Dan Beecher "You've gone too far, sir." You've,

Dan McClellan you, you know that this is already a part of your country. You know,

Dan Beecher we, we already have it.

Dan McClellan But, uh, it, it was basically a larger nation going in and beating up on a smaller nation and saying like, "Here's the deal. You work for us now. You're gonna pay us." And, and it could be money, it could be gold, silver, it could be sheep, it could be olive oil, it could be whatever. "Every year, this is how much we want from you, and we will not beat you up further. And then you also have to, um, make sure that you're looking out for our interests."

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan "So if, if the neighbor on the other side of you, uh, s- starts talking bad about us, you need to let me know so we can go beat them up, too. And then you're gonna send us soldiers whenever we go out to, to battle and all this kinda stuff." It was not an enviable position to be in.

Dan Beecher Yeah, I mean, we first talked about this, I think, when we talked about, uh, the moment in Judges where, uh, where Moab threw off vassalage- Right ... uh, and told, and told Israel to ... go vassal itself, and, uh, and, and, and then there was a whole war about it, and-

Dan McClellan Yes

Dan Beecher ... stuff.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher So, uh, so yes, uh, it, it... I like that it's called a treaty rather than a forced, uh, mechanism. Like- Like, treaty sounds so nice and so-

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher ... uh, voluntary-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... and stuff.

Dan McClellan Well, well, wait till you hear about some of the details- ... of, of this treaty.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Because, um, like, it... We have, uh, several versions of it. It's not, it's not like there was one version that you d- they just copied and pasted everywhere they went. They, uh, it was drafted anew every time for every individual. But there were a lot of, uh, elements that were pretty consistent. But here's a preamble to one of them. Um, the Treaty of Esarhaddon, King of the World. King of the World. King of this-

Dan Beecher Wow, that's a-

Dan McClellan King of the World, yes, very Titanicky. Um-

Dan Beecher That's a, that's a great title.

Dan McClellan King of Assyria, son of Sennacherib, likewise King of the World. King of Assyria, with whom Baresh, city ruler of Nashimarti, et cetera, his sons, his grandsons, with all the Nashimartians, et cetera. The men in his hands, young and old, as many as there are from sunrise to sunset, all those over whom Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, exercises kingship and lordship, with you, your sons, and your grandsons, who will be born in days to come after this treaty. And then we get into, uh, the next thing we do is, is go and, uh, name all the divine witnesses to this.

Dan Beecher Oh, yes.

Dan McClellan In the presence of Ashur and Anu and Il and Ea and Sin and Shamash and Adad, and literally dozens of names.

Dan Beecher So-

Dan McClellan By all the gods of Nineveh, by all the gods of Calah, of, by all the gods of Arbela, and, and on, and on, and on.

Dan Beecher Wow.

Dan McClellan Um, and, uh, you get-

Dan Beecher We're just, we're, we're just gonna make sure that everyone's ca- accounted for. So if, if-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... you think that you're gonna get away with this, and your god will not, will, will not have seen you-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... no, no, no. All the gods.

Dan McClellan Now, now here's a, a... We get down to, like, section 24. "You shall love Ashurbanipal, the great crown..." Okay, "The great crown prince designate, son of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria-

Dan Beecher Hmm

Dan McClellan ... your lord, like yourselves." So Esarhaddon is saying, "My son is, is our, is, uh, the point man here, and you shall love him."

Dan Beecher He's, he's in charge of you, and you-

Dan McClellan Yes ... have to love him. Love him like you love yourselves. And this is, this covenant love idea ought to be ringing some bells with people who are familiar with the Book of Deuteronomy.

Dan Beecher Interesting.

Dan McClellan Um, because it's very much the same idea, the, what we get in Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, might, and strength." Uh, and, and we have, uh, a variation on the like yourself with the second great commandment, "You will love your neighbor as you love yourself." So the, the point I'm trying to make here is that a lot of critical scholars for, for a long time now, uh, have been convinced that the Book of Deuteronomy was basically patterned after the vassal treaty of Esarhaddon, at, at least as the main kind of template for what was going on. Because a lot of the segments kind of follow the same themes, and even a lot of the language has a lot of significant overlap, up to and including this idea that, look, this, this is the, um, the sovereign and then the vassal. We're making a deal. We're making a, a treaty, a covenant, and your main responsibility is to love me as I-

Dan Beecher So are we-

Dan McClellan ... have loved you.

Dan Beecher So what we're saying, I mean, Deuteronomy, uh, for those who are not tremendously familiar with the Bible-

Dan McClellan Mm-hmm

Dan Beecher ... ends up being a, a, a basically a, a book of laws. It's a-

Dan McClellan It's the, yeah, Deuteronomy is, uh, comes from a Greek word that basically means, uh, second law. And, and it is supposed to have been, uh, composed or at least dictated by Moses toward the end of his life. In fact, the last chapter is, uh, like, narrates his death. Um, but it's supposed to date to, or, uh, after the Exodus, uh, the, the 40 years wandering, before everybody enters into Israel. So 1200 BCE, 1400 BCE, depending on where you imagine this, uh, what time period you imagine this happened in. The reality is that it was probably brought together under King Josiah toward the end of the 600s BCE.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, and this, this is why the, the resonances with the vassal treaty of Esarhaddon is such a problem for folks who think it is historical, uh, because it very clearly is, is drawing a lot of inspiration from texts that would not exist for anywhere from 700 to 5, uh, to, yeah, 500 years later. So the, the Book of Deuteronomy is basically Esarhaddon is God-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... and then the Israelites are whatever vassal nation Esarhaddon has just whooped up on. Uh, and there are a few different things to, um, that we can compare here. Let me pull up, uh, Deuteronomy 5:7, for instance, uh, says... Sorry, I'm looking for Deuteronomy in the New Testament. That's not gonna work.

Dan Beecher That's-

Dan McClellan At least according to Accordance. Doesn't know what they're talking about. Um, Deuteronomy 5:7, "You shall have no other gods before me." That should sound familiar. That's Exodus chapter 20 as well. Uh, but we can look in, uh, segment 17 of, uh, the vassal treaty of Esarhaddon, and we find, "You shall hearken to whatever he says, and do whatever he commands, and you shall not seek any other king or any other lord against him." It's basically saying, "I am the captain now."

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan "And you shall, you will not go looking for other captains." Uh, and then, uh, section 25, "Do not place any other king or any other lord over you." So, uh, this resonates quite a bit with the, "You shall not have any other gods before you." Uh, we can go to, uh, let's see, Deuteronomy 30:19. Pull that up. And this is, uh, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live." And this is a famous part of Deuteronomy. God gives the law, and then says, "Okay, if you do everything, you get these blessings. If you don't, you get these curses." And guess what? That's in the vassal treaty as well. Uh, we can look in, uh... But here, what, what they're doing is, um, calling upon heaven and earth. But we have, uh, Esarhaddon calling upon all the gods of heaven and earth as witnesses to this treaty. So again, you've got some parallels there. Uh, Deuteronomy 28, this is the chapter that famously has, uh, the curses in it. And, uh, we have one curse, "In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege..." Uh, and the curse is basically you're gonna be constantly under siege from enemies.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan "In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you." And that also happens to be in the vassal treaty of Esarhaddon. Um, or we have, uh, as part of the curses, if you don't do these things, "May Zarpanitu, who grants name and seed, destroy your name and your seed from the land," which by the way, is Deuteronomy 29. Uh, but in section 47, um, "May a mother bar the door to her daughter. In your hunger, eat the flesh of your sons. In want and famine, may one man eat the flesh of another. May one man clothe himself in another's skin. May dogs and swine eat your flesh. May your ghost have nobody to take care of the pouring of libations to him." So, um, pretty nasty curses, uh-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... go on here. And Deuteronomy-

Dan Beecher I like, I like that it, it, it really didn't build to a crescendo. That was an anticlimax.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher Like, you don't... And you don't get drinks, uh, in the afterlife.

Dan McClellan Well, that-

Dan Beecher So ha on you.

Dan McClellan But, but that was a big deal because your afterlife... Now, now here you gotta think of Coco. The, your, the, the ofrenda is basically saying you're not gonna have anybody taking care of your ofrenda.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, uh, and that's basically saying your afterlife is going to disappear like a fart in the wind.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Uh, your-

Dan Beecher And you're gonna be thirsty. You're gonna be a thirsty boy.

Dan McClellan Because you needed, you needed, uh, food and drink.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And you needed your name invoked in order for your afterlife, uh, to continue on. So, um, yeah, we've got, we've got a lot of points of contact between these two, which is why, uh, most critical scholars are in pretty widespread agreement that Deuteronomy is, is picking up a lot of inspiration from what is going on in the vassal treaty of Esarhaddon, which means the idea of covenant comes from this. So when people talk about covenants in the Bible, they're talking about the borrowing of the idea of vassalage and vassal treaties from the empire of Assyria, and that then becomes the metaphor for your relationship with God. God is the one who comes in and says, "This sure is a lovely establishment."

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan "I would hate for something bad to happen to it."

Dan Beecher Yeah. There's a, there's a meme that has gone around for years in especially the a-

Dan McClellan Oh, is this Jesus knocking on the door?

Dan Beecher Yeah. Yeah.

Dan McClellan Yes, yes. That's what I immediately thought of.

Dan Beecher Yeah. Jesus, and for those of you who don't know, uh, it's Jesus knocking on the door and saying, "Hey, let me in." Uh, or, "Why?" "So that I can protect you." "Against what?" "Against what I'm gonna do to you if you don't let me in." Yeah.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher It's a, it's that idea.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher Um, but I mean, obviously Deuteronomy i- sort of portrays this vassal overlord of God as a benevolent, loving-

Dan McClellan Yes

Dan Beecher ... uh, thing. Does Esarhaddon also have a, uh, a sort of I'm your benevolent overlord, or is it just like, "I, I will murder you if you don't- ... do this"?

Dan McClellan Um, you do have some parts where, where he does talk about, uh, you know, "As lo- as long as you do this, uh, we will... As long as you swear, we, you will not make rebellion or insurrection, uh, then there will be peace," basically.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan That you, that, that you will have what you need. It's not like we're gonna come, uh, you know, throw a party for you. Uh, it's not like we're gonna- ... we're gonna, you know, you're gonna get $2,500 cash back, uh- ... upon signing. Like, that's not, that's not part of the, the thing, but-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... but it is, "We will not destroy your nation." And we-

Dan Beecher Well, and I guess the fact that Deuteronomy has sections of curses, uh, is, is maybe not as benevolent as one might imagine God to be. Like-

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah

Dan Beecher ... that, that, that feels, that feels like there's so, there's definitely some stick, and not, it's not all carrot on this.

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah. And, and the carrot is really just kind of token carrot. Um, it is- 'Cause the, the real-

Dan Beecher It's mostly stick?

Dan McClellan Yeah, the real point is the stick.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Uh, and, and th- and that's what you get with, um... A- and, and even today, you know, when, um, uh, what's the... Dang it. Um, I c- I keep forgetting his name. He's the, the child star who's now the, the fundamentalist Christian who's on, uh, uh- ... who I've talked about recently. He recently came out and said he doesn't believe in, um, eternal con- Kirk Cameron. Kirk Cameron, that's the one. Kirk Cameron, he was saying that it does not, he, he can't believe in a merciful God that would torture someone for eternity for insignificance, um, violations of-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... of their law. And, and somebody who was defending eternal conscious torment retorted, "No, it actually demonstrates God's mercy." Because you have to imagine the punishment as being the most horrific thing you can ever imagine, and that makes God's salvation all that much more merciful.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Like, that, this is what you could be getting if it weren't for God. But if what you could be getting is that you just cease to exist, then that makes God's mercy not all that powerful. And, uh, I, I feel like that's a, like, yeah, that's a way to think about it if you're just really, really concerned for trying to make God sound, uh, trying to instill fear in people.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan But, like, that is, that is saying, "Well, wait a minute, we need the stick."

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan That makes that tiny little bit of carrot, if the stick is so big- ... that makes the tiny little carrot all that much more attractive. If the stick and the carrot-

Dan Beecher Look at how great this carrot looks. Oh my gosh.

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah.

Dan Beecher It's the most amazing carrot.

Dan McClellan It's just a baby carrot. It didn't even grow that way. We had to cut it down to that size. But, you know, look how attractive that is when the alternative is this giant stick.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan But if the, if the carrot is, is, uh, you know, bigger than the stick, well, that's, what kind of incentive is that? That's not, what kind of decision is that? Um, and so I, I find that to be, to be highly problematic, the-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... the way that people are trying to rationalize what ultimately comes down to identity politics. It's the tradition they're committed to, and they're gonna make that tradition sound good, no matter how ridiculous they have to sound trying to make the case for that.

Dan Beecher Yeah. I think, you know, I, I mentioned that I'm in, I'm in atheist circles. I run in atheist circles.

Dan McClellan Mm-hmm.

Dan Beecher And I think one of the things that sort of resonates with, uh, with people who take an outside look at, uh, biblical law is that it becomes clear that it is, uh, you know, I, I hesitate to say tyrannical, but I mean, if it's patterned after a vassalage treaty, then there's tyranny there. You know what I mean?

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah.

Dan Beecher It's, uh, I, that, that feels emotionally right to me that, that, that, that there is a parallel between, uh, be- between the sort of the laws of, of Deuteronomy and, you know, what's being laid out by a conquering, uh, nation to a, to the conquered.

Dan McClellan Who, who were world-famous for their brutality.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan And, you know, if you, if you ever find yourself in the British Museum, you've gotta ask where the Lachish reliefs are.

Dan Beecher I remember those, yeah.

Dan McClellan And you can go see... You re- oh, yeah, you've seen them, that, right, haven't you? Um, that commemorates- And then you gotta go to Lachish. Um, but that commemorates, that commemorates Sennacherib's taking of this, uh, of this city.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, and you can still go to the city, and you can see the siege ramp that they built up. And you can go, uh, look at some of the buildings. And, and on the, but on the reliefs, you can see what they're doing. They're, they're skinning people.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan They're cutting off heads. They're throwing babies from city walls. Uh, they're doing all of this stuff, uh, while Sennacherib literally sits on a throne and gets fanned with palm fronds and, you know, sipping on mai tais or whatever.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Um, and, uh, yeah, they are famous for their brutality. The entire, um, kind of rhetorical leverage of the Book of Jonah is the fact that the, uh, the Assyrians were so hated for their brutality and their viciousness. But, and, and yeah, the, the Book of Deuteronomy takes a look at it and goes, "We should make God like that."

Dan Beecher That sounds like my version of God. I like that. I'm gonna keep some of that.

Dan McClellan Yeah. And, uh, and, you know, you sympathize more and more with Job, uh,

Dan Beecher Indeed.

Dan McClellan Ugh.

Dan Beecher Indeed.

Dan McClellan And, and less and less with his friends. Um-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... but the, yeah. So that's the, uh, the, a little bit about the vassal treaty of, of Esarhaddon, um, and, uh, and his son Ashurbanipal. Um, and

Dan Beecher Uh-

Dan McClellan But you definitely wanna check out Tiglath-Pileser III. That's, uh-

Dan Beecher Yeah. Check 'em all out. Uh, it's the best names that, that we have access to. Anyway- ... uh, I think that's fascinating. I, that was a, that, that's a really fun discussion, and I'm guessing some people will want to, uh, comment and get mad at us and- ... all that sort of stuff. Um, so-

Dan McClellan We will, we will take any corrections that are, that are accurate-

Dan Beecher Yeah, and-

Dan McClellan ... uh, happily and humbly.

Dan Beecher Yes, indeed. I, I don't know how humble we are, but we'll, but we'll- We're, we're humble enough to take correction when it's, when it's accurate. Uh, anywho, thanks so much for tuning in. Uh, if you would like to become a part of making this show happen every week, the best thing you can do is head on over to, uh, to patreon.com/dataoverdogma, where you can get early ad-free versions of every episode as well as access to our, uh, weekly bonus content that we do, the after party. It's a lot of fun, and, uh, and you can ask us questions and, and, and get, uh, a really good, there's a really good chance you'll get an actual answer from us, which is not always the case, 'cause we're us. And we try, but we, we're not great at everything. And, uh- It's a, anyway, it's a br- vibrant, wonderful community over there, and also it helps keep the show going, and that's vital to us. So thanks so much to all of our patrons, and, uh, go be one. And we will... Oh, th- and also thanks to Roger Gowdy for editing the show, and we'll talk to you again next week.

Dan McClellan Bye, everybody.