Created equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought | with Prof. Joshua Berman

In a thought-provoking interview with Professor Joshua Berman, the discussion centers around the Bible's multifaceted influence on society, politics, and economics. Professor Berman, from Bar-Ilan University, presents the Bible not just as a religious text but as a revolutionary document that challenged and reshaped ancient political thoughts and societal norms. He highlights how the Bible advocated for a less hierarchical society, promoted economic fairness, and encouraged widespread literacy through the adoption of the alphabet. This conversation reveals the Bible’s role in subtly but significantly molding various aspects of societal structure and individual empowerment.
👤 About Professor Joshua Berman:
Dr. Rabbi Joshua Berman is a professor of Tanakh at Bar-Ilan University. A graduate of Princeton University and of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Dr. Berman is the author of two academic books on the five books of the Torah: Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought (Oxford, 2008), which was a National Jewish Book Award Finalist in Scholarship, and his most recent book, Inconsistency in the Torah: Ancient Literary Convention and the Limits of Source Criticism (Oxford, 2017). His articles on biblical theology and contemporary society have appeared in the pages of Mosaic Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Rabbi Berman served as a member of the International Advisory Board for the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C..
🔗 Recommended Reading:
For a deeper understanding, check out Professor Berman's books (affiliated links)
"Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought,"
Paperback
amzn.to/3vqVCCG
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Hardcover
amzn.to/3HbcdNe
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Kindle
amzn.to/3NSIkW2
====
Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith
amzn.to/3S6mIb8
The Temple: Its Symbolism and Meaning Then and Now
amzn.to/3S9D3Mj
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Share!
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode for more insightful discussions on KEDEM Channel. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes that explore the fascinating intersections of history, religion, and society.
#JoshuaBerman #CreatedEqual #BiblicalDemocracy #BibleHistory #PoliticalThought #AncientCivilizations

[@KEDEMChannel]

For a deeper understanding, check out Professor Berman's books (affiliated links) "Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought," Paperback amzn.to/3vqVCCG = Hardcover amzn.to/3HbcdNe = Kindle amzn.to/3NSIkW2 ==== Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith amzn.to/3S6mIb8 The Temple: Its Symbolism and Meaning Then and Now amzn.to/3S9D3Mj

[@paulirving2986]

'Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians'.

[@GreekOnDFence]

Kedem channel always provides conversations which expand our perspectives on biblical issues and relative history.

[@KEDEMChannel]

Thank you 😊

[@RealUvane]

Excellent! 🔯

[@toonmoene8757]

Note the sabbatical law also forbids "putting others to work - even the animals". Note that equality ...

[@lukasmakarios4998]

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..." 1) equal in our right to human dignity and respect, 2) equal in our right to live fully the life God gave us, 3) equal in our right to use our natural talents to acquire the resources we need, 4) equal in our right to have a family to belong with, 5) equal in our right to live free without harming others, 6) equal in our right to speak the Truth as we know it, 7) equal in our right to not violate our moral conscience, 8) equal in our right to know we have a responsibility before God.

[@Namaerica]

So very interesting.

[@giffica]

Professor Berman is a towering figure. His perspective is generations ahead of contemporary scholarship. Real Emes, comes from this man. Incorrect description by the way, his most recent and his most important book is Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith, 2020 but I get why you would wanna leave that out ;)

[@jeffreybrannen9465]

It’s now in the pinned comment

[@devgirl7208]

Please tell us why you think that book would be excluded (or like hidden)? I haven't read it btw

[@Darisiabgal7573]

Aiy, yay, yay. So many things wrong here. Lets go with kingships. In sumer kingships were weak. The power was in the priesthood. All study, written language, temple festivals, beer making was the priest. Kings (Lugal) were appointed on an annual basis, their main tasks were boundary maintenance, securing trade and keeping trade routes open and gathering from the uncivilized peoples slaves. In the annual kingship ceremony the high priest of what city slaps the lugal in the face, he must then disclose to the priest what all he did for the city (i.e. their gods) and if agreed some priestess of Ishtar would come out . . . . . . Its when that process was not obeyed that social progess broke down as is the case with Lugal Zagasi in the 24th century BCE, and through sheer 'fortune' Sargon gained control, and he, an ethnic outsider, had the support of the priesthoods as long as he was expanding territory and bringing in new trade. The priesthood was so lucratice his daughter went into the Ishtar priesthood and she became the first poet in history, having schooled herself in Eridu and Ur. The documents antediluvian tablets uncovered from Shurrupak refected that the city was run like a modern day kibbutz, in which the priesthood took in resources and aliquoted resources according to the family status, despite that as a trading port for Sumer and this had access to the lucrative copper trade so important during the early bronze age. The torah according to most scholars did not appear to have much following until the Maccabaen revolt, and in truth after the forced conversions by Jonathon. Prior to that the only people who were maintaining torah were those living on Mt. Moriah, the books were written between the 4th and 5th century (Some say third and in alexandria but I reject this). What we have are the deuteronomistic texts. According to the bible Ezra read the torah scroll out in a day, about 6 hours. It takes 28 hours to read the torah. Thus we can be somewhat certain that the torah was probably limited to deuteronomy and a fraction at that. And so, lets take a deep mystical look at Y'isra'el and its social-political system and lets remove the blinders imposed by Hilkiah and scribes and priest that follow. What El is in my opinion was a unified priesthood brought to the levant because constant political intevention of Eastern warrior kings in local internal politics was too expensive when all one wanted was a to keep those trade routes open, the process is likely what pushed amorite traders into Avaros, not long after you see Lapis Lazuli appearing in the funerary practices. Lapis Lazuli at the time made gold look like a cheap metal. It was easier to travel through the judean hills than to travel over the wetlands, but these roads need to be maintained. Soon there after the Egyptian and the Hittites saw the wealth tied to this trade. The hittites defeated the Babylonians and the kassites (probably a PIE people) and Egypt tried to defeat the Hittites. Big battle, no clear victor, enter the age of diplomacy. At the beginning of the 13th century social unrest began to spead from eastern Europe into the Balkans, the first to go were the Myceaneans, then the Hittites, then the Babylonians and finally the Egyptians around 1100 BCE, retracting back to the upper Nile. The East, except a triad of Assyrian cities were essentially overrun by Aramean tribes. As this wave of instability swept down the near east as dynasties were replaced by microstates, petty kingdoms protected by the fact that everyone was in the same bad situation. Israel, probably tribes loyal to the old gods were chased out of Egypt early in the LBAC returned and provided the core leadership in the wake of the collapse. The centralizing force were the high priest of El, key world being high, as they lived on remote peaks. People in the various communities followed a plethora of gods: Ba'al gad south of Mt. Hermon, Asherah at Luz, Shamesh/Shapesh at Beth Shamesh, Anath at Beth Anath, Shalim at Urushalim, Ba'al Hamon, at the gateway to the hills, Lahmi and Yahu at Beth Lahmi, etc. This was Israel's period of judges when priest once again had power and officials Melchizedek govern management of security and trade. Many gods, many peoples, for 100 years living in relative peace, all the tribes, we dont know the names, the bible certainly doesnt know all the names. As we see in judges Samu'el, who was probably a priest of El waxing romantically about this period. Why, because kingships dilute the power of the El priesthood. And if we want to read the bible and look for good kings, you wont find good kings there. King Saul wanted 100 dead mens foreskins as the bride price for his daughter. The next king David gladly pays twice the price. This is the king the Yahu god grants perpetual rule to? El was the god of the fathers, the father of the gods, the bull of the heavens, the celestial sky, he was the head of the divine council, he looked out after sojourners and wanderers, he was the tabernacle god, his laws were found in the dust at Hazor. His priest gather up men to keep trade routes open and punish towns that abused travelers. After that things went downhill as Samuel predicted. Its not what is written in the text that matter, what matters most is the way people are open toward cooperation. If all you want to do is build higher walls, you only invite a bigger foe to topple them. We should wonder what Yosiah was thinking as he rode out in his chariot to confront an Egyptian army just passing by. What ever that thought was, he toppled Jerusalem the old gods, beaten, died.

[@KEDEMChannel]

Thank you Ray for all your very interesting contributions. One might gain more from this comparison of the political, social and legal situation between the societies of the Near East, in the context of the 9th to 7th centuries BCE. That's probably when these laws were written in Israel and later in Judah. Throughout most of this period the Near East was dominated by the Assyrians and their massive destruction of city states, ethnic cleansing and horrific propaganda.

[@Darisiabgal7573]

@@KEDEMChannel Indeed, just looking at the court politics from shalmanezzar to ashurbanipal its simply amazing how such a successful and expansive empire was at the same time so internally self-destructive. I would be afraid of them. I think Isra'el originally wanted to side with the Babylonians, but the 11 canaanite kings were impatient to act, and Babylons armies at the time were mostly aramaic (chaldean) tribes with diverse goals that took time to organize. By the time the Babylonians were ready for the Assyrians, they had already depricated most of the Canaanite armies. Egypt under Necho II was an ally of the vestige of Assyria in Haran. Its unclear why they thought they could restore assyria, given the fact that the medes razed their cities. But Jerusalem had been a vassel state since before Nehemiah, again during Nehemiah. Maybe they thought Egypt was going to try reexert control. But it was the succession of the puppet king Jehoiakim that eventually results in the toppling of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Again the fall of Assyria must have been a world shock, but it was also an opportunity for the remnant peoples of Israel to rebuild their confederations. To some extent this may have happened, but it lacked the same cohesiveness as occurred at the end of the LBAC. I think the primary reason is that both Israelite and Judean kings were "shaving" gods from their pantheons in order to centralize power in their kingdoms. This removed a strong sense of community identity and confidence in group interaction and diplomacy.

[@Exjewatlarge]

Not even 5 minutes into the interview and he betrays a conservative/traditionalist view of the origins of the Pentateuch as preceding King David, in contrast to the overwhelming majority of scholars who situate the writing of Deuteronomy in the time of King Josiah and the final redaction of the Pentateuch during the Babylonian Exile and Persian Period. I’d like to be able to have an open mind towards scholars who happen to be orthodox but I can’t help but question how Prof Berman’s faith commitments might be influencing his conclusions.

[@barblc3202]

Lots of interesting insights by Prof. Berman, thanks. However, I'm afraid I must object to his characterization of the economies of the Arab world since he skips over the entire period of colonialism by the West, from which much of the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are still struggling to emerge. Also, it was Islam that preserved the great works of Greek and Roman culture that were later re-introduced into the West by Muslims, and that played an important role in the revival of Western civilization, which then invented the printing press, etc.

[@giffica]

There is no such thing as colonialism. Prove it happened.

[@lukasmakarios4998]

If the Muslims had not been conquering the world and destroying everyone who resisted, there would have been no need for them to "preserve" the great books of other peoples. Those works would not have been in danger of being lost in the first place. After the disaster of the library in Alexandria, we saw how foolish it was to have only single copies of important books and keep them all in one place. Copying books became a widespread profession, as well as teaching literacy. Muslims, by contrast, would loot libraries, and then burn everything they didn't "save" from destruction. Don't believe everything you read in Edward Said's Orientalism. His idea of "antisemitism" is rather self-serving.

[@josem.deteresa2282]

I entirely agree that the omission of colonialism is more than a bit tendentious, especially coming from the mouth of a zionist under present circumstances. I would ask Mr. Berman if the GNP (however you estimate it) of the XVIIth Century muslim Ottoman Empire would inspire him to moderate his chauvinism. I would add that Islam didn't just "preserve the great works of Greek and Roman culture", but they developed and built further on them. Beyond that, let's not forget that the great works that we attribute to Homer were widely shared by the Greeks long time before any one of the Biblical texts were written down.

[@jaialaiwarrior]

It's always hilarious to hear anti -westerners complaining about how horrible colonialism of the middle east was (in some areas lasting for no longer than 30 years) as if the centuries of caliphate (Arab -Islamic theocratic imperialism which still inspires such "forward-thinking" groups as ISIS and al Qaeda) preceding it was an unmitigated boon to human flourishing.

[@josemoody1743]

@jose Dude did you know that it was the Syrian Church that translated say Aristotle from the Greek to Aramaic to Arabic You might want to Google it

[@Yoo-yooYeshua]

What are the drugs you guys enjoy?

[@josemoody1743]

Well I guess not the same you are used to Ayahuasca 😅

[@Yoo-yooYeshua]

Is this peace between RUSSIA ❤ AMERICANS?

[@NuisanceMan]

This is more like religious propaganda than real history, I'm afraid.

[@bill9989]

The majority of the Bible is propaganda. Kudos to this channel, Kadem, because it isn't afraid to host various, thought provoking sides. Included are several interviews with Professor Israel Finklestein. Another channel also features in depth interviews with him. I recommend everyone read his book "The Bible Unearthed" (coauthored by Neil Asher Silberman). In their book, the authors argue (very persuavively) that the Hebrew Bible was written much later than originally thought, and that many of the stories are an accumulation of legends and memories from the larger Levant, that were claimed and co-opted by the biblical authors for reasons we can only speculate. It includes retellings of historical events (or legends) with explanations of negative events (Saul's defeat: he consorted with non Hebrew women) and positive outcomes (because of obedience to the Hebrew God). God punishes and God rewards; ("you don't want to feel God's wrath, do you?). The exalted origin myth of the Hebrews is the matched in the opposite by the origin myths they decided to write about the neighboring, rival tribes, e.g. the cursed progeny of the incestuous union of Lot and his daughters. The authors wryly observe how the Hebrews must have viewed their neighbors living across the Dead Sea. Now, I'm no biblical scholar; far from it. My analysis and understandings may be way off. So again, I can't recommend this book enough. Read it and draw your own conclusions.

[@EylonU]

Well, yes. There's a little bit of the late antiquity style of religious apologetics in this talk. We could have done without it. But it still gives a very interesting view of the bible in the broader context of the Ancient Near East., and it's not a history lesson per se, but a modern analysis of an ancient text, aimed to understand it by later or modern terms such as democracy or equality.

[@bill9989]

Imagine a Jew saying the Jews actually created or were the first for (insert your topic of choice). When you understand that the foundation (singular) of Judiasm has nothing to do with God and everything to do with tribal narcissism, then this should come as no surprise.

[@bill9989]

Everyone should read Professor Finklestein's "The Bible Unearthed." Extremely enlightening about the origins, and the timeline of the Jewish bible.

[@KEDEMChannel]

Judaism has nothing to do with tribal narcissism either, but indeed the whole "we were the first to..." thing is more of a theological trash talk that often get people more engaged. Prof. Berman's analysis deals actually with much deeper issues.

[@bill9989]

@KEDEMChannel Well, it's not a matter of fact; it's a matter of opinion. I'm agnostic, so I can't even say that there is a God. However, if there is, then the Jews probably got the monotheism correct. But the "God's Chosen People" thing is the original sin of the Hebrews and is probably at the core of their historic travails. If God is a vengeful God as the Hebrews wrote, then He just might be punishing the Jews for their vanity and audacity to claim that God chose them (or any other people).

[@jaialaiwarrior]

​@bill9989 thank you for revealing the antisemitic basis of your objection more clearly in this response. Although it's hard to expect much to penetrate one of the world's oldest hatreds, I will point out that very few intelligent people see Judaism or ancient Jewish history as an unmitigated glorification of the people at the center of it. Rather, it is essentially an ongoing narrative regarding a covenantal relationship with the divine. Insofar as that relationship serves to symbolize human relationships in general, I'd say it does a good job, given the centrality of contracts (another word for "covenant") to any form of civilization rooted in law and personal choice. Notably, the Jews didn't go out of their way to presume other such contracts couldn't exist, either. But what do I know? I merely conclude that this obvious theme in their books might be one of the reasons two hugely popular later prophets sought to appropriate their works and ideas while feeling a need to declare a supremacy over THEM, but never really achieving as much once the hatred borne of that supremacy got too violent, as it often predictably did. And still does. You're welcome. And I say that out of a combination of pity and hope for your cultural redemption, not narcissism. 😉

[@bill9989]

@jaialaiwarrior You're disparaging comment about "two later prophets" reveals you are anti Christian and Islamophobic. See how easy that is? Let's make a deal; don't call me an antisemite and I won't call you anti Gentile.