From Vol. 1, Issue No. 5 - Sovereignty
By: R. Isaac Ludmir
There is no more enduring, intriguing and versatile appellation of God in Israelite literature than that of God as king. This very imagery was used both in rejecting kingship during the period of the Judges1 as well as justifying the monarchy. A common theme throughout both the monarchic and republican narratives is that rulers are not legitimated by their own power, but by submitting to the King of Kings - God Almighty.
We see the motif of God’s regality throughout the Torah itself. The Ark is understood to be the metaphorical Throne of God, whose Divine Presence rests on the Cherubim. Unlike non-Jewish kings whose rule is enforced by strength alone, Jewish kings must submit to God as a prerequisite for legitimacy. The throne of David is often called “The Throne of God”, reminding the erstwhile monarch that it is God who truly rules.
During Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew year, all three of the major holidays emphasize crowning God as King over the world. The Torah itself does not describe Rosh Hashanah as anything other than a holiday on which to blow the Shofar.2
Rather, many scholars speculate that the practices of the holiday directly parallel the ancient Akitu festival of Babylonia.3 During the Akitu festival, the chief god of the Babylonians - Bel/Marduk, would be recrowned as king over the Mesopotamians and sit in judgement over the world. As he would sit in judgement, the people would beseech his forgiveness and purify themselves. It was during the era of the Judges, Akitu was reinterpreted through a monotheistic lens. On Rosh Hashanah, God is crowned King and is judged with the rest of the world. Proceeding to Yom Kippur, it repents for its sins and is purified and finally on Sukkot, God accepts our purification and judges us favorably.4
In the Ancient Near East, it was a matter of fact that gods dwell, like kings, in concrete, inaccessible, lavish dwellings. Such premises were represented and accessible through the Temples, which, mystically, were collocated and/or mystically identical to these mythic premises. Thus, all the “Houses of Baal” were one and the same as Baal’s mythic residence on Mt. Saphon. Only expert priests could approach the icon of the god dwelling in the inner sanctuary, serve it, and beseech it.5
Israel, if anything, was the outlier: The God of the Bible is a revealed one. One who accompanies His people, both collectively and individually, in their daily life, that is, if the Israelites keep His Law. If they do not, then they understood that certain acts can drive God to withdraw and “conceal His face” from them.6 In the same way other Ancient Near Eastern peoples did. In effect, God allowed Himself to be made, instead of a hidden king, a co-citizen in the Israelite community.
But such a renunciation of God’s royal status and nature carries with it a paradox: If God gives up the royal quality of concealment, Man might be tempted to treat Him with casual disdain. In effect, He runs the risk of emptying from Man’s life the feeling of the sacred and awesome, the special trembling in the Presence. For that reason, He makes it clear that not only would defilement cause Him to withdraw, but, in effect, once a year the people are made to experience that withdrawal. God is enthroned, that is, He conceals Himself in His sanctuary and reveals that the indulgent Father is, in fact still the mighty and dreadful Lord of Israel.
Sound, just like taste, smell, and sight in the Ancient Near East was both cultic and political. It was the evocative, piercing, and sudden sound of the ram’s horn – the sound which silences all others – which was associated with the god (and the king) being revealed. In ancient Israel in particular, the shofar signified both a practical alarm for war and a ritual summoning of God to the “ranks of Israel”.7
This is not due to God being particularly warlike – in fact El/Y-H-W-H is consistently presented both by Scripture and the mythic language of the Temple ritual as a peaceful king. Rather, because war by necessity, is the ultimate test of two societies pitting all they – and their gods – have to offer against each other. A society who loses a war to another, in the logic of the Ancients (including the Israelites) must have had gods which are weaker than the victors or that have been abandoned by their gods due to some great impiety. Thus, war was the ultimate test of Divine revelation and presence – or of concealment and abandonment. This is the reason for the ancient Israelite practice of taking the Ark to war and accompanying it with the sound of shofar.8
The sound of the Shofar on Rosh HaShanah should be understood as a mark, or a summoning, for God to end His concealment and restore the normal relationship with His people. It is therefore quite telling that Yom Kippur was conducted in almost pure silence. God had deigned to end His concealment, and therefore, His people and the Earthly home He shares with them (the Land) must be purified in preparation of His coming.
Only once the purification ends and the sins of Israel are sent out of the camp, can the High Priest enter the Sanctuary and invite God to quit His concealment and partake in the Hag (Sukkot) – the Festival, “the time of your joy” – whose high point is the Assembly (Atzeret/Haqhel) in which they reenact the historic “Assembly” at Sinai. Man joyfully reaccepts God’s Kingship by inviting him to rule over him.
He is made a willing recipient of God’s word. He hears, and he obeys. The rebellious vassal-son have been subdued and restored to the King’s service and grace, and they now can walk and feast together lovingly, quietly, and joyously.
Cf. Judges 8:23; 1 Samuel 18:12.
Vayikra 23:24-25.
Uri Gabbay, Babylonian Rosh Hashanah, (TheTorah.com) https://www.thetorah.com/article/babylonian-rosh-hashanah-battle-creation-enthronement-and-justice
This is not to say this is the reason why we celebrate each of these holidays. All three were divinely commanded in the Torah. Rather, the association with Akitu during the era of the Judges added an extra layer of significance.
Mark S. Smith & Wayne T. Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Vol. II ,(Boston: Brill, 2009), pp. 65-66.
Deut 23:14.
Wayne Horowitz, The Shofar and the Ancient Near East (Bible Lands Review, 2012)
1 Samuel 4:3-7:4