Abstract
The importance and observance of the Sabbath within the Judean exilic communities has often been the subject of debate. Recent studies have argued that the exiles in Elephantine, Egypt, observed the Sabbath but the exilic Judean communities in Babylonia did not. New evidence – in the form of names derived from “Sabbath” among the exiles during the Achaemenid period – seems to reflect a shift in the importance of the Sabbath within Judean identity. In this article we review the occurrences of the name Shabbataya (Šabbatāya) in extrabiblical material and explore possible parallel phenomena in Elephantine and biblical texts, ultimately drawing a picture of an Achaemenid-era evolution in the attribution of significance to the Sabbath. This transformation is evident in Ezra-Nehemiah and corroborated by new evidence; extrabiblical and biblical sources demonstrate that names relating to the Sabbath began to appear at the time.
1 Introduction
The importance and observance of the Sabbath within the Judean exilic communities has often been the subject of debate. Recent studies have argued that the exiles in Elephantine Egypt observed the Sabbath while the exilic Judean communities in Babylonia did not.1 Indeed, economic documents demonstrate that at least some Judeans engaged with business as usual on the Sabbath in Achaemenid-era Babylonia.
The call for the reforms described in Ezra-Nehemiah, with its reference to Sabbath observance, reflects a changing approach to the Sabbath within Jerusalem’s Judean community. Moreover, new evidence – in the form of names derived from “Sabbath” among the exiles during the Achaemenid period – seems to reflect a shift in the importance of the Sabbath within Judean identity. Below, we review the occurrences of the name Shabbataya in archival material and explore possible parallel phenomena in Elephantine and biblical texts, ultimately drawing a picture of an Achaemenid-era evolution in the attribution of significance to the Sabbath.
2 Sabbath Observance in the Early Second Temple Period
In order to explore whether the Sabbath’s status evolved in the post-exilic community that was founded and functioned under Persian imperial control, biblical and extrabiblical references must be examined; the Babylonian cultural-spiritual milieu, with its possible impact on the exiles, must be taken into account as well.
2.1 The Sabbath in Extrabiblical Sources
In a recent article, Bloch argues that the Judeans of Elephantine maintained a distinct communal identity by refraining from concluding transactions on the Sabbath, reflecting their unique cultural practices. Six ostraca from Elephantine contain noticeable references to the Sabbath (šbh, definite šbtʾ), but only four are preserved well enough to discern whether specific activities were undertaken or anticipated on the Sabbath (TAD D7.10:5; D7.12:9; D7.28:4; D7.35:7).2 Of the four, two are instances in which Judeans are documented performing labor on the Sabbath:
1. D7.16:1–43
שלם יסלח כענת הא בקלא אושר מחר ערקי אלפא מחר בשבה למה הן יאבד חיליהה הן לא נפשכ [י ]אלקח
Greetings Yislah. Now, behold, legumes I shall dispatch tomorrow. Meet the boat tomorrow on Sabbath, Lest, if they get lost, by the life of YHH, if not (surely) yo[ur] life I shall take.4
2. D7.48:55
הושרי לי זעיר לחמא יומא זנה וכענת היתיו לי בש ◦תא
Dispatch to me a little bread this day. And now, bring (OR: they brought) to me on the Sabbath.
In this second instance, an action occurs on a Sabbath that involves a man either being brought or requesting that he be brought a little bread.
Both cases take place under severe duress: in one, a man would have nothing to eat if someone else did not bring him food on the Sabbath; in the other, a woman is told she must work on the Sabbath or be killed – indicating that she would not otherwise work on that day.6
Additionally, out of twenty-two papyri from Elephantine dated using the Babylonian calendar, not a single one corresponds with the Sabbath.7 Four papyri pertaining to Judeans contain Egyptian date formulas which correspond to a Julian calendar Saturday. However, three of those papyri also contain Babylonian date formulas which reveal that they were written after nightfall and not on the Sabbath.8 Bloch notes that Babylonia’s Judeans did not exhibit similar scruples to Elephantine’s, leaving the extent to which they perceived the Sabbath as a marker of their communal identity unclear.9
Did life in Babylonia, chiefly under the Reign of Artaxerxes I (465–424 BCE), contribute to transformative shifts relating to the Sabbath in the exiled community’s worldview?10 Many of the empire’s provinces shared a similar cultural milieu with the Judea–Mesopotamia axis as part of the wider Levant, creating a medium for the circulation of various types of contact between cultures. But while the names of the months adopted by the exiles in Babylonia (Nisan, Iyar Sivan, Tammuz, etc.) along with an intercalculary Adar seven times every nineteen years are Babylonian in origin, the biblical Sabbath has no Babylonian equivalent.11 Efforts have been made to draw parallels between the Babylonian šapattu/šabattu and the Hebrew šbt, or “Sabbath,” yet establishing a common etymology between these terms remains elusive.12 The Akkadian word šapattu refers almost exclusively to the fifteenth day of the month or the phenomenon of lunar alignment, i.e., both conjunction and opposition of the moon to the sun.13 It seems that the Sabbath, along with its customs and observances, is uniquely Judean in origin and developed independently of Babylonian cultic and calendrical practices.
2.2 The Sabbath in Biblical Documents
The state of affairs with respect to Second Temple-era Sabbath observance can also be gleaned from descriptions of the Temple’s construction and renewed Jerusalemite cultic life in Nehemiah. The book’s final chapters indicate that Sabbath observance underwent a period of debate and definition during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The modifications enacted by Ezra and Nehemiah do not mean that the Sabbath was suddenly observed; rather, they constitute responses to an ongoing discourse on how to mark the Sabbath.14
Nehemiah 9:12–21, divided into three units, delineates Israel’s journey in the desert. The first unit portrays the commencement of the journey towards the Promised Land, culminating in the giving of the Pentateuch. At the heart of this narrative are the Sabbath commandments (Neh 9:14), shaping the Israelites’ behavior.15 The verses in Neh 13:4–31 describe six key issues addressed by Nehemiah upon his return to Judah.16 These include a dispute with Eliashib, the high priest, leading to the purification of the chamber (13:4–9); organizing the gifts of the Levites and singers and appointing a committee to oversee it (13:10–14); addressing labor and trade on the Sabbath and implementing the closure of Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath (13:15–24); addressing marriages with foreign women (13:23–28);17 organizing the priestly and Levitical guards (13:29–30); and overseeing the offerings of trees and first-fruits (13:31). Thus, in his second term, Nehemiah grapples with social and religious challenges; within his treatment of the neglect of religious obligations, the observance or non-observance of the Sabbath maintains a central place.
Despite these efforts, Sabbath observance remained lax among the people (Neh 13:15–22). Nehemiah, in his enactments to ensure Sabbath adherence, explicitly connects the desecration of the Sabbath to the Temple’s destruction (Neh 13:17–18), underscoring the significant role the Sabbath held in his era and its association with the renewed construction of the Second Temple.18
The struggle for Sabbath observance, as well as the Sabbath’s desecration, are vividly described, with three issues raised: agricultural activities involving grape pressing, carrying loads, and engaging in trade (Neh 13:15–16). Notably, these three actions share the characteristic of not being explicitly mentioned in the laws of the Pentateuch. While grape pressing is a form of agricultural activity, it is not specifically outlined in the Pentateuch. Furthermore, although it is possible to interpret the insistence of Exod 16 that manna must be gathered the day before the Sabbath as pertaining to the issue of carrying loads, the acts of carrying goods and trading are entirely absent from the Pentateuch’s regulations.
Nehemiah 13’s discussion of Sabbath observance focuses predominantly on the prohibition of commerce, particularly related to food, on the Sabbath and holidays. The text notes earlier: “The peoples of the land who bring their wares and any grain on the Sabbath day for sale, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath and a holy day” (Neh 10:32).19 Harrington asserts that “the Sabbath becomes a stronger distinctive between Jews and gentiles living in close quarters in the postexilic period.”20 Regardless of whether this was the case, the text specifies that the “peoples of the land” – the non-Judeans – engaged in trading items to sell in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. This practice seems to have been accepted by some people of Judah, who depended on the gentiles and refrained from their regular work on the Sabbath. Nehemiah actively opposes this commercial activity, particularly in his struggle against the Judeans trading with Tyrians on the Sabbath (13:16); buying is considered a form of commerce, and, even when conducted by strangers, it is prohibited on the Sabbath according to the observance emphasized by Nehemiah (13:17–18). In his address, Nehemiah also appeals to merchants, urging them to participate in preventing the ongoing desecration of the Sabbath in the city (13:21). Finally, Nehemiah’s efforts to enforce Sabbath observance in Jerusalem involve appointing Levites to serve as permanent guards at the city gates (13:22). By appointing Levites, Nehemiah deliberately shifts from the political realm to the religious domain, emphasizing the significance of maintaining Sabbath sanctity.
3 Shabbataya: New Indirect Evidence from Exilic Communities
Names often disclose the religious or cultural practices of parents, who may commemorate the birth of a child coinciding with an important cultural event. If the name Shabbataya means “born on the Sabbath,”21 it suggests that the Judeans recognized a specific day of the week as Sabbath. Alternatively, the name may mark a broader significance associated with Sabbath, not necessarily tied to the individual’s birthdate. Regardless, there seems to be meaning behind the name’s circulation – and lack of circulation – in different periods.
3.1 Names Tied to the Sabbath in Extrabiblical Sources
The name Shabbataya is absent in Assyrian- and Babylonian-period sources. Out of 101 Hebrew names identified by Ran Zadok in Assyrian sources (732–602 BCE), the name Shabbataya never appears.22 In the so called “Āl-Yāḫūdu”23 corpus, the name Shabbataya does not appear in any cuneiform tablets that date to the neo-Babylonian time period. In the Achaemenid period (from 539 BCE), somewhat surprisingly, the name appears in fifteen cuneiform tablets with at least six different patronyms, in three locations: Āl-Yāḫūdu, Nippur, and Susa.24
The unexpected emergence of the name Shabbataya during the Achaemenid period indicates a development among Judeans with Babylonian names: they begin to designate their children using the name Sabbath. This pattern, we suggest, likely reflects a cultural shift in the mid-fifth century BCE.
In the fifteen cuneiform tablets, the name Shabbataya refers to at least six different individuals; six distinct patronyms are given.25 Evidence of this name spans from 506 to 419 BCE, mainly appearing in the 420s26 in Āl-Yāḫūdu, Nippur, and Susa. The following table summarizes the various family relationships, dates, and locations where the cuneiform tablets were written, as well as the name’s various orthographies.
Table 1
Shabbataya in cuneiform tablets
|
Family relationship |
Years (BCE) |
Location |
Source |
Orthography |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
son of Banā-Yawa |
509 |
Āl-Yāḫūdu |
CUSAS 28, 42:5, 13 |
Šá-ab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
2 |
son of Bēl-ab-uṣur, brother of Minyamen |
421 |
Nippur |
BE 10, 65:r18 & seal |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
3 |
son of Ḫaggai |
423 420 |
Nippur |
PBS 2/1, 12:r15 BE 10, 85:r16 & seal; |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a Šab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
4 |
son of Ḫillumutu |
420 |
Nippur |
BE 10, 92:6 |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
5 |
son of Nabû-šarru-bulliṭ |
493 |
Susa |
VS 6, 155:r17 |
Šá-ab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
6 |
son of Širkaya brother of Libbluṭ |
423 |
Nippur |
BE 10, 39:2 |
Šá-ba-ta-a-a |
|
7 |
son of [broken] |
423 |
Nippur |
PBS 2/1, 32:r18 |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
8 |
f. of Abī-Yawa |
423 419 |
Nippur |
PBS 2/1, 185:2; PBS 2/1, 218:3 |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a Šab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
9 |
f. of Gadal-Yawa |
425 424 423 |
Nippur |
BE 9, 69:r21; BE 9, 86a:1; BE 10, 7:r17 |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a Šab-bat-a-a Šab-ba-ta-a-a |
|
10 |
f. of Satturu |
429 429 |
Nippur |
BE 9, 45:3; EE 98:r16 |
Šab-ba-ta-a-a Šá-ab-ba-ta-a-a |
BE 9 = Hilprecht and Clay, Business Documents of Murashû; BE 10 = Clay, Business Documents; EE = Stolper, Entrepreneurs and Empire; VS 6 = Ungnad, Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler
Names evoking the Sabbath may also appear in ostraca and papyri from Elephantine and nearby regions during the Achaemenid period. Granerød concludes that “the name Shabbethai that appears in the vicinity of Elephantine should be explained as a Babylonian name, formed on the basis of the word šapattu, the Akkadian name of the day of the full moon.”27 But the name might also be primarily Judean. Support for this position can be seen in the fact that although thousands of Akkadian names are known and documented,28 the name Šabbatāya first appears in the Judean town of Āl-Yāḫūdu. Moreover, the name only appears in areas where there was a large Judean presence (such as Murašû). If the name were related to the Babylonian šapattu, one would expect the form of the name in Akkadian to be Šapattāya, but such a name does not exist. The name is never found amongst traditional Babylonian family names or connected with scribal or cultic families to whom the šapattu would be of importance. Moreover, Shabbataya son of Banā-Yawa and father of Abī-Yawa and Gadal-Yawa can most certainly be considered Judean based on the Yawa element.29 Although Satturu son of Šabbatāya does not bear a distinctly Hebrew name, he is mentioned along with the following individuals who are most certainly Judeans: Yadiʾ-Yawa/Banā-ilū, Ša-pi-kalbi/Aḫi-Yawa, and Pili-Yawa/Šilimmu (EE 98), as well as Yadiʾ-Yawa/ Banâ-il and his three sons Yahu-natan, Šamaḫunu, and Aḫi-Yawa, Igdal-Yawa/Nanaya-iddin (BE 9, 45). Šabbatāya the brother of Minyamen and son of Bēl-ab-uṣur acts as a witness for Yišrib-Yawa/Pill-Yawa. We therefore consider the name Šabbatāya to be a derivative of the Sabbath and a strong indication that an individual is Judean.
The Aramaic name Shabbethai (šbty) is not as straightforward, but the personal name Sheva bar Hoshea (šbh br hwšʿ), written on a wood label, may indicate Judean identity.30 The name Shabbethai was borne by various individuals, including Judeans, such as Shabbethai (son of) Yashib (TAD C3.28:86), Shabbethai (son of) Haggai (C3.28:101),31 Shallum son of Shabbethai (D8.5:3),32 and Shabbethai/Meshullam (D8.9:12).33 However, several individuals who do not appear to be Judean also bear the name Shabbethai. The non-Judean instances of the name Shabbethai are presented by Cohen.34 Cohen concludes that the name Shabbethai was not a Judean one, although it is likely that it was also given to Judeans. Cohen points out that the name Shabbethai appears seven times in an Elephantine list of names that includes foreigners. Even if Cohen is right, and the name Shabbethai was given to foreigners during the Hellenistic period, the Judeans during the Persian period did indeed treat the Sabbath as an element of identity – and as such its use as a name characterized Judeans.
3.2 Names Tied to the Sabbath in Ezra-Nehemiah
The appearance of names evoking the Sabbath in Achaemenid-period sources aligns with contemporaneous biblical sources. Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles are the only books to contain names that derive from the word “Sabbath,” further corroborating the possibility that the Judean community underwent a shift with regard to its attitude vis-à-vis the Sabbath. In Ezra 10:15, four individuals are named: “Indeed Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite assisted.” The first two are identified using their fathers’ names, while Meshullam and Shabbethai are labeled as Levites without further details about their status or role.35 Notably, Shabbethai is mentioned later as a Levitical minister in Neh 8:7 and 11:16.
In Neh 11:15–16, the Levites are represented by three leaders: Shemaiah, Shabbethai, and Jozabad. While Shemaiah’s genealogy spans four generations, Shabbethai and Jozabad are mentioned without specifying their fathers’ names. Interestingly, the corresponding version of Neh 11:15 in 1 Chr 9:14 omits the mention of “Shabbethai and Jozabad.” This parallel may also suggest that the name Shabbethai gained usage in a different period.36
Notably, most Judeans in Mesopotamia with the name Shabbataya, most prevalent in the 420s, likely received their names around 450, assuming an age of about thirty. This timing aligns with Nehemiah’s active period in the mid-fifth century BCE, implying that Nehemiah’s accounts regarding the Sabbath may have played a significant role in the renewed status attributed to the Sabbath in the diaspora. A parallel phenomenon emerges as we observe the utilization of the name Shabbethai. Its occurrence in contemporaneous cuneiform texts, papyri, and biblical sources such as Neh 11:15–16 suggests a simultaneous emergence of the name during this historical period. This convergence across different sources further underscores the interconnectedness of linguistic and cultural trends during the specified timeframe.
4 Conclusion
The mid-fifth century BCE saw a noticeable shift with regard to the importance the Judean communities attributed to the Sabbath. This transformation is evident in Ezra-Nehemiah and corroborated by new evidence; archival sources and biblical ones demonstrate that names relating to the Sabbath began to appear. With archival sources suggesting that Sabbath was a part of life for the Judeans, and contemporaneous biblical sources telling the tale of a directive to return to Sabbath observance, the Judean names invoking the Sabbath appear to indicate a rise in the importance attributed to the Sabbath at the time.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Shalom Holtz, Wayne Horowitz, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.
Bloch, “Judean Identity”; Tammuz, “The Sabbath.”
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents (TAD), 4:163, 164, 177, 180.
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents, 4:168–69.
Bloch, Judean Identity, 57, concludes that “the very fact that the sender had to threaten Islaḥ with death should she fail to unload a cargo of legumes from a boat suggests that under regular circumstances Islaḥ would be less than willing to perform that activity on a Sabbath.” Becking (Identity in Persian Egypt, 125), however, contends that “the language does not hint at a case of emergency. The language of apology for trespassing the Sabbath is absent. On the other hand, however, to conclude that this ostracon reflects standard procedures in Elephantine is premature. What can be adduced is the fact that at least a few Judeans had no moral or religious problems with trade on a Sabbath.” This assumes that the sender of the letter who ordered Yislah/Islaḥ to work on the Sabbath is also a Judean, but his identity is unknown.
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents, 4:187.
See Porten, Archives from Elephantine, 122–32; Bloch, “Judean Identity during the Exile,” 56.
For a list of all Babylonian dates in the Elephantine papyri and their Julian weekday equivalents, see Tammuz, “The Sabbath,” 291.
Bloch, “Judean Identity,” 65.
Bloch identifies three cuneiform tablets in which Judeans are documented performing labor or monetary transactions in the city of Āl-Yāḫūdu, seven instances in Bīt-Našar, and three instances in Achaemenid Nippur. See Bloch, “Judean Identity,” and “Was the Sabbath Observed.” For more on the debate about whether or not Judeans engaged in economic activities on holidays and Sabbath, see Zadok, Jews in Babylonia, 82.
See one example in Albertz, Israel in Exile, 108. Albertz suggests that the exilic community combined the Temple festival and the day of rest: “Before the exile, the Sabbath had probably been a full moon festival, celebrated at the temple alongside the new moon festival…. The theological reforms of the exilic community probably combined these two institutions by detaching the Sabbath from the temple and the lunar cycle and combining it with the weekly day of rest. The temple festival became the Sabbath day…. Thus the golah gained a regular act of worship that could be observed by families without the temple and far from their homeland.” For another possibility, see Albani, “Israels Feste im Herbst.” Albani suggests that this shift was part of the changing fabric of the biblical calendar during the exilic period, including the system of names for the months and the move of the new year to the spring. Bloch challenges the idea that the practice of “Sabbath rest” was introduced during the exilic period and refutes the claim that the Sabbath was initially a full moon festival, pointing to various studies which emphasize its consistent association with the final day of a seven-day cycle in the Decalogues of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Additionally, biblical literature depicts the Sabbath as a distinct observance separate from new moon festivals. See Bloch, “Judean Identity,” 43–44. See Alstola, Judeans in Babylonia, 266–67 on Sabbath observance.
For exhaustive studies comparing the histories of the various Jewish, Babylonian, and Ancient Near Eastern calendrical systems, see Cohen, Cultic Calendars; Ben-Dov, Head of All Years; Ben-Dov, Horowitz; and Steele, Living the Lunar Calendar.
For a brief survey of the literature regarding the Babylonian word šapattum, see Geller, “Šapattu.”
Vanstiphout, “Enūma eliš.”
Bickerman proposes that the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah, dispatched by the Achaemenid authorities in 458 and 445 BCE, respectively, reflected the zealous adherence to Yahwistic principles within the Judean community in Babylonia. If so, it is possible that this was expressed in the near complete absence of names with Babylonian divine associations among offspring born into the Judean community in Babylonia during this period, offering valuable insights into the evolving naming conventions and social history of Judeans in Babylonia in the early fifth century BCE. See Bickerman, “Generation of Ezra and Nehemia,” 24–25.
Harrington highlights the significance of the combination “holy Sabbath,” mentioned only twice in scripture – here and in Exodus 16:23. He concludes that the passage in Exodus serves as a backdrop to this verse, suggesting that observing the Sabbath constitutes the believer’s affirmation that God will provide his or her needs. See Harrington, Ezra and Nehemiah, 390.
The conclusions presented here align with those of researchers who assert that the events described in chapter 13 took place in the mid-fifth century BCE. See Fensham, Ezra and Nehemiah, 260; Japhet, Ezra-Nehemiah, 9–10; Harrington, Ezra and Nehemiah, 11–15.
For a study on mixed Judean-Babylonian marriages in cuneiform sources, see Abraham, “West Semitic and Judean Brides.”
This is in line with Isaiah 58:13–14, which connects marking the Sabbath with God’s sanctity: “If you call the Sabbath ‘delight’ … and if you mark it and go not your ways … then you can seek God’s favor.”
The inception of Sabbath observance predates the Persian period. See Tammuz, “The Sabbath,” 294. Tammuz argues, based on his observation, that none of the Elephantine texts concerning Jews were composed on the Sabbath; he further observes from the legal and business contracts in the Āl-Yāḫūdu texts that it is almost certain that the Sabbath was observed both in Elephantine and in Āl-Yāḫūdu. This is in contrast to Bīt Nasar, a town close to Āl-Yāḫūdu, where he concludes that the Sabbath was just another business day for the resident Judeans. See, however, Yigal Bloch’s reply (Bloch, “Was the Sabbath Observed”). This is supported by additional evidence, as previously indicated in the context of Mesad Hashavyahu (for a comprehensive examination, refer to n. 2 in Tammuz’s article). Furthermore, extrabiblical sources from the later Second Temple period, such as the books of Maccabees and Jubilees and writings of Philo and Josephus, offer further insights into the significance of Sabbath observance during that era.
Harrington, Ezra and Nehemiah, 464.
Zadok, Anthroponymy and Prosopography, 113.
See Zadok, “Israelites and Judaeans.”
The Āl-Yāḫūdu tablets are a collection of just over two hundred Akkadian cuneiform tablets which were written between 572 and 477 BCE and pertain primarily to an exilic Judean community in the Babylonian (and subsequent Achaemenid) empire. One of the many Babylonian cities where these texts where written was a city called Āl-Yāḫūdu (city of Judah/Judahtown) or simply Yahud. Scholars debate what the corpus should be called, how many archives comprise it, and how many tablets are contained in the corpus, but such a discussion is far beyond the scope of this paper.
The name Shabbataya appears only once in the Āl-Yāḫūdu corpus – “Shabbataya son of Banā-Yawa” – in a text dated 509 BCE, which is thirty years into the Achaemenid period. See Pearce and Wunsch, Documents, no. 42.
While Shabbataya son of Banā-Yawa must be a different individual than Shabbataya son of Ḫaggai, for example, we cannot know if Shabbataya father of Abī-Yawa is the same or different individual as Shabbataya father of Gadal-Yawa.
Note that the presence of Shabbataya in a list dated 422 BCE, assigned to a man aged between eighteen and forty, suggests that the name held significance to his parents around 450 BCE. Bickerman, in his study of Judean names in fifth-century Nippur, concludes that the discernible prevalence of Yahwistic or distinctly Hebrew names among the succeeding generation (contrasted with the preceding generation), alongside the virtual absence of names evoking Babylonian deities within the subsequent generation, indicates a resurgence in an exclusive commitment to Yahweh, adherence to biblical laws, and the Judean religious practices among the Judean populace residing in Babylonia during the period of the 470s–450s BCE. See Bickerman, “Generation of Ezra and Nehemia,” 22–24.
See Granerød, Dimensions of Yahwism, 201.
See, for example, the various volumes in the series edited by Radner and Baker, Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire; Waerzeggers and Gross, Personal Names in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonia (c. 750–100 BCE).
We follow Ran Zadok that “People bearing names with the theophoric element Yhw in Babylonia are definitely Judean, seeing that no other ethnic group in pre-Hellenistic Mesopotamia worshiped Yhw.” See Zadok, “Judeans in Babylonia,” 111.
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents, 4:250.
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents, 3:266–67.
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents, 4:198.
Porten and Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents, 4:202–203.
Cohen, “Shabtai.”
It appears that the title the Levite (“Halevi”) applies to the two last names on the list.
For scholarly divisions regarding the relationship, including the chronological connection between Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles, see: Harrington, Ezra and Nehemiah, 15–17.
Bibliography
Abraham, Kathleen. “West Semitic and Judean Brides in Cuneiform Sources from the Sixth Century BCE: New Evidence from a Marriage Contract from Āl-Yaḫudu.” AfO 51 (2005/2006): 198–219.
Albani, Matthias. “Israels Feste im Herbst und das Problem der Kalenderwechsels in der Exilszeit.” Pages 111–56 in Festtraditionen in Israel und im Alten Orient. Edited by Erhard Blum and Rüdiger Lux. Veröffenlichungen der Wissenschaflichen Gesselschaft für Theologie 28. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2006.
Albertz, Rainer. Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century BCE. StBL 3. Atlanta: SBL, 2003.
Alstola, Tero. Judeans in Babylonia: A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE. CHANE 109. Leiden: Brill, 2019.
Baker, Heather, ed. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 3/ II: Š–Z. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2011.
Becking, Bob. Identity in Persian Egypt: The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2020.
Ben-Dov, Jonathan. Head of All Years: Astronomy and Calendars at Qumran in their Ancient Context. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
Ben-Dov, Jonathan, Wayne Horowitz, and John Steele. Living the Lunar Calendar. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2012.
Bickerman, Elias. “The Generation of Ezra and Nehemia.” TSAAJR 45 (1978): 1–28.
Bloch, Yigal. “Judean Identity during the Exile: Concluding Deals on a Sabbath in Babylonia and Egypt under the Neo-Babylonian and the Achaemenid Empires.” Pages 43–69 in A Question of Identity: Social, Political, and Historical Aspects of Identity Dynamics in Jewish and Other Contexts. Edited by Dikla Rivlin-Katz et al. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020.
Bloch, Yigal. “Was the Sabbath Observed in Āl-Yāḫūdu in the Early Decades of the Babylonian Exile?” ZAW 132 (2020): 117–20.
Clay, Albert. Business Documents of Murashû sons of Nippur: Dated in the Reign of Darius II (424–404). Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania 10. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1904.
Cohen, Mark. Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 1993.
Cohen, Naomi G. “The Name ‘Shabtai’ in the Hellenistic-Roman Period.” Pages 11–29 in These Are the Names. Vol. 2. Edited by Aaron Demsky. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan Press, 1999 [Hebrew].
Fensham, F. Charles. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. NICOT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982.
Geller, Mark. “Šapattu.” Pages 25–27 in RLA 12. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009.
Granerød, Gard. Dimensions of Yahwism in the Persian Period: Studies in the Religion and Society of the Judaean Community at Elephantine. BZAW 488. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.
Harrington, Hannah K. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. NICOT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2022.
Hilprecht, Hermann and Albert Clay. Business Documents of Murashû Sons of Nippur: Dated in the Reign of Artaxerxes I (464–424). Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania 9. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1898.
Japhet, Sara. Ezra-Nehemiah, Perush Madaʾi la-Mikra. Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2019 [Hebrew].
Pearce, Laurie and Cornelia Wunsch. Documents of Judean Exiles and West Semites in Babylonia in the Collection of David Sofer. CUSAS 28. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2014.
Porten, Bezalel. Archives from Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.
Porten, Bezalel and Ada Yardeni. Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. 4 vols. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1986–1999.
Radner, Karen, ed. Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 1/ I: A. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1998.
Radner, Karen, ed. Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 1/ II: B–G. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1999.
Stolper, Matthew. Entrepreneurs and Empire: The Murašu Archive, the Murašu Firm, and Persian Rule in Babylonia. PIHANS 54. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1985.
Tammuz, Oded. “The Sabbath as the Seventh Day of the Week and a Day of Rest: Since When?” ZAW 131 (2019): 287–94.
Ungnad, Arthur. Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler der Königlichen Museen zu Berlin. Vol. 6. Leipzig: Hinrichs Buchhandlung, 1908.
Vanstiphout, Herman. “Enūma eliš: Tablet V lines 15–22.” JCS 33 (1981): 196–98.
Waerzeggers, Caroline and Melanie Gross, eds. Personal Names in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonia (c. 750–100BCE): An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Wunsch, Cornelia. Judaeans by the Waters of Babylon: New Historical Evidence in Cuneiform Sources from Rural Babylonia Primarily from the Schøyen Collection. Babylonische Archive 6. Dresden: ISLET, 2022.
Zadok, Ran. “Israelites and Judaeans in the Neo-Assyrian Documentation (732–602B.C.E.): An Overview of the Sources and a Socio-Historical Assessment.” BASOR 374 (2015): 159–89.
Zadok, Ran. The Jews in Babylonia during the Chaldean and Achaemenian Periods According to the Babylonian Sources. Haifa: University of Haifa, 1979.
Zadok, Ran. “Judeans in Babylonia – Updating the Dossier.” In Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations Between Jews, Iranians and Babylonians in Antiquity. Edited by Uri Gabbay and Shai Secunda. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.
Zadok, Ran. The Pre-Hellenistic Israelite Anthroponymy and Prosopography. OLA 28. Leuven: Department Oriëntalistiek, 1988.