Emotional responses to the laying of the foundations of the Temple The section on the foundations of the House of God can be found in 1 Esd 5:56–

2.3 Emotions in 1 Esdras

2.3.1 Emotional responses to the initial celebration of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

Since the initial celebration of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread mentioned at the beginning of the book of 1 Esdras is a parallel to, or even a duplicate of, the celebration of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread that occurs after the dedication of the Temple in Ezra-Nehemiah, it is necessary to verify the emotions mentioned in connection with it. But the truth is that there are no expressions of emotions noted at the initial celebration of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread (1 Esd 1:17 Ra // 1:19 NRSV), aside from the theological note regarding King Josiah and his deeds: “The deeds of Josiah were upright in the sight of the Lord, for his heart was full of godliness”: καὶ ὠρθώθη τὰ ἔργα Ιωσιου ἐνώπιον τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ ἐν καρδίᾳ πλήρει εὐσεβείας (1 Esd 1:21 Ra // 1:23 NRSV). Josiah is thus full of godliness!

2.3.2 Emotional responses to the erection of the altar

When some of the heads of the families arrive in Jerusalem they vow that they will erect the house on its site, literally, they pray to erect the house: εὔξαντο ἐγεῖραι τὸν οἶκον (1 Esd 5:43 Ra). As in the book of Ezra, they indeed start with the erection of the altar in 1 Esd 5:47 Ra // 5:48 NRSV: ἡτοίμασαν τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ Ισραηλ. In contrast to the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, that is, its MT form, there is no emotional response recorded in connection with the erection of the altar and the establishment of the continual offerings and the celebration of festivals.

2.3.3 Emotional responses to the laying of the foundations of the Temple The section on the foundations of the House of God can be found in 1 Esd 5:56–

65. As already stated, there are also references to the building of the house in this section. As the building project is already said to be under way, it may be assumed that the emotions recorded in 1 Esd 5:62–65 are at least narrato-logically associated with the laying of the foundations. The response is double, as in its source text, Ezra 4:11–13: there are those who are joyful and those who are weeping. The emotions of the first group are recorded in 1 Esdras as follows.

There are those who “sounded trumpets and shouted with a great shout” and there are those who are coming “with outcries and loud weeping.” Again, as in the source text, there is mention of the joyous group: “while many came with trumpets and a joyful noise.”

I note two changes, in my opinion interpretations, vis-à-vis the emotions mentioned in the book of Ezra-Nehemiah: trumpets have become more promi-nent, and the concept of joy has been more narrowly associated with the build-ing of the Temple and maybe made less important.

With regard to the trumpets: whereas in Ezra, the emotional responses as recorded in Ezra 3:11–13 are different sounds of human noise, that is of joy and weeping, in 1 Esd 5:59 Ra // 5:62 NRSV, the noise produced by the joyous people is supported by the sounding of trumpets: καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἐσάλπισαν, all the people sounded trumpets. Now, there were trumpets mentioned in Ezra 3:10;

indeed, there the priests were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets. The Hebrew, however, is not straightforward:

תוֹר ְצֹצ ֲח ַבּ םי ִשׁ ָבּ ֻל ְמ םי ִנ ֲהֹכּ ַה וּדי ִמ ֲע ַיּ ַו

^.

“They¹⁰ made to set up the priests, in their vestments, with trumpets.” Trumpets are mentioned in the Hebrew text of Num 10:8, with priests blowing trumpets, and in 10:9: priests blow trumpets as an alarm (as in 2 Chr 13:14). In 2 Kgs 11:14, the trumpeters’ blowing of trumpets stands in parallel to rejoicing. Similarly, in the parallel text of 2 Chr 23:13, but here all the people of the land are rejoicing and blowing trumpets. In 1 Chr 15:24; 16:6, priests blow the trumpets in front of the ark; in 2 Chr 5:12–13; 13:14; 29:26 and Neh 12:41, priests are trumpeting and trumpets are part of the praising and the expressing of thanks to the Lord (simi-larly in Ps 98:6). Trumpeting also appears at the dedication of the walls (Neh 12:35); and again I note that it is the priests who are trumpeting. In other words, sounding the trumpets is mostly used in contexts of joyous celebration as well as thanksgiving and praising of God – it is therefore not strange that the NRSV Bible translators render the Hebrew with: “praise the Lord with trumpets.”

Moreover, in all but one case (2 Chr 23:13), it is the priests who are blowing the trumpets. That the priests are playing a musical instrument also combines well with the Levites playing the cymbals in Ezra 3:10.

In 1 Esdras, however, it is not the priests who are blowing the trumpets but all the people. Let us first look at the concept of “blowing a trumpet.” The use of the verb σαλπίζω translates at least two Hebrew verbs. The Greek verb is mostly used as a translation of the Hebrew verb

עקת

, “to thrust”, where trumpets are blown to summon the congregation and break the camp, to go, to sound an alarm, to go into battle (especially Num 10:3–10; Josh 6:5–20; Judg 3; 6–7), to

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10 Strictly speaking, it seems that the builders are the ones referred to.

stop a battle (1 Sam 13:3; 2 Sam 2:28; 18:16), or to announce a message (1 Kgs 1:34, 39; 2 Kgs 9:13; also Neh 4:12?). In 2 Kgs 11:14, the blowing of the trumpet is a joyous occasion and in 2 Chronicles it is used in the context of praising God. In 1 Chr 15:24, the Greek verb σαλπίζω renders

רצצח

, “to blow”; in 2 Chr 5:12 both the verb and the noun are rendered by the same Greek verb and its derivative:

םי ִר ִר ְצ ְח ַמ תוֹר ְצֹצ ֲח ַבּ

, “trumpeting the trumpets”, with εἴκοσι σαλπίζοντες ταῖς σάλπιγξιν, “each trumpeting the trumpets”. In both 1 and 2 Chronicles the Greek verb mostly renders

רצצח

, except for 2 Chr 23:13 where it renders

עקת

^{, albeit}

that the trumpets are also being used there.¹¹

In the Greek books of Maccabees, however, the verb σαλπίζω is used in combination with “giving a loud shout” (1 Macc 3:54), pointing to a desperate situation. In the rest of the book of 1 Maccabees, however, as well as in the Old Greek of Joel, Zechariah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the trumpet is used precisely as before: to sound alarms, to go to battle, etc. In the context of 1 Esdras, however, the trumpets clearly resonate with the context of the praising of the Lord. After all 1 Esd 5:57 Ra // 5:60 NRSV reads: ὑμνοῦντες τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ εὐλογοῦντες,

“praising the Lord and blessing (him)”.

In the Hebrew texts in which either

רצצח

^or

עקת

is used, we see that the instrument which is blown is different: it is either the shofar (Josh 6, Judg 3; 6–

7; 1 Sam 13:3; 2 Sam 2:28; 18:16; 20:1; 1 Kgs 1:34, 39; 2 Kgs 9:13; Neh 4:18; Ps 81:4; Joel 2:1, 15; Zech 9:14; Isa 27:13; Jer 51:27 [// OG Jer 28:27]; Ezek 33:3) or the trumpet(s) (Num 10; 2 Kgs 11:14; and in the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles; Hos 5:8). In the Greek texts, there are two words to translate the shofar and the trumpets, but these words are not used consistently. In other words, the shofar is mostly translated with κερατίνη (Josh 6;¹² Judg 3; 6–7; 2 Sam 18:16; 20:1, 22;

1 Kgs 1:34, 39; 2 Kgs 11:14; Neh 4:12) but also with σάλπιγξ (Num 10 – silver trumpets –; 1 Sam 13:3; 2 Sam 2:28; 1 Chr 15:25; 2 Chr 7:6; 13:14; 23:13; 29:28; Ps 81:4; Hos 5:8; Joel 2:1, 15; Zech 9:14; Isa 27:13; Jer 28:27; Ezek 7:14; 33:3). Aside from the reference in Nehemiah, it seems that older texts talk about the shofar and most Priestly, incl. Chronicles, and apocalyptic texts, talk about trumpets.

Moreover, in the books of Maccabees (first and second), the trumpet is used, not

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11 I also note that in 1 Kgs 1:34, 39 and 2 Kgs 9:13, the instrument is the ר ָפוֹשׁ, and that also in Josh 6 the same instrument is used. In Numbers on the other hand, it is clearly the trumpets.

12 According to Auld, Joshua, 135, “σάλπιγξ is used both for qrn hyvl (the jubilee horn) and for the shofar (ram’s horn)”, but aside from Josh 6:5 where the jubilee horn is used, shofar is used in the Hebrew text. The shofar is, however, defined as shoferot ha-yovelim in 6:4, 6 and 8. And we note that ל ֵבוֹי can refer to jubilee as well as to (a) ram.

the shofar. It certainly appears that both “blowing” and “on the trumpets” are more commonly used in later literature¹³ and that it indicates a happy event.

Let us now consider the “trumpets”. In 1 Esd 5:57 Ra // 5:59 NRSV, the trumpets (σάλπιγξ) are mentioned for the first time. “The priests stood arrayed in their vestments, with musical instruments and trumpets” – maybe the trans-lation ought to have read “including trumpets.” The trumpets are not found in the source text of Ezra 3:11 and have clearly been “added” to the text of 1 Esdras.

The priests, with their musical instruments, including the trumpets, are praising the Lord and giving thanks, as in the Hebrew counterpart (Ezra 3:11), but they are also, blessing him and singing hymns, the singing being moved from first verb in the Hebrew text to third verb in the Greek, with the blessing nicely sandwiched in between the praising and the singing. The slightly reorganized and revised description of the activities of the priests and Levites (1 Esd 5:57–58 Ra // 59–61 NRSV) is clearly based on the Hebrew text, but the author of 1 Esdras obviously wanted to enlarge the praising activities of the priests and Levites as well as inviting trumpets onto the scene.

The trumpets are mentioned a second time in 1 Esd 5:59 Ra // 5:62 NRSV. In 1 Esd 5:59 Ra // 5:62 NRSV, all the people sounded the trumpets. Technically speaking the instrument is not mentioned as such, but it is “built into the verb”

σαλπίζω. They then continue with a great shout when praising the Lord. 1 Esd 5:59 Ra // 5:62 NRSV has kept the great shout and the praising of its Hebrew source Ezra 3:11, albeit slightly adapted. Again, the element of the trumpets is added to the text in comparison with the Hebrew.

The trumpets are also mentioned in the next verse in which the contrasting emotion of weeping is reported. In 1 Esd 5:60 Ra // 5:63 NRSV, the disappoint-ment of the levitical priests and the heads of the houses is recorded: they come with outcries and loud weeping. As in the source text, Ezra 3:12, there is yet again a group that is not, however, disappointed, but joyous. And in the de-scription of this cheerful group, the trumpets again make their appearance:

“while many came with trumpets and a joyful loud voice” (1 Esd 5:61 Ra // 5:64 NRSV). The trumpets have again being added to the mix in comparison with the source text Ezra 3:12.

Finally, the trumpets are mentioned a fourth and fifth time in the summariz-ing of the noise created by the buildsummariz-ing project. In 1 Esd 5:62a Ra // 5:65a NRSV, it is recorded that some people could not hear the trumpets, because of the weeping of the others; in other words, the weeping was loud. But, in 1 Esd 5:62b Ra // 5:65b NRSV, in contrast to the first phrase, it is stated that the trumpets

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13 The text of Isa 27:13, which is part of a later Apocalypse of Isaiah, is an exception.

were sounded so loudly that the sound was heard far away. The text is thus unclear: were they weeping loudly or was the noise of the trumpets so loud? In the parallel text, Ezra 3:13, the contrast is between the sound of the joyful shout and the sound of the people’s weeping. In 1Esdras that contrast is also there. In 1 Esdras there are trumpets on the one hand and weeping on the other and this is totally in line with the earlier changes. However, the sound produced by the trumpets is used in two different ways: it is mentioned in the contrast between the two emotions (joyful trumpets versus weeping), but it is also used to

“alarm” the enemy. Narratologically, there is the need for a loud noise, since in the next phase of the building process the enemies are alarmed by the hearing of the noise, that noise being the loud joyous shouting in Ezra 3:13 and the sounding of the trumpets in 1 Esd 5:62 Ra // 5:63 NRSV.

The confusion about the sort of noise that attracts enemies reminds the reader of the Jericho story in Josh 6:1–17. Volkmar Fritz notes the confusion in Josh 6. Do the Israelites start their outcry against Jericho at the sign given by Joshua (Josh 6:10 and 16b), or is it the act of the blowing of the shofar that in-vites the shouting (Josh 6:20)?¹⁴ A priestly redactor has, most likely, adjusted the blowing of the trumpets into appropriate, priestly blowing, but the result is that in the final text the confusion remains until the end: “the people shouted and the trumpets were blown” (Josh 6:20a): “As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout” (Josh 6:20b).

From the above survey of the use of the trumpets, it is clear that they are used in the context of expressing positive emotions.

One may also observe yet another interpretation of the Hebrew source text (Ezra 3:12) in the Greek 1 Esdras (5:60 Ra // 5:63 NRSV). In the source text, there is a fine, albeit not perfect, alternation between the priests and the Levites on the one hand and the people on the other. In 1 Esdras, the Levites and priests have become the priests from among the Levites, to which the heads of the an-cestral houses have been added.

Moreover, in 1 Esdras, both the priests and the people can sound the trum-pets (1 Esd 5:57, 59 Ra // 5:59, 62 NRSV). In the Hebrew Bible, it was only in 2 Kgs 11:4 and 2 Chr 23:13 that it was said that “all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets.” In other word, in all the passages where the trumpets appear – not the shofar – it is always the priests who are blowing the trumpets, except for 2 Kgs 11:4 and its parallel text 2 Chr 23:13, where, after King Jehu has been killed, the new king Joash is hailed with trumpets. With the shofar, that distinction was not so clear since the shofar was blown by priests (Num 10;

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14 Cf. Fritz, Buch, 67–68.

Josh 6; 1 Kings), but also by Ehud, Gideon, 100 or 300 of his men, Saul, Joab, Sheba, in battle by different people, a man, the children of Benjamin, a sentinel, and even by God (Zech 9:14).

Now, since both the shofar and the trumpets are not consistently rendered, it is difficult to judge which Hebrew words stood behind the Greek σάλπιγξ, but surely the fact that the people can also sound the trumpet is a remarkable ele-ment and one that is unexpected in later tannaitic tradition. With regard to sounding the shofar, Shmuel Safrai has keenly observed: “From here we can understand the Tannaitic tradition that the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashana was a prerogative of the priests, just as it was their prerogative to sound the call on all other occasions: Jubilee, public fasts, the shofar of excommunica-tion and the soundings on Sabbath eves and at the end of the Sabbath to distin-guish between sacred and profane.”¹⁵

With regard to “joy”: whereas in Ezra 3:11–13, the word was used twice (3:12 and 3:13), in 1 Esd 5:61 Ra (// 5:64 NRSV), the parallel word, χαρά, is used only once. We will, however, see that the expression of joy is more fully associated with the building of the Temple, as well as with its culmination point, the dedi-cation.

Before turning to the last expression of emotion demonstrated in the con-text of building, I would like to emphasize that with regard to the double emo-tion of the people, trumpets and joy on the one hand and weeping on the other, these emotions were expressed at the dedication of the altar in Ezra-Nehemiah, but here in 1 Esdras they are connected with the laying of the foundation of the Temple.

Im Dokument Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions (Seite 56-61)