Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 13:1 (Oct 1963)
Article: The Significance Of The Ancient Near Eastern Treaty Pattern
Author: J. A. Thompson

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TynBul 13:1 (1963) p. 1

The Significance Of The Ancient Near Eastern Treaty Pattern

J. A. Thompson

THE ATTEMPT TO identify and isolate smaller blocks of literature, to classify them according to their type or category (Gattung), and to define the original ‘situation in life’ (Sitz im Leben) in which they arose has provided a useful line of study in both the Old and the New Testaments. The method has been particularly fruitful in studies in the Psalter,1 but it has found application in all areas of the Old Testament. One of the results of progress in this study has been that the Introductions to the Old Testament of recent years have included an Introductory chapter on the literary forms that occur in the Old Testament.2

While the method of Form-Criticism may be open to the danger of subjectivism, it is undoubtedly of very great value, and when used with a proper consideration of all the factors which go to produce a piece of literature—historical, religious, cultural, literary, etc., it is capable of producing significant results. An understanding of the Sitz im Leben of a particular type of literature is fundamental to a true appreciation of its nature, and is basic for accurate exegesis.

The recognition by G. E. Mendenhall in 19543 that the treaty pattern of the ancient Near East could be recognized in many areas in the Old Testament was a significant discovery. The nature of that pattern and the comparative fixety of its form among the Hittites had been recognized earlier by V. Korošec,4 who, although he distinguished between parity and suzerainty treaties, was able to show that the literary formulation of both kinds of treaty followed much

TynBul 13:1 (1963) p. 2

the same lines. The standard elements in these treaties were (i) the preamble, which gave the names and titles of the parties involved, (ii) the historical prologue which outlined the events that led up to the treaty, (iii) the stipulations, which were of two kinds—the general principles on which future relations were to be built, and the specific stipulations which arose out of these general principles, (iv) the divine witnesses and guarantors of the treaty, (v) the associated maledictions and benedictions. Other elements appear in many of the treaties such as the requirement to deposit the treaty in the temple, to read it periodically in a public assembly, and to secure the continuity of the treaty by a suitable succession on the vassal’s throne. There is also a good deal of evidence that a religious ceremony...

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