Processes of Judean Identity Formation in Ezra－Nehemiah: A Social－Anthropological Analysis

以斯拉－尼希米記中猶大身分認同的形成過程：一個社會人類學的分析

賴弘專(Hung-Chuan Lai)

《台灣神學論刊》 39期 (2014/12) Pp. 1-44

https://doi.org/10.29756/TJT.201412_(39).0002

摘要

本文從社會人類學的角度，檢視以斯拉—尼希米記如何重建以色列的族群與宗教身分認同。本文根據Fredrik Barth的「維持界限」（boundary maintenance）概念，對尼希米回憶錄和以斯拉記九至十章進行分析，以了解這些文本如何透過陳明社群與局外人之間的界限，來勾勒猶大／以色列的身分認同。同時，本文也將這兩部分的文本解讀為，在波斯帝國治下的猶大省之社會、人口情境下開展的認同形成方案。分析結果顯示，尼希米回憶錄和以斯拉記九至十章都高舉某個血統傳承，作為耶路撒冷聖殿群體的「判準性的」認同記號。尼希米回憶錄召喚了根基於共同血統的「全猶大意識」，並使猶大語、內部通婚、守安息日成為「差異的記號」，藉此限制猶大人與其他族群之間的接觸。以斯拉記九至十章進一步把血統傳承縮窄到「苟拉」（golah，即被擄歸回的猶大人）的系譜，並將苟拉理解為以色列的「神聖的族裔」，因此否定其他族群（包括猶大裔原住民）跨越界限的可能。唯獨苟拉成為以色列的後裔，並申明恪守妥拉、與雅威立約、異族通婚的禁令，作為其族群差異的記號。

關鍵字

以斯拉－尼希米記 ； 認同形成 ； 維持界限 ； 猶大血統 ； 通婚

並列摘要

This article examines how Ezra－Nehemiah (re)constructs the ethnic and religious identity of Israel from a social－anthropological perspective. Based on Fredrik Barth's idea of boundary maintenance, the article analyzes the Nehemiah Memoir (the most of Neh 1:1－7:5 excluding Nehemiah 3; and Neh 13:4－31) and Ezra 9－10 to understand how these texts delineate the identity of Judah / Israel through specifying the community's boundaries with outsiders. This paper, moreover, reads the two texts as identity formation projects unfolding against the social and demographic context of Persian－period Judah (539－332 BCE). The analysis demonstrates that both the Nehemiah Memoir and Ezra 9－10 elevate a certain line of descent as a ＂diagnostic＂ identity marker for the Jerusalem temple community. By invoking an ＂all－Judean consciousness＂ rooted in common descent, the Nehemiah Memoir turns the Judean language, endogamy, and Sabbath observance into ＂emblems of differences＂ that restrict the Judeans' contact with other ethnicities. In Ezra 9－10, the line of descent further contracts to the genealogy of the golah (the Hebrew term for the Judean community returned from exile). By construing the golah as the ＂holy seed＂ of Israel, this text denies the possibility that other ethnicities, including the indigenous Judeans, could cross the boundary. The golah alone becomes the progeny of Israel, claiming Torah observance, the covenant with YHWH, and the prohibition against intermarriage as signs of ethnic difference.

並列關鍵字

Ezra－Nehemiah ； identity formation ； boundary maintenance ； Judean descent ； intermarriage