I had the privilege of interviewing Jewish scholar Dr. Joshua Berman, professor of Hebrew Bible at Bar-Illan University in Israel, on the fact that the books of Moses, the Pentateuch, follow the late second Millennium BC format of a suzerain-vassal treaty. This fact strongly supports the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and, hence, the existence of genuine and unavoidable predictive prophecy in the Bible, and, thus, the Bible’s Divine authorship. Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the suzerain or great King, and Israel is the vassal, the subordinate dependent on the suzerain.
When my wife and I visited Egypt last year as part of a faculty tour of Egypt led by evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier, we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Berman in Luxor, Egypt, on the issue of suzerain-vassal treaties (he prefers to be called “Joshua.”) Joshua Berman explains the issue quite clearly and effectively, so if you find the terminology “suzerain vassal treaty” scary, watch the video below of the interview, and I suspect you will both understand the issue and see the value of it for Christian apologetics.
I have posted about apologetics videos recorded on this trip to Egypt in previous posts on this blog, such as this one on the famous Merneptah Stele.
Ironically, when I debated president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Dan Barker, on the Old Testament, Mr. Barker claimed that “The Israelis over in Israel … the archaeologists are throwing up their hands saying, ‘No, there’s nothing. None of these stories has any archaeological evidence at all.’” Barker’s assertion was always ridiculous, as was demonstrated within the debate itself, but the interview with Dr. Berman provides even more evidence for the foolishness of Mr. Barker’s argument.
After the interview with Dr. Joshua Berman, other scholars, including Kenneth Kitchen (On the Reliability of the Old Testament), James Hoffmeier (The Archaeology of the Bible), and Meredith Kline (Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy) are also quoted. You can learn more about archaeological evidence for the Old Testament here.
So please watch the video below. You can watch the embed below, or view it on faithsaves.net here, or on Rumble by clicking here, or on YouTube by clicking here.
–TDR
When I did a series through Deuteronomy many years ago, I talked about the ancient suzerain treaty. It helps understand the structure of Deuteronomy, the place of the ten commandments in Deuteronomy and within the code, and the plan of salvation in Deuteronomy. I referenced this, I believe, in my chapter on Deuteronomy 30 and the accessibility argument there in Thou Shalt Keep Them, our book.
Yes, I’m glad you referenced that. It is very helpful.
Very interesting and edifying. First time I have ever heard of the suzerain/vassal treaty.
In Matthew 2:1-12, the magi present gifts. In the OT, there several instances of where the lesser ruler brings ‘presents’ to the local sovereign. Is this related to the vassal/suzerain treaty form? Is there a parallel here? Were the magi presenting gifts to King Jesus to allude to the vassal/suzerain relationship?
Thanks so much for the insightful writings, Mr. Ross.
Chris,
I think that’s a good catch. They would have taken this more seriously than most people who say they worship the Lord. Thanks for reading.
Dear Chris,
Thanks for asking, glad the video was a blessing.
The specific treaty format discussed in the video stopped being used in the centuries after Moses lived, which is one of the reasons it is a strong argument for the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. So it was not in use in the days of the Christ. However, bringing presents to a powerful king was always a good idea, so the wise men were very wise to do this.
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Thanks again.