Donkeys in the Biblical World: Ceremony and Symbol (History, Archaeology, and Culture of the Levant)

Symbols and ceremonies associated with religion in the world of the ancient Near East have long intrigued modern scholars of religious studies. In the last few decades especially, numerous studies on various aspects of the religions of the peoples in the biblical world have come to light. Importantly, many employ multidisciplinary methods in their analyses and utilize textual evidence in concert with archaeological material. The latter approach, which was not always valued, recognizes that the words of a text, whether biblical or inscriptional, should, whenever possible, be balanced by an archaeological picture. In fact, it is often a discovery from the ground that helps to elucidate the written record. This is the case with the dry donkey bones from Tel Haror, which served to animate Kenneth Way's doctoral dissertation, now expanded into the present volume. In 1992, while I was excavating at Tel Haror, an intact donkey burial was uncovered at the entrance of the site's Middle Bronze Age temple complex. This in situ burial with clear connections to a temple raised considerable excitement in the archaeological world because of its unique characteristics compared to other equid burials from the Levant. At the time, Professor Eliezer Oren of Ben Gurion University, the senior excavator of Tel Haror, noted the need for a comprehensive inquiry into the roles of the donkey in the cults of the ancient Near East. He remarked that, though the archaeological significance of donkey burials was deliberated on briefly in a few site reports, and possible associations with the donkey treaty sacrifices in the Mari Letters were discussed, no study had been conducted that systematically analyzes the collective archaeological evidence in light of the greater corpus of biblical and Near Eastern texts on the subject. He suggested that a study such as this would be a significant contribution to the field. The present work now fills that void. In this study, Kenneth Way examines the large and diverse corpus of texts, comprised of Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Hebrew sources, that in some way deal with the ceremonial and symbolic significance of donkeys. Simultaneously, he scrutinizes the archaeological records of varied equid burials from dozens of sites in Egypt, Israel-Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, including the recently discovered monumental burial complex at Umm el-Marra. The author then synthesizes and explicates the integrated textual and archaeological material attesting to the special status of the donkey in the cultic spheres of the region. This is especially key in elucidating certain literary texts and rituals in the Bible that seem to contain vestigial forms of earlier practices, as the Shechem traditions recounting Jacob's sons' dealings Foreword x with the clan of Hamor and the Exodus law stipulating the redemption of the first-born ass. Importantly, Kenneth Way does not feel compelled to arrive at monolithic conclusions in his study. Rather, his methods underscore the need to contextualize evidence so that even what appears to belong to a single category, in this case religious rites, may be variegated, requiring careful attention to distinguishing details rather than identifying general commonalities. It is my great pleasure and pride to introduce this book, Kenneth Way's first substantive scholarly work, and I look forward to his future contributions to the field of religion in the world of the ancient Near East.

In this volume, Kenneth Way explores the role of donkeys in the symbolism and ceremonies of the biblical world. His study stands alone in providing a comprehensive examination of donkeys in ancient Near Eastern texts, the archaeological record, and the Hebrew Bible. Way demonstrates that donkeys held a distinct status in the beliefs and rituals of the ancient Near East and especially Canaan-Israel.

The focus on ceremony and symbol encompasses social and religious thoughts and practices that are reflected in ancient texts and material culture relating to the donkey. Ceremonial considerations include matters of sacrifice, treaty ratification, consumption, death, burial, “scapegoat” rituals, and foundation deposits; symbolic considerations include matters of characterization, association, function, behavior, and iconographic depiction. However, the distinction between ceremony and symbol is not strict. In many cases, these two categories are symbiotic.

The need for this study on donkeys is very apparent in the disciplines that study the biblical world. There is not a single monograph or article that treats this subject comprehensively. Philologists have discussed the meaning of the Amorite phrase “to kill a jackass,” and archaeologists have discussed the phenomenon of equid burials. But until now, neither philologists nor archaeologists have attempted to pull together all the ceremonial and symbolic data on donkeys from burials, ancient Near Eastern texts, and the Hebrew Bible. Way’s study fills this void.

"In this volume, Kenneth Way explores the role of donkeys in the symbolism and ceremonies of the biblical world. His study stands alone in providing a comprehensive examination of donkeys in ancient Near Eastern texts, the archaeological record, and the Hebrew Bible. Way demonstrates that donkeys held a distinct status in the beliefs and rituals of the ancient Near East and especially Canaan-Israel. The focus on ceremony and symbol encompasses social and religious thoughts and practices that are reflected in ancient texts and material culture relating to the donkey. Ceremonial considerations include matters of sacrifice, treaty ratification, consumption, death, burial, 'scapegoat' rituals, and foundation deposits; symbolic considerations include matters of characterization, association, function, behavior, and iconographic depiction. However, the distinction between ceremony and symbol is not strict. In many cases, these two categories are symbiotic. The need for this study on donkeys is very apparent in the disciplines that study the biblical world. There is not a single monograph or article that treats this subject comprehensively. Philologists have discussed the meaning of the Amorite phrase 'to kill a jackass, ' and archaeologists have discussed the phenomenon of equid burials. But until now, neither philologists nor archaeologists have attempted to pull together all the ceremonial and symbolic data on donkeys from burials, ancient Near Eastern texts, and the Hebrew Bible. Way's study fills this void."--Back cover