The Levites Strike Back

The formation of the northern monarchy spurred the Levites to create countertraditions to reclaim their place in Israelite religious society. All of these countertraditions revolve around the institutions of the state, institutions that the Levites increasingly viewed as avatars of destructive cosmic forces. In the Golden Calf tradition of Exodus 32 and the “Song of Moses” in Deuteronomy 32, the northern state cult is characterized as a portal to the chaotic wilderness, its iconography as manifestations of YHWH’s enemies, and the agents and devotees of its cult as traitors to YHWH. Hosea’s eighth-century oracles takes up these earlier concepts and develop them into a cosmic-political drama, clarifying that the struggle Israel faces is no less than the struggle against Death (Mot)—but Israel’s adherence to Levite teachings could provide redemption and a renewed, reexperienced Exodus. This laid the foundation for development of the Deuteronomistic tradition roughly a century later.