An Exploration of חרם as ἀνάθεμα Beyond the Old Testament

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the reception of the idea of חרם in Second Temple Jewish literature, in the New Testament, and in the early patristic era, through an exploration of the usage of the primary Greek rendering of חרם: the word ἀνάθεμα. The choice of this Greek word for חרם is peculiar because in the Greek world it was exclusively used to describe offerings given by worshipers to their gods. The word ἀνάθεμα had no negative connotations, as חרם does in some biblical texts where the object that is handed over to God is considered an abomination to be destroyed. The Septuagintal choice of ἀνάθεμα for חרם has thus caused a significant expansion in the spectrum of meaning of the Greek word, and from Second Temple times onwards, we encounter the word ἀνάθεμα in both positive (as an offering) as well as in negative contexts where חרם is either in the foreground (alluding to stories of the Israelite conquest) or in the background (enacting חרם in different ways for different contexts). The article focuses on the negative usage of ἀνάθεμα in order to see whether the understanding of חרם was transformed and how it might have been reinterpreted in ways that do not demand the physical annihilation of its object.