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THE DAYS OF YAHWEHA. JOSEPH EVERSON

LUTHER COLLEGE, DECORAH, IOWA 52101

THE concept of the Day of Yahweh has long been recognized as a centraltheme in prophetic thought about the future. There has been widespreaddisagreement, however, about the precise nature or character of the Day of

Yahweh. At the center of the controversy has been the question of the most

appropriate point of departure for understanding the tradition. From what

vantage point can this sacral tradition in Israel's history come into clearest perspec

tive? In recent years most studies have centered on the question of the origin

of the tradition. These studies suggest that the prophetic texts which speak of

a Day of Yahweh will come into focus when the origin of the tradition is

properly understood. Thus, Sigmund Mowinckel maintains that the Day of

Yahweh h to be understood primarily from within the history of Israel's cult.

Within the world of myth and ritual, the Day of Yahweh was originally the

event of the enthronement of Yahweh, the time when Yahweh comes to guarantee victory over enemies, the time when Yahweh brings deliverance from dis

tress and the realization of peace, good fortune, and favorable conditions. The

cultic Day of Yahweh is the time when these realities are reaffirmed for suc

cessive generations of people.1 Quite in contrast, Gerhard von Rad contends

that the Day of Yahweh should be understood not from within the cultic con

text but rather from the perspective of the historical traditions of holy war. The

Day of Yahweh, declares von Rad, is a pure event of war, an event involving the

appearance of Yahweh to annihilate his enemies.2 For Mowinckel, the Day of

Yahweh comes into perspective through the study of Israel's early cult; for vonRad, the perspective is to be found in the study of the traditions of holy war.

3

XS. Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien (Amsterdam: P. Schippers, 1961), 2. 229.

2 G. von Rad, "The Origin of the Day of Yahweh," JSS4 (1 959) 97-108. Von Rad

contends that the earliest text, Amos 5:18-20, is an improper point of departure for the

study of the tradition because it is not unequivocal in its mention of the Day of Yahweh.

He rather suggests that Isaiah 13, 34, Ezekiel 7, and Joel 2 provide a secure foundation

in that they are broad and unequivocal in their view of the Day of Yahweh and at the

same time are clearly self-contained units. The four texts are similar in their portrayalof sacral war, characterized by the call to warriors to assemble for the levy of Yahweh,

sanctification of the army, panic among the enemy, changes in the natural order and the


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330 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

F. Charles Fensham hassuggested another perspective. Hemaintains that

theDay of Yahweh should most properly be viewedagainst thebackgroundof

covenant traditionsas theevent of theexecution of treaty curses.4 And Meir

Weiss hasproposed yet another preprophetic perspective with hissuggestion

that theDayofYahwehhasrootsintheancientmotifcomplexof thetheophany

description, despite its being a "casual and incidental designation uttered by

Amos."5

All of these origin studies of thetradition are confronted, however,by the

problematic fact that specific locutionsof the Day of Yahweh are found only

in thewritingsof theclassicalprophetsand inthebookofLamentations. Speci-

fic references tothe conceptsimplydonot appear apart from theprophetic ma-

terial to givetextualverification to any of theorigin theories.In thepropheticliteraturethereare eighteentexts inwhichspecific reference

to the Day of Yahweh appear. These eighteen texts properly form thebasic

field ofevidenceforthe studyof the tradition.6 In sevenof thetexts,prophetic

Early Cult," Biblical Motifs (ed. . Altmann; Cambridge: Harvard University, 1966 )

1130. Cross reviews at some length the strengths and weaknesses of the "heilsgeschicht-

liche Schule" and the "Myth and Ritual" approach to the early cult and concludes that

the development of Israel's cultic themes and institutions is far more complex than

envisaged by either of these schools. It involves a tension between mythological material

and themes of historical memory even in the earliest corpus of ancient poetry, law, and

epic traditions. In the heilsgeschichtlich approach, the focus has been on the cult of the

tribal league; in the "myth and ritual" approach, on the cult in the time of the monarchy

largely through the influence of the ideology of holy war. This influence makes the

transition possible and leads ultimately to the ideology of apocalyptic. "The day of

Yahweh is the day of victory in holy warfare; it is also the Day of Yahweh's festival when

the ritual conquest was enacted in the procession of the Ark, the procession of the King

of Glory to the Temple when 'God went up with the festal blast, Yahweh with the sound

of the horn . . . for Yahweh is king of the whole earth'" (p. 30 ) .4 F. C. Fensham, "A Possible Origin of the Concept of the Day of the Lord," Biblical

Essays (Bepeck, S. Africa: Potchefstroom Herald, 1966) 9097.5M. Weiss, "The Origin of the 'Day of the Lord' Reconsidered,"HUCA 37 (1966)

2960.6The phrase m m Dl occurs 16 times in prophetic literature in seven prophetic col-

lections (Isa 13:6, 9; Ezek 13:5; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11; 3:4; 4:1 4; Amos 5:18 [twice],20;

Obadiah 15; Zeph 1:4, 14 [twice]; and Mai 3:23). In three additional texts, the phrase

has only the minor variation mm*? Dl (Isa 2:12 ; Ezek 30:3; Zech 14:1). Beyond

these specific references there are a number of directly related phrases: mm fray 01,

which occurs twice (Ezek 7: 19; Zeph 1:18); m m 01,which occurs three times (Zeph

2:2,3; Lam 2:22); ID 11 013,which occurs in Lam 1:12; and 1SK013, in Lam 2:1.

Further variations are m m 3 01*3 (Zeph 1:8); HDpJ 01 (Jer 46:10); mm*? Dpi 01(Isa 34:8); ^ Dpi Dl (Isa 61:2) ; 3*73 Dpi Di (Isa 63:4) ; and 01 Dl

H313D1 013D i (Isa 22 5) Interpreting the Joel references as one portra al and the


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EVERSON: THE DAYS OF YAHWEH 331

writers speak of future historical or cosmic events.7 In six other instances the

writers use the formula 1 Dl*1Slip, "near is the day of Yahweh!" to empha-

size the imminence of the anticipated event.8 In the other five texts where a

specific reference to the tradition is present, however, the Day of Yahweh con-

cept is used by prophetic writers to describe and interpret past historical events.

These five texts which give interpretation to past events are the focus of

this study. Together, they constitute a helpful point of departure for the study

of the Day of Yahweh tradition. The texts are Lamentations, chs. 1 and 2 and

Ezek 13:19, which look back on the destruction of Judah and the fall of Jeru-

salem in 58887 B.CE.,Jer 46:212, which describes the destruction of an Egyptian

army at the battle of Carchemish in 605, and Isa 22:114, which looks back on the

destruction in Judah and Jerusalem's narrow escape during the campaign ofSennacherib in 701.

With this approach to the tradition, we can observe both the poetic freedom

of the prophetic writers and their intense involvement with their tradition and

with the social and political realities of their time. More than this, a funda-

mentalperspective comes intoviewwhen thesefivetexts are used as a departure

point for the study of the Day of Yahweh tradition. The writers look back on

different historical events. In striking contrast to the thesis that the Day of

Yahweh isalwaysset forth as a singular event in the future,9 these texts demon-

strate that it is not only appropriate but extremely helpful to speak of a sequence

of historical days of Yahweh when speaking of the prophetic interpretation of

history.

Thefirst three texts arevividrecollections of the great tragedy which marked

the beginning of the exilic era. From the perspective of captivity during the

there are also numerous general expressions such as "in the latter days," "behold, the days

are coming," and the declaration, "in that day," which alone occurs almost 200 times in

the prophetic writings. While it is clear that many of these expressions are related to

the Day of Yahweh tradition, it is methodologically difficult and dangerous to include

such references in the basic field of evidence. See further on sources, L. Cerny,The Day

of Yahweh and Some Relevant Problems (Prague: Nakladem Filosoficke Fakulty Uni-

versity Karlovy, 1948) 126.7Amos 5:1820; Isa 2:1217; 34:117; 61:13; 63:16; Mal 3:1324; and Zech

14:121.8Zeph 1:19; Ezek 7:127; 30:19;Obad 121; Isa 13:122; and Joel 14.

9Contra H. Gressmann (Der Ursprung der israelitisch-jdischen Eschatologie [Gttin

gen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1905] 144) : "Keine einzige Grosstat Jahwes in derVergangenheit oder damaligen Gegenwart hat den uns bekannten Schriftstellern Anlass

gegeben, von einem Tage Jahwes zu sprechen. berall, wo dieser Ausdruck begegnet,bezieht er sich auf die Zukunft, d.h. er ist bereits in vorprophetischer Zeit zum eschato-l i h T i d " Al G B G (I i h [ICC N Y k S ib


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exile, the author of the first two chapters of Lamentations looks back on the

bewildering military tragedy that has befallen Judah and Jerusalem. Using

literary techniques of dramatic contrast and dramatic reversal, the writer con-

trasts Jerusalem's previous state of wellbeing with her present state of intense

suffering the city that was full of people sits lonely, Zion that was great

among the nations has become like a widow; she was a princess but is now a

vassal (vs. 1); her former precious things are now gone and she knows only

affliction and bitterness (vs. 7). The drama of the first lament appears as the

womanZion suddenly interrupts the sombre funeral dirge with the cry in vs. 9c:

Lord,behold my affliction for the enemy has triumphed." Again, in vs. lie,

she calls: "Look, O Lord, and behold, for I am despised!" In vs. 12, the woman

turns to "those who pass by the way," apparently a reference to surroundingnations. She asks:

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by the way?

Behold, and see if there is any pain like my pain

which was dealt out to me,

which Yahweh inflicted

in the day of his fierce anger (lot* jnn D^ l )

In the second chapter lament, the Day of Yahweh terminology is used both

in the opening and closing sections of the acrostic. In the opening lines, the

writer declares:

Ah how, Yahweh in his anger has covered with a cloud the daughter Zion,

He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel!

And he has not remembered his footstool in the days of his anger ( Dl ) . (vs. 1)

In vss. 2022, Daughter Zion recalls the starvation and the horrors of the

past days. Addressing Yahweh, she declares:

Thou hast slain violently in the day of thine anger (1SK Di n)

Thou hast slaughtered without mercy.

In the concluding lines, the past events of the fall of Jerusalem are likened

to the time of an appointed feast when animals were slaughtered for sacrificial

rites. Zion declares:

Thou (Yahweh) didst invite as to the day of an appointed feast

my terrors on every side;

And on the day of the angerof Yahweh (mm JHDl O)none escaped or survived.Those whom I cared for and reared, my enemy destroyed.

In Ezek 13:5 a similar viewpoint is set out.10 Whatever the original form

of vss. 1-9 may have been, it is clear that vs. 5 functions as part of the basis or


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statement of the indictment. By means of a metaphor, reasons for the divine

judgment are cited. Addressing the false prophets, the writer declares:

You have not gone up into the breaches (gaps) ,nor have you built a wall for the house of Israel

to stand in battle in the day of Yahweh ( m m DIO Hunten io?'?).

In the oracle in ch. 7, Ezekiel specifically used the Day of Yahweh imagery to

anticipate the fall of Jerusalem. Now from the perspective of the exile, the

prophet looks back in ch. 13 on those frightening events in the nation's history.

The offense of the false prophet was that he did not set himself where the need

was greatest in the front line or in the breach that the people might be

protected by his word of truth. The false prophets remained silent or spokefalsely and thereby made themselves responsible for the coming of that day of

Yahweh event.

In Jeremiah 46:2-12, the oracle against Egypt reflects on a battle fought

between Egypt and Babylon. The four tablets of the Babylonian Chronicle pub

lished in 1956 by the British Museum now demonstrate conclusively that de

cisive battle was fought between Egypt and Babylon at Carchemish in 605 as

the superscription to this oracle declares:11

About Egypt:Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho,

king of Egypt, which was along the Euphrates River at Carchemish,

and which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,

defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

With the most skillful use of irony, the author addresses the proud forces of

Egypt as an army out to do "holy war" on Babylon. The Egyptian army is filled

with self confidence and pride. Crisp battle commands are given:

Make ready buckler and shield, advance for battle!Harness the horses, mount up, horsemen!

Line up with helmets, polish spears, put on armor! (vss. 3-4)

tinction between vss. 1-9 and 10-16. Each of these units has a similar two-part structure

including a basis and an announcement united by p^, "therefore," and the messenger

formula, mn* 1DK fp, "thus says the Lord" (vss. 8, 13) . In each oracle, the basis is an

indictment or statement of past guilt; theannouncement is the declaration of the judgment

or punishment declared by Yahweh. See further W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel (BKAT; Neu-

kirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1966) 281-93. Zimmerli sees vss. 4, 6 and 7b as

later additions to the original text of vss. 1-9.uCf . D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of the Chaldaean Kings (London: Trustees of the

B iti h M 1961) 66 69 Thi l i th fi t f th th ti ll ti f


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Behind this designation stands not just the memory of the siege against Jerusalem

and the payment of heavy tribute, but also the painful memories of the devasta

tion of Judah which, according to Sennacherib's Annals, included the destruction

of 46 cities, various walled forts, and countless small villages. Soberly, the

prophet Isaiah writes in 22:8:

He (Yahweh) took away the covering of Judah!

The most frightening reality for Isaiah, however, is that as he looks around

he sees no sign that his contemporaries have understood the meaning of the past

events. Instead of serious reflection, he sees only frivolous conduct, feasting and

drinking (vss. 1, 2, 12b) all summarized in the attitude expressed in vs. 12:

"Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!" By this irresponsible conduct thepeople demonstrate and confirm their own utter disregard for Yahweh. What

this means is that by their present actions the people reveal their own calloused

and self-centered view of life. Presupposed throughout this oracle is the con

viction that the catastrophe of 701 could have been avoided by wise and prudent

actions by the people and by their political leaders. Now because they refuse

even to reflect on the meaning of what has happened, the people seal their own

death:

Surely, this will not be forgiven you

until you die, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, (vs. 14)

From this survey of the five texts three basic conclusions can be drawn.

First of all, because these five texts are interpretations of past events, they pro

vide a secure point of departure for understanding this tradition. With this

methodological approach, the texts under consideration remain in their historical

situations. The danger of abstracting texts from their historical situations, a

danger that is particularly prevalent in the origin studies of Day of Yahweh and

often in other tradition-history studies, is here avoided.Secondly, these five texts provide a basic perspective for understanding all

of the Day of Yahweh texts. The texts demonstrate that the Day of Yahweh

was not viewed in the pre-exilic and exilic eras of Israel's history as a singular,

universal, or exclusively future event of world judgment. Rather, the Day of

Yahweh was a powerful concept available to the prophets for their use in in

terpreting various momentous events past,future or imminent. Amos antici

pated the fall of northern Israel and spoke of the coming events as the Day of

Yahweh for his own people, the inevitable time when the corrupt actions of hiscontemporaries would bring their inevitable results.14

When Samaria fell in

722 the prophetic words of Amos received their confirmation as true and trust


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both used the specific language and imagery of the tradition to warn of the

consequences of new reckless and inhumane foreign and domestic policies. With

the fall of Jerusalem, the words of these prophets were likewise confirmed as true

prophetic speech.15

With the anticipation of the fall of Babylon in the last years of the exile, the

theme of hope receives prominent attention in connection with the Day of

Yahweh tradition. The recognition emerges that the fall of Babylon will bring

the realities of restoration, freedom, and new life for the exiles. This motif of

hope, which may have been part of the complex of thought associated with Day

of Yahweh from the beginning of the era of classical prophecy,16

is now empha

sized because the anticipated event makes that hope realistic. The authors who

spoke of this hope presuppose that the exiles are not acting in an arrogant orself-righteous manner. They can, therefore, count on this promise from Yahweh.

In the late post-exilic era the portrayals of the Day of Yahweh tend to become

more and more cataclysmic and universal in character under the influence of

apocalyptic thought. But this late development should not distort the basic

understanding of judgment in the prophetic view of history.17

In that under

standing, judgment takes place in and through the events of history in sequence.

The perspective of a sequence of past days of Yahweh provides the context of

thought by which the prophets viewed the future. The future was seen as an

extension of the past. In various situations prophets saw actions by their politi

cal leaders which were not in the best interests of their people, actions which

were inconsistent with Torah. They could foresee, therefore, only a continua

tion of that which had happened in earlier times. As in the "cup of wrath"

tradition, which is quite parallel to the Day of Yahweh,18

they saw judgment

passing from one nation to the next. The nations "drink" in sequence. In the

same way, Days of Yahweh come in succession.

Finally, it is clear that the Day of Yahweh concept is used by the prophetic

writers primarily in connection with the realities of war the memories of waror the anticipation of new occasions of war. The Day of Yahweh is a concept

that is used to interpret momentous events of war. It interprets events which

divide history into eras. The invasion of Judah by Sennacherib in 701 ended

an era; after 701 the realities of life in Judah were significantly changed. The

destruction of Egypt's army by Babylon at Carchemish in 605 significantly

changed the realities of life for Egypt. And, in a most catastrophic way, the

destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 588-87 altered the realities of life for

Judah.

15Cf. Zeph 1:1-2:3; Ezek 7:1-27.


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In Isa 2:6-22, the prophet appears to have in mind an earthquake or a storm;

in Joel, the first portrayal anticipates the coming of a locust plague; and in

Zechariah 14, the prophet anticipates a plague that will bring sickness and great

torment for the people. These portrayals, however, are not inconsistent. They

are simply alternative kinds of warfare available to Yahweh, who, as sovereign

Lord over nations and powers of the cosmos, can utilize human or natural forces

to bring eventual judgment on proud and arrogant peoples. Events such as war,

earthquakes or plagues, which mark the eras or turning points in the life of a

nation, are the kind of events which can be described as days of Yahweh. They

are events which have the potential for turning history in various directions.

This perspective undergirds prophetic thinking about both the past and the

future. In the decisive events, the prophetic mind discerns with particularclarity the awesome presence of Yahweh in the world in his ongoing activity of

judgment or rescue. For this reason the prophets speak of the succession of

momentous events as Days of Yahweh.


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