| Did the Achaemenid imperial government intervene in the emergence of the Torah from a traditional set of norms and mores to an authoritative text? This is the question the present study seeks to answer by engaging in Peter Frei's theory of Reichsautorisation. It is a politico-historical assessment of the bilateral relationship between the Achaemenid imperial government and the province of Judah in order to assess the historical plausibility of Ezra's mission described in Ezra 7. This research turns to legislative documents from Achaemenid-era Egypt and Asia Minor in order to appraise Frei's theory, which views the Torah as one of the examples of the Persian phenomenon of imperial authorization.;A close analysis of the inscription of Udjahorresnet, the Passover letter from Elephantine, the document on the verso of the Demotic Chronicle, the trilingual inscription from Letoon, the Gadatas letter, and a Greek inscription from Miletus reveals the Achaemenid imperial government's legislative efforts to embed itself into the socio-political life of local communities. These cases uncover under what circumstances the Persians approved vassal peoples' laws.;This study also explores the historical plausibility of Ezra's mission. It takes a diachronic and synchronic approach to the socio-political history of Judah under the Achaemenid rule. For this purpose, it examines the political value of the Jerusalem Temple and the geopolitical value of Judah from the standpoint of the imperial government in light of the opposition from Egypt. The literary-critical questions regarding the authenticity of the edict of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12--26) incorporate the insight garnered from the historical-critical analyses in order to explore the historicity of Ezra's mission. |
