“The Yoke Before the Oil” (Isa 10:27d) in the Light of Neo-Assyrian Covenant-Making Rituals

Abstract

Following a study by Robertson (1885), Old Testament scholars have attempted to resolve the difficult reference to oil in Isa 10:27d by means of emendations, generally of a geographical nature. In this way, the verse becomes the opening line of the following war oracle (10:28–32). The study of royal inscriptions from the Neo-Assyrian period reveals instead the existence of covenant-making rituals in which oil was employed, especially as an image of the curse associated with covenant transgressions. Since in Assyrian propaganda, the yoke was an image of the king’s lordship over the conquered peoples, with the prophecy that “the yoke before the oil will be destroyed,” the prophet alludes to the termination of the treaty obligations stipulated through the ritual, as well as any form of curse associated with it.