With the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.E. and
the later conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, the axis of power in the ancient
eastern Mediterranean shifted dramatically away from Babylon-to-
Memphis to Persia. Persian military might based on cavalry, Persian ideology
of kingship, Persian political organization, Persian cult and theology
all began to exert their influence on a world hitherto dominated by the
systems of Mesopotamia and Egypt. But there is a dearth of studies of
this influence on the authors of what came to be biblical texts, in favor
of studies of continuing Mesopotamian and/or Egyptian influence along
with the influence of the rising Greek power. If covenant as a concept had
its origins in the form and substance of treaties, then when there is only
one Great King, and no more treaties between vassals and suzerains, what
kind of shifts might have happened to the concept of covenant during
the period of Achaemenid rule? In this contribution, I will examine one
particular Achaemenid Persian concept, bandaka, and its echoes in the
biblical texts of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi as an example of how a
Persian concept is a better analogue than Mesopotamian ones during this
period.