Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Eric Lawee
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Commentaries ◽  
Canonical Status

The Commentary on the Torah by Solomon ben Isaac (1040–1105)—also known as Shlomo Yitzhaki, or Rashi—stands out as the most widely studied and influential Hebrew Bible commentary of all time. This chapter explores ways in which the Commentary can be seen not only as the most formative and authoritative of Jewish biblical commentaries but also as a work bearing canonical status, though it was never formally canonized and even met with pockets of stiff opposition. The chapter argues that criticism may actually have contributed to the Commentary’s attainment of preeminent status.

The Jewish Community

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-150
Author(s):  
John A. Jillions
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Community ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Jewish Diaspora ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Canonical Status ◽  
Divine Guidance

This chapter introduces Jewish approaches to divine guidance. Corinth was a leading community of the Jewish diaspora and maintained close connections with Jews elsewhere, especially in Jerusalem and Rome. There was a variety of “Judaisms” in this period, but their common focus was on the written Torah and the oral tradition of interpretation. God’s guidance is therefore closely linked to the community’s understanding of how God speaks over time through the Hebrew Bible and the oral law. Most Jews did not see the scriptures as having a life independent of the community’s inspired guidance in the present. This allowed for a degree of fluidity and changing interpretation, as witnessed in the Greek Septuagint and the books of mixed canonical status that came to be known as the Apocrypha. Of these, Tobit, Judith, and Susanna give particular insight into Jewish understanding of divine guidance.

The Sources

2007 ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Lasker
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Philosophical Critique ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Biblical Commentaries ◽  
The One ◽  
The Middle Ages

This chapter presents the sources of the arguments which are the components of the Jewish philosophical critique of Christianity in the Middle Ages. The one genre of literature in which most of these contentions are located is the polemic. The Jewish polemical works exhibit great diversity both in method of argumentation and in style. According to Joseph ben Shem Tov, there are six types of polemical treatises. The first, and by far the largest, category contains works which dealt primarily with the exegesis of the Hebrew Bible. The other categories include the exegesis of rabbinic literature; attacks on Christianity; comparisons of Christian doctrines with the New Testament; attacks on the articles of Christianity; and comparisons of Christianity with the Principles of Philosophy. Jewish polemicists also employed a variety of forms in which to place their polemics. The most common forms were the dialogue or disputation; the expository treatise, following either the biblical or a topical arrangement; the poem; the letter; and the parody. The chapter then looks at other sources of Jewish philosophical arguments, such as biblical commentaries, mysticism, and legal works. It also considers the sources of Christian polemics.

The Hebrew Bible and Great Canaan

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-233
Author(s):  
Ana Fund Patron de Smith
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible

A Pleasing Odour for Yahweh

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Anne Katrine De Hemmer Gudme
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The West ◽  
Sense Of Smell ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Crucial Part

This article investigates the importance of smell in the sacrificial cults of the ancient Mediterranean, using the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim and the Hebrew Bible as a case-study. The material shows that smell was an important factor in delineating sacred space in the ancient world and that the sense of smell was a crucial part of the conceptualization of the meeting between the human and the divine.  In the Hebrew Bible, the temple cult is pervaded by smell. There is the sacred oil laced with spices and aromatics with which the sanctuary and the priests are anointed. There is the fragrant and luxurious incense, which is burnt every day in front of Yahweh and finally there are the sacrifices and offerings that are burnt on the altar as ‘gifts of fire’ and as ‘pleasing odors’ to Yahweh. The gifts that are given to Yahweh are explicitly described as pleasing to the deity’s sense of smell. On Mount Gerizim, which is close to present-day Nablus on the west bank, there once stood a temple dedicated to the god Yahweh, whom we also know from the Hebrew Bible. The temple was in use from the Persian to the Hellenistic period (ca. 450 – 110 BCE) and during this time thousands of animals (mostly goats, sheep, pigeons and cows) were slaughtered and burnt on the altar as gifts to Yahweh. The worshippers who came to the sanctuary – and we know some of them by name because they left inscriptions commemorating their visit to the temple – would have experienced an overwhelming combination of smells: the smell of spicy herbs baked by the sun that is carried by the wind, the smell of humans standing close together and the smell of animals, of dung and blood, and behind it all as a backdrop of scent the constant smell of the sacrificial smoke that rises to the sky.

New Directions in the Computational Analysis of Biblical Hebrew Grammar

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Miller-Naudé ◽  
Jacobus A Naudé
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
North American ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
European Database ◽  
New Directions ◽  
African Context

The concern of the paper is to highlight how computational analysis of Biblical Hebrew grammar can now be done in very sophisticated ways and with insightful results for exegesis. Three databases, namely, the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (ETCBC) Database, the Accordance Hebrew Syntactic Database, and the Andersen-Forbes Syntactic Database,are compared in terms of their relation to linguistic theory (or, theories), the nature and spectrum of retrieved data, and the representation of synchronic and diachronic linguistic variation. Interaction between different contexts, including the African context, are promoted namely between linguists working on Biblical Hebrew and exegetes working on the Hebrew Bible by illustrating how exegesis and language are intimately connected, as well as among geographical contexts by comparing a European database (ETCBC), a North American database (Accordance) and a Southern hemisphere database (Andersen-Forbes).

REREADING TEXTS OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: THE SPIRITUALITY OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN ZIMBABWE

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-98
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
World Music ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Church

The Hebrew Bible depicts that music and dance formed part of worship and reverence of Yahweh in which various musical instruments were played during ancient biblical times. In the modern post-biblical world, music and dance characterise every context of human existence either in moments of love, joy, celebration, victory, sorrow or reverence. In Zimbabwe, music — which is usually accompanied by dance — serves various purposes such as solidarity towards or remonstration against the land reform, despondency against corruption, celebration, giving hope to the sick, worship as in the church or appeasing the dead by those who are culturally-entrenched. Two fundamental questions need to be answered in this article: 1) What was the significance of music and dance in ancient Israel? 2) What is the significance of music and dance in Zimbabwe? In response to the above questions, this essay engages into dialogue the following three contestations. First, texts of music, musical instruments and dance in the Hebrew Bible are discussed in view of their spiritual significance in ancient Israel. Second, this study analyses music and dance from a faith perspective because it appears for the majority of Gospel musicians the biblical text plays a critical role in composing their songs. Third, this article examines music and dance in view of the spirituality which derives from various genres by Zimbabwean musicians in general. In its entirety, this article attempts to show that the Zimbabwean society draws some spirituality from music and dance when devastated by political, cultural or socio-economic crises.

Philosophical Reduction(ism) in Meta-Language Reconstructions of Yhwh as Religious Object

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco W Gericke
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Introductory Overview ◽  
Theory Of Everything ◽  
Interpretative Approach

In Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholarship, one encounters a variety of reductive perspectives on what exactly Yahweh as religious object is assumed to be. In this article, a clarification of the research problem is followed by an introductory overview of what is currently available on this topic as is attested in the context of various interpretative methodologies and their associated meta-languages. It is argued that any attempt to describe the actual metaphysical nature and ontological status of the religious object in the jargon of a particular interpretative approach is forever prone to committing the fallacy of reductionism. Even so, given the irreducible methodological perspectivism supervening on heuristic specificity, reductive accounts as such are unavoidable. If this is correct, then it follows a fortiori that a unified theory (of everything Yahweh can be said to be) and an ideal meta-language (with which to perfectly reconstruct the religious object within second-order discourse) are a priori impossible.

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