Retribution and 1 Sam 12

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
The People ◽  
Divine Retribution ◽  
Divine Violence

The dynamics of retribution and divine characterisation in 2 Sam 11–20 are compared and contrasted with the formulation of divine violence in 1 Sam 12. In 1 Sam 12, retribution is threatened but not yet enacted. Thunder and rain on the people’s crops in 1 Sam 12:18 is educative violence, warning the people for future obedience. The king is sidelined throughout Samuel’s speech, and included in the consequences but not transgression in the formulations for obedience and disobedience, democratising divine retribution from the king to the people in the post-exilic period. God is again characterised as transcendent king and judge, using the language of ‘evil that you have done in the eyes of the LORD.’ God’s words are all mediated through the prophet, and whereas David intercedes on his own behalf in 2 Sam 12, the Israelites must rely on Samuel’s intercession.

Ethnohistorical Archaeology and the Mythscape of the Naga in the Chiang Saen Basin, Thailand

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Piyawit Moonkham
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Local People ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Retribution ◽  
The Town

Abstract There is a northern Thai story that tells how the naga—a mythical serpent—came and destroyed the town known as Yonok (c. thirteenth century) after its ruler became immoral. Despite this divine retribution, the people of the town chose to rebuild it. Many archaeological sites indicate resettlement during this early historical period. Although many temple sites were constructed in accordance with the Buddhist cosmology, the building patterns vary from location to location and illustrate what this paper calls ‘nonconventional patterns,’ distinct from Theravada Buddhist concepts. These nonconventional patterns of temples seem to have been widely practiced in many early historical settlements, e.g., Yonok (what is now Wiang Nong Lom). Many local written documents and practices today reflect the influence of the naga myth on building construction. This paper will demonstrate that local communities in the Chiang Saen basin not only believe in the naga myth but have also applied the myth as a tool to interact with the surrounding landscapes. The myth is seen as a crucial, communicated element used by the local people to modify and construct physical landscapes, meaning Theravada Buddhist cosmology alone cannot explain the nonconventional patterns. As such, comprehending the role of the naga myth enables us to understand how local people, past and present, have perceived the myth as a source of knowledge to convey their communal spaces within larger cosmological concepts in order to maintain local customs and legitimise their social space.

scholarly journals Traditional African religions and their influences on the worldviews of Bangwa people of Cameroon

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Michael T. Ndemanu
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
African Religions ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Retribution

This essay explores the traditional African religious beliefs and practices of the people of Bangwa in the Southwestern region of Cameroon in order to uncover how those beliefs influence their thought processes and worldviews. In the course of rethinking and re-examining their belief systems and their traditional religious practices, the following themes emerged: religious sacrifices, observance of the Sabbath, belief system, incontrovertible belief in God, sorcery and divine retribution, the dead and the living, inequality and class divide, dreams and interpretation, names and religious identity. The implication of the essay is that study abroad should encompass religious studies that help study abroad students learn ways of thinking and knowing of their host countries. 

The Cruel Theology of Ezekiel 20

2017 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gili Kugler
Keyword(s):  
Early Christian ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Retribution

AbstractReaders and commentators throughout the generations engaged with the disturbing statement in the book of Ezekiel, claiming that God gave Israel »statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live« (20:25). Since this statement might have undervalued, as argued in early Christian commentaries, the worth of Jewish rituals, Ezekiel’s words were obscured or narrowed down in later Jewish interpretations. Modern commentators brought the verse back into consideration, indicating the intentions of God to hurt the people as understood from the verse within its context. Nevertheless some of the commentators kept reducing the radical implications of the statement by minimizing it into one specific law or assigning it to a speaker other than God. This article suggests a way to read the statement literarily in view of the historical retrospective in which it is embedded. This historical retrospective involves two contradictory approaches regarding the divine retribution paradigm, making God’s imposition of evil laws upon his people not only plausible but necessary.

Reading the Rejection of Saul Politically

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Popular Participation ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Violence

The rejection of Saul contributes to a pro-Davidic ideology via justification from divine violence and the evidence for divine attachments to Davidic kings. The rejection of Saul also propounds a rejection of an ideology of northern kingship that includes popular participation and support for the monarchy. There are connections between Saul and Jeroboam in 1 Kgs 11–14 and Ahab in 1 Kgs 20:42; and the Assyrian crisis is a likely context for the development of the ideology in these texts. By contrast, in a southern ideology of kingship, the king does not listen to the people except to listen to their cases; the king, not prophet, establishes mishpat, or judgement; and the king protects the people but does not spare enemies.

Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Martha Nussbaum ◽  
Divine Retribution ◽  
Divine Violence ◽  
Book Of Samuel ◽  
Babylonian Exile

Much of the drama, theological paradox, and interpretive interest in the book of Samuel derives from instances of God’s violence in the story. The beginnings of Israel’s monarchy are interwoven with God’s violent rejection of the houses of Eli and of Saul, deaths connected to the Ark of the Covenant, and the outworking of divine retribution after David’s violent appropriation of Bathsheba as his wife. Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel explores these narratives of divine violence from ethical, literary, and political perspectives, in dialogue with the thought of Immanuel Kant, Martha Nussbaum, and Walter Benjamin. The book addresses such questions as: Is the God of Samuel a capricious God with a troubling dark side? Is punishment for sin the only justifiable violence in these narratives? Why does God continue to punish those already declared forgiven? What is the role of God’s emotions in acts of divine violence? In what political contexts might narratives of divine violence against God’s own kings and God’s own people have arisen? The result is a fresh commentary on the dynamics of transgression, punishment, and their upheavals in the book of Samuel. The book offers a sensitive portrayal of God’s literary characterisation, with a focus on divine emotion and its effects. By identifying possible political contexts in which the narratives arose, God’s violence is further illumined through its relation to human violence, northern and southern monarchic ideology, and Judah’s experience of the Babylonian exile.

Reading Retribution in the David Story Politically

2021 ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
Rachelle Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
The People ◽  
Divine Retribution ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Subject Material

Many formulations for the composition of 2 Sam 10–20 suggest that 2 Sam 10–12, or part thereof, are a later addition to an earlier text. It is argued that such an addition is likely to be from the monarchic period and, perhaps counter-intuitively in light of the subject material, supports an ideology of the Davidic dynasty. In 2 Sam 13–20, David is unaccountably weak and slow to quash the coup of his son Absalom. With the inclusion of 2 Sam 12:1–15, David is subject to God’s sovereignty, but divine favour is assured; and threats from the people in his kingdom, from Benjaminites and from within his own family have no possibility of success except as the instrument of divine retribution. A reading of the text is also considered in a post-monarchic period, where forgiveness and restoration after retribution had potential to bring comfort during and after exile.

Big Copyright Versus the People

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Skladany
Keyword(s):  
The People

Politics with the People

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Neblo ◽  
Kevin M. Esterling ◽  
David M. J. Lazer
Keyword(s):  
The People
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document