The Rise and Impending Demise of Wisdom Literature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Kynes
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Biblical Texts

After summarizing the growing doubts about the Wisdom category, this chapter traces the development of Wisdom scholarship in the twentieth century, focusing on the question of the category’s limits. Despite efforts to limit its spread, in recent scholarship Wisdom has extended both across the Hebrew Bible and to the “heart of the Israelite experience of God.” As in the similar expansion of Wisdom in the Psalter, Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient Near East (analogous to the spread of Deuteronomistic texts), attempts to define Wisdom resort eventually to the scholarly consensus concerning which biblical texts make up the category’s core. This factor carries all the weight in the current debates about Wisdom, and yet little research has been put into how this consensus developed or how it affects interpretation.

The Roots of Solomonic ‘Wisdom’ in the Pre-exilic Period (Focusing on Proverbs)

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-111
Author(s):  
Katharine J. Dell
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Wisdom Tradition ◽  
Relationship Of

The concern of this chapter is to explore the possibility of a vibrant and living wisdom tradition in the pre-exilic period. Whilst this used to be a ‘given’ of scholarship, the tendency towards later and later dating in recent scholarship has led to the need to reaffirm such ideas. Three approaches are taken—first a literary-historical one; second a theological one, and finally a comparative one. The focus is on the book of Proverbs, since it is arguments on the relative dating of parts of Proverbs that are of major concern, as well as the wider issue of whether the thought-world of wisdom was in the consciousness of early Israelites. It is found that there is a closer relationship of ‘wisdom literature’ to mainstream Yahwism than has often been thought with the key theological theme of God as creator providing an essential link. Links of the theological outlook of Proverbs with other parts of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and with the ancient cultures of the ancient Near East confirm these conclusions.

scholarly journals Praise by animals in the Hebrew Bible

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 500-513
Author(s):  
Peter Joshua Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Biblical Texts

Among ancient Near Eastern societies was a widespread and particularly intriguing belief that animals were able to worship and praise deities. This study shows the Hebrew Bible evidences the idea that animals were capable of praising God too and proceeds to observe and document the presence of numerous examples of this in specific biblical texts. Through understanding the place of animals in the Hebrew Bible, and their perceived activity in the ancient Near East, this study suggests animals are distinct agents of praise in their own right in the biblical texts.

prayer, Jewish

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan C. Reif
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Fixed Times ◽  
The Temple

Although some of the inspiration for later Jewish prayers undoubtedly came from the ancient Near East and the early books of the Hebrew Bible, there was at that early period of development little connection between the formal liturgy, as represented by the Temple cult, and the spontaneous entreaties of the individual. During the Second Temple period, the two methods of expression began to coalesce, and the literature included among the Dead Sea Scrolls testifies to the recitation of regular prayers at fixed times. The Talmudic rabbis laid down instructions for some statutory prayers, such as the shema‘ and the ‘amidah, and these gradually formed the basis of what became the synagogal liturgy.

5. The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Shed Light

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed light on the canonization of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period. They provide us with exemplars of their biblical texts and how they used them in an authoritative manner. ‘The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls’ explains that the sectarian concept of authoritative scriptures seemed to reflect a dual pattern of authority by which the traditional biblical texts served as the source of the sectarian interpretation that in turn was defined by it. The authority was graded, beginning with the biblical books and extending to other books that were not eventually included in the canon.

4. New light on the Hebrew Bible

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Text Types ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Texts

‘New light on the Hebrew Bible’ investigates what the Dead Sea Scrolls can tell us about the textual diversity and canonicity of the Hebrew Bible. Before the scrolls were discovered, Hebrew manuscripts generally dated back to the medieval period. The Qumran texts, dating to between 250 bce and 100 ce, tell us what the Bible was like before its standardization. Errors from copying gave rise to different text-types, and the Dead Sea Scrolls showed that there were far more text-types than previously thought. Variations in readings of the Hebrew Bible and other ancient sources show there was greater diversity in biblical texts than previously realized.

scholarly journals Jubilee in the Bible

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
James A. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead

The concept of the Jubilee, or the collective forgiveness of all debts and debtor/slaves, had its origins in the Ancient Near East where it was a secular practice of kings. It came into the Bible originally also as a secular practice of kings but then became the province of priests and a calendar observance to be celebrated every 50 years. It was finally understood in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament to rest in the hands of God alone, an eschatological concept of the forgiveness of all debts/sins and the redemption of all human sins, or debts to God, that became the very basis of the theological history of Luke/Acts.

“Four Kingdoms” in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-233
Author(s):  
Nadav Sharon
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
World History ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Book Of Daniel

Abstract The “Four Empires” scheme appears in literature from around the ancient Near East, as well as in the biblical book of Daniel. Daniel’s scheme was adopted in subsequent Jewish literature as a basic division of world history. In addition, the book of Daniel appears to have had a prominent place in the Qumran library. Scholars have identified, or suggested, the existence of the “Four Empires” scheme in two texts found among the Qumran scrolls, the “New Jerusalem” text (4Q554), and, especially, in the so-called “Four Kingdoms”(!) text (4Q552–553). This paper will examine these texts, will argue that the “four empires” scheme is not attested in the Qumran scrolls (apart from Daniel), and will suggest alternative understandings of those two texts.

The Pursuit of Wisdom at Qumran

2021 ◽  
pp. 616-634
Author(s):  
Matthew Goff
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Genre Theory ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
The Dead

In recent years, the category of Wisdom Literature, primarily a designation for a type of biblical literature, has been applied to texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. At the same time, the usefulness of Wisdom as a literary category has been questioned. This situation prompts us to examine why we have the category, what its limitations and problems are, and also to assess its value. Genre theory encourages us to understand the nature of Wisdom as a literary category, recognizing that it is not simply a taxonomic scheme but also an etic and constructed convention of reading. Employing this category to classify texts, from both the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, has pragmatic value for interpreters despite its limitations, since it helps us recognize the affinities between texts so classified and better understand the pedagogy of ancient Judaism.

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