Blessings and Curses in Deuteronomy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Law ◽  
And Function ◽  
Ancient Texts

The law code of the book of Deuteronomy is capped with a series of blessings and curses that either promise reward or threaten harm upon the individuals subject to the Deuteronomic laws. While this method of divine encouragement to keep the commandments of God might seem surprising from a theological point of view, blessings and curses were an integral part of the legal, political, and religious life of the ancient Near East, found in a variety of ancient texts, including the Hebrew Bible, Neo-Assyrian treaties, and Northwest Semitic inscriptions. Placing the biblical blessings and curses within the larger context of this ancient Near Eastern material provides new insights into the background and function of the blessings and curses in the book of Deuteronomy, and in the Hebrew Bible more generally.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Individual Subject ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Near Eastern Studies

The law code of the book of Deuteronomy is capped with a series of curses that threaten harm upon the individual subject to the legislation, should they fail to keep the Deuteronomic laws. While this method of divine encouragement to keep the commandments of God might seem surprising from a theological point of view, curses were an integral part of the legal, political, and religious life of the ancient Near East. This introduction considers some of the key interpretative questions associated with the curses in Deuteronomy 28, encompassing the apparently paralleled ancient Near Eastern material (and related to this, the problem of the comparative method in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies), and the ritual dimension inherent to the pronouncement of curses and the formulation of treaties in the ancient world.

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.

scholarly journals ‘Die pen is magtiger as die swaard’: Oor skrifgeletterdheid, skrifgeleerdes en Israel se Tweede Tempeltydperk

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerda De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
General Part ◽  
The Law

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’: Literacy and scribes in Israel during the Second Temple period. This article is divided in two parts. Part one examines scribal education and scribes in the ancient Near East and Israel. Although no real evidence exists for scribal schools and education in Israel, it is argued that some form of institutionalised training must have taken place in order to produce literary texts of such a high quality as are found in the Hebrew Bible. Comparative material from Mesopotamia serves to trace the education of scribes in general. Part two focuses on the Second Temple period in ancient Israel. Ezra the scribe emerges as a typical scribe from that era. Post-exilic Israel was grappling with its identity, and sought guidance from ַ [as was written in the Torah]. However, it appears that there were different interpretations of the written Law during this period. Scribes of the Ezra circle advocated a radical policy of exclusivity on the basis of what was written in the Law; others who wrote the texts of Trito-Isaiah and Ruth pleaded for a more inclusive attitude towards foreigners. The conclusion is that the battle was fought not with the sword, but with the pen, therefore: ‘The pen is mightier than the sword.’

Concatenation in Ancient Near East Literature, Hebrew Scripture and Rabbinic Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-92
Author(s):  
Shamir Yona ◽  
Ariel Ram Pasternak
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
Early Use ◽  
Hebrew Scripture

Abstract This paper follows the development of concatenation from its early use in Ancient Near Eastern literature through its use in the Hebrew Bible, in Hebrew Ben-Sira, and ultimately in Rabbinic literature. We demonstrate that the Rabbis adopted this rhetorical pattern for stylistic purposes and also used it as an editing device. The latter use of the rhetorical device in question is only rarely attested in the Hebrew Bible.

The Good, the God, and the Ugly: The Role of the Beloved Monster in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-145
Author(s):  
Ryan S. Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Near East ◽  
Speculative Fiction ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Contemporary Speculative Fiction

Ancient Near Eastern texts teem with horrifying and grotesque beings that pose some significant threat to the cosmos, humanity, and its institutions. Adopting Noël Carroll’s definition, such beings are monsters: interstitial not only physiologically and ontologically, but also cosmically and morally. This essay takes a comparative and literary approach to beloved monsters in Ugaritic, Mesopotamian, and Hebrew Bible texts. It suggests that in Ugarit and Mesopotamia, such monsters play a crucial role in advancing the goals of antipathic heroes while maintaining the integrity of sympathetic deities. It then considers the beloved monster in the Hebrew Bible and its interpretations. Finally, the essay makes note of the phenomenon’s transformation in contemporary speculative fiction. The essay argues that the beloved monster in Ugarit and Mesopotamia keeps together a fragmented cosmos, while in the Hebrew Bible it refracts through the facets in a prismatic God.

scholarly journals WEATHER, AGRICULTURE, AND RELIGION IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Perichoresis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-124
Author(s):  
Aurelian Botica
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Concept Of God

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine those areas of agricultural and religious life that intersected with each and influenced the way people thought of God (or the gods). We will start with the premise that in the Ancient Near East religion was intrinsically connected to agriculture and fertility, though not entirely defined by them. It is also plausible that people shared a concept of God (gods) that at times was shaped by their interaction with natural phenomena like rain, drought, storms, flooding, and animal and crop plagues. In this sense, scholars have noted the connection between “fertility” and religious life, even though some remain caution of pushing this connection too far. To evaluate the strength of this idea we will examine a number of cultic texts that appear to have presumed the link between weather, agriculture and religion. In particular, we will focus on references to weather/ storm/ fertility gods. In the later part of our study, we will ask to what extent Biblical men and women were influenced by Ancient Near Eastern religious thought. We will also explore the concept of the link between agriculture, weather and religion in Greek religious texts.

scholarly journals Bitenosh’s Orgasm, Galen’s Two Seeds and Conception Theory in the Hebrew Bible

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-63
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Sexual Pleasure ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Medical Issues ◽  
Genesis Apocryphon

Abstract In the Genesis Apocryphon, Lamech worries that his son is illegitimate and accordingly confronts his wife about her fidelity. Bitenosh answers these accusations with a surprising response: she asks her husband to recall the sexual pleasure that she experienced during their intercourse. Scholars have clarified this rhetorical strategy by connecting the episode to Greco-Roman theories of embryogenesis, in which a woman’s pleasure during intercourse was taken to indicate conception. While this provides a convincing explanation for Bitenosh’s argumentation, in this essay I argue that rather than deriving these ideas from the Greco-Roman world, the conception theory which informed the Genesis Apocryphon is in fact consistent with notions that can already be found in the Hebrew Bible and the wider ancient Near East. By exploring the concept of conception in biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts, I uncover a belief in the necessity for female pleasure during intercourse as well as the existence of female “seed.” These ancient authors were able to develop and promote significant reflections upon medical issues such as conception, and this is recalled in Bitenosh’s speech. This essay therefore has significant implications for understanding concepts of sex and conception in the Genesis Apocryphon, as well as in the Hebrew Bible and the wider ancient Near East more generally.

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