Priestly Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible: A Summary of Recent Scholarship and a Narrative Reading

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52
Author(s):  
David Janzen
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Recent Scholarship

Sin and Punishment in the Book of Isaiah

2020 ◽  
pp. 248-264
Author(s):  
Blaženka Scheuer
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Book Of Isaiah ◽  
Recent Scholarship

This chapter explores the themes of sin and punishment through the lens of a theodicy that the authors and redactors of Isaiah offer to justify Yhwh’s actions and to instruct the Israelites to stay loyal to him. The three parts of Isaiah agree that the exile was Yhwh’s punishment for the Israelites’ rebellion demonstrated through social injustice and idolatry. However, because of the different historical realities that they address, they present varied understandings of the identity of the sinners and of the rationale for their punishment. The chapter also surveys the changes in recent scholarship in the study of sin and of the correspondence between sin and punishment in the Hebrew Bible. It draws attention to the fact that amid all the declarations of the Israelites’ sins, Isaiah gives voice to the human experience of unjust punishment.

scholarly journals Judas or Jesus’ Other Disciples? The Old Testament or Jesus’ Word? A Mysterious Reference to the “Scripture” in John 17:12

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-176
Author(s):  
Adam Kubiś
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Recent Scholarship

The fulfillment of “the Scriptures” in John 17:12 has long been a bone of contention among commentators on the Fourth Gospel. The majority of authors have argued that ἡ γραφή unmistakably refers to a passage in the Hebrew Bible. Wendy Sproston (North) and Francis Moloney, however, picking up on an earlier observation by Edwin Freed, suggest Jesus’ own words as a more appropriate referent of ἡ γραφή in this verse. The issue of the correct scriptural referent is intrinsically connected with the question of the thematic referent within the verse in question. As it turns out, the fulfillment of the scripture can refer to either the tragic fate of Judas or the preserving of Jesus’ other disciples. The article surveys recent scholarship on these issues in order to identify the most convincing solutions.

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.

“Even unto this Bitter Loving”: Unhappiness and Backward Feelings in Ruth

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Rhiannon Graybill
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Well Of Loneliness

Feminist and queer readings of the Hebrew Bible frequently treat the book of Ruth as a “happy object.” At the same time, contextual readings have suggested that Ruth is a narrative of exploitation, including possible sexual exploitation or trafficking. Building on recent scholarship about queer feelings and affect, this article negotiates a reading that takes seriously both the history of lesbian and queer readings of Ruth and Naomi and the critical attention on structures of exploitation. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s The Promise of Happiness (2010) and Heather Love’s Feeling Backward (2007), I argue for the importance of feeling, especially unhappy or backward feeling, in reading Ruth. My reading also frames the biblical book in conversation with Radclyffe Hall’s classic 1928 lesbian novel (and source for lesbian and queer theory) The Well of Loneliness. By following unhappiness and backwardness in and around Ruth, we are able to snatch a glimpse of queer feeling, and the space of promise it opens.

Abimelech the manly man? Judges 9.1-57 and the performance of hegemonic masculinity

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-316
Author(s):  
Jon-Michael Carman
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Subordinate Male ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Persuasive Speech ◽  
Point Of Departure

Feminist readings have long noted the gender anxiety present in the closing portion of Judges 9.1-57 where, in his last moments, Abimelech implores his armor bearer to cut him down lest he be remembered as a man killed by a woman. Utilizing Abimelech’s dying, gendered fear as a point of departure, the present study undertakes a ‘masculinist’ reading of Judges 9.1-57, exploring the ways in which Abimelech’s anxiety regarding his status as a ‘true man’ are present in the narrative. Adopting a model of idealized Hebrew masculinity derived from David Clines’ seminal work on David and augmented by recent scholarship on masculinity readings and the Hebrew Bible, the analysis demonstrates that Abimelech is a ‘subordinate’ male desperately seeking to act as a ‘hegemonic’ male. Ultimately, however, Abimelech’s performance of idealized masculinity falls short as he fails in the categories of martial prowess, wise and persuasive speech, and peer to peer bonding.

scholarly journals Clothing, Conformity, and Power: Garment Imagery in the Book of Esther

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Laura Quick ◽  
Ellena Lyell
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Narrative Functions ◽  
The Many

Abstract Recent scholarship has shown a burgeoning interest in the narrative functions and implications of references to dress and adornment in the Hebrew Bible. Yet the many references to the various clothing items and associated acts of dressing and undressing in the book of Esther have been less explored. In fact, the book of Esther weaves a complex tapestry of garment imagery, and untangling this tapestry is essential to properly interpreting this text. Through dress, characters can communicate their conformity to certain conventional expectations, affecting the ways in which other characters relate and behave towards them. Characters can utilize dress to express their protest, or conversely hide their true intentions. Crucially, differences in clothing develop distinctions between the power and status of the various characters. Clothing therefore has discrete and important functions in the book of Esther, providing new access to understanding characterisation and plot.

Die Kanaan-Karten des R. Salomo Ben Isaak (Raschi) – Bedeutung und Gebrauch mittelalterlicher hebräischer Karten-Diagramme

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-350
Author(s):  
Kay Joe Petzold
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Almost All

AbstractR. Shlomo Yitṣḥaki (Hebrew: שלמה יצחקי), generally known by the acronym Rashi, was a medieval French rabbi who lived between 1040 and 1105 in Troyes (Champagne). Rashi was the author of two comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and on the Tanakh. His commentary on the Talmud, which covers nearly all of the Babylonian Talmud (a total of 30 tractates), has been included in every edition of the Talmud since its first printing by Daniel Bomberg in the 1520 s. His commentary on the most books of the Tanakh – especially on the Chumash – is still an indispensable exegetical tool to almost all students of the Hebrew Bible. This perush al ha-Torah supplemented almost all printed Hebrew Bibles or Chumash Editions and initiated more than 300 super-commentaries, which analyze and elucidate Rashi’s choices of exegesis, grammar, variant readings, Masora and midrash citations. The manuscript editions of his commentary were augmented with various map diagrams of Erets Israel, which disappeared in the printed editions of the Rashi commentary. Abraham Berliner mentioned this loss and recent scholarship is rediscovering these Rashi diagrams and maps. This paper elucidates the so-called Numeri 34 map-diagrams in the oldest extant manuscripts of the Rashi commentary, and their refinement and recycling within the Masora (figurata) of Ashkenazi bible manuscripts.

Love and Hate in Deuteronomy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Mirguet
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Interpersonal Context ◽  
Affective Meaning ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Public Context

This chapter reviews recent scholarship on the roots “love” (אהב) and “hate” (שׂנא) used in Deuteronomy in both an interpersonal context and the description of the covenant between the Israelites and their deity. Scholarship has mainly focused on the uses of love and hate and in covenants and treaties, in the Hebrew Bible and the Near East more broadly; in this literary context, the two terms express the covenantal partners’ duties. More recently, scholars have questioned whether the terms, especially love, maintain a primary affective meaning. Drawing upon the cultural and historical study of emotions, this chapter underscores the contrast between contemporary Western concepts of love and hate—which tend to be understood as private and internal feelings—and the biblical uses of love and hate—which rather describe visible practices, performed in a social and often public context.

Recent Scholarship in Spanish Literature

1968 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-124
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Literature ◽  
Recent Scholarship
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