The Dates of the 587/6 BCE Capture and Destruction of Jerusalem

Textus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Henk de Waard

Abstract The present article examines the dates of the 587/6 BCE capture and destruction of Jerusalem, which differ across the parallel accounts in 2 Kgs 24:18–25:21 and Jer 52:1–30. I argue that the Masoretic Text of Jer 52:6 gives the correct date of Jerusalem’s capture, even though the relevant phrase is a later insertion. In addition, I propose a new solution for the problem of the variant dates of the city’s destruction. According to this solution, the original date has been preserved by 2 Kgs 25:8, while the date given in Jer 52:12 has been influenced by an incorrect assumption about the date of the capture.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jürg Hutzli

Abstract This article deals with two theological paradoxes in the Book of Esther (Masoretic Text). Arguably, the most striking characteristic of the book is that it does not mention God. At the same time, the two Jewish protagonists bear names that are identical with, or at least strongly reminiscent of, those of the Babylonian deities Marduk and Ištar. While the author of Esther seems to completely ignore the cultic laws of the Pentateuch, at the end of the book he strongly emphasizes the foundation of the Purim feast. Although each of these four topics has been dealt with in scholarship, they are seldomly—and if so, only partly—investigated with regard to their mutual coherence. In aiming to do this, the present article undertakes to reevaluate the theological profile of the Book of Esther (as expressed in the Masoretic Text) as well as its historical location. As for the latter question, the intriguing statement related to “relief and deliverance coming to the Jews from another place” in Est 4:14 provides an important hint.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
James Frohlich ◽  
Henk de Waard

Abstract Jeremiah 52 largely parallels 2 Kgs 25, and Jer 40–43 contains various sentences that are also found in 2 Kgs 25:22–26. The present article compares these parallel texts, in order to determine the relationship between the Masoretic text of Jeremiah and the book’s Old Greek translation. It concludes that this relationship is complex, but that the agreements between the Greek text of Jeremiah and the Hebrew text of Kings support the view that the Old Greek of Jeremiah reflects an early Hebrew version of the book.


2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Ausloos

Despite the simplicity from a linguistic perspective, the formula וַיִּקְבֹּר אֹתוֹ in Deuteronomy 34:6 has been at the origins of a vivid discussion amongst its interpreters. Most of the time, this formula, in which an explicit subject is missing, is interpreted as having YHWH, who is mentioned in the final part of the foregoing verse, as its subject. As such, it is YHWH who is considered as the one who buried Moses. Nevertheless, other interpretations are equally possible. In Hebrew, a third person singular verbal form can also be used in order to refer to an unidentified subject (‘one’). A comparison of the Masoretic Text of Deuteronomy 34:6 to the Versiones makes clear that the latter apparently has been the interpretation of the Septuagint translator, even if one cannot be sure whether its plural verbal form ἔθαψαν is because of the interpretation of the Greek translator or to a different Hebrew Vorlage. Moreover, the comparison of the different textual witnesses of Deuteronomy 34:6 makes clear that a conclusive answer to the question whether the singular (וַיִּקְבֹּר) or the plural form (וַיּקְבְּרוּ) is the ‘more original’ seems to be impossible.Contribution: Refraining from historical-critical or theological prejudices, the present article evaluates the possibilities as to the issue who buried Moses, according to Deuteronomy 34:8. It demonstrates that on the basis of textual evidences as witnessed by the Versiones, a univocal interpretation should not be imposed to the text. Interpreting difficult Bible passages is one of the core focusses of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ronnie Goldstein

Abstract This study focuses on the difficult ending of 1 Sam 20:41 in the Masoretic text (MT): וַיִּבְכּוּ אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ עַד דָּוִד הִגְדִּיל, rendered normally as “They wept together; David wept the longer.” Many have pointed out the peculiarity of this phrase, and different emendations were proposed, based mainly on the LXX. The present article suggests an emendation of 1 Sam 20:41, according to which the original text read here עד בור הגדול. The mention of the “Great Cistern” at the end of the previous story in the Book of Samuel (19:22), provides strong support for this suggestion. It is proposed that the mention of the “Great Cistern” in the original text intended to narrow the geographical gaps between the different stories about David and Saul.


2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 303
Author(s):  
Jacek Stefański

The present article points out some liturgical implications which proceed from the unity between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist in the Mass. To better understand this unity, an etymological analysis of certain Hebrew terms in the Masoretic Text is provided. Such an analysis helps us understand the relationship between the two aspects of the one Word of God, as the Word uttered by the Father and as the Word made flesh. A proper awareness of this relationship leads to an enhanced understanding of the Mass in accord with the Church’s teaching about the Eucharist.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-332
Author(s):  
B. E. Bruning

Exodus 35–40, a text-critical and literary-historical crux, reports the construction of the Tabernacle in two forms, neither of which conforms exactly to the instructions for the Tabernacle that Moses receives in chapters 25–31. The two surviving forms of the construction report differ in both the length and the order of their reports: the shorter form of chapters 35–40, now attested only by the Old Greek (OG) translation of Exodus, and the longer, attested in all known Hebrew manuscripts. The most dramatic difference appears in the two forms of chapters 36–39, the manufacture of the Tabernacle’s components; but a similar pattern is also evident in the two forms of Exodus 40, where the assembly of the Tabernacle is related. In light of the evidence of textual pluriformity of scriptural books in the later Second-Temple claim and increasing scholarly confidence in the testimony of OG translators and its use, many now argue that literary edition, not translation, accounts for the diverging forms of Exodus 35–40. Further examination of Exodus 35–40 in light of this claim remains a desideratum. The present article examines Exodus 40 in its two forms, the shorter in OG and the longer in the Masoretic Text (MT) and the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), as a means of exploring the implications of the claim that OG and MT (etc.) represent variant literary editions of Hebrew texts of Exodus 35–40. Not only does a shorter Hebrew text of Exodus 40 appear to be both the Vorlage of OG and the basis of a revised, expanded edition now attested in MT and SP, but it also suggests an even earlier form of Exodus 40, part of which is now incorporated into Leviticus 8. Recognition of this multi-stage development of Exodus 40 suggests that an already composite, pre-pentateuchal Tabernacle Account (now found in Exodus–Numbers) stands before the Pentateuch represented by the MT especially in Exodus–Numbers. If so, scholarly accounts of both the composition and the transmission of the Pentateuch – or rather, its composition-and-transmission history – are due significant revision, beginning with reassessment of the textual evidence of the Tabernacle chapters in OG Exodus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 673-686
Author(s):  
Gary A. Rendsburg

Abstract This article responds to M. J. Albanese, “What the Holy Seed Defiled: The Textual Problem of Genesis 49:4,” VT 69 (2019): 1‒18. Instead of proposing textual emendation to solve the so-called “problem” in Gen 49:4, the present article uses a literary-stylistic approach to argue in favour of the Masoretic Text (MT).


2003 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Duriez ◽  
Claudia Appel ◽  
Dirk Hutsebaut

Abstract: Recently, Duriez, Fontaine and Hutsebaut (2000) and Fontaine, Duriez, Luyten and Hutsebaut (2003) constructed the Post-Critical Belief Scale in order to measure the two religiosity dimensions along which Wulff (1991 , 1997 ) summarized the various possible approaches to religion: Exclusion vs. Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs. Symbolic. In the present article, the German version of this scale is presented. Results obtained in a heterogeneous German sample (N = 216) suggest that the internal structure of the German version fits the internal structure of the original Dutch version. Moreover, the observed relation between the Literal vs. Symbolic dimension and racism, which was in line with previous studies ( Duriez, in press ), supports the external validity of the German version.


Author(s):  
Odile Husain

Le présent article tente d’effectuer un rapprochement entre un article européen de Rossel et Merceron et un livre américain de Reid Meloy, tous deux consacrés à l’analyse des organisations psychopathiques. Si tous les auteurs s’entendent sur l’économie narcissique du psychopathe, le choix de la population d’étude diffère quelque peu, en raison de l’approche structurale des premiers et de l’approche symptomatique du second. Tandis que l’étude suisse ne retient que des psychopathes du registre des états-limites, l’étude américaine inclut également des psychopathes de niveau psychotique. Par contre, la mésentente règne au niveau des outils d’analyse du discours psychopathique: analyse statistique et échelles validées chez Meloy; approche qualitative chez Rossel et Merceron. Aux premiers, l’on reprochera un certain réductionisme et appauvrissement du discours, prix à payer pour le respect de la standardisation et de la cotation. Aux seconds, l’on reprochera l’absence de toute quantification qui pose problème lorsque l’on aborde la question de la validité des données. Néanmoins, Européens et Américains s’entendent sur la notion d’un fonctionnement psychopathique. La relation d’objet est marquée par la pulsion agressive et ses dérivatifs, par la recherche de pouvoir et de contrôle. La lutte contre la dépendance est déduite chez Meloy de l’absence de réponse de texture et chez Rossel et Merceron de l’absence de contenus de dépendance. La qualité narcissique des représentations d’objet est mise en évidence, chez Meloy, par le biais de l’investissement du paraître, chez Rossel et Merceron par l’importance du processus d’externalisation. La dévalorisation des objets est aussi décrite. Ni les uns ni les autres ne font réellement référence à l’angoisse car cette angoisse qualifiable d’anaclitique s’exprime justement sous des manifestations tout à fait opposées. Le vide intérieur est déduit, chez Meloy, à partir de l’ennui que vit le psychopathe et, chez Rossel et Merceron, à partir de la survalorisation de la référence au réel. Une grande convergence existe entre les deux écrits au sujet des mécanismes de défense. Tous les auteurs s’accordent sur la prépondérance du clivage et du déni, un déni par le mot et l’acte chez Meloy, un déni hypomaniaque chez Rossel et Merceron. De part et d’autre de l’Atlantique, on s’accorde également pour attribuer une place importante à l’identification projective et à l’identification à l’agresseur. Par ailleurs, Rossel et Merceron démontrent comment à travers les caractéristiques de l’énonciation et les nuances de la verbalisation du psychopathe, il est possible d’inférer son non-investissement de la mentalisation et du savoir au profit d’un surinvestissement de l’agir. La complémentarité, voire la similarité, des commentaires dans les deux ouvrages devrait réconforter certains cliniciens, désarmés devant le fossé qui semble parfois régner entre la littérature des deux continents et confirmer, qu’indépendamment du type de méthodologie et de validation choisi, l’observation clinique du psychologue expérimenté demeure la pierre angulaire de toute recherche en psychopathologie.


2011 ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
A. Belyanin ◽  
I. Egorov

The paper is devoted to Maurice Allais, the Nobel prize winner and one of the most original and deep-thinking economist whose centenary is celebrated this year. The authors describe his contributions to economics, and his place in contemporary science - economics and physics, as well as his personality and philosophy. Scientific works by Allais, albeit translated into Russian, still remain little known. The present article aims to fill this gap and to pay tribute to this outstanding intellectual and academic, who deceased last year, aged 99.


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