“All my bones are out of joint” (Psalm 22:14). The significance of weakness and disability in the Hebrew Bible

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Dolores G. Kamrada
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Psalm 22

What Did the Psalmist Say about His Hands and Feet in Psalm 22:17?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Michael V. Flowers
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Psalm 22 ◽  
Hands And Feet

Abstract Ps 22:17 is among the most controverted verses in the Hebrew Bible, both with respect to its original text and original meaning. The biggest question that text critics and interpreters struggle to answer is what the psalmist said concerning his hands and feet. With so many proposals now on the table and with debates on this text having reached an impasse, it seemed like it would be helpful to present the status quaestionis with regard to this text. Thirteen different proposals are therefore analyzed with a view to their respective merits and demerits. The goal here is to eliminate the proposals that seem least viable and to become more self-conscious about how we judge between the others.

The Hebrew Bible and Great Canaan

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-233
Author(s):  
Ana Fund Patron de Smith
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible

A Pleasing Odour for Yahweh

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Anne Katrine De Hemmer Gudme
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The West ◽  
Sense Of Smell ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Crucial Part

This article investigates the importance of smell in the sacrificial cults of the ancient Mediterranean, using the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim and the Hebrew Bible as a case-study. The material shows that smell was an important factor in delineating sacred space in the ancient world and that the sense of smell was a crucial part of the conceptualization of the meeting between the human and the divine.  In the Hebrew Bible, the temple cult is pervaded by smell. There is the sacred oil laced with spices and aromatics with which the sanctuary and the priests are anointed. There is the fragrant and luxurious incense, which is burnt every day in front of Yahweh and finally there are the sacrifices and offerings that are burnt on the altar as ‘gifts of fire’ and as ‘pleasing odors’ to Yahweh. The gifts that are given to Yahweh are explicitly described as pleasing to the deity’s sense of smell. On Mount Gerizim, which is close to present-day Nablus on the west bank, there once stood a temple dedicated to the god Yahweh, whom we also know from the Hebrew Bible. The temple was in use from the Persian to the Hellenistic period (ca. 450 – 110 BCE) and during this time thousands of animals (mostly goats, sheep, pigeons and cows) were slaughtered and burnt on the altar as gifts to Yahweh. The worshippers who came to the sanctuary – and we know some of them by name because they left inscriptions commemorating their visit to the temple – would have experienced an overwhelming combination of smells: the smell of spicy herbs baked by the sun that is carried by the wind, the smell of humans standing close together and the smell of animals, of dung and blood, and behind it all as a backdrop of scent the constant smell of the sacrificial smoke that rises to the sky.

New Directions in the Computational Analysis of Biblical Hebrew Grammar

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Miller-Naudé ◽  
Jacobus A Naudé
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
North American ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
European Database ◽  
New Directions ◽  
African Context

The concern of the paper is to highlight how computational analysis of Biblical Hebrew grammar can now be done in very sophisticated ways and with insightful results for exegesis. Three databases, namely, the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (ETCBC) Database, the Accordance Hebrew Syntactic Database, and the Andersen-Forbes Syntactic Database,are compared in terms of their relation to linguistic theory (or, theories), the nature and spectrum of retrieved data, and the representation of synchronic and diachronic linguistic variation. Interaction between different contexts, including the African context, are promoted namely between linguists working on Biblical Hebrew and exegetes working on the Hebrew Bible by illustrating how exegesis and language are intimately connected, as well as among geographical contexts by comparing a European database (ETCBC), a North American database (Accordance) and a Southern hemisphere database (Andersen-Forbes).

REREADING TEXTS OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: THE SPIRITUALITY OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN ZIMBABWE

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-98
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
World Music ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Church

The Hebrew Bible depicts that music and dance formed part of worship and reverence of Yahweh in which various musical instruments were played during ancient biblical times. In the modern post-biblical world, music and dance characterise every context of human existence either in moments of love, joy, celebration, victory, sorrow or reverence. In Zimbabwe, music — which is usually accompanied by dance — serves various purposes such as solidarity towards or remonstration against the land reform, despondency against corruption, celebration, giving hope to the sick, worship as in the church or appeasing the dead by those who are culturally-entrenched. Two fundamental questions need to be answered in this article: 1) What was the significance of music and dance in ancient Israel? 2) What is the significance of music and dance in Zimbabwe? In response to the above questions, this essay engages into dialogue the following three contestations. First, texts of music, musical instruments and dance in the Hebrew Bible are discussed in view of their spiritual significance in ancient Israel. Second, this study analyses music and dance from a faith perspective because it appears for the majority of Gospel musicians the biblical text plays a critical role in composing their songs. Third, this article examines music and dance in view of the spirituality which derives from various genres by Zimbabwean musicians in general. In its entirety, this article attempts to show that the Zimbabwean society draws some spirituality from music and dance when devastated by political, cultural or socio-economic crises.

Philosophical Reduction(ism) in Meta-Language Reconstructions of Yhwh as Religious Object

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco W Gericke
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Introductory Overview ◽  
Theory Of Everything ◽  
Interpretative Approach

In Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholarship, one encounters a variety of reductive perspectives on what exactly Yahweh as religious object is assumed to be. In this article, a clarification of the research problem is followed by an introductory overview of what is currently available on this topic as is attested in the context of various interpretative methodologies and their associated meta-languages. It is argued that any attempt to describe the actual metaphysical nature and ontological status of the religious object in the jargon of a particular interpretative approach is forever prone to committing the fallacy of reductionism. Even so, given the irreducible methodological perspectivism supervening on heuristic specificity, reductive accounts as such are unavoidable. If this is correct, then it follows a fortiori that a unified theory (of everything Yahweh can be said to be) and an ideal meta-language (with which to perfectly reconstruct the religious object within second-order discourse) are a priori impossible.

On Agricultural Imagery in Biblical Descriptions of Catastrophes

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14
Author(s):  
Nili Samet
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Mass Killing ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Ancient Israel

This article examines the use of agricultural imagery in biblical literature to embody the destructive force of war and other mass catastrophes. Activities such as vintage, harvest, threshing, and wine-pressing serve as metaphors for the actions of slaughtering, demolition and mass killing. The paper discusses the Ancient Near Eastern origins of the imagery under discussion, and presents the relevant examples from the Hebrew Bible, tracing the development of this absorbing metaphor, and analyzing the different meanings attached to it in different contexts. It shows that the use of destructive agricultural imagery first emerges in ancient Israel as an instance of popular phraseology. In turn, the imagery is employed as a common prophetic motif. The prophetic books examined demonstrate how each prophet appropriates earlier uses of the imagery in prophetic discourse and adapts the agricultural metaphors to suit specific rhetorical needs.

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