Different Names of God

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Schäfer
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
High Priest ◽  
The Temple

This chapter addresses a problem that must have plagued the rabbis a great deal: the undeniable fact that the Hebrew Bible uses various names for God, most prominent among them Elohim and the tetragrammaton YHWH. Both names attracted the attention and curiosity of Gentiles, the latter because of the mystery surrounding it—it was originally used only by the High Priest entering the Holy of Holies of the Temple, and its proper pronunciation was deemed lost—and the former because it is grammatically a plural and hence could easily give rise to the idea that the Jews worshiped not just one God but several gods. The “heretics” apparently knew enough Hebrew to seize the opportunity and insinuate that the Jews were no different in this regard than the pagans and indeed accepted the notion of a pantheon of various gods.

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.

JUXTAPOSING LITERARY AND DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE: A NEW COPY OF THE SO-CALLED HELIODOROS STELE AND THE CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM IUDAEAE/PALAESTINAE (CIIP)

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
HANNAH M. COTTON-PALTIEL ◽  
AVNER ECKER ◽  
DOV GERA
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
High Priest ◽  
The Third ◽  
Multiple Copies ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Temple

Abstract This article was prompted by the recent discovery of two more copies of the so-called ‘Heliodoros Stele’ from Maresha. A second one from Byblos was published in 2015. The third one, re-discovered recently and published here for the first time, also comes from Maresha. The steles bear Seleukos IV's epistolary prostagma from 178 bc to his vizier Heliodoros, and forwarded to other officials with the instruction to display it in public. It contains an appointment of one Olympiodoros to be high priest in Koele Syria and Phoenicia. Both Seleukos IV and Heliodoros also appear in the story of the plundering of the Temple related in II Maccabees 3. The existence of multiple copies, though hardly surprising, made us suspect the king's apologetic tone and identify the ‘reform’ as an attempt to embellish the withdrawal of previously bestowed privileges on the Jews (so Josephus) as well as on others.

A Gold Ring in a Swine’s Snout (Prov 11:22)

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-150
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dominant Model ◽  
Golden Calf ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Votive Offerings

This chapter explores jewellery in the Hebrew Bible in light of the material evidence from the ancient Levant. I consider the function of jewellery in biblical texts, focused upon how these objects modify and ritualize the body. The ability of jewellery to index personhood is utilized in order to explore and unpack the use of jewellery in votive offerings. Moving beyond these insights, I then turn to the recovery of amulets inscribed with biblical passages—the earliest written evidence for biblical literature. As amulets, these objects served an apotropaic, ritual function. In biblical texts, we see this in action in the production of the golden calf, which is made from the jewellery of the Israelites. Such items therefore provide access to dimensions of personal religion and religious worship carried out outside of the official sphere. But by making sure that jewellery was utilized in the furnishing of the Temple, the biblical writers circumscribe this personal piety, making it compliant to the larger dominant model of the official Temple cult.

1200 Jahre von Abrahams Geburt bis zum Tempelbau

2014 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Koenen
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Temple

According to the salvation-historical concept of the Hebrew Bible (MT), Solomon started building the temple exactly 1200 years after Abraham was born. The 480 (= 12 × 40) years between the exodus and the building of the temple are preceded by 430 years in Egypt, which correspond to the 430 years between the building of the temple and its destruction, according to biblical chronology. The 430 years in Egypt are preceded by the 215 years (half of 430) of the ancestors’ stay in Canaan. In order to ensure that events align with the time period of 1200 years, Abraham’s move to Canaan is dated in his 75Selon la conception de l’histoire du salut de la Bible hébraïque (TM), Salomon aurait débuté la construction du Temple exactement 1200 ans après la naissance d’Abraham. La période de 480 (= 12 × 40) ans entre l’Exode et la construction du Temple est précédée par les 430 ans du séjour en Egypte, qui correspondent aux 430 ans qui séparent la construction du Temple de sa destruction, selon la chronologie biblique. Les 430 ans en Egypte sont précédés par 215 ans (moitié de 430) de séjour des Patriarches en Canaan. Afin d’obtenir le chiffre global de 1200 ans, la migration d’Abraham en Canaan a été datée de sa 75ème année. Ces dates veulent indiquer que c’est Dieu qui dirige l’histoire; elles ne sont en conséquence pas exploitables historiquement.Nach der heilsgeschichtlichen Konzeption der Hebräischen Bibel (MT) begann Salomo mit dem Tempelbau genau 1200 Jahre nach Abrahams Geburt. Den 480 (= 12 × 40) Jahren zwischen Exodus und Tempelbau gehen 430 Jahre Ägyptenaufenthalt voran, die den 430 Jahren entsprechen, die dem Tempelbau nach biblischer Chronologie bis zur Tempelzerstörung folgen. Den 430 Jahren in Ägypten gehen 215 Jahre (Hälfte von 430) der Väter in Kanaan voran. Um auf insgesamt 1200 Jahre zu kommen, wurde Abrahams Umzug nach Kanaan in sein 75. Lebensjahr datiert. Die Daten wollen zeigen, dass Gott die Geschichte lenkt; sie sind folglich historisch nicht auswertbar.

John the Evangelist

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-98
Author(s):  
John Behr
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
The Body ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
High Priest ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Temple

Chapter One explores the figure of John and his Gospel from historical testimony given in the second and third century CE and as treated in contemporary scholarship. The John who wrote the Gospel, the chapter argues, was not the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles, but the disciple of the Lord, the Elder who resided in Ephesus. The first part of this chapter also examines, on the basis of the historical evidence, the occasion for the writing of the Gospel, and argues for the unity of the Johannine corpus (including the Apocalypse). The second part of the chapter turns to the description given by Polycrates of Ephesus that John wore the ‘petalon’ in Jerusalem, that is, that he was the high priest of the temple, which, this chapter argues, refers to the fact that, in the Gospel of John, he alone amongst the disciples stood at the foot of the cross as the body of Jesus was lifted up upon the cross as the true Temple. It was, moreover, as this chapter shows, only the followers of John who had an annual celebration of Pascha, held on 14 Nissan, until the mid to late second century, when others began to celebrate this feast on the following Sunday, leading to the Quartodeciman controversy, the association of Sunday with the Resurrection, and the development of the Tridium, the three-day celebration of the Passion.

Sacrificial Practice and Language

2018 ◽  
pp. 461-476
Author(s):  
Christian A. Eberhart
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Ritual Theory ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Ambivalent Attitude ◽  
Cleansing Of The Temple ◽  
The Temple

This chapter deals with sacrificial practice and language among the earliest Christians according to New Testament literature. It notes the ambivalent attitude of Jesus towards Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem and its sacrificial worship, which is manifest in the episode called ‘Cleansing of the Temple’ (Mark 11:15–19). This tendency probably led early Christians to discontinue actual sacrificial practices in their own worship; New Testament texts mention the Jewish sacrificial cult occasionally, but mostly employ sacrificial metaphors. The only exception is the celebration of the Eucharist, which appears as a renewal ritual to substitute for the early Jewish sacrificial cult. Hence this chapter explores sacrificial rituals in the Hebrew Bible, first, through a ritual theory approach and, second, with a theological perspective. The New Testament authors embrace the latter in their use of sacrificial metaphors in Christological concepts and paraenetic contexts.

When Gods Become Bureaucrats

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-209
Author(s):  
Richard Cole
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Norse Myth ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Temple

AbstractEven gods are not always above bureaucracy. Societies very different from each other have entertained the idea that the heavens might be arranged much like an earthly bureaucracy, or that mythological beings might exercise their power in a way that makes them resembles bureaucrats. The best-known case is the Chinese “celestial bureaucracy,” but the idea is also found in (to take nearly random examples) Ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the Hebrew Bible, Late Antiquity, and modern popular culture. The primary sources discussed in this essay pertain to an area of history where bureaucracy was historically underdeveloped, namely medieval Scandinavia. Beginning with the Glavendrup runestone from the 900s, I examine a way of thinking about divine power that seems blissfully bureaucracy-free. Moving forwards in time to Adam of Bremen’s description of the temple at Uppsala (1040s–1070s), I find traces of a tentative, half-formed bureaucracy in the fading embers of Scandinavian paganism. In the 1220s, well into the Christian era, I find Snorri Sturluson concocting a version of Old Norse myth which proposes a novel resolution between the non-bureaucratic origins of his mythological corpus and the burgeoning bureacratization of High Medieval Norway. Although my focus is on medieval Scandinavia, transhistorical comparisons are frequently drawn with mythological bureaucrats from other times and places. In closing, I synthesise this comparative material with historical and anthropological theories of the relationship between bureaucracy and the divine.

Alcimus’ Last Command

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-102
Author(s):  
Daniel Lanzinger
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Military Operation ◽  
High Priest ◽  
The Temple

The note in 1 Maccabees 9:54 that the high priest Alcimus ordered the destruction of the wall of the inner temple court is taken by most scholars as a description of a historical event. This paper, however, suggests that the note should rather be read as part of a pro-Maccabean propaganda which serves to defame Alcimus. It is argued that, from a historical perspective, it was not Alcimus but Judas who was responsible for serious damage at the temple precinct as a result of his unsuccessful military operation against the Seleucid Acra (6:18-54). The author of 1 Maccabees tries to downplay this event and to villainise Alcimus by calling destruction what was actually restoration. The paper ends with a comparison to two other passages in 1 Maccabees (4:44-46 and 5:55-62) which shows that the suggested understanding of 9:54 fits well the strategies of legitimisation and delegitimisation that can be found throughout the book.

scholarly journals The office of prophets as an emergency measure

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph J. De Bruyn
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
History Of ◽  
Emergency Measure ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Prophetic Office

Initially there was not supposed to be a prophetic office in Israel. ‘Prophetism’ was considered to be part of work that the priests performed. Thus, the priests were seen to be acting as prophets. Generally speaking, the prophets of the Old Testament are described as people who preached the Word of God. In the same way, priests are generally described as people who fulfilled functions at the temple and whose task it was to sacrifice on behalf of the Israelites. This article, however, argues that Yahweh intended much more through the establishment and ministry of the priests than merely administer sacrifices. It is the contention that Yahweh ordained the office of priests to preach the Word of God or to give advice in accordance with the will of Yahweh as it is documented in the Torah. The article’s contribution to the subject of prophetism in Israel will begin by studying the chronological history of Israel as it is described in the Hebrew Bible. The terms prophet, prophecy and prophetism will also be examined as they are used in the Hebrew Bible. By doing so, the article will show that it was only when the priests failed in their prophetic calling or when Yahweh wanted to change the cult or political establishment that He called people from outside of the established cult to fulfil the role of prophet. Yahweh used the prophetic office in times of need. One may call it an emergency measure – in times when the priests failed in their calling.Die bedoeling was aanvanklik nie dat daar ’n profetiese amp in Israel moes wees nie. ‘Profetisme’ was veronderstel om deel van die priesterlike amp te wees. Die priesters het dus as profete opgetree. Oor die algemeen word die Ou-Testamentiese profete as persone beskryf wat die Woord van God verkondig het. Op ’n soortgelyke algemene wyse word priesters as persone beskryf wat hulle werk by die tempel verrig het en wie se taak dit was om namens die Israeliete te offer. Hierdie artikel argumenteer egter dat Jahwe oorspronklik met die instelling van die priesteramp meer as net offerdiens in gedagte gehad het. Jahwe het oorspronklik die priesteramp ingestel om die Woord van God te preek en om advies te gee in oorstemming met die wil van Jahwe soos dit in die Tora vervat is. In hierdie artikel word die chronologiese geskiedenis van Israel soos dit in die Hebreeuse Bybel beskryf word, bestudeer. Die terme profeet, profesie en profetisme soos in die Hebreeuse Bybel gebruik, sal ook beskryf word. In die bestudering van hiervan sal aangedui word dat Jahwe persone van buite die kultus slegs as profete aangestel het wanneer die priesters in hulle profetiese taak gefaal het of wanneer Hy verandering in die bestaande kultus of politieke stelsel te weeg wou bring. Jahwe het dus die profete-amp as noodmaatreël gebruik wanneer die priesters in hulle profetiese roeping gefaal het.

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