Rereading Narratives of Safety and Security in Ancient Israel from a Pastoral Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Self Defence ◽  
Positive Light

The present study investigates the concept of safety and security in the Hebrew Bible in order to demonstrate that our concern for self-defence in the modern post-biblical world was also a prerogative among biblical societies. Numerous inferences to self-defence in the Hebrew Bible show that ancient Israelite societies did not take preparedness against enemy attack lightly. In this essay, lessons on safety and security drawn from ancient Israelite societies will be appropriated in the Zimbabwean context. This appropriation is necessary because safety and security was critical in ancient Israel as it is in our post-colonial Zimbabwean society. Constructive themes from the Hebrew Bible will be appropriated as lessons to be learnt from the narratives about ancient Semitic peoples who are purported to have lived in a “real” physical, yet historical, space. Admittedly, the biblical text depicts that bad/negative things happened in ancient Israel. However, in this study self-defence is explored in a positive light in order to sensitise modern societies to the importance of preparedness against potential aggressors. In addition, the study attempts to encourage the readership to conceptualise ideals of moral values and high ethical integrity which the biblical text seeks to promote. Having said that, some pastoral perspectives on safety and security, as well as self-defence, are also explored.

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.

Women in Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Kinship System ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Women's Culture

The Hebrew Bible is a book that was primarily written by men, for men, and about men, and thus the biblical text is not particularly forthcoming when it comes to the lives and experiences of women. Other evidence from ancient Israel—the society in which the Hebrew Bible was generated—is also often of little use. Nevertheless, scholars have been able to combine a careful reading of the biblical text with anthropological and archaeological data, and with comparative evidence from the larger biblical world, to reconstruct certain features of ancient Israelite women’s culture. These features include fairly comprehensive pictures of women’s lives as wives and childbearers within Israel’s patrilineal and patrilocal kinship system and of women’s work within the economy of a typical Israelite household. Because the Bible is deeply concerned with religious matters, many aspects of women’s religious culture can also be delineated, even though the Bible’s overwhelmingly male focus means that specific details concerning women’s religious practice must be painstakingly teased out of the biblical text. The Bible’s tendency to focus on the elite classes of ancient Israelite society likewise means that it is possible to sketch a reasonable portrait of the experiences of elite women, especially the women of the royal court, although, again, this information must often be teased out of accounts whose primary interest is elite men.

Sacred Architecture: The Numerical Dimensions of Biblical Poems

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-197
Author(s):  
Israel Knohl
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Sacred Architecture ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Divine Name ◽  
God's Image ◽  
Secret Knowledge

Abstract I have recently studied the numerical architecture of several biblical poems and found sophisticated use of the numerical structures of words and cola. It is possible that some of these numerical structures are based on numerical values of the letters of the names of God. If this is indeed the correct explanation of these numerical structures, it should be perceived through wider cultural spectrum: The phenomenon of symbolizing divine names with numerical values is known in the Mesopotamian world. The development of Alphabetic script opened new possibilities for representation of divine name by numbers. Now, God might be represented by the numerical values of the letters of his names. This method has special significance in a society that forbids representing God’s image with a statue. The fact that the representation of the numerical values of letters is not attested in mundane use in Ancient Israel before the Hellenistic period, may point to the possibility that this method was first a sacred secret knowledge. The numerical structures are best demonstrated in the Masoretic version of the Hebrew Bible. This fact may bear a significant impact upon biblical text criticism.

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.

Samson in Reception History

2020 ◽  
pp. 465-482
Author(s):  
Kelly J. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
King David ◽  
The Many

As one of the most famous figures from the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible, rivaled perhaps only by King David, the reception histories of Samson and the women of Judges 13–16 are extensive. The major events in the narrative found in Judges 13–16 involve not only Samson but also the women of the story: an unnamed mother, an unnamed Philistine wife, an unnamed prostitute, and, perhaps most illustrious of all, the named Delilah. This essay briefly outlines some of the major questions and concerns voiced by the many later readers and interpreters of Samson, revealing how the story of Samson, both in and outside the biblical text, is also a story about the women who appear in this account.

Clio and Canons: in Search of a Cultural Poetics of the Hebrew Bible

1997 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
New Historicism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Cultural Poetics ◽  
Leading Edges

AbstractThe enterprise of writing "histories" of "ancient Israel" in which biblical historiography is reproduced by old credulists or critiqued by new nihilists represents one of the leading edges of contemporary biblical studies in relation to the Hebrew Bible. This quest for a cultural poetics or cultural materialist accounts of the Bible is virtually equivalent to a New Historicism in the discipline. In this article analyses of three topics from current debates in biblical studies (historiography of "ancient Israel", the empty land topos, canons and context) are used to provide insights into how new historicist approaches to contextualizing literature may contribute to these current debates about the Bible.

scholarly journals Sidang Ilahi Elohim Dalam Mazmur 82:1

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthin Steven Lumingkewas ◽  
Firman Panjaitan
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Method ◽  
Religious System ◽  
Dialectical Theology ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Divine Council ◽  
Religious Systems

In the Old Testament Yahweh is frequently called El. The question is raised whether Yahweh was a form of the god El from the beginning or whether they were separate deities who only became equated later. They whom uphold theory Yahweh and El were conceived as separate deities holds that Yahweh was a southern storm god from Seir and so on, which was brought by the Israelites and conflated with the Jerusalem patriarchal deity.On the other side there are scholars who hold and conceived Yahweh and El as one single deity. These scholars defend this position most commonly on the grounds that no distinction between the two can be clearly found in the Hebrew Bible. The methodology used in this paper is literary – historical and social interpretations, with the main method being the "diachronic and dialectical theology of Hegel". The simple Hegelian method is: A (thesis) versus B (anti-thesis) equals C (synthesis). The author analyzes (thesis) by collecting instruments related to ancient Semitic religions; it includes data on El and Yahweh assembly obtained from Hebrew text sources and extra-biblical manuscripts which are then processed in depth. The antithesis is to analyze El's assembly development in Israel – especially in Psalm 82. While the synthesis appears in the nuances of the El’s assembly believe in ancient Israel. The focus of this paper's research is to prove 2 things: first, is Psalm 82: 1, is an Israeli Psalm that uses the patterns and forms of the Canaanite Psalms; especially regarding religious systems that use the terminology of the divine council. Second, to prove that El and Yahweh in the context of this Psalm are two different gods, of which this view contradicts several ANET experts such as Michael S, Heisser who sets El and Yahweh in this text as identical gods. The results of this study attempt to prove that Israel and the Canaan contextually share the same religious system, and are seen to be separated in the Deuteronomist era with their Yahwistic reforms.

Response to: »Was There Ever an Implicit Acceptance of Male Homosexual Intercourse in Leviticus 18?« by George M. Hollenback in ZAW 131/3 (2019), 464–466.

2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-628
Author(s):  
Idan Dershowitz
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Male Homosexual ◽  
Ancient Israel

Abstract I comment on George Hollenback’s response in ZAW 131/3 (2019) to my article »Revealing Nakedness and Concealing Homosexual Intercourse: Legal and Lexical Evolution in Leviticus 18,« Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel (HeBAI) 6/4 (2017): 510–526.

Memory and its Materiality: The Case of Early Iron Age Khirbet Qeiyafa and Jerusalem

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel D. Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Over Time

In den wenigen Jahren seitdem Ausgrabungen in Khirbet Qeiyafa durchgeführt wurden, haben sich schon einige wichtige Studien mit seiner beeindruckenden Hinterlassenschaft aus der frühen Eisenzeit beschäftigt. Was bislang unberücksichtigt blieb, sind die Folgerungen der Befunde für die Schriftkultur, die für das Bild dieser Periode in der Hebräischen Bibel verantwortlich ist. Die Absicht dieser Studie besteht darin, das literarische Schicksal von Khirbet Qeiyafa mit dem des frühen und späten eisenzeitlichen Jerusalem zu vergleichen und zu ermitteln, was das Nichtvorkommen bzw. Vorkommen dieser Standorte in der Hebräischen Bibel über die Quellen der biblischen Verfasser aussagt, über die sie im 11. und 10. Jh. v. Chr. verfügten. Zugleich wird gefragt, welchen Beitrag Ort und Erinnerung bei der Überlieferung dieser Geschichten im antiken Israel und Juda hatten.In the few short years since excavations were first carried out at Khirbet Qeiyafa a number of important studies have been devoted to its impressive early Iron Age remains. Yet what has not been pursued within these discussions are the implications of the settlement’s material culture for our understanding of the scribal cultures responsible for the portrayal of this time period in the Hebrew Bible. In comparing the literary fate of Khirbet Qeiyafa with that of the contemporaneous site of late Iron I/early Iron IIA Jerusalem, the intent of this study is to examine what the absence and presence of these two sites in the Hebrew Bible indicates about the sources biblical scribes possessed about the 11th–10th centuries BCE, and how place and memory contributed to the transmission of these stories over time in ancient Israel and Judah.Dans les quelques années qui ont suivi les fouilles à Khirbet Qeiyafa, un bon nombre d’études conséquentes ont été consacrées à ses impressionnants vestiges du début de l’âge de Fer. Cependant, ce qui n’a pas été développé dans ces discussions, ce sont les implications de la culture matérielle de ce site pour notre compréhension milieux de scribes responsables de la description de cette période dans la Bible hébraïque. En comparant le destin littéraire de Khirbet Qeiyafa avec celui de Jérusalem, site contemporain de la fin du Fer I et du début du Fer IIA, cette étude cherche à examiner ce que la présence et l’absence de ces deux sites dans la Bible hébraïque indiquent au sujet des sources que les scribes bibliques possédaient sur les 11–10

Education in the Hebrew Bible

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Schniedewind ◽  
Elizabeth VanDyke
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Scribal Culture ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biblical Sources

Education is a wide-ranging topic concerning the variety of ways in which people acquire knowledge, skills, and behaviors. As a key facet of culture, one might expect education and instruction to appear frequently within the Hebrew Bible, yet biblical literature actually provides little direct evidence as to how the ancient Israelites learned. This is true both for traditional vocations, such as the production of pottery or soldiering, and for more scholastic pursuits, such as reading or accounting. Biblical scholarship has particularly focused on scribal education, with less attention to the broader questions of enculturation. Several passages, particularly Isaiah 28, Proverbs 22–23, and Ben Sira 51, refer to education and have engendered numerous discussions. Increasingly, though, scholars have turned to extra-biblical sources in order to understand scribal culture. Studies on scribalism in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Ugarit feature prominently in many overviews of Hebrew learning. In some cases, scholars posit that these foreign scribal systems directly influenced Israelite scribes. The New Kingdom administration of Egypt left its vestiges on the Late Bronze Levant, and the empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia also had a lasting impact on scribal curriculum and tradition. These contextual studies can also be used for comparison, helping scholars model what a scribal community in Israel may have looked like. Epigraphic material from the Levant has supplemented this picture. Archaeologists have excavated a number of school texts and seals that attest to the exercises and extent of Israelite education. However, the interpretation of the biblical, comparative, and epigraphic material remains fiercely contested among scholars. Scribal education had an immediate impact on the composition of the biblical corpus, and inquiries into Hebrew education often become intertwined with theories regarding the history of biblical literature. Furthermore, discussions of scribal culture are often divorced from questions of how the society as a whole transmitted skills and knowledge. The ancient Israelite scribe is thus decontextualized from his original setting. In sum, many questions regarding education in ancient Israel remain unanswered, tantalizing, and crucial to the field as a whole.

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