Psalms of Ascent

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-103
Author(s):  
Shani Tzoref
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Temple

This article uses Hermann Gunkel’s form-critical approach in studying the fifteen short ‘Psalms of Ascent’ (Psalms 120–134). Jewish tradition as well as subsequent scholarship associates these Psalms with the Biblical Pilgrim festivals in Jerusalem, sung by the pilgrims on their way but later incorporated into cultic rites within the Temple. Gunkel’s analysis identifies templates which serve as frameworks for both simple and complex artistic variations. Using the form-critical approach descriptively rather than prescriptively, the article uses the identification of formal elements primarily as a tool for understanding the language, themes, message and mood of these Psalm texts. A study of King Solomon’s dedicatory prayer (1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 6) in conjunction with Psalm 132 indicates a new locus of performance in a ritual in modern synagogue liturgy.

The Fratricidal Hasmonean Conflict and the Murder of Onias

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Noam
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Original Version ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Political Stance ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Temple

This chapter examines the story of the internecine struggle between the two Hasmonean brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, which brought the Hasmonean commonwealth to its end. Only in Josephus is the story of the murder of a righteous man, Onias, juxtaposed to the central tradition regarding the siege of the temple during this war, although this too was clearly an early Jewish tradition. In the rabbinic sources, the story of the siege and the sacrificial animals underwent multiple reworkings, and it is the Babylonian Talmud that reflects the more original version and message of the story. If in Chapter 2, we saw the “rabbinization” of the figure of John Hyrcanus, here the story itself underwent this process and its original moral message was replaced by multiple halakhic implications. In both corpora, this dissension between brothers is seen as the leading cause of the downfall of the Hasmonean dynasty. This was in contradistinction to the political stance represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which interpreted the Roman occupation as proof of the sinfulness of the Hasmonean state from its very inception.

Sacrifice in Jewish Tradition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Weddle
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
God's Will ◽  
Redemptive Suffering ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Tikkun Olam ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Temple

After Roman destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70CE, Jewish tradition reimagined animal sacrifices as devotional acts, such as prayer, fasting, and study of Torah, as well as giving up individual desires to fulfil God’s will. Rabbis interpreted the story of Abraham’s binding Isaac for sacrifice (the Akedah) as the model of absolute obedience to divine commands (mitzvoth) and as the basis for the election of the Jewish people to bear witness to the one God. Their commentary, however, included the horrified reaction of Sarah’s scream to the news of Abraham’s act, ending in her death, indicating dissent from sacrifice as religious ideal. Rabbinic tradition transferred the site of sacrifice from temple to synagogue in rituals of High Holy Days, to the family table in Passover and Sabbath rituals, and to the individual will in submission to Torah. In the mystical teaching of Kabbalah, God sacrifices to create the world and Jews are called to sacrifice to redeem the world (tikkun olam). Such vocation of redemptive suffering was called into question by the Holocaust, and some contemporary Israeli poets refer to the Akedah in expressing misgivings about calls to sacrifice in defense of Israel.

When was the Second Temple Destroyed? Chronology and Ideology in Josephus and in Rabbinic Literature

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 547-573
Author(s):  
Meir Ben Shahar
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
The Temple

Jewish tradition holds that both the first and second Jerusalem temples were destroyed on the 9th of Av (m. Taʿan. 4:6). According to Josephus both temples were destroyed on the 10th of Av (J.W. 6.250). Although Josephus proffers an elaborately detailed chronology of the temple’s final days, an attentive reading reveals that he in fact delayed the destruction of the temple by one day. Ideological motives impelled Josephus to defer the date of the destruction of the Second Temple to the date he had for the destruction of the First Temple (the 10th of Av). He proposes an analogy between the two in support of his position that God was punishing the rebels for their sins. Finally, the article suggests that the Jewish tradition that establishes the 9th of Av as the date for the destruction of both temples, derives from a mythical conception of history.

The heart of the (Deuteronomic) matter: Solomon and the book of the Law

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-230
Author(s):  
David A. Bergen
Keyword(s):  
Kings 2 ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
The Law ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Temple

Two interrelated communications play before the reader of the deuteronomic narrative: Moses' promulgation of the written book of the law to Israel, and the narrator's mediation of it to the external reader (Sonnet 1997). After Moses' death, the embedded "book of the law" awaits hermeneutical engagement by characters populating the Primary Narrative (Genesis-Kings). This paper analyzes narratologically Solomon's temple prayer of dedication in 1 Kings 8, which obviously confirms Solomon's conformity to his father's advice (1 Kings 2: 3-4). Solomon's discourse also reveals an aptitude for innovative appropriation as he transforms the house of God into a mechanism for normalizing problematic divine-human relations. In making the temple pivotal to Israel's relationship with God, Solomon substitutes his cult for Moses' law.

1–2 Samuel and 1 Kings

2019 ◽  
pp. 173-174
Author(s):  
Ellen F. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Zion Theology ◽  
2 Samuel

The semihistorical dramas in 1–2 Samuel and 1 Kings reflect complex and sometimes competing perspectives on the past, woven together into a large textured statement about human character, social change, and political division. They also explore the ambiguity of God’s role in those social processes. The account of Saul’s rejection should be read on multiple levels—political, theological, and symbolic. David’s story is told with a measure of skepticism, and the account of Solomon likewise prompts a fresh appraisal of his reputation for wisdom. Yet the text points to their lasting legacy in the worship tradition and Zion theology associated with the temple and the book of Psalms. Narratives in Kings—stories of Elijah and also the anonymous man of God who confronted Jeroboam at Bethel—focus on prophets and YHWH’s word itself as primary shapers of history. The YHWH-alone movement in ninth-century Israel, associated with Elijah, bears some resemblance to the spread of indigenous African Christianity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Relating to Judaism, Experiencing the Sacred

2019 ◽  
pp. 285-313
Author(s):  
Eyal Regev
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
First Century ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Point Of Reference

This chapter examines how early Christian attitude toward the Temple changed and why. First-century early Christianity was a religious and social movement at the beginning of the process of identity formation. Its members had yet to determine who they were: what part of their identity was contiguous with Judaism and what part comprised all-new elements. During this process they undoubtedly looked to other non-Christian Jews as a point of reference. Literary engagement with the Temple granted the New Testament writers and their contemporary readers the opportunity to express their debt to Jewish tradition, while at the same time their distinctiveness from it. Moreover, this engagement enhanced their sense of being powerful, genuine, and sacred—that is, close to God. For them, the Temple is a means of experiencing the sacred in both old and new fashion, somewhere on the spectrum between what would later be termed “Judaism” and “Christianity.”

scholarly journals 1 Konings 8: verskillende perspektiewe op God se teenwoordigheid

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.F. O’Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Divine Presence ◽  
Long Period ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Temple

1 Kings 8: Different perspectives on God’s presence 1 Kings 8 is one of the most important chapters in Deuteronomic History. It originated over a long period of time and different authors/redactors were involved in the composition of this chapter. The text of 1 Kings 8 depicts several theological themes and this article focuses on the understanding of divine presence. Different perspectives on God’s presence are portrayed: The ark, temple and cloud as symbols of divine presence; God dwells in heaven; God’s Name is in the temple; God is omnipresent. The greater part of 1 Kings 8 comprises the temple dedication prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:22-53). Prayer is the act of worship by which the temple on earth (or the worshipper in the temple) and heaven meet each other.

The Land of Moriah, Mount Moriah, and The Site of Solomon's Temple in Biblical Historiography

1990 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Kalimi
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Precise Location ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Temple

The present article is an attempt to clarify the relationship of the place where Isaac was bound with the site of Solomon's Temple, and that of the “land of Moriah” ([Gen 22:2]) with “Mount Moriah” ([2 Chr 3:1]) in Hebrew Bible historiography. It will also suggest an explanation both for the failure of 1 Kings 6 to give the precise location of the Temple and for the fact that such details are to be found in the parallel passage, 2 Chronicles 3.

Luke–Acts: Living and Dying with the Temple

2019 ◽  
pp. 153-196
Author(s):  
Eyal Regev
Keyword(s):  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Gospel Of Luke ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The Temple

This chapter assesses both the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Some claim that Luke actually contests the holiness of the Temple in Jewish tradition while situating Jesus within it. For Luke, Jesus becomes more important than the Temple. He provides forgiveness, brings peace between God and humankind, and eventually takes over the function of the Temple, extending it to the Gentiles. The divine presence in the Temple stems from Jesus—and he actually transforms the Temple's sacredness. It is not uncommon to find scholars who argue that from Luke's perspective the Christian community in Jerusalem represents the new Temple. Support for this idea is presented from Acts, but it is not sufficient. The chapter then considers whether or not Luke's understanding of the Temple continues traditional Jewish views or merely uses the Temple as a platform for Christian doctrine.

Dufay's Nuper rosarum flores, King Solomon's Temple, and the Veneration of the Virgin

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Wright
Keyword(s):  
1 Kings ◽  
The Temple

Analysis of the architecture of the cathedral of Florence suggests that there is no correlation between the structural proportions in that church and the durational ratios in Guillaume Dufay's motet Nuper rosarum flores (as suggested by Charles Warren in 1973). The inspiration for the formal plan of the motet was likely not architecture, but a biblical passage (1 Kings 6:1-20), which gives the dimensions of the Temple of Solomon as 60 x 40 x 20 x 30 cubits. The vision of the Temple and, to a lesser degree, the image of the womb of the Virgin as the temple of Christ were elaborated upon by countless medieval exegetes, sermonizers, liturgical commentators, poets, and manuscript illuminators. Dufay expressed the traditional numerical symbols of the Temple (6:4:2:3, 4 and 7) and that of the Virgin (7) throughout the structure of his motet and thereby effected a musical union of these two spiritual forces.

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