scholarly journals Bilangan 5:11–31: Ritual Sotah sebagai Terobosan Budaya di Timur Tengah Kuno

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-136
Author(s):  
Steven Yong
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
The Common

Bilangan 5:11­–31 dapat menimbulkan kecurigaan tentang adanya praktik seksisme, penindasan atau pelecehan terhadap wanita. Hal ini bisa dimengerti jika Mishnah menjadi rujukan yang kemudian dijadikan tolok ukur untuk menafsir bagian Alkitab terkait. Dari penggambaran Mishnah Sotah, wanita yang tertuduh melakukan zina dipermalukan dan diperlakukan hampir sama seperti seorang pelacur. Artikel ini berusaha untuk menunjukkan perspektif yang lain dalam mengerti ritual Sotah dalam Bilangan 5:11–31. Dengan menggunakan metode kajian sosiologis, artikel ini akan mengidentifikasi masalah sosiologis yang dituduhkan terhadap teks Bilangan tersebut berdasarkan penjelasan traktat Sotah dalam Mishnah. Kemudian, posisi wanita dalam dunia Timur Dekat Kuno akan dijelaskan berdasarkan konteks budayanya. Akhirnya, dengan menim­bang inferioritas wanita dalam dunia Timur Dekat Kuno dan perbandingan antara ritual Sotah dalam Alkitab dengan ritual sejenis dan setempat, maka artikel ini berargumen bahwa teks Bilangan 5:11–31 dapat dilihat sebagai terobosan budaya dalam membela wanita yang secara budaya pada masa itu dianggap sebagai kaum yang inferior. Numbers 5:11–31 could be interpreted as a kind of sexism and repression to women. In the Mishnaic tradition, the passages indeed are being understood and developed in such manner. From tractate Sotah in Mishnah, the suspected adulterous wife indeed is ashamed and treated as a prostitute. This article seeks to present another perspective on the passage. This article uses the sociological study method to identify the sociological problems alleged against the passage based on the explanation of the Sotah tractate in the Mishnah. Afterward, the inferior position of women in the ancient Near East will be explained as a cultural context to understand the passage better. Finally, considering this cultural context and comparing the Sotah ritual with the common rituals in the ancient Near East, this article argues that Numbers 5:11–31 could be seen as a cultural breakthrough to protect women, which are considered marginalized.

Laying Out the Fleece

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-89
Author(s):  
Kelly J. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Near East ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Different Cultures

Chapter 3 approaches Gideon’s story in three different ways: the role of divine signs in the ancient Near East; the portrait of Gideon as a hesitant solider in need of divine assurance in the biblical stories of Judg 6:36–40, 7:1–8, and 7:9–15; and the ways that early Christian exegetes interpreted Gideon’s requests for divine assurance. The chapter continues to trace how masculinity is constructed in different cultures, including the Greco-Roman world of early Christianity, where men were encouraged to fight spiritual battles rather than physical battles. These interpretations serve as a powerful reminder that masculinity is always “in crisis,” tending toward transformation and change, depending on cultural context.

The Evil Eye and the Sermon On the Mount

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Sermon On The Mount ◽  
Evil Eye ◽  
Salient Features ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Injurious Effects

AbstractBelief in the malignant force of the Evil Eye and strategies to ward off its destructive power pervaded the cultures of the ancient Near East and Circum-Mediterranean basin. This belief was shared by the biblical communities who in their writings refer frequently to the Evil Eye, its associated dispositions, and means of protection from its injurious effects. This paper situates one such biblical Evil Eye text within its cultural context. Following a summary of salient features of Evil Eye belief and practices and a review of biblical Evil Eye texts, the focus is on one reference to this belief in the teaching of Jesus: Matt: 6:22-23 in the Sermon on the Mount. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how reference to the Evil Eye was culturally and conceptually appropriate in this segment of teaching, how the Evil Eye here and generally was associated with the vice of envy, and how this Evil Eye allusion functions in both its literary and cultural contexts. A related aim is to use this topic to demonstrate the utility and procedure of social scientific criticism as a necessary supplementation of conventional historical-critical exegesis.

Biblical Prophecy—A Scribal Enterprise. The Old Testament Prophecy of Unconditional Judgement considered as a Literary Phenomenon

2011 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthijs J. de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Total Destruction ◽  
The Common ◽  
Literary Phenomenon

AbstractAt the heart of the biblical prophetic books is scribal reinterpretation of earlier prophetic legacies. These legacies testify to prophetic activity in Israel and Judah—kinds of prophecy which in essence resembled prophetic and other divinatory activity found elsewhere in the ancient Near East. It was however the scribal reception, revision, and elaboration of these earlier legacies that gave rise to “biblical prophecy” and prompted the development of the prophetic books. In this process of reinterpretation the ‘prophets’ were removed from the realm of divination. They became to be portrayed as isolated figures, contra society, commissioned by Yahweh to declare his message of unconditional and total destruction. Through their ‘message’ the disastrous events that had befallen the states of Israel and Judah were explained (ex eventu) as being due to divine anger. This was in fact the common explanation for calamities, used throughout the ancient Near Eastern world.

Ezekiel, P, and the Priestly School

2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Menahem Haran
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
The Common ◽  
Vexed Question ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
At Will

AbstractSeeing that Ezekiel, with his law code of chaps. xl-xlviii, is connected with P in many characteristics, while, at the same time, they contradict each other in almost any tangible aspect, it is the author's contention that the two are independent manifestation of the same school, of which P is its authentic expression whereas Ezekiel is its loose and later extension. It is out of the question to argue, as was done recently, that Ezekiel saw P and modified it at will. The relationship between P and Ezekiel comprises two aspects, the first of which is the common literary language they share, which in itself calls for explanation. The lack of agreement between the two is the second aspect demanding an explanation, but only if it is assumed that, when formulating his code, Ezekiel had direct access to P. Since Ezekiel used the priestly style as his own, he should have acquired it, after the practice of the Ancient Near East, over the course of many years of training, beginning in childhood and ending up in maturity. This implies that Ezekiel received his training in Jerusalem, while upon his arrival in Babylonia he was already a qualified priestly scribe, and it was there that he became a prophet. It is a vexed question whether the P scrolls were obtainable at all in Tel Abib by the river Chebar.

scholarly journals Re-Examining Israelite Patriarchy through Marriage Laws of Deuteronomy

Spectrum ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun-Joo Lim
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The People ◽  
The Common ◽  
Marriage Laws ◽  
Extensive List

The book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible contains an extensive list of laws, from cultic regulations tolaws addressing everyday affairs. As a legal collection, it can be observed as a symbol of practices and valuesof the ancient Israelites (the people by and for whom the Hebrew Bible was formed). Many prescriptionsin the Bible are perplexing and controversial according to our modern Western standards, especially thoseregarding gender equality in marital provisions. This essay examines the marriage laws of Deuteronomywithin its specific geographical, cultural, and historical context (the ancient Near East) including comparisonsto various law codes of nearby regional and other Biblical traditions, to argue that perspectives found inDeuteronomy are relatively progressive in protecting women’s rights. I challenge the common and oftenunquestioned assumption amongst scholars, religious followers and general readers that the Bible is sexistand misogynistic. More broadly, I advocate for the need to assess historical and religious works on gender intheir appropriate context, in order to obtain a more complex and earnest understanding of ancient traditions.1

The Common Theology of the Ancient near East

1952 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton Smith
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
The Common

From lingua franca to lingua sacra: The Scripturalization of Tobit in 4QTobe

2016 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-132
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Common

In light of the growing consensus that the book of Tobit was originally penned in Aramaic, the fragmentary Hebrew copy 4QTobe is a singularly unique literary artifact of Second Temple Judaism. While a cluster of other Aramaic works were read and received as authoritative literature by at least some Jews at this time (e.g., Daniel 2-7, the booklets of 1 Enoch, and Aramaic Levi Document), Tobit alone was translated from the common language of the ancient Near East into the traditional Israelite mother tongue. This study explores how the shift from Aramaic to Hebrew should inform our conception of the status and reception of Tobit in ancient Judaism. By virtue of the new linguistic overlay given to 4QTobe, this manuscript should be considered a literary edition in its own right, with an ostensibly higher level or different degree of authority than its Aramaic language counterparts.

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