scholarly journals Congruent ethos in the Second Temple literature of the Old Testament

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter M. Venter
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Second Temple Literature

Proposing the term ‘congruent ethos’ for studying Old Testament ethics, this article indicates (in line with existing research) that opposing ethical viewpoints are found in the Old Testament. The modus operandi followed was firstly to compare the penitential prayer in Daniel 9:4–19 with those in Ezra 9:6–15 and Nehemiah 9:6–37. This comparison shows that the phenomenon of conflicting ethics was present in Yehud during the Second Temple period. Whilst the Daniel text reflects a more universal attitude, the penitential prayers in Ezra and Nehemiah propose a nationalist view of God and an exclusivist identity for Israel. Although Daniel can be dated later than Ezra-Nehemiah, the tendency to juxtapose an exclusivist viewpoint with an inclusivist one was already present in the earlier period of the Second Temple. This is evidenced by the literature of Isaiah 56–66, Ruth, Jonah, Esther, Tobit, Judith and even Joshua.

Philo’s Influence on Understanding Divine Anthropomorphism

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-65
Author(s):  
Adam W. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Hebrew Scripture

Divine anthropomorphisms are prevalent in the Old Testament. Authors of Old Testament works seemingly had no reservations with using human qualities to describe God. During the Second Temple period Greek philosophy began to influence the interpretation of texts that describe God using anthropomorphisms. This shift in understanding God is evidenced in translation tendencies in the Septuagint and in Philo’s reading of Hebrew Scripture. The elements of proto-Gnosticism found in Philo’s writings are at times closely related to his interpretation of anthropomorphism. Since Philo’s understanding of such figures of speech has been the historic majority view, it is important to evaluate his method of interpretation to determine whether this understanding of divine anthropomorphism is rooted in Scripture or his philosophical tradition.

5. The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Shed Light

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed light on the canonization of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period. They provide us with exemplars of their biblical texts and how they used them in an authoritative manner. ‘The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls’ explains that the sectarian concept of authoritative scriptures seemed to reflect a dual pattern of authority by which the traditional biblical texts served as the source of the sectarian interpretation that in turn was defined by it. The authority was graded, beginning with the biblical books and extending to other books that were not eventually included in the canon.

scholarly journals Developing an integrated approach to interpret New Testament use of the Old Testament

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Y. Phillips ◽  
Fika Janse van Rensburg ◽  
Herrie F. Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Natural Sense

The aim of this article is to develop a specific approach to interpreting New Testament use of the Old Testament. The approach has integrated the most useful insights of studies in both Second Temple Judaism and present day literary theory in order to reach most consistently and effectively a valid explanation of the biblical data. In the process, severalimportant hermeneutical issues have been addressed. The focus of New Testament use of the Old Testament in the person and redemptive work of Jesus should always be the goal of Christian interpretation. Whilst old and new texts mutually interpret one another, it has been argued that there has been no ultimate ambiguity about the author’s intended, singular meaning or distortion of the original meaning of the old text. It is important to be aware that all readers come to a text with preconceived worldviews that are inevitably a mixture of biblical and unbiblical perspectives. However, this does not prevent a reader from attaining a valid understanding that adequately overlaps with the most probable meaning of the text as intended by the author. This most probable meaning is determined by the explanation that logically makes the most coherent and natural sense of most biblical data. The methodological procedure proposed has taken thegrammatical-historical method as the normative starting point of exegesis. It has then proceeded to imitate the New Testament in consideration of the broader canonical context, before considering explanations derived from the Second Temple literature or present day literary theory.Die ontwerp van ‘n geïntegreerde benadering om Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament te verstaan. Die bedoeling met hierdie artikel is om ’n benadering te ontwerp om die Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament te verstaan. Dié benadering moet die mees bruikbare insigte van die navorsing oor die Tweede Tempelperiode en die hedendaagse literêre teorie integreer, met die oog daarop om op die mees konstante en effektiewe wyse ’n geldige verklaring van die Bybelse data te gee. In hierdie proses word etlike hermeneutiese vraagstukke onder die loep geneem. Aangesien die fokus van die Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament die persoon en verlossingswerk van Jesus is, is dit nodig dat hierdie fokus by die Christen se verstaan ook teenwoordig is. Dit is so dat ouer en nuwer tekste mekaar interpreteer; dit hou egter nie in dat daar dubbelsinnigheid is oor die outeur se bedoelde enkele betekenis, of ’n skeeftrekking van die oorspronklike betekenis van die ouer teks nie. ’n Leser kom noodwendig na die teks met ’n spesifieke wêreldbeskouing, wat ’n mengsel is van Bybelse en onbybelse perspektiewe. Dit verhoed die leser egter nie om by ’n geldige verstaan van die teks uit te kom wat voldoende oorvleuel met die mees waarskynlike betekenis van die teks soos wat die outeur dit bedoel het en wat logieserwys die meeste van die bybelse data goed en organies verreken nie. Die voorgestelde benadering neem die grammaties-historiese metode as die normatiewe beginpunt vir eksegese, en volg dan die Nuwe Testament self na deur die breër kanoniese konteks te verreken. Eers dan word die literatuur van die Tweede Tempelperiode asook die literêre teorie van die huidige tyd verreken.

scholarly journals Messianic expectations in the Old Testament

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Rose
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Hebrew Word ◽  
Peace And Justice ◽  
God's People ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Definition Of

The New Testament is connected to the Old Testament in a number of different ways. It is not unusual to find the word “messianic” used to categorise all the different ways in which the writers of the New Testament find Christ (and, similarly, Jewish sources of the Second Temple Period later find the future Messiah) in the Old Testament, or to identify the specific passages in the Old Testament which are now seen to point to Christ/the Messiah. In this article I argue that, if one wants to be able to appreciate the diversity, one should abandon this indiscriminate use of the word “messianic”. After a brief discussion of the meaning and use of the Hebrew word xyvm in the Old Testament, I propose a definition of the phrase “messianic expectations” (expectations focusing on a future royal figure sent by God – someone who will bring salvation to God’s people and the world and establish a kingdom characterised by features such as peace and justice). Subsequently, the origin of these expectations is located as in the proclamation of the eighth-century prophets (Amos, Isaiah and Micah). Finally, one special category of messianic expectations, that is, messianic expectations in the Books of the Psalms, is dealt with.

Reconsidering the Salvation of Israel in Luke–Acts

2020 ◽  
pp. 0142064X2096266
Author(s):  
Philip La G. Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The Way

In the prevalent interpretations of Israel’s salvation or restoration in Luke–Acts, Israel is understood as referring to descendants of ancient Israel who live in the present or beyond. In light of the predominant usage of the term ‘Israel’ in the second temple period, the prevalent interpretation of Israel’s salvation in Luke–Acts is reconsidered. This is done by mainly revisiting the realized language around Israel’s salvation in the Lukan corpus as well as the Old Testament context behind the language used. This re-evaluation also involves the way in which Israel’s forgiveness is presented, the involvement of the patriarchs in salvation, as well as the connection between Israel’s hope and their resurrection.

scholarly journals Pieter M. Venter’s contribution to Old Testament Studies – an appreciation

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter C. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Interpretive Community ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Critical Theology ◽  
The Church ◽  
Old Testament Studies

The contribution that Professor Pieter M. Venter has made to the study of the Old Testament during his academic and ecclesiastic career is reviewed. After a brief biographical introduction, the article surveys the development of his research interests, focusing specifically on his contributions to the study of wisdom literature, narratives and narratology, second temple literature, the formation of the canon, and Old Testament Theology. The review concludes with reference to his way of practising critical theology, taking full cognisance of research into the linguistic, historical critical, narratological and ideological aspects of Old Testament texts, but always with a sensitivity for the needs of the church as interpretive community.

Sealing the Demons, Once and For All: The Ring of Solomon, the Cross of Christ, and the Power of Biblical Kingship

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-130
Author(s):  
Raʿanan Boustan ◽  
Michael Beshay
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
The Third ◽  
Signet Ring ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross

Abstract This paper traces the historical development of the tradition that King Solomon made use of a signet-ring to marshal the demons as a labor-force for the construction of the Jerusalem Temple and analyzes the shifting ritual uses to which this tradition was put.We argue that this tradition, which is most fully articulated in the Testament of Solomon, is a Christian innovation of the third and fourth centuries rather than a venerable Jewish tradition with roots in the Second Temple period. This branch of the Solomon tradition first emerged within the context of internal Christian debates of the third century concerning proper baptismal practice, where the power of baptism to provide protection from the demons was linked to debates concerning the efficacy of Solomon’s act of sealing the demons in the temple. In the post-Constantinian period, the ring of Solomon was venerated by pilgrims to Jerusalem as a “relic” of Israelite kingship alongside the True Cross. Like certain strands of the Testament of Solomon literature, the pilgrimage practices performed at this potent site figure Christ’s victory on the cross as the fulfillment-once and for all-of Solomon’s only provisional mastery over the demons. In this context, Solomon’s ring gave concrete expression to Christian claims on the Old Testament past, while also mediating between imperial and ecclesiastical power.

The Missing Goy in Second Temple Literature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Ophir ◽  
Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Discursive Formation ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Paul's Letters

This chapter examines a loose groups of texts from the Second Temple period, tracing some early and scattered evidence of an effort to abstract the biblical ethnic categories. It argues that the discursive formation that would later characterize the rabbinic goy cannot be found in any of the texts written before Paul’s letters. The goal of the chapter is twofold: first, to analyze the conceptual configurations through which the distinctions between Jews and their others were articulated in texts and compositions in which the concept of the goy is not yet the organizing principle. Second, to reconstruct discursive options that existed before the formation of the goy consolidated, and that disappeared after it took hold.

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