scholarly journals Engaging Old Testament prophetic literature in traumatic times of loss and grief

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm J. Wessels
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Grief And Loss ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Prophetic Literature ◽  
Loss And Grief ◽  
The People ◽  
Challenging Situation

This article addresses not only the matter of loss and grief but also hope and recovery. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has hugely affected not only South Africans but also people globally. One of the key features of this pandemic is loss and the associated grief. To explore these topics, the author has engaged prophetic literature, more specifically the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, which present compelling cases of loss and grief. An attempt was made to identify similarities between the experiences of the people of Judah and our current experiences of loss and grief because of the pandemic. Whilst the reality of loss and grief is validated, the positive role of prophetic words of comfort and hope is also valued.Contribution: This article offers original research in the field of biblical studies, more specifically, in the field of the Old Testament. This is in line with the scope of the article aims at relating texts from the prophetic literature to a current challenging situation of grief and loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jeremiah 1–20

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack R. Lundbom
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
The People ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The World

Jeremiah, long considered one of the most colorful of the ancient Israelite prophets, comes to life in Jack R. Lundbom’s Jeremiah 1-20. From his boyhood call to prophecy in 627 b.c.e., which Jeremiah tried to refuse, to his scathing judgments against the sins and hypocrisy of the people of Israel, Jeremiah charged through life with passion and emotion. He saw his fellow Israelites abandon their one true God, and witnessed the predictable outcome of their disregard for God’s word – their tragic fall to the Babylonians. The first book of a three-volume Anchor Bible commentary, Jack R. Lundbom’s eagerly awaited exegesis of Jeremiah investigates the opening twenty chapters of this Old Testament giant. With considerable skill and erudition, Lundbom leads modern readers through this prophet’s often mysterious oracles, judgments, and visions. He quickly dispels the notion that the life and words of a seventh-century b.c.e. Israelite prophet can have no relevance for the contemporary reader. Clearly, Jeremiah was every bit as concerned as we are with issues like terrorism, hypocrisy, environmental pollution, and social justice. This impressive work of scholarship, essential to any biblical studies curriculum, replaces John Bright’s landmark Anchor Bible commentary on Jeremiah. Like its predecessor, Jeremiah 1-20 draws on the best biblical scholarship to further our understanding of the weeping prophet and his message to the world.

Laws in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Greengus
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Origin ◽  
The Law ◽  
Criminal Behaviors ◽  
The Many

Biblical laws are found mainly in the Pentateuch (i.e., the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). The laws are linked to the figure of Moses, who is depicted as having received them directly from God in order to transmit them to the people of Israel during the years in the Wilderness after being released from slavery in Egypt. Biblical laws are thus presented as being of divine origin. Their authority was further bolstered by a tradition that they were included in covenants (i.e., formal agreements made between God and the people as recorded in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy). Similar claims of divine origin were not made for other ancient Near Eastern laws; their authority flowed from kings, who issued the laws, although these kings might also be seen as having been placed on their thrones through the favor of the gods. The biblical law collections are unlike other ancient Near Eastern “codes” in that they include sacral laws (i.e., governing cult, worship, and ritual, as well as secular laws: namely, governing civil, and criminal behaviors). This mingling of sacral and secular categories is the likely reason both for the many terms used to denote the laws, as well as for the unexpected number of formulations in which they are presented. The formulations used in biblical law can be classified as “casuistic” or “non-casuistic.” They are not equally distributed in the books of the Pentateuch nor are they equally used with secular and sacral laws. While there are similarities in content between secular laws found in the Hebrew Bible and laws found in the ancient Near Eastern law “codes,” the latter do not exhibit a comparable variety in the numbers of law terms and formulations. The Hebrew Bible tended to “blur” the differences between the law terms and their formulations, ultimately to the point of subsuming them all under the law term torah (“teaching”) to describe the totality of the divinely given laws in the Pentateuch. Biblical studies in general and Pentateuchal studies in particular are challenged by the fact that manuscripts contemporary with the events described have not survived the ravages the time. Scholars must therefore rely on looking for “clues” within the texts themselves (e.g., the laws cited by the prophets, the reform of Josiah, the teaching of torah by Ezra, and evidence for customs and customary laws found in books of the Hebrew Bible outside of the Pentateuch).

scholarly journals ‘Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate...’ (Jl 2:13). A prophetic perspective on reconciliation and restoration

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 308-325
Author(s):  
W J Wessels
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Prophetic Literature ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
The People ◽  
The Relationship

In this article the Old Testament prophetic literature will be the focus of discussion with regard to the matter of restoring broken relationships, be it between God and humans or between humans as such. The relationship between Yahweh and his people was formally established by means of a covenant. The presentation of the prophetic material is done with a narrow focus on the issues of reconciliation and restoration. Prophets and prophetic  texts are selected with the mentioned focus in mind and presented as the results of research done on the chosen texts. It is therefore done with a real awareness of the complexity of the prophetic material and the historical embedding of prophetic material. A detailed discussion of introductory and theological issues are therefore not presented, but taken into account. What result in this paper is a focussed presentation on the mentioned topics in some of the prophetic material. Although the word reconciliation is not an Old Testament concept, it is clear that the idea of re-establishment and renewal of  the relationship between God and people was ever present. The prophets had the duty to address the reasons for damage to this covenant relationship and to warn the people of the consequences if they continue to disobey the stipulations and ethical demands of this relationship. The prophets not only served as witnesses of the efforts of Yahweh to reconcile with his people, but also as instruments to bring it about. 

scholarly journals Sosiologiese eksegese van die Ou Testament geïllustreer aan die hand van Klaagliedere 3

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
I. G. P. Gous
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of

Sociological exegesis of the Old Testament with particular reference to Lamentations 3People experience change as a traumatic rearrangement of their life anchors. It is possible for religion to play a positive role in the process of coming to terms with change. The book of Lamentations is representative of an attempt to interpret the loss of anchors to the people of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. We can draw from their experiences only if we come to understand their world. Sociological exegesis provides invaluable insights to this effect. The history of sociological exegesis in the study of the Old Testament is briefly sketched, followed by an overview of the book of Lamentations, with particular reference to Lamentations 3, as an example of this type of exegesis.

Suicidal Behavior in Black South Africans

Crisis ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourens Schlebusch ◽  
Naseema B.M. Vawda ◽  
Brenda A. Bosch
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
To Come

Summary: In the past suicidal behavior among Black South Africans has been largely underresearched. Earlier studies among the other main ethnic groups in the country showed suicidal behavior in those groups to be a serious problem. This article briefly reviews some of the more recent research on suicidal behavior in Black South Africans. The results indicate an apparent increase in suicidal behavior in this group. Several explanations are offered for the change in suicidal behavior in the reported clinical populations. This includes past difficulties for all South Africans to access health care facilities in the Apartheid (legal racial separation) era, and present difficulties of post-Apartheid transformation the South African society is undergoing, as the people struggle to come to terms with the deleterious effects of the former South African racial policies, related socio-cultural, socio-economic, and other pressures.

The Reformation of Prophecy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Sujin Pak
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Priesthood Of All Believers ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The People ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Site ◽  
Developmental Analysis ◽  
Sacred History

The Reformation of Prophecy presents and supports the case for viewing the prophet and biblical prophecy as a powerful lens by which to illuminate many aspects of the reforming work of the Protestant reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It provides a chronological and developmental analysis of the significance of the prophet and biblical prophecy across leading Protestant reformers in articulating a theology of the priesthood of all believers, a biblical model of the pastoral office, a biblical vision of the reform of worship, and biblical processes for discerning right interpretation of Scripture. Through the tool of the prophet and biblical prophecy, the reformers framed their work under, within, and in support of the authority of Scripture—for the true prophet speaks the Word of God alone and calls the people, their worship and their beliefs and practices, back to the Word of God. The book also demonstrates how interpretations and understandings of the prophet and biblical prophecy contributed to the formation and consolidation of distinctive confessional identities, especially around differences in their visions of sacred history, Christological exegesis of Old Testament prophecy, and interpretation of Old Testament metaphors. This book illuminates the significant shifts in the history of Protestant reformers’ engagement with the prophet and biblical prophecy—shifts from these serving as a tool to advance the priesthood of all believers to a tool to clarify and buttress clerical identity and authority to a site of polemical-confessional exchange concerning right interpretations of Scripture.

Cyril of Alexandria

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hauna T. Ondrey
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Preliminary Comparison ◽  
Mosaic Law

Chapter 3, “Cyril of Alexandria: The Twelve within the First Covenant,” identifies the primary role Cyril assigns the Twelve Prophets in their ministry to Old Testament Israel as summoning Israel to adherence to the Mosaic law and educating Israel regarding God’s nature. While Cyril finds the prophetic oracles replete with christological content, a careful reading of his Commentary on the Twelve reveals that he holds the typological value of these oracles only retrospectively accessible. Isolating Cyril’s view of the prophetic ministry to ante Christum Israel limits the prospective christological revelation of the prophets and reveals the positive role Cyril ascribes the Mosaic law prior to Christ’s advent. A preliminary comparison of Chapters 2 and 3 concludes this chapter.

The Minor Prophets as Christian Scripture in the Commentaries of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Cyril of Alexandria

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hauna T. Ondrey
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Theodore Of Mopsuestia ◽  
Positive Account ◽  
Mosaic Law ◽  
Recent Tendency ◽  
The Church ◽  
Minor Prophets

This work compares the Minor Prophets commentaries of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Cyril of Alexandria, isolating the role each interpreter assigns the Twelve Prophets in their ministry to Old Testament Israel and the texts of the Twelve as Christian scripture. It argues that Theodore does acknowledge christological prophecies, as distinct from both retrospective accommodation and typology. A careful reading of Cyril’s Commentary on the Twelve limits the prospective christological revelation he ascribes to the prophets and reveals the positive role he grants the Mosaic law prior to Christ’s advent. Exploring secondly the Christian significance Theodore and Cyril assign to Israel’s exile and restoration reveals that Theodore’s reading of the Twelve Prophets, while not attempting to be christocentric, is nevertheless self-consciously Christian. Cyril, unsurprisingly, offers a robust Christian reading of the Twelve, yet this too must be expanded by his focus on the church and concern to equip the church through the ethical paideusis provided by the plain sense of the prophetic text. Revised descriptions of each interpreter lead to the claim that a recent tendency to distinguish the Old Testament interpretation of Theodore (negatively) and Cyril (positively) on the basis of their “christocentrism” obscures more than it clarifies and polarizes no less than earlier accounts of Antiochene/Alexandrian exegesis. The Conclusion argues against replacing old dichotomies with new and advocates rather for an approach that takes seriously Theodore’s positive account of the unity and telos of the divine economy and the full range of Cyril’s interpretation.

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