The Theological Importance Of Creation In The Old Testament

+. It is true that the concept of creation takes on theological focus in Israel quitelate. e chosen nation was primarily interested in history and its relationto God, and then asked a question about the beginning of the world. Over time,as a result of historical events, it gradually developed a lesson on creation. Babylonianslavery played a decisive role in the theological reflection on creation.&. e Old Testament texts testify that the statement “Yahweh has made heavenand earth” corresponds to a threefold theological intention. It has at the sametime a doxological, soteriological and polemic character. e Old Testamenttaken as a whole evokes a cosmogonic fact to praise the glory of the God of Israeland emphasise His transcendence, to question the worship of nature, freeingman from the caring cosmic and agrarian forces, and to guarantee salvationfor Israel and the world, relying on the power of God, able to make all thingsnew out of love for his chosen.3. e Old Testament shows us that the theological reflection on the creationof the world and mankind has been expressed in various forms in the historyof Israel, there is no single formula of Israel’s faith in creation, but it is alwaysabout the same faith expressed in a formulation conditioned by the currentcultural context, always with the triple theological intentions mentioned above.is can be seen in the Old Testament writings, starting with the Jehovah andthe priestly writer, through Deutero-Isaiah and the author of the Book of Job,whose faith was later expressed in the first article of the creed: “I believe in Godthe Almighty Father, the Creator of heaven and earth.”

Keeping the paschal lamb: Exodus 12.6 and the question of sacrifice in the Passover-of-Egypt

The paschal prescription in Exodus 12.3-6—attributed to the Priestly Source—that requires the Israelites to keep an animal four days prior to slaughtering it is an enigmatic episode unparalleled in other biblical accounts of Passover. Modern discussions often disregard the prescription as a faux rite created through textual harmonization of apparently disparate dating traditions for Passover. This discussion demonstrates that compositional approaches to explaining the rite are unsatisfactory and attempts rather to approach the rite phenomenologically—even if the phenomenon only existed in the imagination of the Priestly writer. With a nuanced understanding of the language used to describe the rite and the correspondence of the Passover-of-Egypt with the Priestly system of Tabernacle sacrifice, the study shows that the four-day detainment of the animal is an intentionally crafted device used to approximate in a pre-Tabernacle environment the mediation between sacred and profane that would later be guarded by priests.

Priests, Pollution and the Demonic: Evaluating Impurity in the Hebrew Bible in Light of Assyro-Babylonian Texts

The Priestly Source makes no explicit reference to the demonic when describing pollution which supposedly sets it apart from non-biblical conceptualizations of impurity. Most scholars explain the Priestly disregard for demons by referring to the advance of monotheism and the subsequent eradication of supernatural forces other than God. Depending on whether monotheism is viewed as gradual process or as the foundation of Israelite religion, commentators either detect a weakened demonic quality in Priestly pollution or claim that the Priestly Source has always been of a non-demonic nature. However, in recent years the idea that monotheism pervades most books of the Hebrew Bible has been increasingly called into question. At the same time, the extensive publication of Assyro-Babylonian ritual texts allows for better understanding of Assyro-Babylonian conceptualizations of impurity. These developments necessitate the reevaluation of the current views on Priestly pollution by examining Assyro-Babylonian texts pertaining to impurity and the demonic. Special attention is given to context and dating of the cuneiform sources used to exemplify the non-demonic nature of Priestly impurity. This renewed comparison of Priestly and Assyro-Babylonian impurity highlights how the Priestly writer frames the concepts of pollution within the context of the sanctuary and its maintenance. The Assyro-Babylonian texts dealing with impurity and demons, by contrast, focus on the individual and his/her relationship to the personal god rather than temple maintenance. Likewise, cuneiform texts that deal with pollution and temple maintenance do not concern themselves with demonic affliction. Consequently, it can be argued that the non-demonic nature of impurity in the Priestly Source is the result of the Priestly focus on the sanctuary and does not give witness to an underlying theological ideal.

Im Dickicht der Pentateuchforschung: Ein Plädoyer für die umstrittene Neuere Urkundenhypothese

Recent research has mostly argued against the traditional claim that the Pentateuch contains the documents of the Yahwist, the Elohist and the priestly writer (the new documentary hypothesis). After a survey of recent theories (I) the essay argues for the validity of this hypothesis (II). The priestly document is an own source and ends with the death of Moses (Dtn 34:1a*, 7-9). Furthermore it is demonstrated that there existed a yahwistic pre-priestly narrative structure from Gen 12 to Num 24 which originated in the time of Solomon. Against recent theories the Patriarchs were first literarily connected with the exodus by this Yahwist, and not by an exilic Yahwist or by P. The existence of the Elohist from the northern kingdom around 760 is proven by various arguments. Finally, the essay ends with remarks on the redactions of the (exilic) Jehowist and the pentateuchal redactor.

Keeping It Real

The image of God in the New Testament represents a mix of traditions from the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, and Hellenistic popular philosophy. Throughout these traditions the theme is integrally connected to the search for meaning in human existence. The Priestly Writer, Philo, and Paul understood the image of God as a means of both affirming God's sovereign authority over all creation and addressing the challenges of competing authorities in the world. Study of the theme provides a window into early Christian experience and how such experience emboldened Christians to follow Jesus in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.

Verskillende boodskappe vir verskillende kontekste: Die literatuur van die ballingskap (597-539 vC)

DitTerent messages for ditTerent contexts: the literature of the exile (597-539 BC) In this article the biblical literature that originated in the exile is discussed. It is indicated how these different writings (Lamentations, exilic psalms, Jeremiah and his editors, Obadiah, Ezekiel, the Priestly Writer of the Pentateuch and Deutero-Isaiah) addressed specific contingent situations within the broader context of the exile. The variegated messages of these texts in different contexts suggest that the Biblical text should not be regarded as a homogeneous text with one supra-temporal message, but did communicate with people precisely because of its variety and relatedness with specific historical contexts.

Genesis 2: 1–3 - Creation and Sabbath

In Gen 2:1-3 the Priestly writer has emphasised the sabbath of God at the end of the creation account. In exile, when Israel had been severed from land and temple, pastoral consideration was needed in the reshaping of the traditions. The temple no longer stood as a symbol of the sovereignty of Israel's God. In the creation account, the construction of the heavenly sanctuary, which usually concludes ancient Near Eastern creation myths, has been replaced by the motif of the divine rest. The Priestly writer connects God's sabbath rest at creation with the institutions of tabernacle and human sabbath observance and gives the people a means whereby the sovereignty of their God can be proclaimed