Die koninkryk van God in die Ou Testament: ’n Kort oorsig

The kingdom of God in the Old Testament: A brief survey. The kingdom of God is a central concept in the teaching of Jesus, but the question posed by this article is the following: What does the Old Testament say about the kingdom of God? Several Old Testament terms convey the concept of kingdom, kingship and rule of God. This article focuses on the Hebrew and Aramaic ‘technical’ terms for kingdom: mamlākâ, malkût, mělûkâ and malkû. One finds only a few Old Testament references where these terms are directly connected to God, most of them in the post-exilic literature: 1 Chronicles 17:14; 28:5; 29:11; 2 Chronicles 13:8; Psalm 22:29; 103:19; 145:11–13; Daniel 2:44; 3:33 (4:3); 4:31 (4:34); 6:27; 7:14, 18, 27; Obadiah 21. A brief study of these specific references leads to a few preliminary conclusions: The kingdom of God refers to a realm and the reign of God, the God of the kingdom is depicted in different ways, God’s kingdom is eternal and incomparable with earthly kingdoms, the scope of the kingdom is particularistic and universalistic, the Old Testament testifies about a kingdom that is and one that is yet to come, et cetera. It seems that there is no real difference when comparing the ‘kingdom of God’ with the ‘God is King’ passages. One cannot unequivocally declare that ‘kingdom of God’ is the central concept in the Old Testament. However, we must acknowledge that Jesus’s teaching about the kingdom of God did not evolve in a vacuum. His followers probably knew about the Old Testament perspective on the kingdom of God.Contribution: The concept ‘kingdom of God’ is relevant for the church in South Africa, especially congregations who strive to be missional. Unfortunately, the Old Testament perspective was neglected in the past. The purpose of this brief survey is to stimulate academics and church leaders in their further reflection on the kingdom of God.

A citizen of Byzantium in the «valley of the shadow of death» (Psalm 22:4).

The article attempts to generalize the ideas of specialists in Byzantine Studies about the causes and levels of mortality in Byzantium. Studies show that the average life expectancy was quite typical of ancient and medieval society and did not differ from the Neolithic era. Usually death occurred within 20-40 years, in the most productive period of life. Thus, Byzantine society remained quite young. With a high birth rate, the number of children who reached adulthood usually did not exceed two per family. Premature deaths were caused by epidemics of infectious diseases, environmental, natural disasters, accidents, murders, and wars. In the last case, 90% of the deaths were due to disease, starvation and cold, and not to the battle. In general, the Byzantine rulers, representatives of secular and ecclesiastical authorities behaved very wisely, trying to avoid excessive violence and human loss.

What Did the Psalmist Say about His Hands and Feet in Psalm 22:17?

Ps 22:17 is among the most controverted verses in the Hebrew Bible, both with respect to its original text and original meaning. The biggest question that text critics and interpreters struggle to answer is what the psalmist said concerning his hands and feet. With so many proposals now on the table and with debates on this text having reached an impasse, it seemed like it would be helpful to present the status quaestionis with regard to this text. Thirteen different proposals are therefore analyzed with a view to their respective merits and demerits. The goal here is to eliminate the proposals that seem least viable and to become more self-conscious about how we judge between the others.

A network of conventional and deliberate metaphors in Psalm 22

Metaphors are not stand-alone units, but figure often in larger chains and regularly build upon each other. Yet, not all metaphors are the same. Some are very simple, such as the simile, while other metaphors require more active cross-domain mapping in thought. Still others are also context-dependent, deliberately used to convey new insights or used with a certain rhetorical intention. The study of various metaphorical clusters in Psalm 22 allows us to discuss the different types of metaphors and their distinct communicative functions. The most remarkable metaphorical cluster is based on the conceptual metaphor yhwh is fire. Built upon this conceptual layer is another metaphor, namely people melt before yhwh like wax melts before fire. Used in the context of Ps. 22.15, this deliberate metaphor confirms yhwh’s absolute sovereignty. His authority and power are in Ps. 22.13–17 the reason for fear, because his is a flaming and destructive power.

‘My Mother, My God,’ ‘Why have you forsaken me?’: An Exegetical Note on Psalm 22 as Christian Scripture

This essay argues for a re-reading of the lament in Psalm 22:1–5, 9–11 as Christian Scripture. This reading of the Old Testament as Christian Scripture redresses an imbalance in Christian theology, which tends to highlight difficulties in Jesus’ cry of dereliction but obscures its lament. This lament is central to the cross as solidarity with the experience of human suffering as betrayal by God and as an invitation for humanity to cry out for God’s response, found ultimately in the cross. In particular, the essay offers a new, feminist, birth-sensitive interpretation of Psalm 22:9–11 and a new, feminist translation of Psalm 22:10b, accenting God’s motherhood in the passage.

Writing and Rewriting of Psalm 22

Rewriting has converted a personal lament psalm into a complex literary work with diverse topics and themes, with distinct genres and settings, and with opposite and contradictory meanings. We can discover the original psalm by unravelling the editorial process and by observing the revision techniques of repetition, reversal and cross reference. What characterizes the second edition of the psalm is a gradual shift from individual experience to the concerns of the whole community. The reviser draws on historical tradition to transform the earlier composition into a new story with an entirely different theological perspective.