Old Testament Exam #3
Wisdom literature is divided into four classifications:
1) Nature Wisdom 2) Practical Wisdom 3) Judicial Wisdom 4) Theological Wisdom
Two reasons why Wisdom is represented as a female:
1) The Hebrew word for "wisdom," hokmah, is feminine. 2) The opening chapters of Proverbs are addressed to young men who are encouraged to seek Wisdom as a bride.
Three basic principles of Wisdom Literature:
1) The beginning of wisdom=Fear of the Lord 2) The basis of wisdom=Common human experience 3) The goal of wisdom=The good life (including wealth, long life, children, health)
Five notable lament psalms:
22, 44, 51, 88, 139
Esther
A Jewish heroine of the Diaspora who became queen of Persia under Xerxes I, called Ahasuerus in the story; she secured the safety of the Jews when they were threaten with genocide.
Bogoas
A Persian name denoting an official of Holofernes. He is the first one who discovers Holofernes' beheading.
Boaz
A wealthy Israelite who lived in Bethlehem; he married Ruth and became an ancestor of David.
Anchior
An Ammonite king at Nebuchadnezzar's court; he warns the king of Assyria of the power of the God of Israel but is mocked. He is the first one to recognize Holofernes' head brought by Judith in the city
________ __________ is present when the notion of the A-line is stated in opposite terms in the B-line.
Antithetic parallelism
Whose argument is this? (8:1-22): Job suffers because God is just; perhaps Job and his children sinned. Job should turn to God who will restore him. His authority rests upon the witness of former generations.
Bildad
An early collection of Davidic hymns.
Book 1, Psalms 1-41
A northern collection of hymns.
Book 2, Psalms 42-72
A collection from the temple singers.
Book 3, Psalms 73-89
Psalms from a royal collection, perhaps for New Year's.
Book 4, Psalms 90-106
A second and expanded Davidic royal collection.
Book 5, Psalms 107-150
Nebuchadnezzar
Claimed here to be the king of Nineveh and Assyria. He is proud that he wants to affirm his strength as a sort of divine power. Holofernes is ordered to take revenge on those who refused to ally themselves with him.
_______ _________combines synonymous and formal parallelism. The B-line echoes part of the A-line and then adds a phrase that develops the meaning and completes the sense and the sentence.
Climactic parallelism
Whose argument begins with a long introduction and continues with assertions similar to those of the three friends? -Job suffers because God wants to humble him, turn him from evil; because of blasphemy and setting himself against God; because he claims greater justice than God; because God punishes the hard-hearted. -Job should then pray and confess his sin, admit wrongdoing, consider majesty of God, and trust and praise God. -His authority rests upon wisdom, arguments of the wise, on the fact that God hears and is just, and on the greatness of God.
Elihu
Whose argument is this? (4:1-5:27): Job suffers because he is a sinner and mortal. He should appeal to God and accept his chastising. His authority for his argument rests upon a dream and vision of the night.
Eliphaz
TRUE OR FALSE: Almost all laments describe friendships: other people, oneself, or even God.
FALSE, enemies.
TRUE OR FALSE: There are no differences in the numbering of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek LXX.
FALSE, there are differences. Except for a few instances, the Greek LXX is 1-2 verses behind the Hebrew Bible.
TRUE OR FALSE: In Proverbs, the Maxims of Ptahhotpe and The Teaching for Merikare are major Babylonian writings that contain the advice and instruction of a father to his son.
FALSE: Egyptian
TRUE OR FALSE: Job embraces the optimistic piety typified in Proverbs.
FALSE: He attacks it
TRUE OR FALSE: In his response, Job gives in and admits personal guilt in the measure that would call forth such suffering.
FALSE: He never admits this
TRUE OR FALSE: When belief in the resurrection of the dead begins to develop in the mid-fourth century BC, Sheol is transformed into hell, a place of punishment for the wicked.
FALSE: Mid-second century BC
TRUE OR FALSE: The book of Baruch affirms retribution theology as intentionally as the Deuteronomistic tradition.
FALSE: Proverbs
TRUE OR FALSE: In the book of Proverbs, Knowledge is personified as a woman.
FALSE: Wisdom is personified as a woman.
Most biblical proverbs take the form of stanzas containing parallel A- and B- lines.
FALSE: couplets
This theme of Proverbs, which brings knowledge and wisdom, is the fundamental theme of the book.
Fear of the Lord
________ __________ is present when the two lines have a parallel relationship as defined by rhythm or line length, but the sense of the A-line is incomplete until it is continued in the B-line. The two lines are parallel in form but not in content:
Formal parallelism (synthetic parallelism)
Order of Old Testament
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Scene 2 (1:6-12) of Job takes place in _____. The main characters are God, the divine council ("sons of God") including _____. The main content is God's boast, Satan's challenge and God's _______.
God's court, Satan, permission to afflict Job
Scene 4 (2:1-6) takes place in _____ . The main characters are God, the divine council and Satan. The main content is renewal of God's boast and Satan's challenge and God's ______ .
God's court, permission to destroy Job's health
Raphael
Guide for Tobiah to the house of Raguel who instructs Tobias to smear the gall of a fish on his father's eyes so that his sight may be restored.
Judith
Heroine of the book of Judith. She is a widow, once married to a certain Manasses. She uses her charm to become an intimate friend of Holofernes, but finally beheads him allowing Israel to counter-attack the Assyrians.
Type of Psalm that usually begins with a call to others to help us give praise.
Hymns
Tobit
Israelite from Naphtali who was taken captive to Assyria who finds favor with the king even though he refrains from eating the food of the Gentiles. He looses favor with the king, however, when he insists on burying the dead.
Scene 3 (1:13-22) of Job takes place in ____. The main characters are Job, his children and his servants. The main content is ______ and his acceptance.
Job's house, Job's loss of family and property
Scene 5 (2:7-13) of Job takes place in _____ . The main characters are Job, his wife, and his friends. The main content is Job's loss of health, his wife's challenge, his acceptance and his friend's _______.
Job's house, sympathy
Scene 1 (1:1-5) of Job takes place in ______ . The main characters are Job and his children. The main content is Job's _____ and _____.
Job's house, wealth, goodness
Type of wisdom that seeks ways to adjudicate disputes such as when Solomon settled the matter of the two women who both laid claim to the living child in 1 Kings.
Judicial wisdom
________ comprise a cry to God, a complex middle section, and a turn to hope.
Laments
Type of wisdom that is based on observations of the real world that enable humankind to understand and coexist in harmony with it.
Nature wisdom
Type of wisdom that analyzes the social order.
Practical wisdom
___________ is seen in Proverbs 10-31.
Proverbial Wisdom
The book of Psalms, also called the _______, is an anthology of songs and prayers.
Psalter
Maintains that God uncompromisingly and unfailingly punishes the wicked for their evil deeds and rewards the righteous with long life and prosperity.
Retribution theology
______ psalms direct our attention specifically and exclusively to the king.
Royal
In ancient Israel, belief in life after death was very limited. Everyone—good and bad—went to a place called _____, sometimes translated "netherworld" or "underworld."
Sheol
__________ are fifteen psalms (120-134) which probably once formed a collection sung when pilgrims went to Jerusalem, since one "ascended" to Jerusalem or to the house of God or to an altar.
Songs of ascents
________ __________is present when the notion of the A-line is repeated in the B-line.
Synonymous parallelism
TRUE OR FALSE: Although traditionally the entire Psalter has been attributed to Davidic authorship, many are attributed to others like Asaph or the Korahites.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Existence in Sheol was little better than suspended animation. There was no pain, no joy, no memory, no communication, no light.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Job is considered to be a literary masterpiece, perhaps the greatest achievement in the Hebrew Bible. It is also considered one of the greatest literary masterpieces of world literature.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Job's speech at the end of the third cycle accuses God of being corrupt and a corrupter of others. There is no moral order in the universe.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Most psalms are laments.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Proverbs are typically presented as matter-of-fact statements describing the way things are, but really they are lessons about the way that you and I should be.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Proverbs frequently contain a play on words or a bit of alliteration, at least in the Hebrew.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Psalms is the primary hymnbook of Israel, assembled in the postexilic period, although many date much earlier.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Sometimes the call to praise in a hymn returns at the end.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: The Instruction of Amenemope has the most direct bearing on the book of Proverbs.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: The book of Job also asks whether people will be virtuous when they are afflicted and suffering.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: The book of Proverbs looks a great deal like the instruction literature that has survived from ancient Egypt.
TRUE
TRUE OR FALSE: Themes in Proverbs are often directed from a parent to a son.
TRUE (Parent is often the Father)
By definition, the God of the psalmists is a God who is expected to answer prayer. Yet, God can also be expected to enact vengeance.
The Character of God
Particular experiences of adversity are expressed; many are prayers of deliverance from enemies or even death itself often expressed in hyperbolic terms. With God, though, there is always reason to hope (except Psalm 88!).
The Human Situation
Naomi
The Israelite wife of Elimelech and mother-in-law of Ruth who lived in Bethlehem of Judah.
There is no doubt that God has ultimate authority. Kingship is the central image to convey this message. The kingship of YHWH derives from his role as creator and is attested by nature itself.
The Kingship of God
Ruth
The Moabite widow who followed her mother-in-law Noami back to Bethlehem; she married Boaz and was ancestor of David.
The kingship of YHWH has its earthly counterpart in the rule of the Davidic dynasty in Jerusalem. Just as the kingship of YHWH had an eschatological aspect, so too did the rule of the Davidic dynasty. The royal psalms were generally understood as messianic in later Jewish and Christian tradition.
The Theology of Human Kingship
Mordecai
The uncle of Esther who looked after her and urged her to do everything in her power to effect the deliverance of the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.
Holofernes
The villain of the book of Judith. Devout solider; Judith's charm occasions his death.
Haman
The wicked opponent of Mordecai and the Jews.
Type of wisdom that seeks answers to deeply puzzling issues such as human suffering and God's role in upholding justice among humankind (also called speculative wisdom)
Theological wisdom
Tobiah
Tobit's son who goes to Media to fetch his father's money; marries Sarah, daughter of Raguel, who has lost seven husbands to a demon before the marriage could be consummated!
_______ psalms were used in liturgical celebrations.
Wisdom
The 5 most frequent opposing pairs in Proverbs are:
Wisdom and folly, Righteousness and wickedness, Wealth and poverty, Industry and laziness, Humility and pride,
Woman Wisdom (Lady Wisdom) is often contrasted with __________. (Proverbs 9)
Woman Folly (Mistress Folly)
Some royal psalms speak of _____ as king: 29, 47, 93, 95-99.
YHWH
Whose argument is this? (11:1-20): Job suffers because he is guilty and God is just. Job should appeal to God and get rid of sin. Zophar's authority rests upon secrets of wisdom.
Zophar
One popular technique in wisdom psalms is the _______.
acrostic
Originally, "Satan" was not what Christians understand as the devil. It was any opponent, human or heavenly. The Hebrew word satan simply means ________.
adversary
Four subjects that hymns typically summon:
all of Israel, all nations, all creation, or one's own heart and soul.
Within royal psalms, there are ______ hymns (Ps 2, 72, 101, 110), ______ hymns (Ps 132), a royal ______ song (Ps 45), ______ on behalf of the warrior-king (Ps 20, 144), and prayers of ______ for his success (Ps18, 21).
coronation, anniversary, wedding, petitions, thanksgiving
Proverbs refers to this theme, that one must have to live properly. One must always be aware that there is a God and that He holds persons responsible for their actions.
deep awe and reverence for God
In Proverbs, the _______ is the concern, not necessarily the nation. It was understood that each person's actions held great consequences for society.
individual person
Laments can be either _________ or _________.
individual, communal
Job asks why God allows blatant _____ and undeserved _____ and evil to exist in the world.
injustice, suffering
Job is a _________ and not a transcript of historical events and conversations. In reading Job, we must allow ourselves to take seriously Job's ________ against God—since God Himself does.
literary composition, accusations
These proverbs articulate a world of ______ and _______ in a binary way using antithetic parallelism.
moral values, character traits
A fundamental feature of Hebrew poetry is ________, the matching structure of lines within a couplet.
parallelism
A significant amount of the Old Testament is written in ____form.
poetic
Hymns can be either hymns of ______ or _______ hymns.
praise, thanksgiving
In postexilic books the satan often acts as a kind of ______ attorney, pointing out human failings to God and testing their fidelity.
prosecuting
A _______ is a short, memorable saying that encapsulates a truth about life.
proverb
In many laments the petitioner attempts to persuade God to act by _______________, ________________, _______________, or some other reason.
reminding God to be just, bargaining or making promises, claiming a special relationship to God
A major concern in Proverbs is the ______ of an adulterous woman.
seduction
"Psalmoi" from the LXX is the translation of the Hebrew word,"______," meaning "______."
tehillim, praises
The Wisdom tradition was concerned with these three themes:
the problem of evil, the suffering of the righteous, the justice of God
Psalms of ______ express faith in God without having a specific backdrop of adversity: 23, 62, 63.
trust
Training in _____ is a major emphasis of Proverbs.
virtue