Hebrew Bible

Atrahasis -

Akkadian/Babylonian epic of the Great Flood sent by the gods to destroy human life. Only the good man, Atrahasis was warned of the impending deluge by the god Ea who instructed him to build an ark to save himself.

Genesis -

The story of creation, also the story of patriarchs and matriarchs.

Tanakh -

The tanakh is an acronym for torah, it it the the way that Jews divide the Bible into sections.

Division of the Bible -

The bible is divided differently for Jews and Christians.

Kirta -

Was a legendary Amorite King from Ugarit

Apocrypha -

A part of the catholic bible not the protestant bible, includes books outside of the canon. A lot of the apocrypha was written in greek.

Hittites -

A people from Turkey who had an empire which controlled parts of Syria and Iraq. The Hittite Empire existed from 1800 BCE to 1200 BCE. Rise of the empire in the Middle Bronze Age, and fall of the empire in the Late Bronze Age.

Persians -

A people from present day Iran who become the dominant power in the 6th century BCE. They conquer the Babylonians and allow the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. Rise of Persia in the Persian period, defeated by Alexander the Great in the Hellenistic period.

Babylonians -

A people from southern Mesopotamia who conquered the Assyrians and become the dominant power in the Near East in the late 7th century BCE. They destroy Judah and Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Rise of Babylonia in the Middle Bronze Age, rise of the Babylonian Empire in the Iron Age.

Assyrians -

A people who lived in present day Syria and Iraq and were dominant in the 8th century BCE. They destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel. Rise of the empire in the Iron Age,

Religion -

A system of beliefs and rituals. A belief system in which people look to some sort of deity, and worship their practices.

Redaction Criticism -

A type of criticism regarding the person that was editing the text. What were the circumstances and purposes of the final editor of the text?

Holy Scripture -

A written document that decides which groups are sacred. They are books with authority. Someone had to decide what the authoritative text was.

Lot -

He is the nephew of Abraham. He is taken by the Canaanite Kings when there is rebellion. It was reported back to his uncle Abraham who then came and saved him.

Marduk -

He was a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. Marduk was thus the chief deity of the Babylonian Empire during the period of Jewish exile in Babylon (sixth-fifth centuries B.C.E.).

Job -

The Book of Job is found within the Kethuvim otherwise known as the writings. Is about a bet that is made between God and Satan in regards to Job's attitude toward God.

Wellhausen -

was a german biblical scholar, he contributed to the composition history of the Pentateuch/Torah and studied the formative period of Islam. He is credited as one of the originators of the documentary hypothesis.

Gilgamesh -

was originally a babylonian tyrant until his foe Ankandu is created. Gilgamesh becomes a better person after the death of Ankandu, he looks for the road of immortality and finds it is a tree of life.

E -

according to the documentary hypothesis, one of four sources of the Torah, gets its name from the consistent use of the divine term Elohim. A fragmented source.

Pentateuch -

another name for the 5 books

Creation 1

d1- light d2- dome d3- land, plants d4- heavenly bodies d5- aquatic creatures and birds d6- land animals, humans -CEO like God who created all by command from above. -Man and woman created at the same time

J -

is one of the hypothesized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), use of the divine name Yahweh. This God is described as very humanlike. Fullest of the four sources.

Documentary Hypothesis -

is one of three models used to explain the origins and composition of the first five books of the Bible, called collectively the Torah or Pentateuch. Based off of the different names that are used for God within the bible.

D -

one of the supposed sources of a portion of the Hebrew canon known as the Pentateuch, found almost entirely in deuteronomy. Some connections between the D source and the E source.

Judah -

According to the bible Judah was also the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. He was also founder of the largest israelite tribe of Judah.

Nevitm -

Called the prophets, second part of the Hebrew Bible. Divided into earlier prophets and later prophets.

Canon -

Can be defined as an official list of narrative books that a religion decides are its sacred literature.

Literary Criticism -

Concerned with the style, devices, and overall composition of the writing. Is concerned with the inner composition, style, and devices of the text as an artwork.

moses and sargon

- both boys were left in baskets and floated down a river - both end up becoming "big shots" -moses is found by pharoh's daughter - sargon is found by a gardener

Exodus 3

- burning bush that is not consumed is god showing himself to moses -He does not look at god because he thought he would die if he did -Does not want the job, follows the theme of the reluctant prophet. -Had a speech impediment -Does not know that to tell the israelites because he does not think that they will believe him because they do not know who God is (Yahweh)

Patriarchs and Matriarchs

- theme of deception and clothing present throughout most of the stories - Jospeh sold into slavery by his brothers - tests them later on by planting evidence on simon to see if they changed at all in the time he was away as the prime minister of egypt -very good at interpreting dreams, never lies about what he sees to make himself look better or get out of jail. -

Binding of Isaac

-God tests Abraham possibly so he knows that Abraham fears him, the reason is not given in the text -"After these things" is an indefinite note of time referring to Isaac's birth and the expulsion of Ishmael -Abraham seems to be a different person compared to the sodom and gomorrah story -Sarah is not mentioned in the story at all -Issac does not seem to know what is going on because he asks where the animals are that they typically would sacrifice -He was being sacrificed because God told Abraham to sacrifice him -Purpose of the story was to show how great Abraham's faith was -God knowing all, testing Abraham to see if he will complete the task -Child sacrifice was not uncommon in ancient times

Creation 2

-God walks the earth and creates things, more humane God -Man is created then animals and then woman is created from man

Judah and Tamar

-Tamar wants status in society because a woman without children is a no one -She wanted to be given as a wife to Shelah (third son) like Judah had promised -The themes of deception and clothing are present in this story making it similar to the Jacob and Joseph narratives -Levirate marriage - if a man died without male children his brother was supposed to marry the widow and the male child would be considered the late brothers child -Not allowed to say they don't want to do this -Onan (second son) does not want to have kids so he only sleeps with Tamar for pleasure and ensures that no child will come of it -Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute, Judah cannot pay her so he leaves her with a signet ring -Considered a capital offense because she is technically betrothed to Shelah, before Judah kills her she shows him the ring -Judah decides that is is more his fault than hers so she lives

Critical Interpreters -

-Tend to view as natural or historical -Tend to read the text as written to the author's contemporaries -Written in a specific time for specific people -Stress the human authorship of the text (without necessarily affirming or denying divine inspiration) and so tend to look for inconsistencies in the text -Tend (at least initially) to distance the modern reader from the text -Are interested in the historical and larger cultural work of the text (including non-biblical information) because of working with a "historical consciousness"

Classical Interpreters -

-Tend to view the text as supernatural -Tend to read the text as if written directly to them -Stress the divine origins of the text, which therefore must be harmonious and inerrant -Things cannot contradict each other and it is without mistakes -Tend to see the text as expressing relations and so tend to identify with the text -Are interested in the sacred realities to which the text point and so tend to be less concerned with historical matters -Believe that everything happened in the bible as it was written

Garden of Eden

-Tree of life represents immortality and eternal youth -Tree of knowledge not just about moral choices but also about merism -As the story begins the man and woman seem to be very childlike and innocent but they were sexually knowledgeable -Man hears the direct command from god not to eat the fruit, the woman does not which is why the serpent addresses her -Result of them disrespecting god's command, women have painful childbirth and man has a hard time harvesting -The word sin is never mentioned in the story -The story is about the loss of innocence, disobedience, free will -An etiological story -Creation story was used to explain the divine hand of god

P Flood

-flood is a result of the undoing of creation -flood lasts a full year -releases a raven and when it does not return they disembark -allowed to eat meat -2 of every kind of animal - covenant of the rainbow

J Flood

-flood is caused by rain that lasts 40 days and 40 nights -7 pairs of clean animals and birds and 2 pairs of unclean animals -releases 3 doves and when only 2 come back he knows it is safe to get off the ark -vegetarian diet

Textual Criticism -

Aims to get the best version of the bible. How do we reconstruct the best text from multiple variants?

Hebrew Bible -

Also known as Hebrew Scriptures, and the Tanakh. The Hebrew Bible does not include the old testament like the Christian Bible does because the old testament is part of the christian belief system. The Hebrew Bible was first translated into Greek.

Judea -

Another term for Jew.

Aramaic -

Aramaic was said to be the most popular language in the middle east, it is said that Jesus spoke this language.

Moabites -

In the Bible, the Moabites are said to have descended from Moab, the son of Lot and his oldest daughter (Genesis 19:37). The kingdom of Moab stretched "north and south of the Arnon River" with its capital at Dibon. The language of Moabite is similar to Hebrew.

Old Testament -

Involves supersession. Theologically loaded term that suggest that the new testament supersedes it. The old testament is not included in the Hebrew Bible, it is only included in the Christian Bible because it follows their belief system.

Canonical Criticism -

Is concerned with how each writing fits into the larger group of writings that is the canon. How does the text relate to the larger canon in which the text is embedded?

Perspectival Criticism -

Is concerned with particular things such as feminist criticisms. Approaches to the test that are driven by explicit concerns; feminist criticism, liberation criticism, ecological criticism, etc.

P -

Priestly code, also called Priestly Source, is one of the four original sources of the Pentateuch. Name is due to its focus on religious observance and rituals. Has Sabbath occurance.

Abraham -

Received a name change from Abram to Abraham. Is called upon by God out of the blue and is told to leave his native land of Mesopotamia and go to the new land that God shows him, later known as Canan. He becomes a nomadic shepard in this new land as God promises him: blessing, many offspring, and land. The only thing God asks of him is to perform circumcision to himself and all of his male offspring on the eighth day

Sarah -

Received a name change from Sarai to Sarah. Partner to Abraham, originally they were unable to have children but she has a baby at the age of 90 because God intervened.

Sacred -

Something set apart.

Biblical Canon -

The biblical canon is closed therefore nothing more can be added to it no matter how profound the material may be.

Psalms -

The first book of the Ketuvim, in the third section of the hebrew bible. It is also found in the old testament in the Christian bible. Psalms are religious poetry.

Mesopotamia -

The land in the middle of the rivers. It refers to the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in present day Iraq and Syria.

Kethuvim -

The last section of the Hebrew bible, made up of miscellaneous writings. This section is ordered to purposely end on a positive note.

Israel -

The name of the modern state created in 1948, home of Jewish people. It is also a name for the Jewish people.

Profane -

The opposite of sacred, means something that is everyday.

Ammonites -

The people that occupied Ammon, an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in present-day Jordan. Said to be descendants of Ben-ammi, who was the son of Lot and Lot's younger daughter (Genesis 19:38). The language of Ammonite is similar to hebrew.

Form Criticism -

This type of criticism helps people better interpret the writings. What literary type is the passage and how does this guide its interpretation? (poem, prayer, genealogy, parable, etc.)

Source Criticism -

The text was put together from different sources, the author was addressing a certain audience. There are different styles, and different things emphasized. What written sources lie behind or might be constitutive of the final text? What was their setting in life?

Torah -

The torah is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the five books of Moses. It is the entire body of Jewish tradition, written from right to left. Order of the books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Phoenicians -

Were among the greatest traders during their time. Their cities first emerged near Egypt, they were neighbors to the Israelites. Phoenician language one of the semitic languages. They invented the alphabet in the Middle Bronze Age.