RN 101 Midterm
anthology
"As a whole temptation" leads generalizations and imposes uniformity upon the diversity of Biblical texts. We should keep in mind that the Bible isn't one book. It's an _____: a collection of many different books. The Bible is a collection of many different voices. We should think about how these voices interact with each other.
Deuteronomy
'The Speeches of Moses'. Stylized as a grand parting speech of Moses: The entire book is presented as a collection of speeches given to the people of Israel by Moses "on the fields of Moab". The book presents itself as Moses giving a retrospective on his own career, especially the last 40 years wandering the wilderness with those Israelites brought out of slavery in Egypt. These are Moses 'last words' to the Israelites before they (but not he) would enter the promised land. These words look forward and speak to a new generation that will enter the promised land. Before entering Promised Land, there is a grand review of the laws and a list of blessings and curses offered.
1-2:4a: creation of the world as we know it in 7 days. 6 days of creation, 1 day of rest (a.k.a. "Sabbath"). God's resting on the seventh day provides the rational for observing Sabbath. The story and the commandment reinforce one another.Later, in Exodus, the Hebrew people are commanded not to work on the 7th day. It is believed that animals, slaves, and everyone overall should rest because even God rested on the seventh day. This practice persists in various forms amongst Jewish (and Christian) groups today. 2-4b:24: The Garden of Eden "YHWH Elohim" = "the Lord God" (in the first story it was just "Elohim"). Themes: Relationships: human + animals, men + women, humans + God. Themes: choices, freedom This story explains why we can imagine a perfect world, but don't live in one. (The problem has to do with humans.)
Genesis: specifics of each story
MIKRA/MIQRA
literally means "text read aloud." This Hebrew word is a cognate to the Arabic word "Qu'ran," which literally means something like "recitation." These are books read aloud in public, not just studied in private or by specialists. The main function of the Jewish synagogue (literally: gathering place, not a "temple") is to hear the sacred texts read aloud and interpreted. This is also the origin of the Christian public readings of sacred texts (usually from Old and New Testament in a careful selection of such texts) and of the Christian "sermon." Islamic worship works in exactly the same fashion, though the text proclaimed (in Arabic) and interpreted (in the vernacular) is that of the Qur'an.
wisdom
represents for us a genre of writing that foregrounds the concept of "Hokhmah." Hokhmah is the Hebrew word we translate into English as Wisdom. Sometimes, Hokhmah is personified. I.e. Prov. 8 - Hokhmah speaks, saying: I am YHWH's playmate. I was around at creation. More often, Wisdom is presented as an ideal. Wisdom represents the ideal form of behavior. Wisdom is the condition of success in life. Wisdom is the opposite of foolishness. Wisdom is not quite the same as knowledge. Not just abstract facts or intelligence. Wisdom has a more grounded, practical feel to it.
wisdom literature
Much of the wisdom literature is attributed to King Solomon. Two types of Wisdom Literature: Positive (Wisdom can be a guide for life): Proverbs- If you act with wisely, you will do well in life. Negative/Skeptical (Wisdom may be insufficient for understanding life): Ecclesiastes, Job. Doesn't put forward one single answer, that's why its skeptical.
How history connects to the Bible
17th-century Enlightenment scholars began to "historicize" the Bible, suggesting that the Law of Moses (Torah) was the law of the ancient Hebrew republic. This made it more questionable what, if any, authority these laws had for their own time. E.g., in the Bible, "church" and state were one and the same or at least closely linked (e.g., kingship & priesthood), whereas in modern societies, as was eventually argued, the two should be separate. The separation of church and state became a foundation of modern constitutions, including that of the USA ( disestablishment clause). Thomas Hobbes and John Locke (England), and Spinoza (Netherlands) argued that that law applied THEN, given by a prophet, and no longer applies or is relevant after the demise of the ancient Hebrew republic. Puritans (a Reformed religious movement, a kind of Protestant community, i.e., not Catholic, not loyal to the Pope in Rome) from England in the 18th century, came to North America and brought the Law of Moses with them and took it seriously, not "ancient to them". Since the Enlightenment critique of the Bible and of religion more generally - used History to show distance between modern day and ancient Hebrew republic to separate church and state and empower modern people to take charge of their own destiny ("self-determination"). they doubted the doctrine that the world was founded on divine creation or that we can tell revelation from ordinary human speech they believed in the sufficiency of human reason and based government on consent of the governed, not divine investiture relegated the use of Scripture to private and moral affairs, i.e., retained Scripture as an edifying morally formative source of education administered by the church and similar institutions. The role of history changes in the Age of Great Discoveries - 1798 Napoleon leads a campaign to Egypt (which later influences European fashion; "Egyptomania") brought back the Rosetta Stone - that became the basis for Champollion and others to crack the code of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics (1822). Until then no one could read or interpret ancient Egyptian language and characters. Knowledge of Egyptian history and letters shed new light on the Bible. 19th century: Systematic explorations of ancient sites in Egypt and Mesopotamia, sponsored by the European Great Powers and private sponsors, lead to the excavation of ancient cities such as Babylon and Nineveh (ancient Assyrian capital) and the discovery of entire cuneiform tablets (written on clay tablets). Sumerian, Akkadian, Old-Babylonian, Hittite and other texts (ranging from state archives to public inscriptions to private letters and business communication) provided biblical studies with a treasure of comparative material, showing that the Bible was part of a larger world. Biblical laws, prophetic texts, psalms and rituals now seemed to have been borrowed from neighboring people.
YHWH
Full capitalized LORD refers to ____ in Hebrew
Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures
Term "Hebrew Bible" not totally correct because they are
Eden
____ literally means "abundance."
Canon
with regards to the Bible, ___ refers to the collection and arrangement of texts that a particular community considers authoritative. For example, Roman Catholic/Greek Orthodox and their modern Protestant offshoots all have largely the same canon and all of them share the books that the Jews consider sacred, but these canons are not completely identical. Communities also read these texts in different versions and translations. The Protestant Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible but in a different order of the same books. Even within the history of the Jews there are differences. E.g., the ascetic Qumran community (or "sect"), whose ancient library was discovered near the Dead Sea (we call these the "Dead Sea Scrolls"), never considered the Book of Esther sacred scripture and, similar to the early Christians included the Book of Jubilees among the sacred texts they studied closely. Esther is part of the standard Jewish canon (Tanakh, see below), as it is of the Christian canons.
Tanakh
(The ____, the Protestant Old Testament, and the Catholic Old Testament all place the books of Joshua and Judges directly after the Pentateuch.)
sacred story
(basic to a belief system, meaningful to believers even today)
history
(secular, mundane, causes and effects open to human examination). The goal of ___is to investigate what really happened. More often, the best we can do is to interrogate claims to historical knowledge ("critical history").
MIKRA/MIQRA and TaNaKh
2 Common ways Jewish communities refer to what academic circles call the Hebrew Bible
Does the book claim this really happened? (History) Does the book give us hints that this story is supposed to be taken as a philosophical/pedagogical example, a lesson, a parable, but not as a historical story? Does the book give a time to indicate when it was written? No.
2 Questions about the book of Job:
Jeremiah
A neo-Babylonian Empire begins to lay claim to the Levant and prevails over its Egyptian competitors. Jerusalem is forced into vassalage in 596, but destroyed fore rebellion in 586. Many Jews were taken into exile in Babylon during this time, especially those perceived to be talented or influential and therefore dangerous (or useful) from the perspective of Babylonians trying to prevent rebellion. Others, those perceived as less threatening or promising, were left behind. For example, the prophet Ezekiel was taken to Babylon with a first wave of exiles (596) or hostages, where he wrote prophecies arguing that YHWH had left Jerusalem and gone to Babylon. This was, in a way, pro-Babylonian propaganda. ______ remained in Jerusalem and wrote a letter to those who had been taken into exile urging them prepare for a long exile. Jeremiah suffered for his advice to the Judahite king to submit to the demands of the Babylonians. He also presaged the destruction of the city.
Phrases "Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, etc.." come directly from the Law Code of Hammurabi. Also, the laws regulating oxen in the Book of the Covenant reflect laws from the Law Code of Hammurabi very closely. However, ANE Law codes did not often include the types of Apodistic laws that we find in the Holiness Codes of Leviticus.
ANE Parallels: Law Code of Hammurabi
The Law Code of Hammurabi (c. 750 BCE) Best preserved tablet containing this code is in the British Museum. At the top of this tablet is a picture of Hammurabi receiving the laws, much as Moses received the law. Unlike Hellenistic/Humanistic thought about laws as human inventions used to govern citizens and cities. ANE communities saw laws as given directly from God/gods.
ANE parallels to the Mosaic Law
Northern Kings weren't usually praised: follow in the sins of Jeroboam who is charged (in 1-2 Kings) with breaking away from Judah, Jerusalem, and the House of David under Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and builds altar at Bethel, which is construed (in 1 and 2 Kings) as sinful, transgressive, and disloyal to
Actions of Kings that are praised in 23:15,16
Judah
After Josiah is killed in a battle with an Egyptian pharaoh, ___ survives for a few more decades, trying to play off Egypt against the neo-Babylonian Empire. New great power: Neo-Babylonians who in 596 take 10,000 hostages from Jerusalem in order to press the kingdom into Babylonian vassalage. In 587/6 Zedekiah of Judah rebels against Babylonians, is killed and the city is destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar.
Psalms
An "anthology of anthologies:" a collection of a variety of different collections of songs composed over a long period of time and intended to be sang in public as part of worship activities; a.k.a. "Hymns." Psalms = means "hymns" in Greek. (English name "Psalms" comes from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible.) Many of the psalms are created for liturgical use in specific festival celebrations. Some of these festivals are known to us (i.e. Passover, Sukkot, Yom Kippur, etc.). Some are lost (i.e. festival of divine enthronement). The Psalms are composed in poetic meter. People echo. Often, the musical instrument meant to accompany the song is mentioned. The psalms are still sung in many Jewish and Christian settings today. Book of Psalms = first book of the "Writings" (3rd section of the Old Testament) The Book of Psalms is further divided into 5 sub-books--> 150 psalms in total. Many Psalms come from different places, and were written for different people --> collected together in Book of Psalms. The Psalms were known intimately by the early Christian communities (also, of course, by Jewish communities of the first centuries from which the first Christians came). Psalms are often quoted in critical moments of New Testament literature. I. E. The expression of Christ on the Cross in Matthew "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" is an allusion to Psalm 22.
Jerusalem
Around 1000 BCE, a Neo-Assyrian Empire began building itself up. Eventually, this empire would overwhelm the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722/1 BCE. After the fall of Israel, residents of the Northern Kingdom were resettled elsewhere in the Assyrian Empire. But a small, influential contingent of refugees was able to migrate south and find shelter in Judah. It may have been here, under the protection of Judah, that Israelite refugees began to write histories of the northern kingdom. Thanks to fortification-building and hydraulic engineering in preparation for a prolonged siege of Jerusalem, King Hezekiah was able to withstand the Assyrian siege of Sennacherib in 701 BCE. The neo-Assyrian Empire suddenly imploded for internal reasons in 640, leaving a power vacuum in the Levant that the Judahites exploited. Declaring independence and consolidating their state, they expanded in every direction and established a centralized administration, centered in ______. ("Reforms of Josiah").
Enuma Elish
Babylonian epics and myths. Gods of Babylonian myths are personifications of different forces of nature. Ex: Tiamat represents salt water, Apsu represents sweet water. Salt water destroys crops, sweet water feeds crops. Ziggurat Tower ("reaching to the heavens"): conducted annual "holy marriage" rituals (between priest-king and priestess) to induce the gods to imitate them, couple, with one another, and produce the necessary fertility for the city-state to continue. (Fertility rituals.) Human beings came from the blood of Kingu, the evil, slain companion of Tiamat. In the Enuma Elish, human beings are understood to be slaves to the gods. Human beings must serve the gods and appease them. Humans are understood to exist only at the mercy of the gods. So, if they try to revolt from service to the gods, they will be killed. In practical terms, serving the gods meant doing the will of the king.
Stories dealing with the origin of the nation (people, tribal confederation): Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges. Stories dealing with the origins of the institution of kingship amongst the nation: 1 & 2 Samuel. Stories dealing with the history of the kingdoms: 1 & 2 Kings; Chronicles (Chronicles is a post-exilic rewriting of Kings that emphasizes sacerdotal institutions.)
Biblical Histories of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah can be divided into three sections:
However, the book does give a place: UZ. UZ is a form of a Hebrew word that literally means "Counsel" or "advice." "The Land of UZ," then, would mean "the land of counsel" or "the land of advice." No such real place as this exists in the ancient world. The land of UZ then signals the genre at play here. This is a book about advice giving or about counseling. There are no historical reference points in this book. There are no Israelites in this book. Job's long life is a symbol of happiness. Happiness in the Hebrew Bible is represented by long life and progeny. Job 42:16-17: "Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days." The Book of Job seems to present itself as a parable, not a historical book. Takes place in a made-up land. Gives no time reference points. Is narrated like a parable or fable would be narrated. Job is classified by both ancient and modern authorities as a wisdom book. Wisdom literature is concerned with grand themes and questions of universal importance. Wisdom literature is not necessarily concerned with particular historical moments or fact, even when the "wisdom" presented clearly bears the markings of its own historical limitations.
Book of Job
Anything the authors of Proverbs lay out as "wisdom" is severely criticized or rejected by both Qoheleth of Ecclesiastes and the author of Job. Wisdom literature is not a monolithic genre. Often, the authors/texts disagree with each other. Proverbs operate by the traditional logic of ANE Wisdom literature: Suffering is the result of a reproof from God as a result of your own foolishness. Suffering is a sign that God loves you, but also that you have done something wrong. Suffering has a reason, and that reason is found in human actions. This same logic obtains throughout the work of the Deuteronomist. Acting rightly leads to success and long life in the land. Acting foolishly leads to failure and exile. Ecclesiastes and Job reject this traditional logic. They maintain that the question of suffering cannot be answered with any satisfaction. Job takes issue with the idea that a person's suffering is a result their own failures. Proverbs sometimes assumes that to be rich is a blessing from God. This is a natural outcome of wisdom literature logic. Success flows from wisdom.
Book of Proverbs
These laws deal far less with sexual behavior. These laws are civil and criminal laws. (Casuistic laws.) However, these laws do deal with laws of slavery and economy. They deal with the basic building blocks of Israelite society. Slavery was widely practiced in these days, but the Israelites did not practice the brutal chattel slavery of America. They had laws regulating slavery according to certain principles of justice. (We still may think these principles lacking from our modern perspectives, but at the time they were somewhat progressive.)
Book of the Covenant: Exodus 20-24
God reveals God's name. (This is the origin story of the title YHWH being used to refer to the Israelites' God.) Knowing the name of a God gives power over that God. If you can call upon the name of a God, you can command that deity to appear. Moses is attempting to gain control over this deity by gaining knowledge of its name. However, this deity delivers a clever ruse instead of a name: "I am who I am." In Hebrew, these verbs are temporally ambiguous ("ehyeh asher ehyeh."). It could mean anything from "I cause to be what I cause to be," or "I will cause to be what I will cause to be," or "I have caused to be what I have caused to be." These are all ruses demonstrating the ungraspable nature of God. Intentionally ambiguous to show the unnamable, un-placable, un-capturable nature of this God. This God cannot be represented. But, this God must be obeyed nonetheless. This God not only cannot be grasped, but this God is unpredictable and untamable. This God is dangerous! This God can only be trusted under the terms of a promise. This God has fulfilled one half of his promise to Abraham, descendants. But will he follow through on the second half, namely land?
Burning Bush Episode: One of the most intimate moments we get of the deity of Moses.
Name literally means: "The one who places obstacles." The Satan is here not assumed to be pure evil. Not assumed to be opposed to God. The Satan is part of the Divine Council. The Satan resides in heaven with the other heavenly beings. The Satan is a sort of divine Attorney General. The Satan is the one who tests and prosecutes human beings in front of God. The Satan places obstacles before people and accuses them.(We should be careful not to bring our post-medieval assumptions about The Devil as a fallen angel and the arbiter of pure evil, the guardian of hell, into the text here. The Satan is not a fallen angle, but a member of the divine council in this story.)
Character of ha-satan: (The Satan - "ha" is a form of the Hebrew definite article.)
Religious Demographic Breakdown
Christianity claims more members than any other religion with approx. 2.2 billion followers worldwide. There are approximately 14 million Jews globally. Many live in diaspora. There are roughly 6 million Jews in Israel and a similar number in the United States. The other 2 million are spread around the globe. Islam, the world's second most populous religious tradition, claims some 1.6 billion members. Only around 20% of the world's Muslims live in Arab countries. (The world's most populous Muslim majority country is Indonesia.)
How they view the Bible
Christians assign more importance to singular readings of narrative passages. Christians use narratives to create doctrinal positions. Judaism is not a doctrinal faith, per se. Thus, Judaism places less emphasis on having common interpretations of narrative passages. Jews are interested mainly with legal texts; they consider narrative texts as important but not as sources for creating doctrine. Common interpretations and understandings of legal texts are a matter of great concern in Jewish communities, but this is not so with narrative sections of the Tanakh.
The Primeval Histories: Chapters 1-11: Antediluvian (Pre-Flood): 1-8 Postdiluvian (Post-Flood): 9-11. The Patriarchal/Matriarchal Histories: Chapters 12-50: Story of the family of Abram (later Abraham), Sarai (later Sarah), and Hagar: 12-25. Story of the family of Isaac and Rebekah: 25-28. Story of the family of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel (as well as Esau): 28-38. Story of Joseph: 38-50
Common Partitions used for analyzing the book of Genesis: The whole book can be divided into 2 main parts:
1) Wisdom literature assumes that people have choices, and claims that our choices will shape our lives. Choosing wisdom leads to fullness (success) in this life. Choosing foolishness leads to (emptiness) failure in this life. 2) Wisdom literature assumes that the choosing entity is the individual person. Not directed toward collectives or whole communities but speaks to individuals.
Common Themes represented across ANE Wisdom literature:
The people who wrote down the stories of Genesis may have been exiles in Babylon. They were at least conversant with elements of Babylonian lore.
Connection between Genesis and Babylonian myths
Obey: Remain in the land as an independent nation. Disobey: Have the nation destroyed and the people exiled. (This is not about 'eternal salvation' or the 'afterlife.' There's no mention of heaven and no concept of afterlife - beyond the continuation of progeny - in the Hebrew Bible.) The Post-Josiah Judahites believed in the theology of the Deuteronomists and followed the laws of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy claims that worship of YHWH alone as part of a centralized temple cult located in Jerusalem will guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Judah. We know from history this doesn't work - (but maybe that was exactly the point the book is trying to convey.)
Consequences of obeying/not obeying the law according to Deuteronomy
Joshua 24
Contains a retelling of the sacred history of the Pentateuch. However, this story seems to be a retelling that varies from the narratives of Genesis-Deuteronomy. Ex: We are told that Abraham served other gods beyond the Euphrates. (Keep in mind here that in the ANE, gods often had a special connection to specific plots of land.) The Israelites are told to put away the old Gods and only. What does this chapter's retelling leave out? Most notably, it leaves out the reception of the Law. There is no Sinai. There's no revelation of the law. The story told throughout Joshua and Judges isn't so much about following the law as it is an argument for worshipping YWHW exclusively. Why would it leave out the law? It seems that the addition of the law into the patriarchal and matriarchal histories of Egypt did not occur until later when new rules for setting up community were being systematized and concretized. The author of Joshua 24 seems totally unaware of the existence of the Revelation of Sinai and the law handed down by YHWH to Moses. At one time, it was possible to tell the story of the origins of the Kingdom of Israel without the revelation of Sinai. Takes place at Shechem: Throughout the first 6 books of the Bible, the city of Shechem plays a central role. Schechem is a city in the land of Israel. Abraham builds the first altar to YHWH in the land of Canaan at Schechem. Serves as the first tribal center for the people of Israel. Most of the important city centers in the first part of the biblical narrative are Israelite cities.
Psalms of Lament
Describes what the individual or the community is suffering and expresses yearning for God's deliverance. Individual psalms focus on one person and speak in the first person. Collective Psalms often speak in the third person and speak of and to groups.
The reforms instituted by Josiah in 2 Kings 22 & 23 align with the vision of worship put forward in Deuteronomy, not the vision offered in Exodus.
Deuteronomy is the book Josiah find in the temple!
The Pentateuch is a composite of books and the books themselves are composites of earlier textual sources and oral traditions.
Development and Authorship of the Pentateuch
One student said that Jacob was a bit of a trickster. Dr. Zank agreed. He pointed out that Jacob is resourceful, but he's not particularly ethical or moral. He seems to lie a lot. Genesis seems to speak to virtues of obedience, resilience, survival, procurement of progeny, and desire for land. Dr. Zank also pointed out that all these characters were living before the law was given? In terms of the narrative, should we hold these characters to the terms of a law they were never given?
Dr. Zank asked what students thought about Jacob? What kind of character was he?
Ancient Near East
Each area of the ______believed in different gods, but almost all believed the gods represented different parts of nature, they believed nature was made up of living beings who had to be worshipped and appeased. ALL of these societies depended on food-stuffs produced by agriculture under a variety of geographical conditions. The types of gods they worshiped reflected the natural conditions of the agricultural production. Egyptian agriculture relied on the Nile and its flood plains. Powerful rituals were believed to guarantee the annual inundation of the Nile that brought fertile soil and provided water for irrigation. Babylonian and Assyrian agriculture relied on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Canaan, however, was rather dry and relied almost entirely on rain. One of the titles of the Canaanite "Ba'al" (="lord") was "rider of the clouds," a title biblical psalms use to refer to Israelite YHWH.
Even if you act with wisdom, things may not end up so well! Utterly skeptical about the possibility for human effort to make life better. Ecclesiastes has an addendum added onto the end of the text. The last verses are an addition. They tame the skeptical message of the larger text.
Ecclesiastes
Moses
Ex. 33: _____' decisive question to YHWH: "I want to see your face." YHWH tells Moses that he cannot look upon YHWH's face or else Moses will die. Looking upon YHWH is too powerful and experience for human beings to endure, according to Exodus. However, YHWH agrees to allow Moses to see YHWH's back. In this episode, YHWH speaks of YHWH's self. YHWH reveals the divine attributes. Ex. 34: 6-7. The attributes revealed are moral attributes not merely attributes of size, scale, look, etc. The knowable attributes of God are attributes of moral character not of visual identity.
Abdi Heba
First named king of Jerusalem (pre-biblical) was _____ in 14th century whose pleading letters to his Egyptian suzerain were discovered at Tel el-Amarna (Amarna correspondence). In these letters, the forces troubling the king of Jerusalem (a Hurrian national writing in the Akkadian diplomatic language) are referred to as hapiru, which too many scholars suggested a historical echo of the biblical reference to the ancient Hebrews (a term that appears in the Book of Exodus and refers to the descendants of Jacob/Israel enslaved in Egypt).
Moses spends 40 days and 40 nights up on Sinai talking with YHWH. The people think that Moses has died. They get impatient. Thus, they come to Aaron and ask Aaron to lead them and make them new gods to worship. The Israelites throw a party to meet this new God. Moses hears the racket up on the mountain. Comes down and sees the people worshiping the calf. Moses gets angry. Smashed the tablets on the ground. Grinds up the golden calf and dissolves it into water which Moses made the people drink. Moses then commissions the Levites to go throughout the camp and kill any who worshiped the calf. The text says this is how the Levites distinguished themselves to be set apart as priests of YHWH.
Golden Calf Story
Christ
Greek version of the Hebrew word Mashiah (Messiah). Literally means "anointed." As we learned in the book of Samuel, anointing is a sign of communal recognition of a divine appointment to a position of power.
paradise
Greek word for Eden= paradesios (____), the word was borrowed from Persia, where it meant royal pleasure gardens. Human beings were the gardeners in the Garden of Eden, God's royal pleasure garden.
summary of Moses
He was a hesitant leader. Moses had to be talked into taking this position by YHWH at the burning bush. This makes Moses relatable to us readers. He was a figure who was charged with demonstrating YHWH's power. Moses has a calling: liberate the Israelites who are enslaved in Egypt. Moses made public displays of power in Egypt in the form of the Ten Plagues. Amongst the class, there was some discussion about whether the signs displayed in Egypt to Pharaoh by Moses should be put into the same category as the signs performed by Moses to care for the Hebrews in the wilderness. Prof. Zank: These are different. One set of signs displays God's power in order to make Pharaoh tremble. The other set demonstrates God's care for the Hebrews in the form of provision. Students: The more important thing is that both sets of signs are done by God. The deity's agency here is most important. These demonstrations both show that God is in charge. Prof. Zank: Interesting! We seem to have paid more attention to the activity of the deity than the activity of Moses. Other students mentioned that God seemed to be delegating power to Moses. God gives Moses choices. Moses must react to the opportunities presented to him.
Torah
Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament start with the ___ but they end differently.
Cyrus
In 539, Babylonians open their gates to Cyrus of Anshan, who conquered in the name of the Medians and the Persians but was to rule in the name of the traditional Akkadian deities, stepping into the great tradition of Sargon of Agade. Like Sargon, he claimed, the gods had called upon him from afar to right the rituals of the city and the many wrongs done by the Babylonians. Among others, Cyrus ordered the Jews to return and rebuild their city. (The Cyrus Edict is prominently mentioned at the very end of the Book of Chronicles, now positioned at the end of the Hebrew Scriptures/Tanakh.) Another fun fact, ____ is the only non-Jew or non-Israelite in the Bible to be called "messiah" or "God's anointed." (Isaiah 45)
Isaiah 7
Here the prophet Isaiah delivers and oracle to King Ahaz. In the midst of a military threat (King Ahaz of Judah has refused to join a rebellion with the King of Israel and surrounding kings against the Assyrians), Isaiah delivers a word from YHWH that Ahaz should do nothing. Simply trust in YHWH. Isaiah's response to Ahaz includes a poetic discussion illustrating how quickly the Kingdoms of Israel and Ephraim. Isaiah says that before a young woman has delivered and weaned a child, Assyria will destroy these two kingdoms. The Gospel writer of Matthew uses this poetic prophecy and makes it refer to Jesus. When the word for "young woman" was translated into Greek, the Greek word carried a double connotation: (1) a young woman or (2) a woman who has not yet had sexual intercourse. Isaiah councils Ahaz to throw his lot in with the Assyrians. Isaiah is a sort of policy advisor on international policy. Prophets often serve as advisors to the king. Every powerful person in the ancient world consulted oracles in order to get advice. Everyone consulted oracles in the ancient world. This was a well-established institution. In the ANE (And Greece and Rome). Everyone had true prophets and false prophets. True prophets were good advisors. False prophets were bad advisors.
The holiness codes argue that Israelites must be completely set apart from the Canaanites and the Egyptians. The Israelites receive these laws in a liminal space: in the wilderness, neither Egypt nor Canaan. These laws are perceived as life-giving laws. We are told that following the laws presented in this holiness code will preserve and advance life. Chapter 18 deals mostly with sexual sins. The laws are connected in an almost organic relationship with the land. According to the holiness code, the land itself can be defiled. The land has a sort of agency in these texts. The land can reject those living upon it. Committing certain grave transgressions while in the land will result in being rejected by the land. Successful living in the land and avoiding being "vomited out" of the land requires that the people follow the laws laid out in the holiness code, at least according to the Priestly authors who compiled these texts. Chapter 19 has nothing to do with sexual conduct. The beginning of chapter 19 contains a sort of summary of the Decalogue contained in the book of the covenant. This seems like a different scope of laws. We move from familial sexual propriety to more widely socially oriented relations.
Holiness Code (Lev. 18-20)
Character of Job's answer: "God is not concerned with advancing justice. Thus, there is no justice in the world." (Job accuses God of being unjust.) Job's logic: I suffer. But I have not sinned. Therefore, God is unjust. Characters of Job's three friends' answers: "Good people do not have bad things happen to them. Thus, Job must actually be a bad person." Job's friends insist that he must have done something wrong. Job's suffering is just because Job isn't perfect. Job's friends accuse him of being prideful. Job's friends presume to understand the mind and justice of God. However, Job's friends are the most strongly rebuked characters by YHWH. YHWH condemns Job's friends for being so arrogant to assume that they know the mind of God, that they can predict God's mind and actions. Job's younger friend also echoes these earlier answers, but in more forceful terms. Character of YHWH's answer: "Human beings are far too small and weak to understand the affairs of God." YHWH belittles Job's attempts to understand the acts of God. YHWH appears in a powerful storm and answers along the lines of "You are nothing. You know nothing. Why do you accuse me?" Character of the Narrator's answer: Job's suffering results from a bet between God and the Satan. Job's suffering is a test of his loyalty to YHWH. Also a test of Job's likeness. YHWH here is presented like a vain king who sits in court and wants to know how much his subjects love him. Character of Job's Wife: "Bless God and Die." Our translators claim that "bless" here is really a euphemism for "curse." However, this is not at all clear in the text itself. Prof. Zank: I think that what Job's wife here is saying is "stop asking these unanswerable questions. It's time to let things go. This suffering is meaningless. There's nothing we can do. Thus, we must move on." "Die with some dignity," Job's wife seems to say. Job's wife seems to imply that suffering is meaningless.
How does the Book of Job answer the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
Emergence of new states during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age
In between the collapse of Bronze Age economies and the rise of Iron Age ones, there was a political power vacuum created as previously dominant empires went into a period of decline. During this power vacuum, new states and kingdoms were able to emerge. Many of these new states emerged in the area we call the Southern Levant. Between c.1200-900 BCE, Israel, Judah, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Aram-Damascus, Phoenicia, and Philistia all established states. (Interesting fact: After the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, which came four years after a Jewish revolt that briefly expelled the Romans from power in Jerusalem, the Romans began to refer to Canaan as Palestine, which is taken from the name Philistine.) It's also around this time that the city system of Canaan starts to fall apart. This creates a vacuum for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah to emerge. The Levant (meaning the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea) is an important strategic location as a trade route, by both land and sea. Especially between the Assyrian and Babylonian empires to the northeast and east and the Egyptian empire in the southwest. The smaller territorial kingdoms, incl. Judah and Israel, eventually struggle to maintain independence (and eventually lose it), wedged as they are between the more populous and more resource-rich rivals of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Israel
In the Bible, a large part of the historical narrative preserved in biblical memory has to do with the northern kingdom of ___. However, this history is given both a prologue and an epilogue by Judahite narratives, with some Judahite history sprinkled throughout as well. Israel was originally more powerful than Judah. Following Israel's destruction, Judah emerges as a more significant regional player.
New Testament
In the ______ (i.e., in Christian texts that became authoritative and were eventually gathered into a second canon), the sacred texts (of the Jews, and by extension of the Christians) are referred to as twofold: law and prophets.
Genesis 22
In this text, barrenness signifies no future; everything God gifts to Abraham will have no meaning if he can't pass it on to his sons and daughters. This is why the story of the why the almost-sacrifice of Isaac in _____ is such a test of faith for Abraham. If Abraham killed Isaac, he would seemingly be negating the promise of offspring YHWH had promised to Abraham. Sarah's barrenness is the beginning of Abraham's story; Genesis 22 is followed immediately after Sarah's death, bringing the story to a conclusion.
Kings 23:25
Indicates when authors lived because of how it refers to the law of Moses. It is similar to Deuteronomy 6, maybe Deuteronomy was part of Law found by Josiah, maybe it was by the same authors, maybe authors were aware to those before them Josiah's reforms: worship of YHWH alone in Jerusalem alone. Because of sacrifices made to YHWH there would be a redistribution of wealth to Jerusalem, so Josiah wanted to keep value in his own country Mobilized prophets to legitimize
special providence
Jews and Christians believe there's more than just the historical plane. God is believed to look out for his chosen ones and interferes in history. This doctrine is called _____. However, Jews do not believe in Christian claims, but Christians do believe in the foundations of the Jewish faith, including the Laws of Moses and biblical history. Examples of ______: God appears to whom he wants (theophany) and makes promises and interferes in history in other ways (e.g., in battle), as well as issues laws (Sinaitic revelation; prophecy).
Why do good things happen to bad people?
Job: Fundamental Question
Book of Joshua
Joshua contains an account of how the second-generation of Israelites finally moving into the promised land after their ancestors were delivered from slavery in Egypt. (Remember, the first generation of freed Hebrews died out over the past forty years of wandering the desert as punishment for their disobedience and lack of courage when faced with the prospect of taking the land of Canaan by force.) The character of Joshua is set up as a sort of 'second Moses.' There are many parallels between Moses' exploits and Joshua's leadership: Miraculous conquests of foreign armies. (Moses: Egyptian plagues, Parting of the Red Sea, Extension of the day during battle. Joshua: Crossing of the Jordan, Jericho, etc.) Because of Joshua's close connection to the Pentateuch, some people bunch the first six books of the Bible together and call it the "Hexateuch."
Kings 23:26
Manasseh is villainized in 23:26 which is a break in the text, it suddenly speaks of Manesseh after praising Josiah. Blames Manasseh for downfall of Jerusalem, why? Menasseh was a loyal subject to Assyrians & Josiah wasn't, he challenged the Assyrians
Judges part 1
Judges follows a cyclical narrative pattern of moving between periods of obedience, then disobedience, then punishment, then redemption, and all over again. Judges tells you how the people acted once they had the land; what it was like in those days after Joshua dies when this true leader was no longer there and how things went. After the great leader is gone, things fall apart. Think about the final verse of the book: Judges 21:25 - "In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes." The book is a large form argument displaying the need for one strong, prophetic leader like Moses: namely, a King. The king is need to bring order to a fragmentary, violent, chaotic tribal society. Judges begins with a long list of the failures of the conquest that was supposedly just completed under Joshua. The book of Judges exposes the conquest narrative of Joshua to be a "pious fiction." The people did not in fact drive out all the Canaanite people. Instead, they integrated many Canaanites into Israelite society in some form or fashion.
Judges part 2
Judges is the prologue to the story of the rise of Kingship in Israel told in the books of Samuel. Judges reads like something that was created at the Royal Court. Usually, the only people who like the King are the people who benefit directly from the King. It feels, at times, like royal propaganda. However, there is a sub-narrative of resistance to kingship within Judges itself that is drawn out more thoroughly in Samuel. See: The parable of Jotham in Judges 9. This poem makes the point that only an unworthy person would aspire to be King. Worthy people would be unwilling to exercise such power. This is a timeless parable about the corrupting nature of the will to power. Can be read as an argument against Kingship en toto, or may be an argument for a certain type of King.
passing child through the fire to (god) Molokh seems to allude to child sacrifice, and serving other gods than YHWH; which means that kings instituted ritual cults other than those commanded by YHWH and not worshiping YHWH alone. Josiah is introduced with high praise (stereotypical summary/evaluation of king, in this case: positive evaluation); Josiah celebrates the Passover, he is credited with doing what should've been done all along. Positive evaluation of Josiah is tied to finding of the law. Temple falls into despair because $ is spent on other priorities, but when restoring the temple they find book of law remember the presence and absence of LAW that plays a role in the text. Text makes it seem that the book is casually laying around and that the people have forgotten it; think about what authors are doing, why does law show up now? Authority of text rests on the prophets, finding book of law allows to structure community in a different way. Add on in text occurs when Josiah dies because it is a very odd death, don't know exactly what happened
Kings 22:8
law
Many people confuse the entirety of the Old Testament with ____. However, as we've seen, this isn't entirely right. The Law is concentrated in the Pentateuch. Still, not even all the Pentateuch is law. Large parts of it are law, but not all of it. Mt. Sinai is the central place for the revelation of the law Different sources refer to the mountain of revelation as either Mt. Horeb or Mt. Sinai.
Moses was raised in the royal family. Educated in the palace. Raised as an Egyptian prince. Much has been made of Moses being "initiated into the mysteries of Egypt." Moses' name is given him by Pharaoh's daughter. According to the explanation offered by Pharaoh's daughter in the text, "Moses" means "drawn from water." However, in certain Hellenistic texts, there seems to be a closer connection to the Egyptian word "MS" meaning "child." This would suggest that Moses' name was really no name at all, but an indication of Moses' identity as an orphan and the child of an unknown God. (Egyptian example Ramses- "Child of Ra:" Child of the Sun God.) Moses' name is not a real name. The ambiguity of Moses' name and its meaning parallels the ambiguity of the divine name rendered later in the burning bush account. Moses is a murderer, but a righteous murderer (if there is such a thing). Moses sees an Egyptian slave-master beating a Hebrew slave. So Moses kills the slave-master. Moses is a runaway, a refugee shepherd in the land of Midian. Moses is hesitant, a bit scared. Moses confronts Pharaoh on the level of an equal. Why choose Moses? Couldn't YHWH act on YHWH's own? Students: Maybe people just need a physical representation. Moses was the "most humble of all men." Only with Moses did God speak face-to-face.
Let's look at Moses' qualifications: Why choose Moses?
Hereditary Priesthood: "Aaron & Sons".
Leviticus sets up the institution of Aaronite priesthood. Moses' brother Aaron and his sons constitute an institution, a consecrated priesthood. The Aaronide lineage delineates those who can be priests. You cannot convert to priesthood. Priesthood is conveyed hereditarily. To this day, there are Jewish priestly families: "Kohamim" - high priests. "Leviim" - auxiliary priests
Israelites leave Egypt, go into the wilderness, receive the law, go further into the wilderness, Israelites rebel against Moses and complain. Scene of the revelation in Ex. 19: When YHWH shows up, YHWH is accompanied by smoke, thunder, lightning, horn blasts. This was a very noisy revelation! It terrified the people! The scene is described very much like a volcanic eruption. Moses speaks and God answers in thunder. Think back to the story we read about Elijah encountering God on Mt. Horeb when God was not in the storm but the silence. We see a different picture of God here. In Ex. 19, we are told that YHWH will appear in the sight of all the people. When the trumpet blast occurs, the people will be allowed to come up and meet YHWW. However, when God appears the people are scared. In Ex. 20, YHWH warns Moses to tell the people not to "break through and look." The people are suddenly warned that they must not see YHWH.This seems to be connected to the commandments later revealed that required that no image of YHWH ever be made.
Main Exodus Story Arc
Israelites are marching through the desert like an army. They send spies into the land of Canaan. The spies return scared. The Israelites are condemned to wander the desert for 40 years because of their timidity and unwillingness to conquer the land of Canaan.
Main Numbers Story Arc
Lacks a Theogony: Unlike the Enuma Elish, Genesis doesn't say where the gods came from, and doesn't explain why Elohim or YHWH Elohim was in the position to create the world as we know it. Lacks a Theomachy: Unlike the Enuma Elish, the world in Genesis doesn't originate in battle between the gods. Such a battle may be alluded to in the 1st story in Genesis with the mention of the breath/wind of God hovering over the "Tehom" (Hebrew word meaning "deep/chaos," cognate with the name Tiamat from Enuma Elish.) , but it's not actually present or described.
Other observations about Genesis
Ketuvim
Other writings, a nondescript classification, indicating the lesser status or late provenance of the texts collected here.
"Sarai" to "Sarah" = "princess" "Abram" to "Abraham" = "exalted father" Abraham is sometimes called the "father of all believers." The Arabic reference to Abraham notes Abraham as a friend of God. "Jacob" - "Israel"
Prominent name changes in Genesis:
Nevi'im
Prophetic Books (incl. some of what in Christian tradition are called "Historical Books")
wisdom psalms
Psalm 90: classical wisdom; typical wisdom. Psalm 90: about Moses; ponders God's long lasting presence to the ephemeral nature of human life; humans are nothing; wisdom - skeptical wisdom; only God endures, humans come and go. Originally the Psalms contain no concept of resurrection or afterlife. Many, many Psalms cry out for God to save the lives of the people because "the dead do not praise you (God)". Like the Greek concept of Hades, the ancient Jews referred to the place of the dead as Sheol. Sheol is simply the place of the dead: eternal sleep. This is not the same concept as the later medieval Christian notions of Hell. In the Psalms, its often the fear of death that causes people to cry out to YHWH. They try to leverage YHWH's help by reminding YHWH that the dead cannot praise YHWH.
Canonization
Refers to the historical process by which certain texts came to be included or excluded from a religious community's canon. Canonization requires an authority that can make decisions on behalf of a community. In the Christian tradition, these were the so-called ecumenical councils of bishops, convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine (4th century CE) and his successors.
(Episodes of wandering in the desert for 40 years seem intended to be strange since one could easily walk across this desert in two days.) The desert is a liminal (transitional) space. It's neither Egypt nor the promised land. The reception of the law is symbolic. It is a moment of transition and transformation.
Revelation takes place in the desert.
Everything, as written, in the order it's written, is true. However, this doesn't seem quite right. The laws of Exodus often contradict the Laws of Deuteronomy. This would require us to assume that Moses contradicted himself. The audience in this scenario would truly be the second generation of Israelites freed from Egypt who are about to enter the promised land for the very first time. However, Deuteronomy (and the Pentateuch as a whole) contains lots of allusions to the fact that the Israelites have already been in the land. Plus, the books assume and intimate familiarity with the land and its history that doesn't make sense for people who have never been to the land. Thus, it seems that this isn't quite right. This book probably isn't actually intended to address the second generation of Israelites freed from Egypt. Instead, the book uses this familiar story as a literary frame through which to communicate the much later author's meaning. 1) Deuteronomy was written long after Exodus and attributed to the character of Moses, most likely after the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians in 722/1 BCE and during the centralization of state functions and worship in Jerusalem by King Josiah. Moses is an authoritative figure. Putting words in Moses mouth would give them legal authority. Thus, if you wanted to make a new change you would frame it as an old but forgotten law. Deuteronomy is actually a radical reform and centralization instituted during the reign of Josiah and justified by the discovery/creation of a book of Laws attributed to Moses. In this case, the audience of the book of Deuteronomy would be the Judahite Kingdom under Josiah, which would include many refugees from the recently destroyed Northern Kingdom of Israel. Provides answers to why the Northern Kingdom was destroyed and guidelines to follow to ensure that Southern Kingdom doesn't also face destruction. 2) None of this happened as written. Instead this was written long after the Babylonian exile as an attempt to explain and understand why both Israel and Judah were destroyed. In this case, Deuteronomy is actually intended to address the community of Jews returning from Babylonian Exile to re-enter the promised land and re-subdue it. Thus, this reading would see the book of Deuteronomy as providing guidelines to the post-exilic community for rebuilding a community in such a way that it would avoid the fate of both the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah before it.
Scenarios for understanding the Origins of Deuteronomy:
King Ahab of Israel has made a marriage alliance with Jezebel, daughter of the King of the wealthy Phoenician port city of Sidon. In some parts of the Hebrew Bible, Ahab is portrayed as a powerful king. However, in Kings, Ahab is presented from the perspective of the prophets. As readers, we're clearly supposed to side with Elijah against Ahab. Jezebel is a Hebrew term that means something like "mountain of trash." The prophetic schools have little to no respect for those in power. Elijah takes issue with Ahab and Jezebel because they are promoting and allowing the worship of Baal alongside YHWH. The name "Baal" means "Lord," similar to the name used for YHWH as "Adonai." However, it seems clear that Baal and YHWH are different gods. Elijah is upset about the worship of the wrong God. YHWH, not Baal, is responsible for the well-being of Israel. YHWH, not Baal, controls the land and the clouds over the land. Elijah delivers a message to Ahab from YHWH, claiming that YHWH would close up the gates of heaven for three years. (Meaning no rain for three years.) Ahab takes issue with this message and seeks to kill Elijah. According to the prophetic literature, Israel always treats its true prophets poorly. During the drought, Elijah proposes a test to prove whether YHWH or Baal was truly the god reigning over the land of Israel. This test takes place at Mt. Caramel. In a wild and somewhat humorous episode, Elijah prevails over the prophets of Baal and proves the sovereignty of YHWH over the land of Israel. Elijah, after prevailing over the prophets of Baal, is given a mandate to restore worship of YHWH alone in Israel. According to the prophets, History is not made through the cleverness of kings. History is only made through obedience to YHWH alone. How does the story of Elijah present the figure of God? Elijah encounters God on Mount Horeb. (This is intended to be the same place that Moses encountered God and received the law. In different traditions contained in the Torah, the mountain where Moses encountered God is called Sinai or Horeb.) Not necessarily as like a human being. Not as a raging fire. Not as a gale. Not as an earthquake. God is heard in the silence. (This is a paradox. How can silence be heard? May this be a poetic way of speaking about how the message or "voice" of God impresses itself on human consciousness?)
Stories of Elijah: (What do these stories illustrate about prophecy?)
Narrator's Prologue. Alternating Speeches between Job and his three friends, all elders and counselors. Job 's three friends argue that the reason Job is suffering is because he must have sinned. Job's friends rebuke Job for repeatedly claiming to be innocent. Long speech from one of Job's younger companions. YHWH's Speech and answer to Job. YHWH appears in a powerful thunder storm. Job's response to YHWH. After YHWH shows up in power, Job seems to rest his case. Narrator's Epilogue.
Structure of Job
The 1st story says everything was good. The 2nd story introduces restrictions and choice, as well as temptation and the possibility of deception. All was well in the Garden of Eden until humans chose to disobey the divine commandment, a single prohibition (a food taboo).
Tensions/Contradictions between the 1st and 2nd stories of Genesis:
The Israelites are instructed to conquer this land. But how is the conquest to be conducted? Total annihilation: The Israelites are instructed to kill everyone and everything. Ex: Think about the story of Jericho: Every living thing in the city is massacred, with the one exception of Rahab's family. However, the people keep the riches and jewels to give to the House of the LORD. This conquest is narrated as if it had been a radical genocide of everyone and everything living in the land of Canaan prior to the arrival of the Israelites. Total purification. An "empty slate." (With the one exception of those clever Gibeonites in Joshua 9-10 who finagle a covenant of friendship with the Israelites.) Cherem: Hebrew word that designates "The Ban." All things are to be dedicated to YHWH through total destruction and annihilation. Prof. Zank offered that these stories convey the miraculous work of YHWH in fulfilling YHWH's promise to provide land to the progeny of Abraham. (Although, they may turn out to be more wishful thinking than close history, as the book of Judges will attest.) It's also worth noting that narratives of a past large scale conquest undertaken in the name of a god and that god's power were common in the literary environment of the ANE. We know that conquests are not regularly decided by miracles. However, the conquest narratives are clearly conveyed in miraculous terms. YHWH Tseva'ot ("The LORD of Hosts"): This is the God who fights on behalf of the Israelites. God is the one who wins these battles, and sometimes the Israelites help. God delivers the land into the hands of the Israelites. When are these stories told? The narration of these stories, as illustrated by the many editorial asides and narrative frames present in the text, takes place long after the conquests were supposed to have taken place. The narrative contains many etiological tales (origin stories) explaining the names of places and the presence of monuments within the land.
The Conquest Narrative
Torah
The Five Books of Moses (also known as the Pentateuch=Greek for "Five Scrolls"). literally means instruction but the most ancient translation of the ____ (the Greek Septuagint) renders this word as "nomoi," i.e. "laws." This makes Moses into the lawgiver of the Jews, something Greek-educated people could understand and compare to Solon (lawgiver of Athens) and others.
Hebrew Bible
The _____was first translated into a non-Semitic language by Hellenized Jews in Alexandria c.250 BCE. This version is called the Septuagint or LXX. (LXX refers to the legend that 70 scholars each independently translated the Hebrew into Greek and all came to the exact same translation.) Greek version was made for Jews that did not speak Hebrew. This is where "Torah" was first translated as "nomos" which, in Greek, means law. "Torah," in Hebrew, means something closer to "instruction" than "law."
biblical history
The basis of _____is belief or faith (including faith in sacred stories passed down that are essentially beyond verification) while critical history asks for evidence and strictly operates on a human plane. Ex: That Jesus Christ died and was resurrected on the 3rd day and appeared to his disciples is not an objectively verifiable fact open to historical investigation. It requires belief in order to be accepted as a fact. The same is true with the revelation at Sinai or divine creation. (In the Enlightenment, the greatest obstacle to rational faith was the miracles of the Bible, which suggested exceptions to the laws of nature.)
Cain
The conflict between ____and Able can be interpreted as a metaphor about the inevitable conflict between city dwellers and nomadic herders. Cain: "tiller of the soil" Needs lots of well kept, un-trampled land in order to grow crops. After Cain murders Able - maybe a comment on the superior economic power of cities- he runs away and builds the first city. Able: tends flocks. Needs lots of land across which his flocks can graze and roam. The conflicting needs of sedentary farming communities and semi-nomadic shepherding tribes often causes conflict. (This is still true today!) Also, for Bedouin peoples, progeny is very important for sustaining the future of the tribe.
Old Testament
The distinction between "old" and "new" implies a theological value judgment. Unlike many modern Americans, the Roman's didn't like religious innovation. This is one of the reasons the Romans persecuted Christians. The Christian concept "new covenant" (=testament) is explicitly linked with the "old covenant" in order to justify the Christians in the eyes of the Romans in the sense that the "new" is presaged and intended by the "old." In other words, it is not an "innovation."
primordial history
The opening of Genesis (the first chapter of the Torah) offers a view of "______." I.e., a narrative of the beginning of everything, the creation of heaven and earth, as well as the human being as male and female. Offers stories for why things are the way they are (technical term: "etiology"). Ex: The origin of the sexes - explains why humans come in two different varieties of genital arrangements. (We should distinguish here between sexes and genders. Sex refers to biological arrangement while gender refers to assigning certain role expectations within given social system. The major theme is how human beings came into being as we know them now: an etiology of the human condition.
Golden Calf
The episode of the "______" is a story about seeing god as well. The "Golden Calf" is a classic example of gods that are known through their visual representations and idols. The Bull - the raging bull - was a classic image used by Canaanite peoples to represented "El" the highest god of the land of Canaan. The Golden Calf is an episode in which the Israelites engage in idolatrous worship typical of peoples in the land of Canaan. Creating visual representations and manifestations of the god is exactly how many ANE societies revered their Gods. (I.E. The ancient Egyptians used to keep their Gods in an adyton - Greek for lightless room - and bring them out once a year in a procession through the streets so that the gods can be seen.) Interesting episode beginning in 34:29: Moses, after talking with God, becomes luminous. His face glows. Thus, Moses must cover his face in order to convey YHWH's words to the people since they cannot look upon Moses' face. Moses too becomes invisible. The giving of the law is a constitutional moment for the people of Israel. In receiving the law, the Israelites become an official nation. Israel as a covenanted nation is accomplished at Sinai through the reception of this law. Visual aspects of Israelite revelation: Even though YHWH can't be physically represented, the Israelites are still able to construct physical reminders of YHWH's presence.
Moses
The later 4 books of the Torah are tied together by the life of Moses. However, a large portion of the content of Exodus-Deuteronomy contains Laws. The life of Moses provides a narrative framework for the reception of the Law. Moses is sometimes called the "law giver of the Jews." However, technically, Moses is really only the receiver of the law in Jewish tradition. The law is actually from YHWH. Moses is the messenger, the mediator between YHWH and the people.
Apodictic Laws
The laws of the Holiness Code are presented as "_____." Apodictic laws: Laws to be followed at all times by all people. Apodictic laws are contrasted to Casuistic laws. Casuistic Laws: situationally and historically bound. Who enforces apodictic laws? God is understood to be the ultimate enforcer of these laws. The "fear of God" is supposed to prevent the laws from being transgressed. These laws are intended to create a good society, not just to arbitrarily please YHWH. Much of Chapter 19 contains an ethical/moral social code to guide basic behaviors of society. Think of how the text implores the Israelites to treat "aliens" living in their midst: "You are to love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt" (Lev. 19:34).Some of these holiness codes seem pretty pragmatic: Think about 19:5 - Don't eat three-day-old rancid meat! It'll mess you up! And certainly, some of the codes seem very specific to particular situations encountered by the Israelites.
Dr. Zank then transitioned the discussion to think about how these virtues of survival, resilience and a desire for land might speak to the specific life-style of semi-nomadic bedouin peoples, of which the patriarchs and matriarchs are an example.
The patriarchs and matriarchs are a nomadic collection of sheep herders. These types of groups are often called Bedouins. (There are still Bedouin communities throughout the middle east today.) Semi-Nomadic Bedouin groups often range around across a given plot of land following the vegetation in order to feed the flocks they shepherd. This life style often leads to conflict with sedentary, settled cities. Think about some of the conflicts we see in the Genesis narratives. Many of them involve frustrations between the patriarchal families and city dwellers: Sodom and Gomorrah, the sons of Jacob and the Shechemites, even the jealous, murderous Cain is the first city builder!
prophets
The poetic nature of the oracles delivered by ____ as advice to Kings in concrete situations renders them imminently re-interpretable. These stories are "made to speak" to many, many different situations that they were not originally addressing. (This method of taking texts out of their original contexts in order to make them apply to other situations is often called "proof-texting.")
The Holiness Code: Leviticus 18-20. The Book of the Covenant: Exodus 20-24.
Today we will compare and contrast laws in two distinct codes of Law both contained in the Torah
Deuteronomy Chapter 29-30
These chapters presume the events of both the Assyrian Exile of the Northern tribes of Israel. Thus, we have two options for thinking about these texts: 1) These texts were written long before the events of the Israelites and Judahite exiles, and Moses predicted the future. 2) The Book of Deuteronomy, and the law contained within it, was not written until after the Assyrian Destruction of the Northern Kingdom. Deuteronomy is trying to understand and explain why the Assyrians were able to destroy the kingdom of Israel. Thus, the Judahite Kingdom in the south wrote this book, maybe alongside refugees from the Northern Kingdom, to explain why the north was destroyed and to teach the people how destruction of the southern kingdom can be avoided. Most biblical scholars believe that option 2 is more likely. Deuteronomy was most likely first written sometime after the Assyrian destruction of the northern kingdom but before the Babylonian destruction of the southern kingdom. However, the final form of Deuteronomy, which we find in the Bible now, was redacted once more after the Babylonian exile. The post-exilic community of Israelites seems to have edited and shaped the whole of the Pentateuch. Not that they rewrote the whole thing, but that post-exilic people edited these texts together.
Deuteronomy 12
This chapter should strike us as strange. Moses is outlawing institutions and practices of worship that Moses had supposedly just allowed and instituted in Exodus. (i.e. In Exodus Moses allows for simple, unhewn altars to be built all over the countryside where sacrifices can take place. In Deuteronomy, however, Moses declares that all sacrifice must take place in one central location. People from all over the land must travel to this central location in order to make sacrifices.)
Tablets of law. Tabernacle. Ark of the Covenant.
Three main visual reminders of YHWH's presence (Sacred Cultic Objects)
cities
Throughout Genesis, the text seems to present a skeptical view of ____. Cities are usually trouble in Genesis. Interestingly, sedentary agriculturally based cities that grew grain may very well have been the beginning of the state. Grain can be weighed and can therefore be taxed. This allows whatever entity controls the land to extract revenue from the land itself. Hunter/Gatherer herdsman, on the other hand, don't try to control the land, per se. They usually follow the vegetation wherever it leads.
Hebrew Bible
Value neutral term for what Christians call the "Old Testament." When Israelites and Jews lost national sovereignty, the books remained. Textual production may very well have been sparked by fear about the destruction of a national culture/memory during the Assyrian diaspora and Babylonian exile. This literature took on a life of its own and later inspired both the Christian and Islamic religions. The basic theme of the _______ is the history of the Jews and ancient Israelites (not the same groups, but related.
Dr. Zank: The Hebrew offers a clue! Hebrew word is "Qadosh." Qadosh literally means "separate" or "different:" "set apart." The Israelites are supposed to act different and behave differently. Israel is to become different by its actions, by its lawful conduct. The Israelites are not ontologically special, not of a different holy nature. Instead, the Israelites are to be distinguished by their actions. Lawful conduct conveys holiness on people. This different conduct relates to every part of Israelite life, even down to the rejection of certain sexual acts and practices that other societies found perfectly acceptable. (It's likely that many within Israelite society found these acts perfectly acceptable as well, otherwise iterating the prohibition would be needless.)
What does holiness mean?
There is no single biblical answer to why people suffer. There is a plurality of voices and answers to this question represented in the Book of Job and throughout the Bible. Many answers are present, but there is not a definitive answer within the text itself.
What's the Biblical Answer to the problem of suffering?
Exact phrases like "you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" show up in both places. It seems that we are intended to think that the scroll discovered by Josiah, which prompts Josiah's reforms, is the book of Deuteronomy.
What's the relationship between the language of Deuteronomy 12 and the language of 2 Kings 22-23, where Josiah discovers the "Scroll of Instruction" in the Temple.
Intertextuality - Texts relating to other texts
When thinking about the relationship of biblical stories (especially those of the Torah) to other Ancient Near Eastern texts, we should resist thinking about these stories in terms of originals vs. plagiarisms. Instead, we should recognize that the ancient near eastern world contained its own literary conventions and narrative traditions that were utilized and employed by various empires, kingdoms, rulers, peoples, etc. to tell their own story. Often, it's not so much the similarities of these stories that are interesting. Instead, the real interesting work happens in examining the derivations while asking questions about what these differences might mean or have been intended to do.
Let us look at some parallel passages: II Samuel 24 - Here David is incited by YHWH to number the people. However, David realizes this was a sin. (strange) Thus, he is punished by a pestilence. II Chronicles 21 - Written at a later date, this version of the story cleans up the events of 2 Samuel 24 by claiming that it was not YHWH who incited David to number the people but the Satan. This story seems to be trying to clean up the imperfections of YHWH in 2 Samuel. The Chronicler, writing a later date than the authors of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, rewrote the old stories of the Kingship and cleaned up the character of YHWH to make YHWH perfect. This seems to signal a shift in the way people are thinking about Divinity: YHWH throughout much of Genesis - 2 Kings is presented as a dangerous God not bound to human morals. By the time of the Chroniclers, however, YHWH is thought to be perfect. Thus, many of YHWH's "sinful" behaviors are attributed to the Satan. The Satan becomes the fall-guy for the Chroniclers and later authors. Earlier authors and later authors of the bible portray God in a different way and use the character of ha-satan to explain this difference. By the time of the New Testament, during the Second Temple period, the character of the Satan becomes a major figure in the religious thinking of Jewish communities. And, therefore, a big figure in the thinking of early Christians.
Where does the Character of (ha-satan) the Satan come from?
Pivotal moment in 587/6 BCE: The Babylonian Exile. Before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587/6 BCE, Jerusalem was the political and religious capital of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. After the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah, the Jews were taken in exile to Babylon. The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed over a century earlier by the Assyrians c.722 BCE. In 539 BCE, the Persian Empire overthrew the Babylonians and began to release the Jews to return to Jerusalem. In 516 BCE Jerusalem is re inaugurated as the religious capital of the Jewish people under the political rule of the Persians. From here on out, Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Empire becomes the literary language of the Jews. Much of biblical literature revolves around and tries to learn from these events.
Who spoke Aramaic and when did they speak it?
Many of these prophets are deeply concerned with issues of social justice. There are perennial issues of justice and injustice at issue in these texts. These passages concerned with social justice still resonate with us today. The prophets speak beautifully about the concerns of social justice. Injustice is still with us. Thus, we still need prophetic voices.
Why do the Prophetic books still appeal to modern peoples?
Do you find it strange that after the text emphasizes the condemnation of Israelite attempts to make visual representations of YHWH the text then just moves on to advocate for the creation of sacred cultic objects for use in worship of YHWH? Modern scholars see these discontinuities as signs of different source materials and different perspectives/scribal schools. Prophetic forms of worship and priestly forms of worship may often be at odds with each other in the text itself. (Deuteronomy is a retelling/reinterpretation of the laws presented in Exodus and Numbers.)
Why is so much time/space spent on the instructions for and the construction of the Tabernacle?
Moses disobeyed God. Instead of speaking to the rock with his brother Aaron to bring forth water, Moses strikes the rock twice with his staff (Numbers 20: 9-13). What does it mean to strike the rock instead of speaking to the rock? Prof. Zank argued that Moses' use of the staff intimates magic and locates the providential power in Moses himself. Moses forgets his role as a mediator between God and the people. Moses usurps God's words with his own staff. The story is not actually about Moses! It's about a deity that wants to be known. Since the deity cannot appear to the people directly, the deity is often mistaken for a figment of Moses' imagination. Ex: See the story of the visible, golden calf. The invisible cannot be rendered in terms of the visible. Moses must be the intermediary between God and the people. Moses speaks both on behalf of God and on behalf of the people. Moses is a translator. Moses is obedient to God until the very end, with the one fatal exception of striking the rock. Moses is even obedient in not entering the promised land before he dies.
Why was Moses not allowed to enter the promised land?
1) Closest to the genre of Philosophy. 2) The writers of wisdom literature are philosophers: lovers/pursuers of wisdom. Skeptical Philosophers: Qoheleth (Means something like "Assembler," "Gatherer," or "Teacher"): writer of Ecclesiastes. Author(s) of Job. Aphoristic Philosophers: Authors/editors/compilers of Proverbs.
Wisdom Literature IS:
1) Wisdom literature is not concerned with correct ritual practice. 2) Wisdom literature is not concerned with current events. Wisdom is longsighted and strives towards universals. 3) Wisdom literature has little concern for the imminent future. Concerned with the here-and-now. 4) Wisdom literature is not concerned with priestly concerns about right worship practices. 5) Wisdom literature is not concerned with prophecy.
Wisdom Literature is NOT:
Claims of divine exclusivity in the book of Deuteronomy are the strongest anywhere in the Pentateuch. Only one God is to be worship alone. This isn't quite monotheism. It's not a denial that other gods exist. But it's a claim that Israel must only worship YHWH because YHWH is the God of Israel. Other nations have their own gods that they can worship, but the Israelites must only worship YHWH. YHWH alone is the god of Israel. YHWH demands Israelite loyalty, not Israelite monotheistic belief.
YHWHistic Exclusivism
Hekeziah
____ and the events of 2 Kings 18 are confirmed by Assyrian inscriptions that confirm his historical existence and actions, including his rebellion against the Assyrian empirea and the punitive Assyrian campaign waged by Sennaherib. Assyrian account & Jerusalem account of siege 701 of Jerusalem ended in tribute payments; city survived but many outlying cities were destroyed. Hezekiah is succeeded by Menasseh whose long reign and loyalty to Assyrian Empire is also confirmed by the archaeological record. Biblical authors condemn Menasseh who is blamed for "doing evil in the eyes of YHWH." His son Amon is assassinated and succeeded by child-king Josiah who, according to 2 K 22, restores temple and finds a scroll (Sefer Torah) that leads to a set of reforms.
Patriarchs
____ are typologies of peoples. They represent the beginning (genesis) of entire nations. They model types of communities. The explain the origin of the other communities and nations that surrounded the Israelites. They were neighbors but also distant relatives. These stories articulate concerns that were very real during this time, and yet we can still relate to them today.
TaNaKh
acronym for: Torah - The Five Books of Moses (also known as the Pentateuch=Greek for "Five Scrolls") "Torah" literally means instruction but the most ancient translation of the Torah (the Greek Septuagint) renders this word as "nomoi," i.e. "laws." This makes Moses into the lawgiver of the Jews, something Greek-educated people could understand and compare to Solon (lawgiver of Athens) and others. Nevi'im - Prophetic Books (incl. some of what in Christian tradition are called "Historical Books") Ketuvim - Other writings, a nondescript classification, indicating the lesser status or late provenance of the texts collected here.
Marduk
city god of Babylon, defeated Tiamat in battle. In gratitude, the gods build him a palace, namely, the city of Babylon where he is venerated by a society depending on surplus grain production. The King of Babylon is the "high priest" of Marduk. The king represents Marduk on Earth. (Cosmos=socio-morph; society=cosmo-morph)
Jews
do not recognize the New Testament as divine or religiously/culturally authoritative.
Qur'an
holy book of Islam. The_____ has many allusions to characters and stories from the Bible.
Old/New Testament
is Christian and reflects Christian theological assumptions about the relationship between the two anthologies. These collections of books supported the rise of what we know now as the Christian tradition, which absorbed (and in its own mind: inherited and/or surpassed and "superseded") the Jewish tradition.
Israel and Judah
states that interact with one another and with others in the Ancient Near East. Terms: riverine urban cities, dry farming, cities and empires, power (conquest; vassalage treaty; suzerainty), divine rule and, symbolic representations. Geo-political situation: Eastern Mediterranean; Southern Levant; Canaan (in the Bible: a land "flowing with milk and honey") Between two ancient riverine high urban civilizations (ideal for living conditions and very fertile ground) -Nile: in Egypt (to the south-west) -Euphrates & Tigris: in Mesopotamia (to the east)
Pslams
the 'biblical hymnal'. There are many different types of psalms. Psalms are poetic and musical in form. Psalms has many different authors, but the majority of psalms are ascribed to David.
