Scripture and Its Interpretation ch 3: The Scriptures of Israel

Pentateuch

"Five scrolls"; the first five books of the Bible (Genesis-Deuteronomy)

covenant

(1) A formal agreement (originally political) specifying mutual benefits and obligations between the contracting parties; (2) thus, one of the major theological terms for describing the binding relationship of God with Israel and all humankind; (3) occasionally used to refer to the Jewish Scriptures or the NT, as in "Old Covenant" or "New Covenant."

holiness

(1) God's inherent differentness from humanity; (2) the quality of being set apart for divine service.

torah, Torah

(1) Hebrew for "tradition" or "instruction"; (2) when capitalized, the Jewish designation for the first five books of the Bible, Genesis-Deuteronomy, the first division of Tanak; (3) sometimes translated as "law/the Law."

Judah

(1) One of the tribes of Israel; (2) the name of the southern kingdom during the period of the divided monarchy.

Maccabees

(1) The Hasmoneans; (2) one or more of the four writings (1-4 Maccabees) from the OT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha concerned with the Hasmonean era.

Isaiah

(1) The eighth-century BCE prophet (Isaiah of Jerusalem) whose oracles are found primarily in chs. 1-39 of the prophetic book bearing his name; (2) also, the prophetic book itself as a whole.

Israel

(1) The nation/people descended from the ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (renamed Israel); (2) the land promised to Abraham and his descendents, referring to a geographical region (originally Canaan), with the precise contours varying from era to era; (3) the northern kingdom during the divided monarchy.

Zion

: the locus of God's presence among the Israelites, used particularly in the Psalms and Prophets, and sometimes designated "Mount Zion."

Third Isaiah (or Trito-Isaiah)

A designation for Isa. 56-66, generally believed to be written after the Babylonian exile, rather than by the author of chs. 40-55 (Second Isaiah) or by Isaiah of Jerusalem

First Isaiah

A designation for Isaiah 1-39, largely the work of the eighth-century prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem.

The nations

A designation for non-Israelites; also gentile(s).

Second Isaiah

A designation for the part of the book of Isaiah beginning at ch. 40 (probably through ch. 55, or possibly ch. 66), and generally believed to have been written during the Babylonian exile, not by Isaiah of Jerusalem.

theophany

A manifestation or appearance of God, such as at the burning bush (Exod. 3) or on Mount Sinai (Exod. 19-20).

Deuteronomic History

A scholarly term for the account of ancient Israel from the beginning of the conquest to the Babylonian exile recorded in Joshua through 2 Kings (omitting Ruth) and sharing in part the theological perspective of the book of Deuteronomy.

ritual purity

A state in which there are no hindrances to a person coming into contact with sacred things.

Hebrew Bible (HB)

An alternative designation for the Scriptures of Israel (Tanak; the Christian Old Testament), written primarily in Hebrew.

gentile(s)

Any non-Jewish person or people, or all non-Jewish peoples as a whole ("the nations").

Canaan

Biblical name for the geographical area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, promised to Abraham in Genesis (the promised land) and settled by the Israelites.

wisdom literature

Books within the Writings of the Tanak / Old Testament—Job, Psalms, and Proverbs—that emphasize practical wisdom; in the NT, James is often considered to be wisdom literature.

Writings

Designated Ketuvim in Hebrew, the third division of Tanak, including Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and (1-2) Chronicles.

Christ

From Greek Christos, meaning "anointed one" and hence "Messiah" (from Hebrew mashiach, "anointed one").

kosher laws

From Hebrew kashrut, meaning "fit, proper, correct," the instructions concerning which foods are and are not allowed to be consumed by the Israelites, and later by Jews.

testament

From a Latin word (testamentum) that can mean "covenant," referring to the two divisions (Old Testament, New Testament) of the Christian Bible.

Apocrypha

From the Greek adjective meaning "hidden"; (1) the books of the Greek OT (Septuagint) not included in the Hebrew canon or the Protestant canon but included in the Catholic and Orthodox canons (see also deuterocanonical; Readable Books); (2) certain early Christian writings not included in the NT (usually "NT Apocrypha").

canon

From the Greek word kanōn, meaning "measuring stick"; (1) a rule, norm, or guide for faith and practice; (2) especially a list, collection, or catalog of Scriptures (sacred writings) that the Jewish and/or Christian communities consider inspired and authoritative for their faith and practice.

messiah

From the Hebrew mashiach, or "anointed one" (Greek christos), a term originally designating the Israelite king, who was anointed with oil for that role, and later used as a term for a hoped-for divine agent of salvation; applied in the NT to Jesus as the fulfillment of that hope.

Scripture(s)

From the Latin scriptura, "writings"; sacred writings, especially those of Judaism and Christianity.

Decalogue

Greek for "ten words"; the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20; Deut. 5).

Nevi'im

Hebrew for "Prophets," the second major division of the Tanak, the Jewish Scriptures.

Ketuvim

Hebrew for "Writings," the third major division of the Tanak, the Jewish Scriptures.

Latter Prophets

In the Jewish Scriptures, the three major prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, plus the Book of the Twelve.

The glory of the LORD

In the OT, a way of speaking about the manifestation of God's presence.

matriarchs

Israel's female ancestors who appear in Genesis: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah.

patriarchs

Israel's male ancestors who appear in Genesis: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See also Ancestral Period; matriarchs.

genre

Literary type, form, or classification (e.g., historical narrative, collection of prophetic oracles, letter, apocalypse).

Prophets

Nevi'im in Hebrew, the second division of the Jewish Scriptures, which includes the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets.

Seleucid

Pertaining to the rule of Seleucus I Nicator and his descendants (312-63 BCE) after the division of the Greek empire of Alexander the Great.

rabbinic

Referring to Jewish teachers (rabbis), especially the era of Jewish teachers following the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE ("rabbinic Judaism").

deuterocanonical

Referring to a "second canon," a Roman Catholic designation for the seven books (plus additional portions of Esther and Daniel) from the Septuagint that are not found in the Hebrew canon or in Jerome's Latin Vulgate but are included in the Catholic (and Orthodox) canon.

Tanak (also Tanakh)

Referring to the Jewish Scriptures, an acronym formed from the first Hebrew letter of each of its three divisions

postexilic

Referring to the period after the return of the exiles from Babylon to Judah.

apocalyptic

Shorthand term (and the subject of much scholarly dispute), used by some for a worldview ("apocalypticism") and by many for a type of literature ("apocalyptic literature") that reflects a belief in good and evil cosmic powers as well as hope in God's coming intervention to transform the present age of evil/sin into the age of justice/peace.

oral tradition

Stories and other significant aspects of religious or cultural heritage passed on orally instead of, or prior to, being written down.

first deportation

The 597 BCE deportation into exile of the Judean king, along with the upper echelons of Judean society, by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II.

Lord/LORD

The English translation of "Adonai," the word Jews substitute for the divine name, YHWH, which is sacred and not uttered aloud; usually written in small capitals ("LORD") in English translations to designate it as the divine name.

P

The Priestly source for, or material in, the Pentateuch, probably reflecting a postexilic period and attentive to matters such as liturgy, ritual, and sacrifice.

Psalter

The Psalms as a collection, known as the "prayer book" of Israel.

Judea

The Roman province and territory in Palestine roughly equivalent to the former southern kingdom of Judah.

settlement

The arrival of Israelites in the land of Canaan beginning toward the end of the thirteenth century BCE; sometimes known as the conquest.

Judaism

The beliefs and practices of Jews ("Judahites," or people of Judah) during and after the period of the Second Temple.

primeval history

The biblical account in Gen. 1-11 of creation and of human life to the time of Abraham.

Old Testament (OT)

The first part of the Christian Bible, containing the Jewish Scriptures (the Tanak, or Hebrew Bible) and, except in Protestantism, several additional writings from the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint).

Former Prophets

The first writings in the division of the Hebrew Bible known as the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), including Joshua, Judges, (1-2) Samuel, and (1-2) Kings; known in Christian tradition as part of the "historical books."

source criticism

The identification and analysis of possible written or oral sources upon which a biblical text is based.

Greek

The lingua franca (common tongue) of the Mediterranean basin following the conquests of Alexander the Great, and hence the language of both the LXX and the NT.

Mount Sinai

The mountain where, according to Exodus, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God; also known in some biblical texts as Mount Horeb.

Babylonian exile

The period (586-539 BCE) during which many of the people of Judah were deported to Babylonia.

divided monarchy

The period of Israel's history (928-722 BCE) following King Solomon's reign in which a unified nation became two entities, Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

united monarchy

The period of Israel's national unity between North and South under the kings Saul, David, and Solomon (1025-928 BCE).

YHWH

The personal name of Israel's God, possibly related to the Hebrew verb "to be"; in Jewish tradition, this name is holy and never uttered aloud, though it is sometimes pronounced and spelled as "Yahweh" by Christians.

tabernacle

The portable tent shrine that Moses and the Israelites were instructed to build, for their journey in the wilderness to the promised land, to serve as the locus of the divine presence.

Hebrew

The primary language of the Tanak, or Old Testament.

righteousness (Hebrew tsedaqah)

The quality of maintaining right relations with God and with other people, often paired with the term "justice."

Second Temple Judaism

The richly varied Judaism(s) of the Second Temple period, ca. 536 BCE-70 CE, also known as "early Judaism."

Second Temple

The temple reconstructed from the ruins of Solomon's temple after the Babylonian exile beginning ca. 520 BCE and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

Israelites

The term used to describe the people of God from the time of Moses to the Babylonian exile.

Minor Prophets (also called the Book of the Twelve)

The twelve prophetic writings from Hosea to Malachi.

Septuagint (LXX)

Traditional name for the most influential Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which probably began at Alexandria in Egypt in the third century BCE and was used by both Jews and Christians.

ritual impurity

Usually a temporary state that would prevent a person from coming into contact with sacred things, rectified by ritual purification.