The term Volksetymologie has frequently been applied to the etiological passages of the Hebrew Bible and occasionally to such passages in Mesopotamian literature that explain the origin of the name ...of a person, place, or thing. Originating in mid- nineteenth century German Sprachwissenschaft, the term generally assumes that the authors of such passages were possessed of a considerable philological ignorance and naïveté. These etymological narratives are thus regularly brushed aside as childish though charming. Alternatively, they are often understood as interesting aesthetic devices, related to paronomasia and punning. It is becoming increasingly evident, however, that the activity of parsing a name is linked to broader interpretive methods employed by scribes in the ancient Near East. Indeed, our developing understanding of intellectual practices in Mesopotamia and among the Bible’s tradents has demonstrated that Babylonian and Judean scribes could employ rather sophisticated hermeneutics. This fact has significance for our evaluation of biblical etymological passages in many ways including, for example, the methods employed by ancient authors to interpret names within narratives and their motivation for doing so.
Ypk1, the yeast homolog of the human serum- and glucocorticoid-induced kinase (Sgk1), affects diverse cellular activities, including sphingolipid homeostasis. We now report that Ypk1 also impacts the ...turnover of the major phospholipid, phosphatidylcholine (PC). Pulse-chase radiolabeling reveals that a ypk1Δ mutant exhibits increased PC deacylation and glycerophosphocholine production compared with wild type yeast. Deletion of PLB1, a gene encoding a B-type phospholipase that hydrolyzes PC, in a ypk1Δ mutant curtails the increased PC deacylation. In contrast to previous data, we find that Plb1 resides in the ER and in the medium. Consistent with a link between Ypk1 and Plb1, the levels of both Plb1 protein and PLB1 message are elevated in a ypk1Δ strain compared with wild type yeast. Furthermore, deletion of PLB1 in a ypk1Δ mutant exacerbates phenotypes associated with loss of YPK1, including slowed growth and sensitivity to cell wall perturbation, suggesting that increased Plb1 activity buffers against the loss of Ypk1. Because Plb1 lacks a consensus phosphorylation site for Ypk1, we probed other processes under the control of Ypk1 that might be linked to PC turnover. Inhibition of sphingolipid biosynthesis by the drug myriocin or through utilization of a lcb1-100 mutant results in increased PLB1 expression. Furthermore, we discovered that the increase in PLB1 expression observed upon inhibition of sphingolipid synthesis or loss of Ypk1 is under the control of the Crz1 transcription factor. Taken together, these results suggest a functional interaction between Ypk1 and Plb1 in which altered sphingolipid metabolism up-regulates PLB1 expression via Crz1.
Modern science historians have typically treated the sciences of
the ancient Near East as separate from historical and cultural
considerations. At the same time, biblical scholars, dominated by
...theological concerns, have historically understood the Israelite
god as separate from the natural world. Cooley's study, bringing to
bear contemporary models of science history on the one hand and
biblical studies on the other hand, seeks to bridge a gap created
by 20th-century scholarship in our understanding of ancient Near
Eastern cultures by investigating the ways in which ancient authors
incorporated their cultures' celestial speculation in
narrative.
In the literature of ancient Iraq, celestial divination is
displayed quite prominently in important works such as Enuma
Eliš and Erra and Išum . In ancient Ugarit as well,
the sky was observed for devotional reasons, and astral deities
play important roles in stories such as the Baal Cycle and
Shahar and Shalim . Even though the veneration of astral
deities was rejected by biblical authors, in the literature of
ancient Israel the Sun, Moon, and stars are often depicted as
active, conscious agents. In texts such as Genesis 1, Joshua 10,
Judges 5, and Job 38, these celestial characters, these "sons of
God," are living, dynamic members of Yahweh's royal entourage,
willfully performing courtly, martial, and calendrical roles for
their sovereign.
The synthesis offered by this book, the first of its kind since
the demise of the pan-Babylonianist school more than a century ago,
is about ancient science in ancient Near Eastern literature.
The goal of this essay is to begin the study of the handful of references to celestial divination found in the Assyrian royal inscriptions from the perspective of propaganda analysis by approaching ...one text in particular, Esarhaddon's Aššur A inscription. This inquiry helps to solve some of the outstanding problems in regard to the celestial phenomena recorded in these inscriptions and their mantic implications.
Scholars have long recognized that the proper names in the Book of Ruth are narratively relevant, signaling characters’ and places’ natures, fates, and so on. Nonetheless, the various historical and ...modern explanations of the name of the book’s protagonist, the Moabite Ruth, are of relatively weak philological and narrative merit and, as such, are in stark contrast to the vivid explanations of many of the other names in the story. This study posits a novel etymology and maintains that the name רות is ultimately derived from the important term תורה. This derivation is grounded in the stylistics practice and the kinds of etymological speculation otherwise evinced by the scribes who composed the Hebrew Bible. Ultimately, the transparent relationship between רות on the one hand and תורה on the other has the potential to impact how the character is to be understood vis-à-vis the issue of the integration of non-Judean wives into the Judean community at the time of the biblical book’s composition.
Psalm 19: A Sabbath Song Cooley, Jeffrey L.
Vetus Testamentum,
01/2014, Letnik:
64, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The author of Psalm 19 consciously reflects on the cosmology in Genesis 1 and associated traditions. This reflection involves how the psalmist conceives of the sun, including the celestial feature's ...personal nature, responsibility in the cosmic order in terms of calendrical regulation, and its deliberate obedience in the fulfillment of its cultic task. The sun's obedience serves as a model for sacerdotal devotion, and, just as importantly, allows for the human priest to fulfill his own obligations vis-à-vis properly-timed observance of cultic activities. Of primary importance in all of this, whether at the celestial level or the human level, is the centrality of septenary Sabbath observance, which the sun is charged to mark and the righteous Yahweh devotee is charged to observe. Its importance is implicitly signaled by the psalmist, as it is in Genesis 1: by seven-fold repetition (of Yahweh's name), and by cryptic allusion (the תוא in תואיגש).
Psalm 19: A Sabbath Song1 Cooley, Jeffrey L
Vetus Testamentum,
04/2014, Letnik:
64, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Abstract
The author of Psalm 19 consciously reflects on the cosmology in Genesis 1 and associated traditions. This reflection involves how the psalmist conceives of the sun, including the celestial ...feature's personal nature, responsibility in the cosmic order in terms of calendrical regulation, and its deliberate obedience in the fulfillment of its cultic task. The sun's obedience serves as a model for sacerdotal devotion, and, just as importantly, allows for the human priest to fulfill his own obligations vis-à-vis properly-timed observance of cultic activities. Of primary importance in all of this, whether at the celestial level or the human level, is the centrality of septenary Sabbath observance, which the sun is charged to mark and the righteous Yahweh devotee is charged to observe. Its importance is implicitly signaled by the psalmist, as it is in Genesis 1: by seven-fold repetition (of Yahweh's name), and by cryptic allusion (the אות in שׁגיאות).
... Noth took 10:17-27 as an attempt to preserve an alternate tradition of Saul's royal accession within the narrative.2 More typical, however, is Antony F. Campbell, who sees the prophecy concerning ...Saul revealed to Samuel and Saul's subsequent anointing in ch. 9 as a "secret kingship," while his selection by lot and his ensuing proclamation in ch. 10 are a public ceremony.3 Following Otto Eissfeldt in understanding the lot procedure in 10:15-21 and the oracle in 10:22-23 as two different mantic events, Campbell and Mark A. O'Brien do a fine job of bringing to bear redaction and literary approaches. In addition to the omen compendia, modern scholars have at their disposal several hundred reports and letters that were sent to the Neo-Assyrian monarchs.12 Reports record the bare-bones observation and interpretation of celestial omens (a few contain observations and interpretations of terrestrial and birth omens; see below) by a particular celestial diviner.\n As in the Gideon account, the fact that Yahweh was indeed involved with this selection is confirmed by a series of miraculous signs (1 Sam 10:2-12).
Cooley demonstrates that celestial divination wasn't a substantial feature of Israelite religious expression before the Babylonian exile, though astral worship was. His evidence is archaeological, ...Ugaritic, and pre-exilic biblical material. In addition to this, he outlines both biblical and extrabiblical Jewish astrological material from the Second Temple period. While post-exilic material might not seem immediately relevant to Iron Age practice, he believes it demonstrates that there are no traces of a native Israelite celestial divination tradition and that the post-exilic practice was, rather, influenced primarily by methods and ideas common in the Hellenistic koiné.
It is not uncommon in assessments of the religious practices of ancient Israel for scholars to posit or assume a relationship between the practices of astral religion on the one hand and celestial ...divination on the other. It is undoubtedly logical to relate the two. Simply stated, if the stars and planets are gods it only makes sense that their various arrangements--visible to all--are deliberate divine messages. This relationship was incontrovertibly the case in then-contemporary Mesopotamia (the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods). There, many gods were identified on a fundamental level with astral features, and after a significant period of canonization of text and praxis, a highly sophisticated method of celestial divination served both Assyrian and Babylonian kings. Here, Cooley reconsiders the relationship between astral religion and celestial divination in Iron Age Israel which is often taken for granted in modern scholarship.
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