The chapters in this volume clarify crucial aspects of Torah by exploring its relationship to sedaqa (righteousness). Observing the Torah is often considered to be the main identity-marker of Israel ...in the post-exilic period. However, sedaqa is also widely used as a force of group cohesion and as a resource for ethics without references to torah. The contributors to this volume explore these crucial themes for the post-exilic period, and show how they are related in the key texts that feature them. Though torah and sedaqa can have some aspects in common, especially when they are amended by aspects of creation, both terms are rarely linked to each other explicitly in the Old Testament, and if so, different relations are expressed. These are examined in this book. The opening of the book of Isaiah is shown to integrate torah- learning into a life of righteousness (sedaqa). In Deuteronomy sedaqa is shown to refer to torah-dictacticism, and in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah torah can be understood as symbol of sedaqa meaning the disposition of each individual to accept torah as prescriptive law. However, the chapters also show that these relationships are not exclusive and that sedaqa is not always linked to torah, for in late texts of Isaiah sedaqa is not realized by torah- observance, but by observing the Sabbath.
Substantial insights into various identity discourses reflected in the biblical prayers
This collection of essays from an international group of scholars focuses on how biblical prayers of the ...Persian and early Hellenistic periods shaped identity, evoked a sense of belonging to specific groups, and added emotional significance to this affiliation. Contributors draw examples from different biblical texts, including Genesis, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Psalms, Jonah, and Daniel.
Features
Thorough study of prayers that play a key role for a biblical book's (re)construction of the people's history and identity
An examination of ways biblical figures are remodeled by their prayers by introducing other, sometimes even contradictory, discourses on identity
An exploration of different ways in which psalms from postexilic times shaped, reflected, and modified identity discourses
Research into the Hebrew Bible, Ancient Near East, Philosophy and History have long considered whether thought in the cultural area of the ancient Middle East differs from that in the western ...Mediterranean. The inclusion of neurobiology, psychology, brain research and evolutionary research will widen this horizon and allow new approaches. This volume provides in depth insides into this Archaeology of Mind in 22 contributions.
This paper traces and analyses the various possibilities to interpret the images of the rivers and majestic waters in Ps 93:3-4. The metaphorical description of the waters allows the readers to see a ...fascinating spectacle of nature but also a threatening natural force. Over centuries, interpreters have creatively explored these possibilities for their readings. To retrace the wide range of possible interpretations of Ps 93:3-4 two contexts are revealing, namely the occurrences of water images in the psalter and the history of interpretation of Ps 93:3-4. The insights these contexts offer are then used to determine the points of reference for such readings in the text, and to reconstruct the different perspectives of the readers and their interpretations.
This paper traces and analyses the various possibilities to interpret the images of the rivers and majestic waters in Ps 93:3-4. The metaphorical description of the waters allows the readers to see a ...fascinating spectacle of nature but also a threatening natural force. Over centuries, interpreters have creatively explored these possibilities for their readings. To retrace the wide range of possible interpretations of Ps 93:3-4 two contexts are revealing, namely the occurrences of water images in the psalter and the history of interpretation of Ps 93:3-4. The insights these contexts offer are then used to determine the points of reference for such readings in the text, and to reconstruct the different perspectives of the readers and their interpretations.
Die Darstellung der erzählten Welten im Richterbuch zeigt anhand einer narratologische Analyse der einzelnen Erzählzyklen wie die (Re)konstruktion einer Epoche Israels in einem vielstimmigen Diskurs ...zwischen Bewunderung und Befremden entfaltet wird. The analysis of the narrated worlds in the Book of Judges reveals a polyphonic discourse that shapes the (re)construction of this period of Israel's past. Refusing any one-sided interpretation, it remains a retrospection between admiration and disconcertment.
This paper traces and analyses the various possibilities to interpret the images of the rivers and majestic waters in Ps 93:3-4. The metaphorical description of the waters allows the readers to see a ...fascinating spectacle of nature but also a threatening natural force. Over centuries, interpreters have creatively explored these possibilities for their readings. To retrace the wide range of possible interpretations of Ps 93:3-4 two contexts are revealing, namely the occurrences of water images in the psalter and the history of interpretation of Ps 93:3-4. The insights these contexts offer are then used to determine the points of reference for such readings in the text, and to reconstruct the different perspectives of the readers and their interpretations.
Reconstructing Israel’s history several psalms include the remembrance of food as a key element. With numerous references to the Pentateuch these psalms pick up well known food-based stories and ...engage these traditions in their discourses on history. In these retrospects food is more than just a prerequisite of life. Because it is prepared and consumed every day, it is an essential element of social behaviour. Food and its consumption thus reflect social conditions, and it can be used as a statement of identity. Based on its importance, food also plays an essential role in the construction of a human-divine relationship. Looking back in history, the availability or lack of food are presented as a part of God’s well-planned actions; similarly, the people’s handling of food and their behaviour at meals is considered as a display of their attitude towards God. In this article, I will show on the example of Ps 78 how a critical retrospective view presents food related episodes.
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