Volume 24, 2024

EN:

This article explores how the pressures of empire inspired comparable processes of ritual textualization in Persian-period Jerusalem and Late Babylonian temple communities in Uruk and Babylon. We provide the first detailed comparison of the Priestly rituals texts of the Pentateuch and the Late Babylonian temple ritual texts, highlighting several distinctive features they have in common: namely, their concern to integrate their ritual materials into larger corpora that promote priestly hegemony, their interest to articulate ritual behavior in a way that does not rely on royal agency, and their tendency to describe ritual action in an idealized manner. These similarities, we argue, add powerful weight to the theory that the textualization of ritual in the Priestly traditions was inspired by similar historical dynamics to those that informed the textualization of ritual in the Late Babylonian materials; namely, the cultic disruption caused by foreign imperial interference and temple destruction, and the resulting challenges of rebuilding the temple in the absence of a local king with a stake in the cultic restoration.

EN:

Despite the long-standing tradition of translating תשׁוקה as “desire” in its three biblical occurrences (Gen 3:16; 4:7; Cant 7:11 [Eng. 10]), recent studies have put forth alternatives such as “turning, return,” “preoccupation, devotion” and “driving.” This essay examines these possibilities in light of the usage of תשׁוקה in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QM 13:12; 15:10; 17:4; 1QS 11:22; 4QInstrb 2:4). The meaning “desire” is shown to be particularly problematic, not only as a result of its absence in the earliest biblical versions, but also due to the expression לעפר תשׁוקתו immediately after a depiction of mankind being created from dust (עפר) in 1QS 11. The standard translation, “for dust is [mankind’s] desire,” appears incongruous, and parallels in Hodayot reinforce the likelihood that a “return” to dust is in view. The meanings “preoccupation, devotion” and “driving” also lack plausibility in 1QS 11, and “turning, return” proves problematic in 1QM 13 and 15. It is suggested the semantic range of תשׁוקה includes both “a focused movement toward” and “a focused movement back toward.” As such, it denotes “preoccupation, devotion” in most of its occurrences, yet indicates “return” in 1QS 11, and possibly Gen 3:16.

EN:

There is an unidentified literary convention within narratives of the Hebrew Bible, wherein the narrator portrays the thought process of certain characters. In these episodes, which I coin “thought-scenes,” characters express the motivating reasons for a past, current, or upcoming action. That is, they explain “why” an action, decision, or request is being undertaken. These passages constitute distinctive instances of human reasoning and offer insight into how rationality was viewed in the ancient world, as well as how forms of argumentation were fashioned within biblical literature. I examine the reasoning process of Abraham (Gen 12:10-20) and Joseph (Gen 39:7-10) in detail and supply a full, annotated catalogue of thought-scenes in Genesis, along with representative examples from across the Hebrew Bible.

EN:

The purpose of this discussion is to assess the ability of the Documentary Hypothesis to provide a compelling reading of Genesis 37. Is the literary reconstruction of the J/E source divisions able to offer a compelling, internally consistent text? As a counter proposal, I consider the framework of coherence theory as a means of evaluating the central claim of documentarians that Genesis 37 lacks compositional cohesion and coherence. The method of this discussion takes the following course. First, I sketch out a brief overview of the various compositional approaches to Genesis 37 and its place in the Joseph story. Second, I consider the nature of narrative cohesion and coherence and how these concepts inform one’s reading of Genesis 37, arguing that the markers of cohesion embedded in the narrative provide a means of guiding the reader coherently through the twists and turns of the plot line. Third, I highlight several narrative links that cross proposed source boundaries, functioning as linguistic signals for cohesion, and that suggest literary coherence. Fourth, I re-assess the so-called Ishmaelite/Midianite problem that has served a central role in most source divisions of Genesis 37.

EN:

The phrasing in Isa 19:18 מדברוֹת שׂפת כנען has proved vexing linguistically and historically. In this article, I explore previous proposals and offer support for a non-linguistic reference to the idiom based on verbal parallels elsewhere as well as cognate evidence. I conclude with further reflection on the idiom in Isa 19:18 and broader implications from this study, which includes observations about the semantics of שׂפה based on parallel uses of the lexeme in the Hebrew Bible.

EN:

This article analyses the semantics of εἴδωλον, εἰκών, and ὁμοίωμα in the LXX in light of Greek literary and documentary evidence. By addressing the issue of the relationship between the vocabulary of images and the vocabulary of idols, (1) it deconstructs some oppositions inherited from early Christian interpretations of biblical passages (especially regarding Genesis 1). Moreover (2) it shows the interest of including evidence from the LXX in a broader discussion on the role of visual representation in antiquity.

EN:

Among the commands of H, elderly honor, Sabbath observance, and mutual reprimanding of compatriots are hallmarks. The origin, genre, and a comparable legal framework of these sentences can be found in what was labeled rules of (local) religious associations known from demotic papyri, from the Fayum going back to the 6th century BCE. In a tone comparable to a constitutional legislation, H is seen as an analogy for the rules of conflict settlement of local communities: it seeks to keep out governmental authority from local affairs, stipulates the respective festival day, and claims jurisdiction for its local community. All of these are also key elements of H’s anti-Persian stance. Read as a constitutional law of local bulwarks fending off central governmental authority in Egypt, the rules of local religious associations provide a hermeneutical lens for an analogous historical reading of H as "constitutional law." H in Lev 19:3-4, 11-18, 30—as a document of the priestly community in Yehud—would strengthen local institutions, including the arbitrarily stipulated festival day at the sanctuary, the elders as local institution, and internal jurisdiction of a priestly community bolstering itself as a bulwark against transgressions of the Achaemenid empire.

EN:

The characterization of YHWH, Israel's only God, is unique in the Hebrew Bible. The deity, while a character in the narrative, transcends the narrative on the level of discourse, rising above other characters, the narrator, and even the reader. This exceptional dynamic of characterization is exemplarily illustrated in the episode of Balaam and the talking jenny (Num 22:21–35), a text loaded with irony and ambiguity that recounts the deliverance of a foreign seer from YHWH’s hands by his jenny. The characterization of YHWH in this text shows a God who manipulates both the narrated world and the formal structure of the text, exemplifying what Sternberg termed the “omnipotence effect.”