Reflections on the Silence of God: A Discussion with Marjo Korpel and Johannes de Moor. Edited by BOB BECKING.

Abstract

T his composite volume of essays forms a response to Marjo Korpel and Johannes de Moor’s The Silent God (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012), in which they present divine silence in ancient Israel and surrounding cultures as circumstantial and evocative of a human response. It includes an introduction, followed by eight essays, and concludes with a response from Korpel and de Moor. Becking introduces the volume with his essay ‘Ex Oriente Silentium’, which assesses Korpel and de Moor’s position and gives an overview of the contributions to this volume. In ‘Temple Vessels Speaking for a Silent God’, Becking explores the deified role of cultic vessels in the ancient Near East. He argues that the temple vessels in Ezra and Nehemiah symbolically testify to divine presence during a time when God was regarded as indirectly guiding history. However, Cyrus’s decree asserts that God is already in Jerusalem prior to the rebuilding of the Temple and return of the vessels (Ezra 1:2–4), and Ezra 7:19 makes clear the function of the vessels ‘for service’. This seems to undermine the speculation of an iconic representation of Y hwh ’s return, and probably insinuates they were regarded more as relics. Moreover, the vessels are never personified to imply presence in either book, as in the sparse and unconvincing ancient Near Eastern examples provided.