Ancient Israel Research Articles

Terminology of didactic wisdom in the ancient Israelite scribal schools as presented in Proverbs 1:1–7

Proverbs 1 verses 1–7 encompasses an important section of the Hebrew bible related to ancient didactic wisdom terminology. This article analyses the Masoretic Text in Hebrew to categorise and examine the terminology concerning the theory of the scribal schools that developed in ancient Israel. The issue is the absence of an undisputed indication of the text’s Sitz im Leben. Consequently, the proposal concerning the Sitz im Leben in this text pertains to the scribes. The employed method is textual exegesis, aimed at investigating the text’s background through historical analysis. The study is conducted by examining the terms in each verse, considering their textual meaning and historical contexts, with an emphasis on their usage in scribal schools, to reveal the text’s historical background.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This study examined the significance and application of educational terminology in ancient Israel as presented in the introductory passage of the book of Proverbs. This article contributes to historical studies of the ancient education system and biblical studies.

El, Yahweh and the Emergence of Monotheism in Israel

This study explores the evolution of monotheism in ancient Israel, focusing on the names El and Yahweh as primary designations for the divine. It analyses how biblical texts reflect varying theological perspectives that emerged over time, indicating the coexistence of polytheistic traditions with the worship of Yahweh. The author argues that while the Hebrew Bible does not consistently present a monotheistic framework, specific passages point to an evolving belief system culminating in exclusive monotheism, particularly during the exile and post-exilic periods. The emergence of Yahweh as the singular God of Israel responds to sociocultural pressures and historical events, such as the conquest of the Promised Land and subsequent challenges from surrounding nations. The study synthesizes textual evidence from Ugaritic texts, prophetic writings, and archaeological findings to illustrate the gradual transition from a pantheon of gods to the centralized worship of Yahweh. It concludes that this process was characterized by a dynamic interplay of religious, cultural, and political factors, leading to a unified theological identity among the ancient Israelites.

Wine as a Symbol in the Old Testament

According to archaeology, scriptures, and the Bible, wine is a typical drink in ancient Israel. Wine is a drink and a significant symbol in the Bible that reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israeli society. In this article, I have reviewed research literature on wine drinking, and I will argue that wine is an essential symbol in some literary genres in the Bible. The symbolism of wine can be divided into a few themes of symbolic representation: a positive sign of blessing, A negative symbol of emotions and actions, and an ambivalent symbol of disobedience to God and social order. The choice of wine as a symbol in the Bible as a drink produced in ancient society is considered a gift from God and part of the blessing for the abundance of the land. Excessive use of wine, however, can lead to irresponsible acts. Wine is not a prominent symbol but an enclave whose essence emphasizes the obvious in human life in ancient Israeli society. Combining the archaeological research with literary research in the Bible and non-biblical sources, it will be possible to form a better picture of ancient Israeli culture if we remember that there is a bias in the excavated areas and the biased writing of biblical writers in time, place, and purpose. This is an opportunity to peek into the depths of ancient Israeli society's culture and understand its arrangements and power relations.

Reflections on God's Body, or, an Exercise in Examining the Limitations of Comparative Religious Studies for Understanding Israel's Theology of God A Review Essay

How should we understand the allusions to God’s corporeality in the OT? Christoph Markschies book, God’s Body: Jewish, Christian, and Pagan Images of God, argues that for all religions of antiquity, including that of ancient Israel, “the notion that God possesses a body and form was thoroughly common sense” (x–xi). An examination of Israel's Scriptures, however, presents a more complex picture. This essay examines this complexity through the lens of Markschies’ magisterial study.

Revisiting Psalm 91 in Light of Rainer Albertz’s Model of Internal Religious Pluralism

Abstract Given its similarities to incantation texts found in the larger ancient Near Eastern world, Ps 91 remains sui generis in the Psalter. Despite its seeming uniqueness, the psalm likely enjoyed considerable usage in an array of contexts. To better ascertain this psalm’s usage across different contexts, I employ Rainer Albertz’s model of internal religious pluralism for my analysis. After a review of Albertz’s model, I consider the presence of incantation texts within the domestic sphere in the Levant with particular attention to the Arslan Tash and Ketef Hinnom amulets. I identify incantation elements in Ps 91 and explore the role of Ps 91 in the official cultic religion of ancient Israel. I examine the evidence in the MT Psalter, with particular attention to the psalm’s Sitz im Literatur. In the final portion of the paper, I treat 11QApocryphal Psalmsa (11Q11) and the role of Ps 91 in the Dead Sea collection as an example of the psalm’s use in communal religion.

Mobility and surveillance in Mulsow’s Knowledge Lost: decentring an absolutist order of knowledge and information

ABSTRACT Knowledge Lost revisits Paul Hazard's history of the crisis of European consciousness, Reinhardt Kosseleck's reign of criticism and Jonathan Israel's history of radical philosophies. But it does not start from a conceptual, doctrinal or religious approach to scholarly dissidence in Europe during the reign of Louis XIV. It aims to provide a material history of the intellectual techniques used by these marginal scholars to establish their criticisms. The article emphasises two ways of decentring the perspective: the study of weak knowledge instead of the strong knowledge of absolutist culture; and the insistence on mobility and the culture of travel that placed these scholars at a distance from central power.

Gods and Idols. Representations and Symbolizations of the Divinity in Religions of Ancient Israel. Aniconism – per visibilia ad invisibilia (IIb /2.1)

Gods and Idols. Representations and Symbolizations of the Divinity in Religions of Ancient Israel. Aniconism – <i>per visibilia ad invisibilia</i> (IIb /2.1)

“Friends” with Benefits?

Abstract Historically, the impact of American Jewish philanthropic support for Israel has been significant and far reaching. Yet American Jews have, by and large, not attempted to leverage their philanthropy for the purposes of advancing their own agendas in Israel. Since the 1990s, however, there have been substantial changes in how American Jews give to Israel. Total inflation-adjusted peacetime giving is higher than at any point in Israel's history, but the traditional channels that dominated the field for decades—Jewish federations and the Jewish Agency—have been overtaken collectively by over eight hundred smaller ‘friends of’ and umbrella organizations. This article assesses the degree to which the American Jews running these organizations use their money as a means to push for agendas not necessarily prioritized in the same way by the Israelis to whom they are donating. Through case studies of ten Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their relationships with their associated American fundraising vehicles, this article elucidates the range of interaction patterns, exploring issues such as trust, collaboration, and the extent of involvement by Americans. Most importantly, it introduces a typology for studying the broader field of thousands of Israeli NGOs that depend on diaspora Jews for financial support.

The isiZulu translation of biblical weights and measures

Given that the metrological systems used in biblical times included concepts like our own modern-day times − i.e. weight, linear distance and volume or capacity − it is essential to explore how such concepts are translated for the modern readers of isiZulu Bibles. This article explores isiZulu translations of biblical weights and measures. It is a qualitative study that uses the textual analysis design in the descriptive translation studies paradigm. The researcher identified verses from the source texts (the Old Testament in Hebrew and New Testament in Greek) with units of weights and measures to describe how they are translated in three isiZulu Bibles. The findings are that in the 1959 and 2020 isiZulu translations loanwords are mainly used. In the 1986 New Testament version, which includes the Book of Psalms, the strategy is to translate weights and measures dynamically. The general conclusion drawn from the findings is that the use of loanwords and word-for-word translation for biblical weights and measures in isiZulu has been adopted to stay as close as possible to the words and phrasing of the source text.

Israel’s planning historiography: interrogating spatio-temporal discourse and ‘whiteness’

ABSTRACT In this study, I aim to critically examine the Israeli planning discourse related to the execution of the first national masterplan for Jewish population dispersion in Israel's history, the ‘Sharon Plan’. I argue that the discursive justification of the Population Dispersion Policy, as presented in Israel's planning historiography, provides planning, cultural, moral and economic advantages to the dispersion of Middle-Eastern and North African Jews (‘Mizrahi’ Jews), used to de-Arabize them as a project of ‘whiteness’. Subsequently, I analyze the three-dimensional language initiated in the Sharon Plan – Land, People and Time dimensions – through three main motifs: the ‘making the desert bloom’ motif, the modernistic progress motif, and the urgency motif. On a larger theoretical scale, I suggest reinvestigating how spatial design and national planning historiographies racialize social groups. Methodologically, I apply the Cultural Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis on a case study that engages the built environment, by assembling a corpus that includes the masterplan, Arieh Sharon's lectures and articles collected at the Azrieli Architectural Archive of Tel-Aviv Art Museum, and three planning and architectural exhibitions’ catalogues. I analyse the corpus by reading and observing every item to pursue shared motifs within the historical planning discourse.

Tensão entre monoteísmo e politeísmo na Bíblia Hebraica e no Antigo Israel

The article analyzes the tension between monotheism and polytheism in the Hebrew Bible (HB) and the religion of ancient Israel, proposing that the development of monotheism was a gradual and multifaceted process. The study examines biblical passages and archaeological evidence suggesting the coexistence of polytheistic beliefs alongside the predominant worship of Yahweh. The author discusses the use of terms such as henotheism and monolatry to describe the religious phenomenon in ancient Israel, arguing that monotheism only fully consolidated during the exilic period. The applied methodology includes the distinction between “emic” and “etic” approaches, allowing for a contextualized analysis of religious practices without imposing modern concepts. Additionally, the article explores the influence of other deities, such as El, Asherah, and Baal, on Israelite religiosity, suggesting that the transition to monotheism involved a process of assimilation, exclusion, and transformation of religious practices. The conclusion is that Israelite monotheism did not emerge abruptly, but as the result of a long theological and political reflection, with both external and internal influences shaping religious thought over time.

고대 이스라엘의 초기 국가 발전에 대한 사회과학적 접근의 역사

고대 이스라엘의 초기 국가 발전에 대한 사회과학적 접근의 역사

“Look not thou upon the wine…”. Wine Drinking in Proverbs 23:19–35 in Light of the Book of Sirach

This article examines the motif of wine drinking in didactic biblical wisdom literature from a synchronic perspective, using an analogy between two textual units in the Book of Proverbs in light of the Book of Sirach. The complex literary and social functions of the motif of wine drinking and its significance for ancient Israelite society are examined. The first part of the article focuses on Prov 23, which presents the didactic wisdom approach to drinking wine, consisting mainly of warnings and cautions to youth regarding wine and its consequences for the community. The second part compares this didactic approach to the hybrid approach of the Book of Sirach, where didactic precepts appear beside a cultural portrayal of wine drinking as a joyful and accepted tradition. The author of this article claims that this complex attitude is rooted in using the wine-drinking motif in biblical wisdom literature to reflect the social reality in ancient Israel.

The Significance of Joseph’s Posthumous Remains in Sir 49:15

The Praise of the Fathers (Sir 44–49) presents the most outstanding heroes of biblical Israel’s history. The final poem of this praise shatters the historical sequence by returning to the beginning of history. Enoch, Joseph, Shem, Seth (Enos in H) and Adam are mentioned in Sir 49:14–16. The article focuses on presenting the figure of Joseph (49:15) and understanding the significance of mentioning his posthumous remains. The question of the presence and location of this important character in the context of the entire praise and in connection with the other characters of 49:14–16 is first raised. The content of Joseph’s praise in its textual versions (G, H, S) is then analysed, and an attempt is made to interpret their differences. Both the “bones” (49:1 5 G) and the “flesh” (49: 15 H/S) of the patriarch Joseph play an important role in the presentation of this character, indicating his importance in the history of posterity, both in relation to the biblical tradition and comparing Joseph with Alexander the Great.

THE BIBLICAL MILIEU AND THE SHAPING OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF WESTERN CULTURE

This paper will examine the relationship between religion and democracy in the traditions of the Old Testament. Historically, scholars have argued that „democratic” thinking appeared after 800 B.C.E., in the Greek colonies of Asia Minor and also within the semi-independent cities of the Greek league. Scholars have argued that the fragmented geographical environment of ancient Greece seems to have shaped the independent mindset of its inhabitants. It has been shown that the geographical separation from mother Greece and the economic prosperity that merchants brought to the colonies influenced the attitude of their inhabitants toward philosophy and politics. Our study will focus mainly on the religion, culture and history of the Hebrew nation, as it is depicted in the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible. Our purpose is to show that the unique religious vision of the ancient Hebrews had a significant impact upon the development of the „democratic” consciousness of what later became the civilization of the Western world. To achieve this goal we will trace and analyze the role that biblical religion played as a catalyst in the movement for improving the rights of the disposed and the socially marginal classes of ancient Israel. We will argue that biblical religion shaped the attitude of the worshippers toward authority (political or ecclesial) in such a way that tyranny – though present at all stages of history– was always sanctioned. In the later part of the study we’ll show how this ideology impacted the thinking of Christian authors who had a crucial role in shaping the foundations of Democratic thinking.

Cherchez la femme: Ancient Israelite Women’s Religion in Light of their Personal Names

In order to add new insights to recent research on women’s religion in ancient Israel, we investigated women’s names that appear in two categories of evidence: names on excavated Iron Age II epigraphic artifacts and names mentioned in First Temple narratives in the Bible. The two groups of names were quantitatively analyzed according to their theophoric content, chronology, and political affiliation. We found only five women’s names on the epigraphic artifacts, all on seals or seal impressions from Jerusalem, reflecting the limited participation of women in the official public sphere. The 40 names of women mentioned in the Bible reveal that while most women’s names do not have a specific form to distinguish them from men’s names, as a group they are different: non-theophoric or non-hypocoristic-theophoric names dominate women’s names, while theophoric, mainly Yahwistic names dominate men’s names. In addition, the prevalence of non-theophoric or non-hypocoristic-theophoric women’s names increases throughout the First Temple period, while among men, the frequency of such names decreases, and the frequency of theophoric, Yahwistic names increases. These results may be interpreted as indicating that while men mostly participated in the cult of the Israelite national god, YHWH, women performed ritual activities related mainly to gods other than YHWH.

Was Paul Within Judaism, Within Israel or Within Israel’s Messiah?

In NT scholarship, the Paul Within Judaism approach has gained considerable momentum. In this approach to Paul’s discourse on identity, a distinction is drawn between “Jewish” and gentile followers of Christ. “Jewish” followers, including Paul, are considered those that remain fully Torah-observant, whereas gentile followers are regarded as not fully Torah-observant, especially with respect to circumcision. In this contribution, Paul’s identity in relation to first-century “Judaism” and/or historical Israel is reconsidered. The main question that is asked in this regard is whether the Paul Within Judaism approach is a viable position in light of the hermeneutical difficulties surrounding first-century “Judaism”, as well as Paul’s own rhetoric around the Ἰουδαῖοι (“Jews”/“Judaeans”). Another question that is asked is whether Ἰσραήλ (“Israel”) and the Ἰουδαῖοι point to the exact same entity. Would it be more accurate to see Paul as being within Israel as one of God’s covenant people than as remaining a Ἰουδαῖος (“Jew”/“Judaean”)? Or did Paul leave his identity as a Ἰουδαῖος or as part of Israel behind for a new identity to be defined around Israel’s Messiah only? Lastly, it is considered whether Paul’s discourse on identity leaves room for an identity in Christ that is inclusive of an identity as a Ἰουδαῖος or as being part of Israel, or whether the identity in Christ excludes the latter.

Oral Law of Ancient Israel by Robert D. Miller II, OFS (review)

Oral Law of Ancient Israel by Robert D. Miller II, OFS (review)

Prophetic Conflict in Ancient Israel and its Reflections in the Christian Community in Nigeria

Prophetic Conflict in Ancient Israel and its Reflections in the Christian Community in Nigeria

Toward Identifying Proto-Judaic Cultural Features in Ancient Israel and Judea

Abstract The present article examines methodological prospects and pitfalls we face in identifying specific practices prescribed in the Pentateuch and that were adopted as elements within Judaism, which have roots in much earlier Israelite/Judean cultural praxis. Identifying such practices – which we may think of as “proto-Judaic” – is crucial for investigating the degree to which early Judaism manifests the culmination of a long-evolving cultural inheritance reaching back to before the compilation of Pentateuchal texts, versus the degree to which early Judaism reflects fundamentally novel developments following widespread adoption of the Pentateuch as authoritative Torah law. The article examines concrete methodological issues regarding how various types of evidence potentially relevant to identifying proto-Judaic cultural features are to be treated: (1) epigraphic finds; (2) archaeological remains; (3) narratives in Hebrew Bible texts which predate the relevant Pentateuchal texts; and (4) etiological accounts within the Pentateuch itself.