Davidic King Research Articles

Hearing Psalm 102 within the Context of the Hebrew Psalter

Abstract Along with recent scholarship which is concerned with reading the book of Psalms as a whole, this article analyzes Psalm 102 within its canonical, literary context. It focuses on two main areas. First, the superscription. It identifies the speaker as the “afflicted,” who is a suffering royal Davidic figure associated with Psalms 88-89 and 101, 103. Second, the paper moves throughout the rest of the psalm, making observations concerning thematic and lexical relationships between the psalm and its immediate context. It concludes that Psalm 102, alongside 101, functions as a meditative response of the afflicted Davidic king to the questions posed in Psalm 89. As such, it provides an important literary hinge, without which the lamenting questions of Book III could not turn into affirmations of YHWH’s love and praise throughout Books IV-V.

Moses, Elijah and the Messianic Hope. A New Reading of Malachi 3,22–24

It is claimed that Mal 3,22–24 is primarily a conclusion to the Book of Malachi. The idea of the coming of Elijah before the Day of the Lord is totally new and does not appear in any other biblical source. The aim of the paper is to present the idea that stands behind this new concept that is presented for the first time in Malachi. The period of restoration included hopes for the renewal of the Davidic king who will complete the process of restoration. When these messianic hopes did not materialize there followed disappointment and despair. The People's expectations turned now to the coming of a prophet messiah. Malachi announces that the prophet Elijah will appear before the Day of the Lord, but first it was necessary to renew the covenantal relationship between God and the people.

The Shape of the Davidic Hope across the Book of the Twelve

It has recently been argued that the Book of the Twelve reflects a variety of views concerning the restoration of the Davidic monarchy, including optimism in the early Persian period and later criticism. The interpretation of Zechariah 11 and the texts concerning Zerubbabel is critical in this. This article presents an interpretation of these texts which coheres with Zechariah and the Book of the Twelve. The shape of the Davidic hope across the Book of the Twelve is then traced and it is observed that the hope for a future king from the house of David occurs at key points. This suggests that those who collected the Twelve sought to preserve the earlier prophetic hope for a future Davidic king.

Turban and Crown Lost and Regained: Ezekiel 21:29-32 and Zechariah's Zemah

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) The visions and prophecies recorded in the book of Zechariah have long puzzled scholars.1 Among the more challenging ones are the prophetic sign-acts connected to the appearance of ... in Zechariah 3 and 6:9-15. Who is this enigmatic figure? What is his relationship to Joshua and the priesthood? In this essay, I will first offer brief summary of earlier attempts to answer these questions and then proceed to suggest new interpretation of the data. I will argue that, among other texts, Ezpk 21 -.29-32 (Eng. 21:24-27) presents us with an interpretative key to these two passages from Zechariah. I. PAST INTERPRETATION As is the case with most exegetical puzzles, there are number of variations also among the solutions offered to the puzzle of ... (hereafter Zemah),2 Joshua, and Zerubbabel (who appears only in Zechariah 4). However, it is nevertheless possible to identify majority view.3 According to this view, Zechariah 3 and 6 envisage form of diarchy, shared rule of the high priest and Davidic king, and these chapters thus testify to the rise of the Zadokite priesthood as political power in the postexilic Jewish community.4 As for Zemah, the original oracles referred to Zerubbabel-or even Joshua-instead, but for one reason or another, this was changed in the process of redaction. This traditional reading of the data has recently been challenged by more than one interpreter. A major contribution has been offered by Wolter H. Rose, whose monograph focuses on Zemah and Zerubbabel.5 Some of his main conclusions are as follows:6 (1) Zemah is future messianic figure and not to be identified with Zerubbabel (or Joshua); (2) attempts to consider parts of the oracles in ch. 3 and 6:9-15 as secondary may appear to solve some problems but are based on dubious grounds;7 (3) although the high priests influence in the temple is expanding (ch. 3) and he may possibly function as counselor to the coming ruler (ch. 6), there is no evidence in the book of Zechariah for diarchy or the emergence of the priesthood as political power. Another nontraditional reading has been proposed by Mark J. Boda, who agrees with Rose on most issues but sees Zechariah as emphasizing the continuing influence of prophetic and royal streams in texts traditionally interpreted as promoting the extension of priestly prerogatives.8 According to Boda, Zechariah has been influenced by-and clearly alludes to-the Jeremianic tradition of enduring but separate royal and priestly lines.9 Zechariah's agenda vis-a-vis the leadership is thus to restrain priestly aspirations rather than endorse them as has been argued in the past.10 It is beyond the scope of this essay to offer detailed response to these three readings, but I will interact with them where appropriate. My own interpretation follows in many ways the freshly beaten path of Rose and Boda, yet departs from it at certain key points.11 II. A NEW PROPOSAL Zechariah's wide knowledge and use of earlier books and traditions is well known.12 Indeed, many details and motifs of Zechariah can be fully appreciated only when seen in light of their treatment by earlier prophets, and the present pericopae are no exceptions. While this is not the occasion for an extended survey of Zechariah's employment of existing traditions, couple of comments are nevertheless appropriate, given the topic of the essay. First, the very opening word of Yahweh (1:1) coming to Zechariah refers three times (w. 4-6) to the earlier prophets and their words.13 These (and later references, 7:7,12) suggest both Zechariah's familiarity with earlier prophetic traditions and their importance to the interpretation of his own message. As Michael Fishbane has noted, a learned preoccupation with older prophetic language is characteristic of late biblical prophecy, and Zechariah is no exception.14 Second, while some of Zechariah's prophetic language is clearly stereotypical and it is possible to discern simple and echoes in the text, there are also allusions that evoke specific earlier text or tradition that can shed light on the text containing the allusion. …

The "Root of Jesse" in Isaiah 11:10: Postexilic Judah, or Postexilic Davidic King?

Research Article| December 01 2008 The "Root of Jesse" in Isaiah 11:10: Postexilic Judah, or Postexilic Davidic King? Jacob Stromberg Jacob Stromberg Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Biblical Literature (2008) 127 (4): 655–669. https://doi.org/10.2307/25610148 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Jacob Stromberg; The "Root of Jesse" in Isaiah 11:10: Postexilic Judah, or Postexilic Davidic King?. Journal of Biblical Literature 1 January 2008; 127 (4): 655–669. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/25610148 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveSBL PressJournal of Biblical Literature Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Lord's House and David's Lord: The Psalms and Mark's Perspective on Jesus and the Temple

AbstractFour Davidic Psalms (2, 118, 110, and 22), each cited or alluded to at least twice, in this order, and at critical junctures in Mark's narrative, play a key role in his Gospel. In contemporary understanding Psalm 2 was associated with the future messianic purging of Jerusalem and especially the temple (e.g.4QFlor, Pss Sol 17). Psalm 118, concluding the Egyptian Hallel, spoke of Israel's future deliverance under a Davidic king with the restored temple as the goal of Israel's return from exile. Psalm 110's surprisingly elevated royal designation, uniquely expressed in Melchizedekian priestking terms, contributed to several portraits of exalted heavenly deliverers, some messianic, who would preside over Israel's restoration (e.g.11QMelch, 1 Enoch) while Psalm 22's Davidic suffering and vindication described the deliverance of righteous Zion (e.g.4QPs). Drawing from the dual perspective of their original contexts and contemporary interpretations, this paper proposes that Mark's careful arrangement of his psalm citations presents Jesus as both Israel's Davidic Messiah (Pss. 2, 118) and the temple's Lord (Ps. 110) who, coming to purge Jerusalem but rejected by the temple authorities, announces the present structure's destruction and, through his death and vindication (Ps. 22), its replacement with a new people-temple centered on himself.

An Intertextual Reading of ‘A Crushed Reed’ and ‘A Dim Wick’ in Isaiah 42.3

The present study proposes a new reading of the ‘crushed reed’ and ‘dim wick’ passage in Isa. 42.3a by examining the interconnections of phrases and metaphors within Isaiah and beyond. Several similar phrases in other texts help one read these seemingly ambivalent phrases as referring to the group of people weakened and shattered, the Judaeans, on an explicit level and to the foreign forces of Egypt and Babylon on an implied level. A deliberate double entendre in the phrases conveys that Israel is assured of consolation, particularly under the coming authority of the individual servant, Cyrus or a Davidic king. At the same time, this double entendre also implies an irony in that Israel, also as the servant, will establish justice over against Egypt and Babylon and on the whole earth with the task that moves beyond anti-Babylonian ideology, a part of the new vision of the prophet.

Whose Child Is This? Reflections on the Speaking Voice in Isaiah 9:5

In his 1947 article, “Das judäische Königsritual,” Gerhard von Rad argued that the Judean enthronement ritual was heavily dependent on the corresponding Egyptian ritual. He argued persuasively that theof Ps 2:7, theof 2 Kgs 11:12, and theof Ps 89:40 were all simply different designations of the same reality, the Judean counterpart of the Egyptiannḫb.t, the royal protocol that the deity writes and presents to the new king along with the crown at the time of the latter's coronation. The Egyptian protocol contained the five names of the new pharaoh's titulary and the legitimation of his rule by the deity's acknowledgment of the king as the deity's child. Von Rad argued that both of these elements also appeared in the Judean ritual. Ps 2:7 quotes from the protocol marking Yahweh's legitimation of the new Davidic king as God's son, while Isa 9:5 reflects the king's divine sonship as well as his five-fold royal titulary.

Ancient Israelite Prophecy and Dissonance Theory

Among the dialectical structures of ancient Israelite prophecy the tension between the critique of society (threat oracles) and predictions of future wellbeing (salvation oracles) is the most striking. The trenchant criticism of society's corrupt, oppressive practices has become a hallmark of prophecy as has its equally characteristic prophesying of a golden future when Israel would live securely under a Davidic king and Jerusalem would be the focus of religious attention for the nations. In dialectical terms the elements of judgment and promise represent prophecy's No and Yes to Israelite society. Now it is generally acknowledged that the social criticism of the prophets was a percipient description of Israel's socio-political state and their predictions of doom accurately anticipated the future. But the salvation oracles, their positive hopes for the future, were a complete failure to foresee the longterm prospects with any degree of accuracy. The conventional idiom of these oracular hopes (e.g. Am. 9 : 1I-I5; Is. 2 : 2-4; 9 : 2-7; 11 : I-9; Jer. 31 : 31-34) suggests that the prophets had given little thought to the shape of the future other than to believe that there would be a future. By its very nature predicting the future is precarious yet this was considered to be the business of the prophet (cf. Dt. 18 : 22). This failure of prophecy raises questions about the nature of prophecy and the prophet's apperception of his own work in relation to the world at large. In particular this paper is devoted to a consideration of the problem of whether the prophet was aware of his failure and endeavoured to bridge the gap between expectation and reality or simply had a different view of reality which permitted him to avoid confrontations with possible failure. Before examining the material available for such an approach it is necessary to consider briefly some views of prophecy which would

Dryden's "Inarticulate Poesy": Music and the Davidic King in Absalom and Achitophel

Dryden's "Inarticulate Poesy": Music and the Davidic King in Absalom and Achitophel

The Conception of the Charismatic Community in Islam1)

The conception of the charismatic leader is a relatively familiar one. By this is meant a leader who is marked out by a gift or charisma which raises him above the mass of men, and in virtue of which men are drawn to follow him. 2) The conception occurs in various forms. A common one is that of the king. From early times sacral or divine qualities were attributed to the king. He might have supernatural characteristics by descent or receive them through some ritual act, such as anointing. Even in the seventeenth century in Europe there was much talk of the divine right of kings, and popular belief still clings to some of the charismata of kingship. Though kingship as a political institution is now out of favour, it was noticeable in Hitler's Germany that divine and supernatural characteristics were frequently ascribed to the Fiuhrer. All this belongs to one line of development of the conception of the charismatic leader. A more religious development of the conception is to be found in Biblical history. Among the Israelites there appeared kings who were regarded as the anointed of God. Later, when times grew difficult for the Israelites and the existing office of kingship proved ineffectual or disappeared, men began to look for the coming of an agent of God, a Messiah, a man with the charismata of a Davidic king, but in a higher degree, who would set all things right. Sometimes there was more emphasis on the political functions of the Messiah, sometimes his religious mission was in the forefront. Finally Jesus claimed to be the Messiah,

Canaanite Kingship in Theory and Practice

We have long been familiar with the endeavours of GUNKEL, 1) GRESSMAN, 2) MOWINCKEL, 3) and SCHMIDT4) to explain the role of the Davidic king in the Jerusalem cult in categories of generalanthropology and specifically of the cult-patterns of Egypt and Mesopopotamia, where the figure of the king was central. MOWINCKEL, in fact, conceives of the Davidic king as 'the incarnation of the national God.' This theory of divine kingship as a vital element in a general cult-pattern has been accepted and applied to Israel by an influential body of scholars and finds its most concrete expression in English in two publications edited by S. H. HOOKE, namely Myth and Ritual 5) and The Labyrinth 6). Since the discovery of the Canaanite literature of Ras Shamra evidence has been claimed from the soil of Canaan