Temple Literature Research Articles

The Satan: How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy

The Satan: How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy

Carol A. Newsom, Rhetoric and Hermeneutics: Approaches to Text, Tradition and Social Construction in Biblical and Second Temple Literature

Carol A. Newsom, <i>Rhetoric and Hermeneutics: Approaches to Text, Tradition and Social Construction in Biblical and Second Temple Literature</i>

Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel by Isaac Kalimi

Reviewed by: Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel by Isaac Kalimi Josef Sykora Isaac Kalimi. Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 315 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419000965 Isaac Kalimi's latest book brings to life the characterization of King Solomon in biblical literature. With a brush small enough to capture the tiniest details of the biblical depiction of Israel's wisest monarch and sufficiently broad to situate him against the backdrop of the ancient Near East, Kalimi presents the portrayal of Solomon as a historical figure whose story in Samuel-Kings is later rewritten in Chronicles to present him in a more idealized light. The book consists of two parts. The first section deals with the question of the historical credibility of Solomon's reign. Kalimi argues that neither the paucity of unearthed epigraphical documents nor the variously interpreted archeological findings offer a firm foundation for refuting the biblical assertions concerning Solomon's kingship. Therefore, Kalimi disagrees with those scholars who are suspicious about the existence of the United Monarchy, criticizing them for rejecting the biblical texts out of hand. To illustrate this point, Kalimi focuses on several contested aspects regarding Solomon's reign. For example, he claims that the modest size of Jerusalem, reconstructed from the available archeological data, may be explained in that Jerusalem was an administrative, not a residential, center. Similarly, Kalimi counters those assertions that the kingdom of David and Solomon could not control the area depicted in the Bible by arguing that [End Page 187] even a relatively small population could exert, with the help of northern tribes, military control over the southern Levant at the time of a rare geopolitical power vacuum. Having defended the historical plausibility of Solomon's existence, in the second part of his study Kalimi turns to the biblical material to scrutinize the individual details related to the birth, rise, and reign of Israel's sagest king. Against those authors who propose that the narrative of 2 Samuel 10–12 contains later additions, Kalimi stresses that the three chapters (with the exception of 2 Samuel 12:24d–25) were composed as one unit shortly after the events they depict, to defend Solomon's pedigree. In considering the instance of Solomon receiving the name Yedidyah, Kalimi draws on other ancient Near Eastern texts in which new names were given to those kings who ascended to the throne through unusual means or to those who viewed themselves as beloved of their particular gods. The likely later insertion in 2 Samuel 12:24d–25 then combines these two motifs to legitimize Solomon's right to Israel's throne in correspondence with 1 Kings 1–2. Kalimi then briefly considers Solomon's birth and name as found in Second Temple literature. In his view, 1 Chronicles 3:5–6, for example, reshapes the earlier tradition concerning Solomon's birth (2 Samuel 5:14–15) by presenting him as the fourth (and thus chosen) son of Bathsheba. To examine Solomon's ascension to the throne, Kalimi argues that the Succession Narrative (2 Samuel 9–20 and 1 Kings 1–2) forms (for the most part) one literary unit, written possibly by an eyewitness. 1 Kings 1 portrays Adonijah as the expected heir of Israel's kingdom at the time when David was weak and old, and depicts the prophet Nathan conspiring with Bathsheba to establish David's younger son Solomon as king. The Chronicler, on the other hand, omits any negative reference to these characters, and presents Solomon as divinely chosen from even before his birth (1 Chronicles 22:8–10). In terms of Solomon's coronation, Kalimi views David's instructions to his successor in 1 Kings 2:1–9 as an amalgamation of two sources. The political element (in verses 5–9) was not pronounced by David himself but written shortly after his death as a cover-up for Solomon's murderous actions. David's instructions of a religious nature in 1 Kings 2:2–4 were also likely added later to frame Solomon's reign from a Deuteronomistic perspective. The Chronicler, on the other hand, omits all references that...

Isaac Kalimi. Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 315 pp.

Reviewed by: Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel by Isaac Kalimi Josef Sykora Isaac Kalimi. Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 315 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419000965 Isaac Kalimi's latest book brings to life the characterization of King Solomon in biblical literature. With a brush small enough to capture the tiniest details of the biblical depiction of Israel's wisest monarch and sufficiently broad to situate him against the backdrop of the ancient Near East, Kalimi presents the portrayal of Solomon as a historical figure whose story in Samuel-Kings is later rewritten in Chronicles to present him in a more idealized light. The book consists of two parts. The first section deals with the question of the historical credibility of Solomon's reign. Kalimi argues that neither the paucity of unearthed epigraphical documents nor the variously interpreted archeological findings offer a firm foundation for refuting the biblical assertions concerning Solomon's kingship. Therefore, Kalimi disagrees with those scholars who are suspicious about the existence of the United Monarchy, criticizing them for rejecting the biblical texts out of hand. To illustrate this point, Kalimi focuses on several contested aspects regarding Solomon's reign. For example, he claims that the modest size of Jerusalem, reconstructed from the available archeological data, may be explained in that Jerusalem was an administrative, not a residential, center. Similarly, Kalimi counters those assertions that the kingdom of David and Solomon could not control the area depicted in the Bible by arguing that [End Page 187] even a relatively small population could exert, with the help of northern tribes, military control over the southern Levant at the time of a rare geopolitical power vacuum. Having defended the historical plausibility of Solomon's existence, in the second part of his study Kalimi turns to the biblical material to scrutinize the individual details related to the birth, rise, and reign of Israel's sagest king. Against those authors who propose that the narrative of 2 Samuel 10–12 contains later additions, Kalimi stresses that the three chapters (with the exception of 2 Samuel 12:24d–25) were composed as one unit shortly after the events they depict, to defend Solomon's pedigree. In considering the instance of Solomon receiving the name Yedidyah, Kalimi draws on other ancient Near Eastern texts in which new names were given to those kings who ascended to the throne through unusual means or to those who viewed themselves as beloved of their particular gods. The likely later insertion in 2 Samuel 12:24d–25 then combines these two motifs to legitimize Solomon's right to Israel's throne in correspondence with 1 Kings 1–2. Kalimi then briefly considers Solomon's birth and name as found in Second Temple literature. In his view, 1 Chronicles 3:5–6, for example, reshapes the earlier tradition concerning Solomon's birth (2 Samuel 5:14–15) by presenting him as the fourth (and thus chosen) son of Bathsheba. To examine Solomon's ascension to the throne, Kalimi argues that the Succession Narrative (2 Samuel 9–20 and 1 Kings 1–2) forms (for the most part) one literary unit, written possibly by an eyewitness. 1 Kings 1 portrays Adonijah as the expected heir of Israel's kingdom at the time when David was weak and old, and depicts the prophet Nathan conspiring with Bathsheba to establish David's younger son Solomon as king. The Chronicler, on the other hand, omits any negative reference to these characters, and presents Solomon as divinely chosen from even before his birth (1 Chronicles 22:8–10). In terms of Solomon's coronation, Kalimi views David's instructions to his successor in 1 Kings 2:1–9 as an amalgamation of two sources. The political element (in verses 5–9) was not pronounced by David himself but written shortly after his death as a cover-up for Solomon's murderous actions. David's instructions of a religious nature in 1 Kings 2:2–4 were also likely added later to frame Solomon's reign from a Deuteronomistic perspective. The Chronicler, on the other hand, omits all references that...

The Danielic Discourse on Empire in Second Temple Literature. By Alexandria Frisch

The Danielic Discourse on Empire in Second Temple Literature. By Alexandria Frisch

The Exegetical Character of 1QS 3:13–4:26

Abstract Pentateuchal source criticism has shown that the primordial narrative in Genesis 1–3 is a redactional juxtaposition of Priestly (Gen 1:1–2:3) and non-Priestly (Gen 2:4b–3:24) accounts. A wide variety of Second Temple literature appears to have detected this disunity, telescoping the two accounts into unified retellings. This essay argues that 1QS 3:13–4:26 (the “Treatise on the Two Spirits”) can be more fully understood within this pattern of ancient exegetical engagement with Genesis 1–3. The Treatise addresses the place of evil in the cosmos by framing the non-Priestly account of humanity’s lapse in terms of the Priestly emphasis on divine order in Gen 1:1–2:3 and other Priestly texts. It claims that the opposition of good and evil, manifest in the children of light and darkness, is part of God’s perfect creation. This exegetical approach has implications for the mutual relevance of Qumran studies and the study of pentateuchal composition.

Repetition in Hebrews: Plurality and Singularity in the Letter to the Hebrews, Its Ancient Contexts, and the Early Church by Nicholas J. Moore

Reviewed by: Repetition in Hebrews: Plurality and Singularity in the Letter to the Hebrews, Its Ancient Contexts, and the Early Church by Nicholas J. Moore Scott D. Mackie nicholas j. moore, Repetition in Hebrews: Plurality and Singularity in the Letter to the Hebrews, Its Ancient Contexts, and the Early Church (WUNT 2/388; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015). Pp. xv + 276. Paper €94. Repetition and singularity are prominent themes in the Letter to the Hebrews and are most conspicuous in the author's comparison of the Levitical sacrifices with Jesus's selfoffering. Levitical sacrifices are "continuously offered, year after year," thereby providing a "reminder of sins, year after year" (10:1-3), while Jesus's self-offering is singular and conclusive, "once for all" and "for all time" (10:10-14). This revision of a dissertation supervised by Markus Bockmuehl at the University of Oxford (2014) analyzes occurrences of repetition and singularity in conjunction with three main topics—revelation, repentance, and ritual—and challenges the common scholarly appraisal of repetition as unequivocally negative. Moore provides a valuable survey of these themes as they appear in the Hebrew Bible (in the prophetic critique of sacrifice), Second Temple literature (Jubilees, Dead Sea Scrolls, [End Page 713] Philo), Plutarch, and early Christianity. Hebrews' apparent exclusion of post-baptismal repentance exercised massive influence on the theology of many early Church Fathers, and M. offers a fine discussion of such issues as repeating repentance, baptism, and sacrifices in Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Epiphanius, and Chrysostom, among others. Turning to Hebrews, M. first analyzes the role of repetition in relation to revelation. He convincingly demonstrates that the repeated and pluriform (πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως) speech of God "through the prophets" in Heb 1:1 is not negatively contrasted with the eschatological divine speech mediated by Jesus; rather, this text attests to their continuity, as the author's high regard for the multifaceted divine revelation "to the fathers" is evidenced throughout by the author's dependence on the LXX. In fact, "the very plurality of this speech is fundamental to enabling the audience to comprehend the full magnitude of the Son's character and achievements" (p. 105). Moreover, the two revelatory addresses stand in a dialogical relationship, creating a "hermeneutical circle whereby the OT explains the Christ event, and the Christ event in turn leads to a new understanding of scripture" (p. 107). Though many have interpreted Hebrews' harsh warnings concerning the unrepeatability of repentance as rhetorical hyperbole, an impassioned and exaggerated piece of exhortation, M. disagrees, contending that "Hebrews' extends the once-for-all character of Jesus' death to the appropriation of the benefits of his atoning act—Christian conversion or repentance—thus rendering it unrepeatable" (p. 116). An excellent discussion of repentance in Jewish/Christian and philosophic sources yields the conclusion that μετάνοια in Hebrews solely "indicates a change of mind at the very highest level," namely, "an initial and absolute repentance or even conversion experience" (p. 123). The decisive factor, however, is not the quality or degree of human remorse but a divine "renewal" that enables true repentance, as evidenced by Heb 6:6 and the bleak portrayal of Esau in 12:16-17 (pp. 124-27). The sin and apostasy that place a Christian in this irrevocable position probably involve a "persistent, drawn out … drifting away," which eventually leads to a definitive "single act of irremediable turning away"; though Hebrews is "deliberately vague about what might constitute such apostasy" (pp. 129-30). Furthermore, the "re-crucifying" (ἀνασταυρόω, 6:6) of Jesus would involve an attempt to repeat and double the shame Jesus suffered at the cross, and this represents the only truly negative instance of repetition in Hebrews (pp. 138, 211). M.'s discussion is problematized by the fact that Hebrews never directly contrasts Jesus's "once for all" sacrifice with "re-repentance," though he notes this difficulty and attempts to address it (p. 141). The final topic, sacrifice and ritual, looks closely at what is perhaps Hebrews' most important comparative critique of the tabernacle cult, in 10:1-18. M. contends that the "repetition and plurality" found in this section's portrayal of the Levitical cult carry "predominantly negative associations," yet "such repetition is an indication rather than...

Explorations in the Transmission of the Ramayana in Sri Lanka

This essay explores the identification of the island of Sri Lanka with the ‘Lankapura’ of Ramayana literary fame, tracing the transmission of the mythical geography of the epic from late medieval South India to Sri Lankan Tamil temple literature. The invading Cholas of the tenth century were the first to identify Sri Lanka as the ‘Lanka’ of the Ramayana, a geographical equivalence maintained by the Arya Cakravarti rulers who dubbed themselves ‘guardians of Rama’s bridge’ (cētu kāvalan). I highlight the uniquely sympathetic treatment of Ravana by the Hindus of eastern Sri Lanka, and explore the likelihood that Tamil impressions of Ravana impacted his appearance in Sinhala Buddhist literature from the fifteenth century onwards.

Invention of a Bathing Tradition in Hasmonean Palestine

AbstractWhile scholars have known about the earliest ritual immersion pool in the Buried Palace at Jericho for more than thirty years, they have yet to produce a clear understanding of why the Hasmoneans began building ritual immersion pools when they did. Further, scholars have also failed to acknowledge the innovative nature of these spaces. I argue that we can best resolve these shortcomings by understanding the construction of the earliest known purpose-built ritual immersion pool (PBRIP) by John Hyrcanus I as an innovation driven by the political and social disruptions of the late second century BCE, and that once he had pioneered the idea of a PBRIP that it rapidly gained popularity. This article contextualizes the PRBIPs within the framework of Hellenistic palatial architecture and Second Temple literature rather than rabbinic literature.

The Rabbinic Goy Takes Center Stage

The Rabbinic Goy Takes Center Stage Jeffrey P. García Goy: Israel's Multiple Others and the Birth of the Gentile. By Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi. Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions. Pp. viii + 333. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Cloth, $99.00. The development of a decade long havruta between Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi—a philosopher and talmudist, respectively—Goy sets out to address a "striking lacuna," namely, the category of "Gentile" in rabbinic literature or, more specifically, to "reconstruct the transformation of 'gentile' from 'people to non-Jew'" (p. 5). The primary contention of the volume is that the "Gentile" ()—a collective and individualized category for every non-Jew—as it appears in the literature of the Tannaim is novel to the rabbis and can only be seen in its embryonic stage in earlier discourses regarding Israel and its Other. The authors argue that the rabbinic as a category is a discursive formation that is part of a framework of shifting alterities attested in a nearly thousand-year corpus—if the earliest layers of the Hebrew Bible are dated to the eighth or seventh century BCE—that includes the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple literature, and the undisputed letters of the Apostle Paul (primarily Romans and Galatians). The study is not simply a terminological analysis of , , or the Greek parallel ἔθνος, ἔθνη, however, although it forms a "point of entry" of sorts. The authors are also concerned with the discursive goy that moves beyond the parameters of language. Their perspective is admittedly influenced by a modified version of Foucault's theory of discourse—drawing inspiration from Reinhart Koselleck1—so that the Tannaitic goy is thought to be a "basic concept" that is critical to their exploration. This is particularly key to their reconstruction of the goy from collective to individual. Accordingly, the work examines modes of othering and types of others. It also attempts a genealogical reconstruction that is presented simultaneously [End Page 473] on two axes, synchronic (Foucauldian archeological) and diachronic (Foucauldian genealogical). The synchronic axis pertains to what makes the Jew/goy division, as well as additional forms of Jewish alterity, possible. The diachronic axis, on the other hand, is the examination of the linguistic permutations that eventually result in the rabbinic . The book is structured as follows: Chapters 1 and 2 deal primarily with the Hebrew Bible; chapters 3 and 4 analyze Second Temple literature; chapter 5 addresses an apparent anomaly in New Testament discourse in which the "Gentile" appears as an individualized/collective other in the Pauline epistles; chapters 6 and 7 deal with rabbinic literature, in particular, the homogenization of biblical and post-biblical alterities, as well as the presentation of the rabbinic in both halakic and haggadic literature; and chapter 8 and the postscript form appendices of sorts that examine similarities between the "Gentile" and "barbarian" categories and the positing of where research should proceed from this point, respectively. Chapter 1, "Nokhri, Ger, and the Art of Separation in the Hebrew Bible," intends to show, in part, that otherness in regard to Israel does not begin with the term or with abstract otherness. Regarding the diachronic approach, the authors analyze two concepts in the Bible, (1) a collectivization of foreigners and its construction as an ethnic marker and, (2) the formation of a binary relationship between Israel and its others. Ophir and Rosen-Zvi argue that there is little to nothing that resembles the rabbinic , noting further that the term , which designates any number of people or nations—associated with land, language, kinship, and a particular god—does not mean "a collective of others." According to them, the Hebrew Bible utilizes a different strategy for alterity in regard to the Israelite nation that is attested in diverse terms but shows no evidence of the binary relationship that is evident among the rabbis. The bulk of the analysis of chapter 1 is to reconstruct two competing models that are associated with Deuteronomist (D) and Priestly (P) Sources, respectively. The chapter begins, however, not with the two models but by dealing with , as well as , which can refer to a masked unrecognizable Israelite who might otherwise be easily identified (e.g., Joseph...

Feet in the Wilderness, Eyes on the Promised Land

ABSTRACT The book of Deuteronomy addresses Israel in the wilderness, poised to enter the promised land. The people have not yet arrived in the promised land, since they are still “on the other side of the Jordan” (Deut 1:1). But they have already wandered for forty years, and they now stand ready to enter the land, in what David M. Allen has described as a “Deuteronomic posture” of hopeful expectation. I examine how Deuteronomy itself captures and communicates something essential about the experience of the people of God, something that it makes available to future generations of faithful readers. After supplementing a synchronic reading of Deuteronomy with later targumic interpretations of the work, I look at instances of the same dynamic in late Second Temple literature, including 1 Maccabees, the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews. Given the wide range of texts that adopt a Deuteronomic posture, I close with a treatment of the role a “Deuteronomic posture” might play in twenty-first-century conversations about Christian life in a post-Christendom world.

The Perspective from Mt. Sinai: The Book of Jubilees and Exodus by Betsy Halpern-Amaru (review)

Reviewed by: The Perspective from Mt. Sinai: The Book of Jubilees and Exodus by Betsy Halpern-Amaru Zachary I. Levine Betsy Halpern-Amaru. The Perspective from Mt. Sinai: The Book of Jubilees and Exodus. Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 21. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015. 192 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009418000557 The bulk of Jubilees most immediately retells the narrative history of Genesis, and much of the scholarship on Jubilees has focused on the re-presentation of that material. Halpern-Amaru's topic—the exegesis and rewriting of Exodus narrative and law in Jubilees—is one that has been underresearched, and therefore a worthy endeavor from the outset. Her concentration on Exodus material provides a narrow set of case studies that imbue this book with a tight structure and focus. The case studies themselves cover a wide range of issues for the study of Jubilees. Above all, they show how the handling of material from both Genesis and Exodus are part of a coherent literary effort sustained across Jubilees as a unity. The first chapter treats the exegesis, rearrangement, and reworking of Exodus 19, 24, and 34 in the Prologue and Jubilees 1, unpacking both the literary/exegetical decisions behind the construction of Jubilees's text and how they serve to further construct the Mt. Sinai setting that "remains the constant present time throughout the angel narration" of Jubilees 2–50 (19). Chapters 2–5 focus on the representation of the "Egyptian epoch" (Exodus 1–15) in the narrative of Jubilees 46–49, each proving a different way in which Jubilees presents the "Genesis-Exodus past as a single continuous story" (21). Chapter 2 shows how the reworking of Exodus 1 in Jubilees 46—mainly, the "exegetically-rooted" "created epoch" of Amram at Hebron—fits into a larger scheme of periodization that encompasses the reworked material from Genesis in earlier chapters. (An intriguing segue explores the influence of 4Q Visions of Amram on Jubilees.) Chapter 3 shows how "scriptural material is manipulated" to create a "biography" [End Page 445] of Moses matching the same "ideal leader typology" developed in Jubilees's construction of "the personal histories of the antediluvian notables and the founding fathers of Israel" (49). Moses's biography echoes these earlier Genesis-era accounts, down to such details as the "danger-from-birds motif" signaling "the specter of Mastema's agency" (55). Discussion of divine, demonic, and human agency continues into chapter 4, which highlights how the representation of the plagues and liberation in Egypt "discloses the [divine] events 'behind the scenes'" of the Exodus text and Moses's personal human experience. Whereas Michael Segal "treats all passages that attribute the same activity to Mastema and to God as evidence of two stages of composition," Halpern-Amaru shows how Moses, Mastema, and the angels all "collaborate" and "contribute to the advancement" of God's providential redemption of the people (72, 79). Halpern-Amaru's implicit point—that the text's nuanced depictions of agency have been mistakenly labeled conceptually inconsistent—is an important one. For this reason, one would have expected engagement with Segal's source criticism beyond the footnotes. Similar assumptions regarding the mutual exclusivity of divine and human (and demonic) "agency" also fuel prevailing source-critical treatments of, for example, the Damascus Document (and, it may be noted, seem to characterize recent treatments of repentance in Jubilees in works by David Lambert and Ari Mermelstein). Had Halpern-Amaru been more direct with this point (or revisited it in a conclusion), its broader significance for the study of Jubilees and Second Temple literature would have been obvious. Chapter 5 looks at the narrative celebration of Pesaḥ/Maṣṣot and the effort to clarify and distinguish the eternal and one-time (Egypt-specific) nature of the holiday(s). Chapters 6 and 7 focus on Jubilees's reworking of Exodus legislation for Passover and the Sabbath, respectively. With these succinct but scrupulous treatments of legislation and "allusive exegesis," Halpern-Amaru conveys a fundamental truth about Jubilees, which I would paraphrase as follows: Jubilees not only reflects biblical exegesis (prior to composition), it demands its own serious exegesis and is meant to be studied. "[T]he wordiness, repetition and opacity...

The Danielic Discourse on Empire in Second Temple Literature, written by Alexandria Frisch

The Danielic Discourse on Empire in Second Temple Literature, written by Alexandria Frisch

A Tale of Two Crematoria:

In 1926, the remains of Siam's last absolute monarch were cremated on Bangkok's royal parade grounds, Sanam Luang, in a highly decorated ceremonial pyre known as the phra merumat or phra men. Modeled on Mount Meru, the center of the Vedic and Buddhist cosmos, ephemeral structures like this drew on the Traiphum phra ruang, a fourteenth-century text that elaborated the hierarchical structure of the universe and the exalted place of royalty within it. After the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in 1932, the sanctity of Sanam Luang was challenged when a controversial crematorium for commoners who died defending Siam's nascent constitution was built in the area once reserved for royalty. Together, the two crematoria played an important role in representing new forms of national belonging in the twentieth century that were consistent with older conceptions of social hierarchy. In A Tale of Two Crematoria: Funeral Architecture and the Politics of Representation in Mid-Twentieth-Century Bangkok, Lawrence Chua examines literary, pictorial, and architectural representations of the monumental crematoria from which powerful, meritorious people were historically dispatched to the upper echelons of the cosmos. As seen in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century temple murals and literature, the phra men was historically depicted as a space in which diverse social groups were brought together but hierarchically segregated. By the twentieth century, the above-noted crematoria for king and commoners—although radically different in appearance and ideology—could be understood as complementary structures that allowed older spatial and political approaches not only to survive but also to flourish in an era of turbulent social upheaval. Key to this continuity was the deployment of new modes of architectural representation such as the plan and section. Associated with Siam's nascent architectural profession and the rational representation of space, these tools depicted a modern form of political community and premodern social hierarchy while underscoring the shared fate of citizens and the state.

Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer: Structure, Coherence, Intertextuality by Katharina E. Keim

Reviewed by: Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer: Structure, Coherence, Intertextuality by Katharina E. Keim Rachel Adelman Katharina E. Keim. Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer: Structure, Coherence, Intertextuality. Leiden: Brill, 2017. xii + 249 pp. Katharina Keim’s monograph, Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer: Structure, Coherence, Intertextuality, is based on her 2014 dissertation completed under the supervision of Professors Philip Alexander and Renate Smithuis at the University of Manchester. While scholarship on Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer (PRE), a relatively late midrashic composition dating to the mid-eighth or early ninth century CE, has recently burgeoned, Keim provides a new perspective through her analysis of the overall structure and coherence of the composition. Applying the principles of “form criticism,” usually reserved for the study of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple literature, Keim reveals new insights into the genre and composition of PRE. Though considerably revised, the book still reads very much like a doctoral dissertation, with a review of the literature (chapter 1), an overview of the recension and redaction history of the text (chapter 2), a “text-linguistic” description of PRE (chapter 3), and an analysis of “intertextuality” (chapter 4), with a conclusion on the implications of this scholarship (chapter 5), and three appendices (on the overall structure of PRE, smalls forms, and comparison of Michael and Sammael in PRE). Chapters 3 and 4 are the heart of the book, where she deploys the terms “text-linguistic” and “intertextuality” rather idiosyncratically. Her characterization of the late rabbinic Hebrew of PRE is minimal; rather, the emphasis is on “small forms,” genre, and coherence of the text. Further, her concept of “intertextuality” differs from its classic use, namely how midrash reads one biblical passage through another (the Mekhilta’s use of Song of Songs in the reading of the Exodus narrative, for example) (Daniel Boyarin, Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash [Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994]). Keim minimally engages PRE as an interpretive composition of the Hebrew Bible (qua midrash), focusing rather on the relationship of PRE to other sources: classic rabbinic literature, Aramaic Targum, Pseudepigrapha, piyyut (liturgical poetry), and Christian and Islamic traditions. This is hardly [End Page 221] “intertextuality,” but allows for a more open discussion about tracing the threads, the question of influence, and/or polemical interaction between sources. On the dating and provenance of PRE, Keim aligns with recent scholarship, which situates the composition in Palestine after the rise of Islam. Though not definitive, she adopts Gerald Friedlander’s date of the early ninth century. The argument for provenance is based on the minhag and Halakhah unique to Palestine, teachings in the names of Palestinian tannaitic rabbis (albeit pseudepigraphic), and the sources PRE draws on (such as Bereshit Rabbah). Most interesting is the implied alliance between PRE and the “Mourners of Zion” sect in the analysis of messianic motifs (section 3.5.4.4, pp. 106–10). She argues that the characterization of Menachem ben Ammiel, the one messiah named, aligns with that of the Davidic line, based on Philip Alexander’s work on Pesikta Rabbati (2016), though this figure is identified by the text in PRE 19 with Ephraim and Joseph (perhaps a scribal gloss). This calls for more research and a comparison of the manuscript traditions. In the second chapter, she reviews the very complex process of textual transmission, attributing much scholarly acumen to the recent work of Eliezer Treitl (“Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer: Text, Redaction and a Sample Synopsis” [PhD diss., Hebrew University, 2012]). But she then cites only the second printed edition of Dagmar Börner-Klein’s work, recently beautifully presented in bilingual German-Hebrew edition (Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer: Nach der Edition Venedig 1544 unter Beruecksichtigung der Edition Warschau 1852 [Berlin: de Gruyter, 2004]). The main body of the work, chapter 3, entails a reexamination of the genre of PRE as midrash through a study of “small forms,” based on the “Manchester-Durham Typology of Anonymous and Pseudepigraphic Jewish Literature in Antiquity” project, which seeks to create an “inventory of structurally important literary features” in the microstructure of the composition. By analyzing “small forms” such as lemmata, question and answer units, lists, and parables, Keim attempts to characterize the genre of PRE. Based on the format of citations from the...

Bridge over Troubled Waters: Psalm 147

This article discusses the meaning of Psalm 147 in light of its literary structure, which is created by the repetition of similar elements in an identical order in each of the three stanzas. While this structure contributes to the literary cohesion of the psalm, it also emphasizes the differences between the stanzas, highlighting the divergent nature of the second stanza, and the nuanced thematic differences between the first and third stanzas. The literary analysis of each of the stanzas and the relationship between them leads to the conclusion that Psalm 147 expresses a balance between the conditional and the unconditional perceptions of redemption, and between nationalism and universalism. These perceptions are generally viewed as contradictory, and the balance suggested in Psalm 147 reflects a unique voice in Second Temple literature, as a conceptual bridge over troubled waters.

Festschriften and Collected Essays

Festschriften and Collected Essays Christopher T. Begg, Steven J. Schweitzer, Eric F. Mason, Andrew W. Dyck, John Thomas Willis, Thomas Hieke, Isaac M. Alderman, Frederick E. Greenspahn, and David A. Bosworth 2013. Tamás A. Báca and Horst Beinlich (eds.), Constructing Authority: Prestige, Reputation and the Perception of Power in Egyptian Kingship, Budapest, May 12–14, 2016 (8. Symposium zur ägyptischen Königsideologie/8th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology; Königtum, Staat und Gesellschaft früher Hochkulturen 4.5; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017). Pp. 296. Paper €78. ISBN 978-3-447-10927-7. This volume makes available a total of 15 papers on various aspects of Egyptian royal ideology that were delivered at a conference held in Budapest in May 2016. The papers are preceded by the editors’ introduction and followed by lists of abbreviations used and of the proceedings of earlier symposia in the above series, the full program of the 8th symposium, as well as a “keywords” index. One of the essays is in German, the remainder in English. Each essay comes with its own bibliography; most are illustrated with drawings and/or photos of ancient Egyptian iconography as well. For abstracts of those essays of more particular interest to OTA readers, see ##1610, 1612, 1615, 1618, 1619, 1620, 1623, 1627, 1630, 1637, 1641, 1648, 1658, 1738.—C.T.B. 2014. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Tzvi Novick, and Christine Hayes (eds.), The Faces of Torah: Studies in the Texts and Contexts of Ancient Judaism in Honor of Steven Fraade (JAJSup 22; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017). Pp. 660. €140. ISBN 978-3-525-55254-4. This weighty volume honors a distinguished scholar of the DSS, Second Temple literature, and the rabbinic corpus who was born in 1949. Following a short introduction by the editors that provides an appreciation of Fraade’s person and scholarship, the volume comprises a total of 38 articles, organized under three headings: Second Temple Literature and Its Afterlife (11 articles); Rabbinic Literature and Rabbinic History (23 articles); and Prayer and the Synagogue (4 articles). All of the articles are in English. Neither the individual articles nor the volume as a whole comes with a bibliography. There are likewise no indexes of any kind. For abstracts of those articles of most direct interest to OTA readers, see ##1669, 1909, 1960, 1963, 1969, 1985, 1990, 1998, 2002.—C.T.B. 2015. Susanne Beck, Burkhard Backes, and Alexandra Verbovsek (eds.), Intertextualität: Kontakt—Konflikt—Konzeptualisierung. Beiträge des sechsten Berliner Arbeitskreises Junge Aegyptologie (BAJA 6) 13.11.–15.11.2015 (Göttinger Orient-forschungen Ägypten 63; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017). Pp. 178. Paper €44. ISBN 978-3-447-10859-5. This volume consists of 10 papers, deriving from a gathering of “young Egyptologists” held, as its subtitle indicates, in Berlin in November 2015, that discussed various aspects of the “interculturality phenomenon” as exemplified in developments in ancient Egyptian civilization from the pre-historical through the late Roman period. Seven of the essays are in German, the remainder in English. Each essay comes with its own bibliography; a number of them are accompanied by illustrations of ancient Egyptian iconography, [End Page 702] photos, and charts as well. The volume’s front matter includes a foreword by the editors and an obituary of the German Eyptologist Martin von Falck († 2014) by Dieter Kurth. For abstracts of the essays of more particular interest to OTA readers, see ##1633, 1634, 1645, 1681, 1697, 1701, 1750.—C.T.B. 2016. Angelika Berlejung and Judith E. Felitz (eds.), The Physicality of the Other: Masks from the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean (ORA 27; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018). Pp. viii + 570. €149. ISBN 978-3-16-15513-8. The 16 essays making up this collective volume derive from a symposium on its title topic that was held at the University of Leipzig in November 2015. The component essays are organized under six headings as follows: (1) Introductory Considerations (2 essays); (2) Masks in Egypt (3 essays); (3) Masks in the Southern Levant (4 essays); (4) Masks in Syria and Mesopotamia (3...

General

General William J. Urbrock, Christopher T. Begg, Eric J. Wagner, CR, Bernhard Lang, and David A. Bosworth 1. Joel S. Baden and Candida R. Moss, "Reevaluating Biblical Infertility," BARev 43 (5, 2017) 20, 66. While the Bible generally portrays fertility and childbearing as something good and blessed, the command to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28) was never meant to be universal. Women like Dinah, Miriam, and Deborah, who are not said to have offspring, are simply barren—and blameless. Indeed, for Jews and Christians in antiquity, the common vision of the world to come was one in which sex and procreation no longer functioned.—W.J.U. 2. Françoise Briqüel Catonnet and Robert Hawley, "Pierre Bordreuil (*August 28, 1937–†November 13, 2017)," UF 44 (2013) vii-x. The authors provide a brief necrology of Bordreuil, a leading contemporary Semitic epigraphist and philologian, that reviews his life, career and scholarly contributions and pays tribute to the generosity with which he made his knowledge available to colleagues, students and the wider public prior to his unexpected death in November 2013.—C.T.B. 3. Telmo José Amaral de Figueiredo, "Por que falar de sacrifíco? [Why speak of sacrifice?]," EBíb 33 (2016) 13-27. This article is intended to introduce the above issue of EBíb that is devoted to the theme of "sacrifice" in the Bible with special attention to the question of what kind of sacrifices are pleasing to God and which are not. Pursuant to this aim, the article explores anthropological/philosophical conceptions of sacrifice, that of R. Girard in particular, which it presents in some detail. It further briefly reviews the various kinds of sacrifices mentioned in the OT, and concludes with considerations on the sacrifice of Jesus as the "true and unique victim." [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 4. Irmtraud Fischer, "The Views of the Old Testament on Female Sexuality," Ein pralles Leben, 205-14 [see #716]. Sexuality is a central sphere of human life, which is regulated by law, ethics and custom in every society. These rules are, however, only in very few cases—and indeed not at all in historical cultures—set by the individual as a matter of self-determination, but rather by whoever holds power at the time. Ancient women only rarely, and if then only in small numbers, were members of the class of power-holders. The patriarchal society that finds its expression in the OT is no exception in this regard. The relevant OT texts are, however, not to be read as reflections of lived reality, since the legal texts or narratives concerning female sexuality often have, not a descriptive, but rather a prescriptive character. F.'s article begins with considerations concerning the sexual conceptions found in the OT's creation texts and then seeks to situate OT statements about motherhood, female sexual pleasure, and the restrictions placed on female sexuality within the social structures of ancient Israel. In this connection, F. also addresses the specific vulnerability of women's sexuality and the problem of sexualized violence in biblical metaphorical discourse. She ends by advocating [End Page 1] the development of a "gender-fair" sexual ethic for contemporary church praxis. [Translated from published abstract—C.T.B.] 5. M. J. Geller, "Debunking Ancient Jewish Science," JAOS 137 (2017) 393-400. A recently published collection of articles, entitled Ancient Jewish Science and the History of Knowledge in Second Temple Literature (ed. J. Ben-Dov and S. Sanders, 2014), focuses upon a relatively small group of ancient Jewish texts dealing mainly with astronomical calculations and omens as well as physiognomic omens, and attempts to use these as a basis for reconstructing ancient Jewish science in the Persian and Hellenistic periods. G.'s review essay raises questions regarding the collection's aims and methods and proposes an alternative suggestion for the transfer of technical knowledge from Babylonia to ancient Palestine. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 6. Jaco Gericke, "The Meaning of Moses' Life: An Analytic and Comparative-Philosophical Perspective," OTE 30 (2017) 315-36. Against the backdrop...

Old Testament Studies at the University of Pretoria: Glimpses of the past and future

In a short historical overview of the academic and social contributions of the Department of OTS at the UP over the past century (1917–2017), this chapter provides a limited picture of how the department has contributed to academia, church and society. In this year of the Faculty of Theology’s centenary celebrations, this chapter contemplates selected highlights of the past and intends to discover the avenues of future vistas through current academic strengths, research foci of personnel and the actualisation of the OT in the African context(s).From the inception of the UP in 1908, the Faculty of Humanities has been involved in OT related studies, namely the study of the Hebrew language. OTS has become known over many years through individual scholars’ expertise regarding Bible translation and the foci on specific parts of the OT, namely the Pentateuch, Psalms, Prophets or Second Temple literature. World renowned projects started since 1990 to involve several international scholars. These include inter alia Pro Pent, Pro Psalms, Pro Prof and Qumran projects.Because the department is located at a FT in Africa, it has continuously strived to become theologically relevant for local and African contexts. The department continually envisions excellence and relevant

Rendering David a Servant in Psalm of Solomon 17.21

In the quest for Second Temple messianic traditions, Psalm of Solomon 17 serves as an indispensable touchstone. Within the psalm, v. 21 is of particular importance since it introduces the messianic ‘son of David’ for the first time in extant Second Temple literature. Given the importance of this psalm in general and of 17.21 in particular, it is therefore surprising that a translation option for 17.21 has gone unexplored in the last four centuries of scholarship. Through careful examination of external and internal evidence, in addition to the manuscript tradition, this article argues that David's son, rather than Israel, is the Lord's ‘servant’ in Ps. Sol. 17.21, a rendering that is bolstered by and adds to the psalm's position as the Second Temple witness to Davidic messianism par excellence.