VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-06-07DOI: 10.1163/15685330-00001162
Matthieu Richelle
{"title":"Rethinking the Origins and Textual History of Ancient Jewish Literature: A Review of Recent Works by Emanuel Tov, James Nati, and Nathan Mastnjak","authors":"Matthieu Richelle","doi":"10.1163/15685330-00001162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-00001162","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This essay discusses the current state of research on the origins and textual history of early Jewish literature in light of three recently published books. On the one hand, the current practice of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, well presented in the standard handbook of the topic, is anchored in relatively traditional views on the origins of biblical books. On the other hand, two studies challenge current ideas about the ontology and materiality of ancient Jewish literature. An analysis of the Serekh ha-Yahad scrolls reveals that usual models of textual growth cannot account for the entirety of the intricate textual history of certain compositions. A material-historical perspective suggests that, before the Hellenistic period, literary works existed in the form of collections of scrolls, which has potentially profound implications for understanding how these collections became books. Whether conservative or innovative in outlook, these books show that theory and practice are inextricably linked in the field of textual criticism.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141371783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-06-04DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10167
Omri Shareth
{"title":"Centaurs and the Sacred Tree","authors":"Omri Shareth","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10167","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Zechariah 4:12 has been perplexing exegetes and scholars throughout the ages, hampering efforts to explain the message of the lampstand vision in Zech 4 as a whole. The current paper will suggest a path towards a solution by showing that the hapax legomenon צנתרות in this verse means “centaurs.” This claim, which found little support in research so far, reaches its full persuasive power by a deep linguistic, exegetical, and cultural-comparative analysis. Namely, it will be argued that phonetically *צנתר fully accords with κένταυρος if the palatalization /k/ > [t͡s] is assumed, and when Jerome’s overlooked reading sinthoroth is considered. This interpretation is further supported by iconographic data which has so far escaped the scholarly discussion of this verse. As it demonstrates, Zech 4 is based on the Sacred Tree motif iconography, in which hybrid entities are only expected.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141387186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-22DOI: 10.1163/15685330-00001161
Mahri Leonard-Fleckman
{"title":"Histories of Ancient Israel: Present State and Future Potential","authors":"Mahri Leonard-Fleckman","doi":"10.1163/15685330-00001161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-00001161","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This review considers the state of historical studies of ancient Israel in light of the publication of two recent books on the subject. While this recent scholarship nuances and advances our understanding of the history of the southern Levant, it also reveals ongoing methodological tensions due to the field’s long-running commitments to post-Enlightenment, European (especially German) approaches to the historical analysis of biblical texts. Simultaneously, these two histories point towards some productive ways in which we might move forward in the study of the history of ancient Israel. These productive potentials include reevaluating our historical methods across specialties and approaches and seeking alternative approaches to history writing that make space for fragmentation, multiplicity, and irresolution.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140675130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10159
Joshua Berman
{"title":"Speaking “Mouth to Mouth” (Num 12:8)","authors":"Joshua Berman","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10159","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The phrase פה אל פה אדבר בו in Num 12:8a is generally taken to mean to speak with Moses “face to face.” However, commentators have noted that this understanding presents grammatical difficulties. In this study I propose a new understanding of the idiom and argue that it refers to oral transmission, from one speaking agent to the next in a linear chain. This idiomatic use of the phrase “mouth to mouth” is found in ancient Egyptian texts and widely across many cultures. This understanding of the idiom פה אל פה is animated further by a re-examination of four pieces of textual data: a) the meaning of the phrase בכל ביתי נאמן הוא in Num 12:7, and specifically an interpretation widespread in rabbinic commentary, but absent from modern exegesis; b) the meanings and diffusion of the prepositional verb דבר ב; c) the morphologies of various פה-פה expressions found in 2 Kings, Jeremiah, and Ezra; d) the structural and thematic similarities of Num 11 and Num 12.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140728745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10160
Tobias Schmitz
{"title":"Shaking Up the People","authors":"Tobias Schmitz","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10160","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article makes the case that Hos 14:2–3 is the earliest positive call to return (שׁוב) to YHWH in the Hebrew Bible and asks why it is precisely here that repentance is spoken of no longer negatively in reproach but positively in exhortation. First, it argues for a pre-exilic dating of Hos 14:2–5 by referring to Jer 2:35; 3:22; 4:8; 23:20, and 30:24. These passages in Jeremiah quote or allude to Hos 14:5, which speaks of the divine wrath being turned away from Israel. Second, the study argues that it was in the reflection on the fall of the Northern Kingdom that the words of Hosea were collected and expanded upon. In doing so, the scribes sought to make the downfall of the Northern Kingdom understandable as YHWH’s responsibility and to shake up the people: for the divine wrath to disappear, Israel must now return to YHWH.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140728899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10161
Hananel Shapira
{"title":"Subversion through Allusion in Samuel’s Call to Prophecy (1 Sam 3)","authors":"Hananel Shapira","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10161","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The article explores the significance of the strange scene in 1 Sam 3 where Samuel confuses the Lord with Eli and investigates what message the author intended to convey. The article argues that the narrative of Samuel’s call addresses issues that extend beyond his circumstances. Samuel is a representative of the entire prophetic legacy, and the narrator uses the narrative’s peculiarities to validate the essence of prophecy and the prophetic role. The article also explores the similarities and differences between Samuel’s call narrative and Num 12, which claims that only Moses is a trustworthy prophet. The narrator of Samuel’s call narrative uses Num 12 subversively, lending credibility to his own narrative and reinforcing Samuel’s reliability. Ultimately, the method by which the message was conveyed is inconsequential as long as the prophet received and accurately conveyed the divine message.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140730980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10163
Ellen De Doncker
{"title":"Substituting Anthropomorphisms?","authors":"Ellen De Doncker","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10163","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000With the theological dimensions of the Septuagint (LXX) gaining interest, this paper focuses on anthropomorphisms—instances attributing human-like traits to God—as a noteworthy element of LXX-theology, where the avoidance of such attributions is considered indicative of a more transcendent conception of God. The article examines the anthropomorphism of God’s “mouth” in the Pentateuch, particularly the unique translation in Num 20:24. Doing so, the study reveals a discrepancy in translating the human and divine “mouth,” employing more literal equivalents for the former and less-literal equivalents for the latter, contributing to the characterization of LXX-Numbers as anti-anthropomorphic. The examination of Num 20:24, where a different Vorlage is posited, underscores the importance of meticulous analysis in understanding the Greek translation of anthropomorphisms, and suggests the need for nuanced assessments.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140731021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10162
Christopher Ansberry
{"title":"A Note on Proverbs 22:16","authors":"Christopher Ansberry","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10162","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Proverbs 22:16 is plagued by syntactical ambiguity. In the light of the history of the aphorism’s reception, this note proposes a syntactical solution to the proverb’s syntactical openness: it is an unmarked יֵשׁ of reflection, which introduces paradoxical phenomena.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140730325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10164
Noga Ayali-Darshan
{"title":"The Polemical Cosmogony in the Doxologies of Amos (4:13; 5:8; 9:5–6)","authors":"Noga Ayali-Darshan","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10164","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The paper explores the doxologies in the book of Amos, arguing that they articulate a polemical viewpoint distinct from prevailing biblical and ancient Near Eastern notions about the formation of the sea, mountains, wind, and God’s abode. Central to the comprehension of this cosmogony is the recurring phrase in Amos 5:8d and 6:9c, “(He) who summons the waters of the sea and pours them on the surface of the earth.” While previous scholars have understood this phrase as referring to the primeval Flood, a tsunami event, or Levantine torrential rain, the present paper suggests a cosmogonic interpretation, in line with its context. Subsequent elements in the same series of texts are interlinked with this portrayal, emphasizing the unified—and polemical—perspective of the doxologies. This new explanation also has ramifications for the dating and composition of the doxologies in the book of Amos.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140729396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
VETUS TESTAMENTUMPub Date : 2024-02-02DOI: 10.1163/15685330-00001160
Suzanna Millar
{"title":"New Directions for Thinking about the Bible and Nonhuman Animals: A Review of Works by Peter Atkins, Dong Hyeon Jeong, and Saul Olyan","authors":"Suzanna Millar","doi":"10.1163/15685330-00001160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-00001160","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Three new monographs have appeared in 2023 that explore the Bible and nonhuman animals: Peter Joshua Atkins, The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary (London: T&T Clark, 2023; pp. xiv + 260); Dong Hyeon Jeong, Embracing the Nonhuman in the Gospel of Mark (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2023; pp. xii+177); Saul M. Olyan, Animal Rights and the Hebrew Bible (New York: OUP, 2023; pp. xii+144). This review brings these books into conversation, suggesting six questions that they grapple with and which might stimulate further research.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139809568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}