A creative, independent, Irish exegetical tradition was well established by the year 700 CE, influencing Northumbria but not Continental Europe. This book contains eight studies by the distinguished Irish biblical scholar, Martin McNamara, which he has published over the past twenty-five years, on the Latin biblical texts (Vulgate, Gallicanum and Jerome's Hebraicum) of the Psalter and commentaries on it in Ireland from 600 CE onwards. The oldest Irish Vulgate text, the Cathach of St Columba of Iona (died 597), shows signs of correction against the Irish recension of the Hebrew text. The central exegetical tradition is strongly Antiochene, being dependent on the commentary of Theodore of Mopsuestia (in Julian's translation), while another branch understands the Psalms as principally about David, rather than christologically or as about later Jewish history.

Assesses the multivocal quality of 2 Samuel 14 as a result of the many historical and social processes that formed the Hebrew Bible as a whole.

This monograph interprets the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15.11-32) in the light of Graeco-Roman popular moral philosophy. Luke's special parables are rarely studied in this way, but the results of this study are very fruitful. The unity of the parable is supported, and it is shown to be deeply concerned with a major Lukan theme: the right use of possessions. The whole parable is read in terms of the moral topos 'on covetousness', and shown to be an endorsement of the Graeco-Roman virtue of liberality, modified by the Christian virtue of compassion.

Said to have lived from 640-609 BC, King Josiah of Judah is a figure of extraordinary importance for the history of Israel. Using synchronic and diachronic analyses of the Deuteronomistic History, Deuteronomy, and selected prophetic books, Marvin Sweeney reconstructs the ideological perspectives of King Josiah's program of religious and national restoration.

For the past few decades a growing number of scholars have attempted to overthrow the traditional Wellhausian view that the so-called 'Yahwist' or 'J' source of the Pentateuch is the oldest of the four major sources. These scholars have argued that J was composed during the exilic or post-exilic periods of ancient Israel. Their arguments have focused on the literary, historiographic, and theological characteristics of 'J'. This book attempts to re-evaluate on linguistic grounds such efforts to place the Yahwist source in the exilic or post-exilic periods. The study employs the methodology developed most prominently by Avi Hurvitz for identifying characteristic features of post-exilic Hebrew ('Late Biblical Hebrew'). This divides the language of the Hebrew Bible into three main chronological stages: Archaic Biblical Hebrew (ABH), Standard Biblical Hebrew (SBH), and Late Biblical Hebrew (LBH). Wright examines 40 features of J for which useful comparisons can be made to LBH and finds no evidence of LBH in the entire Yahwist source. Therefore it is unlikely that J was composed during the post-exilic period. Moreover since Hurvitz has shown that the exilic period was a time of transition between SBH and LBH such that late features began to occur in exilic texts, the author concludes on linguistic grounds that J was most likely composed during the pre-exilic period of ancient Israel.

Siew seeks to examine the events that will unfold within the three-and-a-half years before the dawn of the kingdom of God on earth. He argues that John composed the textual unit of Revelation 11:1-14:5 as a coherent and unified literary unit structured in a macrochiasm. He pays special attention to the fusion of form and content and seeks to elucidate how the concentric and chiastic pattern informs the meaning of the literary units within 11:1-14:5, and proposes that the text of 11:1-14:5 is best analyzed using Hebraic literary conventions, devices, and compositional techniques such as chiasm, parallelism, parataxis, and structural parallelism. The macro-chiastic pattern provides the literary-structural framework for John to portray that the events of the last three-and-a-half years unfold on earth as a result of what transpires in heaven. Specifically, the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon has earthly ramifications. The outcome of the heavenly war where Satan is defeated and thrown out of heaven to earth results in the war on earth between the two beasts of Revelation 13 and the two witnesses of Revelation 11. The narrative of the war in heaven (12:7-12) is seen as the pivot of the macro-chiastic structure. Siew pays close attention to the time-period of the three-and-a-half years as a temporal and structural marker which functions to unite the various units in 11:1-14:5 into a coherent and integral whole. The events of the last days will be centred in Jerusalem. Volume 283 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series.

How can we know today what was happening in the minds and hearts of Paul and the first Christians so long ago? By getting below the surface of Paul's theology, the consistent key elements of early Christian experience are revealed in a way that throws light on the meaning of powerful religious experiences and movements both in the past and today. Illuminating for those who have never read a word on Paul yet disturbing and provocative for biblical scholars, this book tackles the topic of the religious experience of Paul and the first Christians. Lacking authentic knowledge of Paul's liberating experience, generations of translators and interpreters have inevitably and sometimes clumsily obscured Paul's meaning. In this book, the scholarly accusation that Paul is incoherent is turned upside down to show how uncritically accepted ways of translating Paul mislead today's reader and introduce a mystifying complexity into scholarship on Paul. Taking the reader step-by-step through a painstaking restoration of the meaning of Paul's text, the colour and form of Paul's original vision are revealed.

The Gospel of Matthew is treasured as the Gospel of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus' teaching sets it apart from the other Gospels. It is precious to generation after generation of Christians because of its fusion of gospel and ethics, of faith and morality. This commentary proceeds unit by unit, rather than verse by verse, to emphasize what each passage of Matthew means to the author of the Gospel and to the modern church. Douglas Hare shows that the purpose of Matthew's writing is to convince Christians that a genuine faith in Christ must be demonstrated in daily obedience and that faith and ethics are two sides of the same coin. According to Hare, the turning point in Matthew is the narrative of Peter's confession and the subsequent passion announcement. His commentary stresses the close connection between the Great Commission, with which the Gospel closes, and the moral imperatives of the Sermon on the Mount.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

This book provides the reader a uniquely comprehensive and exegetical study of "eternal covenant."A perusal of Old Testament covenant studies shows that Berit Olam lacks significant scholarly attention. This is surprising since even a quick glance at the eighteen instances shows that though the phrase occurs relatively infrequently it resides within very important passages in the Old Testament, and is connected to some of the most prominent figures of the Old Testament story. Moreover, when Berit Olam is addressed in scholarship it is generally conceived as an unbreakable, unilateral promise. But is this an accurate assessment of Berit Olam? What is an eternal covenant? How does an eternal covenant work? What are the relationships between the respective eternal covenants? What ideas of the text are we referring to when talk about an eternal covenant?This book answers these sorts of questions involving eternal covenant in the Bible by beginning with an exegetical study of Berit Olam in the Pentateuch.Over the last 30 years this pioneering series has established an unrivalled reputation for cutting-edge international scholarship in Biblical Studies and has attracted leading authors and editors in the field. The series takes many original and creative approaches to its subjects, including innovative work from historical and theological perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and more recent developments in cultural studies and reception history.

Translated by Allan W. MahnkeA pioneering history of Old Testament law from its scarcely discernable origins in the pre-monarchical period to the canonisation of the Pentateuch.Praise for THE TORAH'Crusemann and Houtman has enormously enriched the field; it will attract the serious attention of scholars for many years to come.' B. S. Jackson, University of Manchester, Journal of Semitic Studies>

God doesn't demand hectic church programs and frenetic schedules; he only wants his people to know him more intimately, says top-selling author D. A. Carson. The apostle Paul found that spiritual closeness in his own fellowship with the Father. By following Paul's example, we can do the same. This book calls believers to reject superficiality and revolutionize their lives by embracing a God-guided approach to prayer. Previously published as A Call to Spiritual Reformation, this book has now been updated to connect more effectively with contemporary readers. A study guide, DVD, and leader's kit for the book are available through Lifeway and The Gospel Coalition.

A study of the growth of Joshua and Judges illustrates how the theme of divine anger has been used differently, according to different historical and social settings. In the deuteronomistic texts the main reason for God's anger is idolatry, which symbolizes a totally negative attitude to everything that God has done or given to the Israelites. This theology of anger is deeply bound to experiences of national catastrophes or threats of crises, and reflects the theological enigma of the exile. A century later, post-deuteronomistic theology gives a wholly different view: the anger of God becomes an instrument of the power struggles between the Israelite parties, or is used for protecting existing leadership.

This monograph presents a fresh and detailed treatment of the problems posed by the Nehemiah-Memoir. Starting from the pre-critical interpretations of Ezra-Neh, the study demonstrates that the use of the first-person does not suffice as a criterion for distinguishing between the verba Neemiae and the additions of later authors. The earliest edition of the Memoir isconfined to a building report, which was expanded as early generations of readers developed the implications of Nehemiah's accomplishments for the consolidation and centralization of Judah. The expansions occasioned in turn the composition of the history of the "Restoration" in Ezra-Neh.

The Old Testament book of Leviticus is the sequel to Exodus in that it deals with a deeper dimension of the Sinaitic covenant, giving various rules for the life of the Israelites, and for the sacrifices and offerings to be performed in the sanctuary. It addresses the question of how the Israelites - human beings - can live in proximity to the holy God who has promised to dwell in their midst. In this excellent commentary, Nobuyoshi Kiuchi offers in-depth discussion of the theology and symbolism of Leviticus. He argues that its laws present an exceedingly high standard, arising from divine holiness, and the giving of these laws to the Israelites is intended to make them aware of their sinfulness, lead them to hopelessness, and ultimately to destroy their egocentric nature. To be confronted by the laws in Leviticus is to recognize the vast distance that separates the holy from the unclean and sinful, and so to appreciate afresh the grace of God, ultimately expressed in the life and work of Christ.

Holmes examines four exegetical devices employed by all sides in the debate on 1 Tim. 2.9-15, proposing that together they create a 'whirlwind' effect which obscures the text's meaning. She concludes that (1) the immediate context is general, not ecclesial; (2) background often reconstructed from passages elsewhere in the Pastorals is misleading; (3) comparison with 1 Cor. 14.34-35 can similarly mislead; and (4) the conjunction gar ('for') has been allowed unduly to dominate interpretation. The writer of the letter, it is argued, has been misunderstood since very early in the Christian era, his intention having been simply to moderate women's everyday behaviour in ways that parallel the behaviour he requires of men.