This work examines some of the stories in "1 Sam." 16-25 with the particular focus placed on Saul, Doeg, Nabal and the 'son of Jesse'. It seeks to discover new meaning in the structure as well as in the characters' functions in the narratives by studying the stories synchronically and diachronically.This work examines some of the stories in "1 Sam." 16-25 with the particular focus placed on Saul, Doeg, Nabal and the "son of Jesse." It seeks to discover new meaning in the structure as well as in the characters' functions in the narratives by studying the stories synchronically and diachronically.One of the mysterious characters in "1 Samuel" that has puzzled many a scholar is Nabal the Calebite. This study scrutinizes the elements of his characterization in "1 Sam." 25 and considers his abuses of the 'son of Jesse', the contextual role of the geographic setting and political environment during King Saul's reign. Similarly, this volume studies the function of the character of Doeg the Edomite in "1 Sam." 21 and 22 regarding his Edomite origin, his particular business in Nob and his official status in Saul's court.The phrase the 'son of Jesse' is quite important in "1 Samuel" and serves a particular purpose in the thematic development in the second half of the book. Viewed against the background of the Saul/David relationship, it underscores the superiority of the Davidic person in advancing the divine plan for the nation of Israel.The determination of the book's historical context is the key to understanding the multilayered messages. The roles of history and ideology in making these stories are also considered with the proposal that the making of the book(s) of "Samuel" after the Exile (5th c. B.C.) might have been instigated by the writer's desire to create the context needed for further development of the messianic ideas.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.

The interpretation of certain key texts in the Bible by two Dominican Friars: the celebrated preacher and author Timothy Radcliffe and the Director of the Biblical Institute in Jerusalem Lukasz Popko. When the Lord first spoke to Samuel in the Old Testament, he did not understand. So it is in the modern secular world that we too have muffled our ears. How are we, like Samuel, to hear God speaking to us in the words of hope and joy in a way that will make our ears tingle? As the Psalmist says, we have 'ears and hear not'. Some people dismiss such sentiments in the Bible as products of long-dead cultures that have nothing to do with us. As with other religions, which have sacred texts, many hear them as celestial commandments demanding unthinking submission. But God does not address us through a celestial megaphone. Revelation is God's conversation with his people through which they may become the friends of God. The novelty of Biblical revelation consists in the fact that God becomes known to us through the dialogue which he desires to have with us. How can we learn to listen to our God and join Him in the conversation?

Reform-minded movements have long appealed to the Apocalypse, for it served to whet the visionary appetite. Early in the church's history speculation grew up around the text - Revelation 11:3-13 - depicting two witnesses, or prophets, who preach at the end of history against the beast from the abyss, the epitome of evil, called Antichrist. Different interpretive methodologies have discovered different meanings in the text, and a symbolic value for political or ecclesial reform has been identified with it throughout the history of its use. The witnesses have been linked to a time of culminating evil, to the final proclamation of hope, and to the end of history associated with divine judgment. Such speculation found ample expression in medieval literature, art, and drama. In the writings of reformers, however, the story acquired increased social implications. The text of the Apocalypse came to lend visionary strength to Protestant piety, polity, and political activity, and the adventual witnesses became increasingly visible in Protestant polemics. Anglo-American commentators, in particular, have used the text both for self-identity and as part of a formula for plotting the onset of Christ's millennial reign. Tracing the history of how the Apocalypse was read, Preaching in the Last Days sheds light on how social groups are formed through ideas occasioned by texts. Petersen's study provides a fascinating look at the theological significance of how we read biblical texts and offers new insights on the development of culture, the Christian movement, and its churches. The book has added importance for understanding the assumptions behind the ways in which the book of Revelation is read andused in our own day.

Hebrew tradition presents Haggai and Zechariah as prophetic figures arising in the wake of the Babylonian exile with an agenda of restoration for the early Persian period community in Yehud. This agenda, however, was not original to these prophets, but rather drawn from the earlier traditions of Israel. In recent years there has been a flurry of scholarly attention on the relationship between these Persian period prophets and the earlier traditions with a view to the ways in which these prophets draw on earlier tradition in innovative ways. It is time to take stock of these many contributions and provide a venue for dialogue and evaluation.

With the aid of computers, it is becoming possible to clarify some longstanding disputes over Biblical authorship. Using statistical analysis of linguistic usage, Kenny reexamines the authorship of Revelation, the relationship between Luke and the Acts, and the complex problem of the Pauline corpus. He also comments on the general merits of the stylometric approach to textual analysis.

One hundred and fifty years of sustained archaeological investigation has yielded a more complete picture of the ancient Near East. The Old Testament in Archaeology and History combines the most significant of these archaeological findings with those of modern historical and literary analysis of the Bible to recount the history of ancient Israel and its neighboring nations and empires. Eighteen international authorities contribute chapters to this introductory volume. After exploring the history of modern archaeological research in the Near East and the evolution of "biblical archaeology" as a discipline, this textbook follows the Old Testament's general chronological order, covering such key aspects as the exodus from Egypt, Israel's settlement in Canaan, the rise of the monarchy under David and Solomon, the period of the two kingdoms and their encounters with Assyrian power, the kingdoms' ultimate demise, the exile of Judahites to Babylonia, and the Judahites' return to Jerusalem under the Persians along with the advent of "Jewish" identity.Each chapter is tailored for an audience new to the history of ancient Israel in its biblical and ancient Near Eastern setting. The end result is an introduction to ancient Israel combined with and illuminated by more than a century of archaeological research. The volume brings together the strongest results of modern research into the biblical text and narrative with archaeological and historical analysis to create an understanding of ancient Israel as a political and religious entity based on the broadest foundation of evidence. This combination of literary and archaeological data provides new insights into the complex reality experienced by the peoples reflected in the biblical narratives.

What difference would it make for Old Testament theology if we turned our attention from the more dramatic, forceful "mighty acts of God" to the more subdued, but more realistic themes of later writings in the Hebrew Bible? The result, Mark McEntire argues, would be a more mature theology that would enable us to respond more realistically and creatively to the unprecedented challenges of the present age.

Celebrating the five hundredth volume, this Festschrift honors David M. Gunn, one of the founders of the Journal of Old Testament Studies, later the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, and offers essays representing cutting-edge interpretations of the David material in the Hebrew Bible and later literary and popular culture. Essays in Part One, Relating to David, present David in relationship to other characters in Samuel. These essays demonstrate the value of close reading, analysis of literary structure, and creative, disciplined readerly imagination in interpreting biblical texts in general and understanding the character of David in particular. Part Two, Reading David, expands the narrative horizon. These essays analyze the use of the David character in larger biblical narrative contexts. David is understood as a literary icon that communicates and disrupts meaning in different ways in different context. More complex modes of interpretation enter in, including theories of metaphor, memory and history, psychoanalysis, and post-colonialism. Part Three, Singing David, shifts the focus to the portrayal of David as singer and psalmist, interweaving in mutually informative ways both with visual evidence from the ancient Near East depicting court musicians and with the titles and language of the biblical psalms. Part Four, Receiving David, highlights moments in the long history of interpretation of the king in popular culture, including poetry, visual art, theatre, and children's literature. Finally, the essays in Part Five, Re-locating David, represent some of the intellectually and ethically vital interpretative work going on in contexts outside the U.S. and Europe.

In this book Helen Paynter offers a radical re-evalution of the central section of Kings. Reading with attention to the literary devices of carnivalization and mirroring, she demonstrates that it contains a florid satire on kings, prophets and nations. Building on the work of humorists, literary critics and biblical scholars, the author constructs diagnostic criteria for carnivalization (seriocomedy), and identifies an abundance of these features within the Elijah/Elisha and Aram narratives, showing how literary mirroring further enhances their satirical effect. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars concerned with the Hebrew Bible as literature but will be valued by those who favour more historical approaches for its insights into the Hebrew text.

Biblical Reception is rapidly becoming the go-to annual publication for all matters related to the reception of the bible. The annual addresses all kinds of use of the bible in art, music, literature, film and popular culture, as well as in the history of interpretation. For this fourth edition of the annual, guest editor David Tollerton has commissioned pieces specifically on the use of the bible in one film: Exodus: Gods and Kings and these chapters consider how the film uses the bible, and how the bible functions within the film.

In Portraits of a Mature God, Mark McEntire traced the narrative development of the divine character in the Old Testament, placing the God portrayed at the end of that long story at the center of theological discussion. He showed that Israel's understanding of God had developed into a complex, multipurpose being who could work within a new reality, a world that included a semiautonomous province of Yehud and a burgeoning Mesopotamian-Mediterranean world in which the Jewish people lived and moved in a growing diversity of ways. Now, McEntire continues that story beyond the narrative end of the Hebrew Bible as Israel and Israel's God moved into the Hellenistic world. The "narrative" McEntire perceives in the apocryphal literature describes a God protecting and guiding the scattered and persecuted, a God responding to suffering in revolt, and a God disclosing mysteries, yet also hidden in the symbolism of dreams and visions. McEntire here provides a coherent and compelling account of theological perspectives in the apocryphal writings and beyond.

For almost 3000 years the story of Jonah has intrigued, amused,inspired, encouraged, a,d challenged people of faith. This timeless story about one imperfect, complex man and his difficult relationship with God continues to engage contemporary audiences. Jonah enjoys a unique place in salvation history. His life reprises the actions of key Old Testament figures and also points forward to the New Testament and the coming Messiah. Jonah's story is a beautiful, complex, artfully crafted, work of minimalist literature which speaks a profound and resounding message of grace that still captures the human heart. This book is designed to facilitate a 40 day, shared journey through the book of Jonah. The radical revelation of the book of Jonah is that God's grace is wild. It refuses all human attempts to tame, domesticate, or restrain it. This grace continually bursts forth, in the most unexpected of places,and reaches out to the most unlikely of people.

Most studies of the history of interpretation of Song of Songs focus on its interpretation from late antiquity to modernity. In My Perfect One, Jonathan Kaplan examines earlier rabbinic interpretation of this work by investigating an underappreciated collection of works of rabbinic literature from the first few centuries of the Common Era, known as the tannaitic midrashim. In a departure from earlier scholarship that too quickly classified rabbinic interpretation of Song of Songs as allegorical, Kaplan advocates a more nuanced understanding of the approach of the early sages, who read Song of Songs employing typological interpretation in order to correlate Scripture with exemplary events in Israel's history. Throughout the book Kaplan explores ways in which this portrayal helped shape a model vision of rabbinic piety as well as an idealized portrayal of their beloved, God, in the wake of the destruction, dislocation, and loss the Jewish community experienced in the first two centuries of the Common Era. The archetypal language of Song of Songs provided, as Kaplan argues, a textual landscape in which to imagine an idyllic construction of Israel's relationship to her beloved, marked by mutual devotion and fidelity. Through this approach to Song of Songs, the Tannaim helped lay the foundations for later Jewish thought of a robust theology of intimacy in God's relationship with the Jewish people.

Many scholars have approached both the origins of ancient city laments in some of the oldest Sumerian texts and how this "genre" found its way into the Tanakh/Old Testament. Randall Heskett goes a step further. He uses both historical criticism and a form-critical approach to analyze and assess "Lamentation and Restoration of Destroyed Cities" as oral traditions of ancient Israelite prophetic genres. He also shows how a later exilic/post-exilic redactional framework may have semantically transformed older prophetic genres about destruction and restoration to be reflexes of the events around 587 BCE.

How should we understand biblical texts where God is depicted as acting irrationally, violently, or destructively? If we distance ourselves from disturbing portrayals of God, how should we understand the authority of Scripture? How does the often wrathful God portrayed in the Old Testament relate to the God of love proclaimed in the New Testament? Is that contrast even accurate? Disturbing Divine Behavior addresses these perennially vexing questions for the student of the Bible. Eric A. Seibert calls for an engaged and discerning reading of the Old Testament that distinguishes the particular literary and theological goals achieved through narrative characterizations of God from the rich understanding of the divine to which the Old Testament as a whole points. Providing illuminating reflections on theological reading as well, this book will be a welcome resource for any readers who puzzle over disturbing representations of God in the Bible.

Since James Barr's work in the 1960s, the challenge for Hebrew scholars has been to continue to apply the insights of linguistic semantics to the study of biblical Hebrew. This book begins by describing a range of approaches to semantic and grammatical analysis, including structural semantics, cognitive linguistics and cognitive metaphors, frame semantics, and William Croft's Radical Construction Grammar. It then seeks to integrate these, formulating a dynamic approach to lexical semantic analysis based on conceptual frames, using corpus annotation. The model is applied to biblical Hebrew in a detailed study of a family of words related to "exploring," "searching," and "seeking." The results demonstrate the value and potential of cognitive, frame-based approaches to biblical Hebrew lexicology.

To whom is Moses speaking in Deuteronomy? This question is controversial in OT scholarship. Some passages in Deuteronomy indicate that Moses is addressing the first exodus generation that witnessed Horeb (Deut 5:3-4), while other passages point to the second exodus generation that survived the wilderness (Deut 1:35; 2:14-16). Redaction critics such as Thomas Roemer and John Van Seters view the chronological problems in Deuteronomy as evidence of multiple tradition layers. Although other scholars have suggested that Deuteronomy's conflation of chronology is a rhetorical move to unify Israel's generations, no analysis has thus far explored in detail how the blending of "you" and the "fathers" functions as a rhetorical device. However, a rhetorical approach to the "fathers" is especially appropriate in light of three features of Deuteronomy. First, a rhetorical approach recognizes that the repetitiveness of the Deuteronomic style is a homiletical strategy designed to inculcate the audience with memory. The book is shot through with exhortations for Israel to remember the past. Second, a rhetorical approach recognizes that collective memory entails the transformation of the past through actualization for the present. Third, a rhetorical approach to Deuteronomy accords well with the book's self-presentation as "the words that Moses spoke" (1:1). The book of Deuteronomy assumes a canonical posture by embedding the means of its own oral and written propagation, thereby ensuring that the voice of Moses speaking in the book of Deuteronomy resounds in Israel's ears as a perpetually authoritative speech-act. The Rhetoric of Remembrance demonstrates that Deuteronomy depicts the corporate solidarity of Israel in the land promised to the "fathers" (part 1), under the sovereignty of the same "God of the fathers" across the nation's history (part 2), as governed by a timeless covenant of the "fathers" between YHWH and his people (part 3). In the narrative world of Deuteronomy, the "fathers" begin as the patriarchs, while frequently scrolling forward in time to include every generation that has received YHWH's promises but nonetheless continues to await their fulfillment. Hwang's study is an insightful, innovative approach that addresses crucial aspects of the Deuteronomic style with a view to the theological effect of that style. Jerry Hwang (Ph.D., Wheaton College) serves as Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Singapore Bible College.

The Peshitta is the Syriac translation of the Old Testament made on the basis of the Hebrew text during the second century CE. Much like the Greek translations of the Old Testament, this document is an important source for our knowledge of the text of the Old Testament. Its language is also of great interest to linguists. Moreover, as Bible of the Syriac Churches it is used in sermons, commentaries, poetry, prayers, and hymns. Many terms specific to the spirituality of the Syriac Churches have their origins in this ancient and reliable version of the Old Testament. The present edition, published by the Peshitta Institute in Leiden on behalf of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, is the first scholarly one of this text. It presents the evidence of all known ancient manuscripts and gives full introductions to the individual books. This volume contains Canticles or Odes, Prayer of Manasseh, Apocryphal psalms, Psalms of Solomon, Tobit, and I(3) Esdras.