In The Present State of Old Testament Studies in the Low Countries fifteen leading scholars from Belgium and the Netherlands give an overview of their work. This collection celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap brings together the results of high quality research on many fields, from computer-assisted analysis to biblical theology, from the archaeology of Palestine to early rabbinic exegesis, from logotechnical analysis to delimitation criticism. It shows that Old Testament research in Belgium and the Netherlands is multifaceted and innovative.

Rest in Mesopotamian and Israelite Literature studies the concept of rest in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern literature. Through close examination of Mesopotamian texts and selections from the Deuteronomistic History and Chronicles, Kim delineates a concept of rest for each body of literature, and employs a comparative approach to illuminate the rest motif in the Hebrew Bible in light of Mesopotamian literature.

Nahum's prophecy of Nineveh's coming destruction. Habakkuk's probing dialogue with the Lord of Israel. Zephaniah's warning to Jerusalem's last great king. The texts of these minor but important prophets receive a fresh analysis in this introduction and commentary. Fanie Snyman considers each book's historical setting, structure and literary features as well as important theological themes.

Recent advances in cognitive linguistics provide new avenues for reading and interpreting Biblical Hebrew prophetic text. This volume utilises a multi-layered cognitive linguistics approach to explore Jeremiah 1:1-6:30, incorporating insights from cognitive grammar, cognitive science and conceptual blending theory. While the modern reader is separated from the originators of these texts by time, space and culture, this analysis rests on the theory that both the originators and the modern reader share common features of embodied experience. This opens the way for utilising cognitive models, conceptual metaphor and mental spaces theory when reading and interpreting ancient texts. This volume provides an introduction to cognitive theory and method. Initially, short examples from Jeremiah 1:1-6:30 are used to introduce the theory and method. This is followed by a detailed comparison of traditional and cognitive approaches to Biblical Hebrew grammar. These insights are then applied to further examples taken from Jeremiah 1:1-6:30 in order to test and refine the approach. These findings show that Jeremiah 1:1-1:3 establishes perspective for the text as a whole and that subsequent shifts in perspective may be tracked using aspects of mental spaces theory. Much of the textual content yields to concepts derived from conceptual metaphor studies and from conceptual blending theory, which are introduced and explained using examples taken from Jeremiah 1:1-6:30. The entire analysis demonstrates some of the strengths and weaknesses of using recent cognitive theories and methods for analysing and interpreting ancient texts. While such theories and methods do not obviate the need for traditional interpretive methods, they do provide a more nuanced understanding of the ancient text.

The Texts @ Contexts series gathers scholarly voices from diverse contexts and social locations to bring new or unfamiliar facets of biblical texts to light. Joshua and Judges focuses attention on themes and tensions at the beginning of Israel's story in the Bible. How do these books represent conquest, war, trauma, violence against women and their marginalization? How does God appear to relate to these realities? And what do contemporary men and women do with biblical ambivalence? Like other volumes in the Texts @ Contexts series, these essays de-center the often homogeneous first-world orientation of much biblical scholarship and open up new possibilities for discovery.

This is a crucial study for those asking God 'Why?' Job's persistence in seeking an answer from God as to why he was suffering has many lessons to teach us. These 12 studies will help anyone who is wrestling with God. This revised title features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, as well as a 'now or later' section in each study.

This study examines the physical form and cultic function of the biblical cherubim. Previous studies of the cherubim have placed too great an emphasis on archaeological and etymological data. This monograph presents a new synthetic study, which prioritises the evidence supplied by the biblical texts. Biblical exegesis, using literary and historical-critical methods, forms the large part of the investigation (Part I). The findings arising from the exegetical discussion provide the basis upon which comparison with etymological and archaeological data is made (Parts II and III). The results suggest that traditions envisaging the cherubim as tutelary winged quadrupeds, with one head and one set of wings, were supplanted by traditions that conceived of them as more enigmatic, obeisant beings. In the portrayal of the cherubim in Ezekiel and Chronicles, we can detect signs of a conceptual shift that prefigures the description of the cherubim in post-biblical texts, such as The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Enochic texts.

From support for racial discrimination to justification for struggle against the status quo, the biblical text and its key figures have played a prominent role in the development of religious discourse on pressing socio-political issues. Slavery and continued discrimination were given theological sanction through the Old Testament story of Ham, but what of his descendent Nimrod the hunter?" African American Religious Life and the Story of Nimrod" interrogates the nature and meaning of the biblical figure Nimrod's legacy for the children of Africa, shedding light on an intriguing question: For people of African descent is Nimrod famous, or infamous?

The Texts @ Contexts series gathers scholarly voices from diverse contexts and social locations to bring new or unfamiliar facets of biblical texts to light. Leviticus and Numbers focuses attention on practices and ideals of behavior in community, from mourning and diet to marriages licit and transgressive, examining all of these from a variety of global perspectives and postcolonial and feminist methods. How do we deal with the apparent cultural distances between ourselves and these ancient writings; what can we learn from their visions of human dwelling on the earth? Like other volumes in the Texts @ Contexts series, these essays de-center the often homogeneous first-world orientation of much biblical scholarship and open up new possibilities for discovery.

James Limburg introduces the first six of the minor prophets and provides a commentary that relates to today's world. He demonstrates why attention should be given to the words of these prophets as they communicate the word of God.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

This concise volume introduces readers to the three main sections of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and to the biblical books found in each. It is organized around two primary "stories": the story that scholars tell about the Old Testament and the story the literature itself tells. Concluding with a reconsideration of the Old Testament as more like poetry than a story, three main chapters cover: The Pentateuch (Torah) The Prophets (Nevi'im) The Writings (Ketuvim) With key summaries of what the parts of the Old Testament "are all about," and including suggestions for further reading, this volume is an ideal introduction for students of and newcomers to the Old Testament.

As the first man and woman leave the Garden I am with them. I feel their longing to return, their guilt and shame, and their fears about the future. I feel their anxiety about their Creator: Is He still with them? Does He still love them? I feel their rising panic as they realize that this no-longer-so-cozy world might make life impossible for them.

As Abraham walks silently up the mountain to sacrifice his son I ask the questions he asks. Should I obey the dictates of my God, or is there a higher good involving the sanctity of human life? Can I be Abraham if I refuse to listen to the God I revere? Can I be Abraham if my beloved God demands human blood for His adoration?

As Jacob wrestles throughout the long dark night I am with him. Like Jacob, I sweat as he faces his betrayal of father and brother; as he witnesses, full-face, his character, naked and base. Then, the next morning, I weep as he and his brother weep.

Join me on this pilgrimage into the wisdom that is Genesis. For this journey, it is Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even God who serve as guides. It is my fervent hope that by journey's end we will find ourselves.

* Builds on a successful and respected series * Well-known and respected name in theological circles * 'For everyone' approach: scholarly author with a highly readable style * Ideal for individual or group study

Western biblical studies have tended to follow either faith-based theological approaches or value-free historical-critical methods. This monograph challenges the two extremes by pursuing the middle path of philosophical hermeneutics. While drawing on Eastern and Western philosophical writings from ancient to modern times, the author proposes original interpretive solutions to a wide range of important biblical texts, including the Akedah, Second Isaiah, the Decalogue, Qohelet, Job, and Jeremiah. Yet, this is not a collection of antiquarian studies. Readers will also gain fresh and stimulating perspectives concerning monotheism, religious faith and identity, suffering and salvation, and modern and postmodern ethics. Finally, in a supplementary essay, the author introduces readers to the history of Old Testament studies in Japan, and he outlines prospects for the future.

Arguably the biggest blockbuster love song ever composed, the Song of Songs holds a unique place in Jewish and Christian canons as the "holiest" book, in the minds of some readers, and the sexiest in its language and imagery. This commentary aims to interpret this vibrant Song in a contemporary feminist key, informed by close linguistic-literary and social-cultural analysis. Though finding much in the Song to celebrate for women (and men) in their embodied, passionate lives, this work also exposes tensions, vulnerabilities, and inequities between the sexes and among society at large-just what we would expect of a perceptive, poignant love ballad that still tops the charts. From the Wisdom Commentary series Feminist biblical interpretation has reached a level of maturity that now makes possible a commentary series on every book of the Bible. It is our hope that Wisdom Commentary, by making the best of current feminist biblical scholarship available in an accessible format to ministers, preachers, teachers, scholars, and students, will aid all readers in their advancement toward God's vision of dignity, equality, and justice for all. The aim of this commentary is to provide feminist interpretation of Scripture in serious, scholarly engagement with the whole text, not only those texts that explicitly mention women. A central concern is the world in front of the text, that is, how the text is heard and appropriated by women. At the same time, this commentary aims to be faithful to the ancient text, to explicate the world behind the text, where appropriate, and not impose contemporary questions onto the ancient texts. The commentary addresses not only issues of gender (which are primary in this project) but also those of power, authority, ethnicity, racism, and classism, which all intersect. Each volume incorporates diverse voices and differing interpretations from different parts of the world, showing the importance of social location in the process of interpretation and that there is no single definitive feminist interpretation of a text.

In Lamentations, we read of the unbearable grief experienced by a group of believers. Leslie Allen suggests the book can be read as the script of a liturgy performed to help the people of God come to terms with the fall of Jerusalem and the national catastrophe it entailed. It reveals God's sometimes hidden support for those who grieve and for their caregivers.
In this unique commentary on Lamentations, respected Old Testament scholar and volunteer hospital chaplain Leslie Allen appropriates this oft-neglected book of the Bible to deal with a universal issue. Incorporating stories of pastoral encounters with hospital patients, Allen integrates Scripture and pastoral care to present a biblical model for helping those coping with grief. The book includes a foreword by Nicholas Wolterstorff, author of "Lament for a Son."

What happened to Adam and Eve after their expulsion from paradise?
Where the biblical narrative fell silent apocryphal writings took up this intriguing question, notably including the Early Christian Latin text, the Life of Adam and Eve. This account describes the (failed) attempt of the couple to return to paradise by fasting whilst immersed in a river, and explores how they coped with new experiences such as childbirth and death.
Brian Murdoch guides the reader through the many variant versions of the Life, demonstrating how it was also adapted into most western and some eastern European languages in the Middle Ages and beyond, constantly developing and changing along the way. The study considers this development of the apocryphal texts whilst presenting a fascinating insight into the flourishing medieval tradition of Adam and Eve. A tradition that the Reformation would largely curtail, stories from the Life were celebrated in European prose, verse and drama in many different languages from Irish to Russian.

In Job the Unfinalizable, Seong Whan Timothy Hyun reads Job 1-11 through the lens of Bakhtin's dialogism and chronotope to hear each different voice as a unique and equally weighted voice. The distinctive voices in the prologue and dialogue, Hyun argues, depict Job as the unfinalizable by working together rather than quarrelling each other. As pieces of a puzzle come together to make the whole picture, all voices in Job 1-11 though each with its own unique ideology come together to complete the picture of Job. This picture of Job offers readers a different way to read the book of Job: to find better questions rather than answers.

Jewish Theology Unbound challenges the widespread misinterpretation of Judaism as a religion of law as opposed to theology. James A. Diamond provides close readings of the Bible, classical rabbinic texts, Jewish philosophers, and mystics from the ancient, medieval, and modern period, which communicate a profound Jewish philosophical theology on human nature, God, and the relationship between the two. The study begins with an examination of questioning in the Hebrew Bible, demonstrating that what the Bible encourages is independent philosophical inquiry into how to situate oneself in the world ethically, spiritually, and teleologically. It explores such themes as the nature of God through the various names by which God is known in the Jewish intellectual tradition, love of others and of God, death, martyrdom, freedom, angels, the philosophical quest, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel, all in light of the Hebrew Bible and the way it is filtered through the rabbinic, philosophical, and mystical traditions.