Yitzhak Berger advances a distinctive and markedly original interpretation of the biblical book of Jonah that resolves many of the ambiguities in the text. Berger contends that the Jonah text pulls from many inner-biblical connections, especially ones relating to the Garden of Eden. These connections provide a foundation for Berger's reading of the story, which attributes multiple layers of meaning to this carefully crafted biblical book. Focusing on Jonah's futile quest and his profoundly troubled response to God's view of the sins of humanity, Berger shows how the book paints Jonah as a pacifist no less than as a moralist.

The Genesis story of Cain's murder of Abel is often told as a simplistic contrast between the innocence of Abel and the evil of Cain. This book subverts that reading of the Biblical text by utilising Giorgio Agamben's concepts of homo sacer, the state of exception and the idea of sovereignty to re-examine this well-known tale of fratricide and bring to the fore its political implications. Drawing from political theory, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, this book creates a theoretical framework from which to do two things: firstly, to describe and analyse the history of interpretation of Genesis 4:1-16, and secondly to propose an alternative reading of the Biblical text that incorporates other texts inside and outside of the Biblical canon. This intertextual analysis will highlight the motives of violence, law, divine rule, and the rejected as they emerge in different contexts and will evaluate them in an Agambenian framework. The unique approach of this book makes it vital reading for any academic with interests in Biblical Studies and Theology and their interactions with politics and ethics.

Throughout the Hebrew Bible, strangers are indispensable to the formation of a collective Israelite identity. Encounters between the Israelites and their neighbors are among the most urgent matters explored in biblical narratives, yet relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to them. This book corrects that imbalance by carrying out close readings of the accounts of Israel's myriad interactions with the surrounding nations. The book follows the people of Israel after they leave Egypt, as they wander in the wilderness, cross over into the land, become a unified people Israel and face explusion from that land. The introduction lays the groundwork for a literary reading. Each chapter that follows highlights a distinct people and the issues that they create. For example, Jethro, father-in-law of Moses and a Midian priest, provides a model of collaboration, while Samson's behavior triggers a cycle of violent retribution. These engaging stories illustrate the perceived dangers of idolatry and military oppression, but also convey lessons in governance, cultural innovation and the building of alliances. This book is vital reading for Biblical scholars and interested readers who want to deepen their understanding of the Israelites' relationship with neighboring peoples. It will also be of keen interest to academics who work in ancient history and culture.

Notions of women as found in the Bible have had an incalculable impact on western cultures, influencing perspectives on marriage, kinship, legal practice, political status, and general attitudes. Women and Exilic Identity in the Hebrew Bible is drawn from three separate strands to address and analyse this phenomenon. The first examines how women were conceptualized and represented during the exilic period. The second focuses on methodological possibilities and drawbacks connected to investigating women and exile. The third reviews current prominent literature on the topic, with responses from authors. With chapters from a range of contributors, topics move from an analysis of Ruth as a woman returning to her homeland, and issues concerning the foreign presence who brings foreign family members into the midst of a community, and how this is dealt with, through the intermarriage crisis portrayed in Ezra 9-10, to an analysis of Judean constructions of gender in the exilic and early post-exilic periods. The contributions show an exciting range of the best scholarship on women and foreign identities, with important consequences for how the foreign/known is perceived, and what that has meant for women through the centuries.

This collection of essays by biblical scholars is the first book-length treatment of the 2014 film Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film has proved to be of great interest to scholars working on the interface between the Bible and popular culture, not only because it was heralded as the first of a new generation of biblical blockbusters, but also because of its bold, provocative, and yet unusually nuanced approach to the interpretation and use of the Noah tradition, in both its biblical and extra-biblical forms. The book's chapters, written by both well-established and up-and-coming scholars, engage with and analyze a broad range of issues raised by the film, including: its employment and interpretation of the ancient Noah traditions; its engagement with contemporary environmental themes and representation of non-human animals; its place within the history of cinematic depictions of the flood, status as an 'epic', and associated relationship to spectacle; the theological implications of its representation of a hidden and silent Creator and responses to perceived revelation; the controversies surrounding its reception among religious audiences, especially in the Muslim world; and the nature and implications of its convoluted racial and gender politics. Noah as Antihero will be of considerable interest to scholars conducting research in the areas of religion and film, contemporary hermeneutics, reception history, religion and popular culture, feminist criticism, and ecological ethics.

This volume explores the afterlives of Eve and Adam beyond the Genesis story. How did they become such a prominent part of mainstream Christian thought and theology-and Jewish and Muslim tradition as well-, and what forms did their story take as it was told and retold? To investigate the traces of Eve and Adam through the centuries is to discover a surprising variety of interpretations. The chapters of this book come from eleven European scholars. Bob Becking writes on how the identity of the primaeval couple is constructed in Genesis, Geert van Oyen on Eve as a character in the New Testament, Willemien Otten on Adam and Eve in Augustine, Harm Goris on them in Aquinas, Theo Bell on them in Luther. Willem van Asselt examines the Pre-Adamites in the theology of Isaac La Peyrere, Heleen Zorgdrager considers Adam and Eve in the theology of Schleiermacher, Susanne Hennecke focuses on Karl Barth and Luce Irigaray looking at Michelangelo's The Creation, Anne-Marie Korte on the Genesis story in a feminist theological perspective, Eric Ottenheijm on Eve and 'women's commandments' in orthodox Judaism, and Karel Steenbrink on Muslim interpretations of their story.

The 2000-year story of Babylon sees it moving from a city-state to the centre of a great empire of the ancient world. It remained a centre of kingship under the empires of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids and the Parthians. Its city walls were declared to be a Wonder of the World while its ziggurat won fame as the Tower of Babel. Visitors to Berlin can admire its Ishtar Gate, and the supposed location of its elusive Hanging Garden is explained. Worship of its patron god Marduk spread widely while its well-trained scholars communicated legal, administrative and literary works throughout the ancient world, some of which provide a backdrop to Old Testament and Hittite texts. Its science also laid the foundations for Greek and Arab astronomy through a millennium of continuous astronomical observations. This accessible and up-to-date account is by one of the world's leading authorities.

The history of David's Jerusalem remains one of the most contentious topics of the ancient world. This study engages with debates about the nature of this location by examining the most recent archaeological data from the site and by exploring the relationship of these remains to claims made about David's royal center in biblical narrative. Daniel Pioske provides a detailed reconstruction of the landscape and lifeways of early 10th century BCE Jerusalem, connected in biblical tradition to the figure of David. He further explores how late Iron Age (the Book of Samuel-Kings) and late Persian/early Hellenistic (the Book of Chronicles) Hebrew literary cultures remembered David's Jerusalem within their texts, and how the remains and ruins of this site influenced the memories of those later inhabitants who depicted David's Jerusalem within the biblical narrative. By drawing on both archaeological data and biblical writings, Pioske calls attention to the breaks and ruptures between a remembered past and a historical one, and invites the reader to understand David's Jerusalem as more than a physical location, but also as a place of memory.

This is a detailed investigation into the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction in Daniel 4 and the degree to which he is depicted as actually becoming an animal. PeterAtkins examines two predominant lines of interpretation: either Nebuchadnezzar undergoes a physical metamorphosis of some kind into an animal form; or diverse other readings that specifically preclude or deny an animal transformation of the king. By providing an extensive study of these interpretative opinions, alongside innovative assessments of ancient Mesopotamian divine-human-animal boundaries, Atkins ultimately demonstrates how neither of these traditional interpretations best reflect the narrative events. While there have been numerous metamorphic interpretations of Daniel 4, these are largely reliant upon later developments within the textual tradition and are not present in the earliest edition of Nebuchadnezzar's animalising affliction. Atkins' study displays that when Daniel 4 is read in the context of Mesopotamian texts, which appear to conceive of the human-animal boundary as being indicated primarily in relation to possession or lack of the divine characteristic of wisdom, the affliction represents a far more significant categorical change from human to animal than has hitherto been identified.

I will commit myself to you forever ...in steadfast love and tender compassion. (Hosea 2:19)The prophet Hosea used the heart-rending story of his marriage to an unfaithful wife as a moving object lesson of the pain which God felt when his people Israel rejected his love. Rather than worshipping the true God, who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt, the nation had reverted to worshipping idols to such an extent that God was compelled to use the words of the divorce formula and say to them "you are not my people."Yet remarkably, when Hosea's wife left him for another man, God's command to the prophet was for him love his wife again, and take her back to his home-that by doing so he might illustrate the grace and unending love of God toward his erring people-the relationship was to be restored! In the midst of serious warnings for the unrepentant, the book of Hosea offers hope that no matter how far a relationship may have broken down, there are none which cannot be restored. In particular, our relationship with God can be renewed by his forgiveness and grace.

The topic of this book is to scholars what Uranus was to Scientists before 1781. The ignorance of astrologers about the existence of Uranus before 1781 does not negate the factuality of its being. This is similar in the case of the Servant of God in John. His predicates are there, although the title is missing. Scholars and epochs have witnessed researches and contributions in the Gospel of John. Many see aspects of the Servant of God in John. But just as Uranus could not be seen but its existence was proven because of its effects on the orbits of the other planets, so the Servant of God of the Fourth Gospel could not be seen as a title but its effects on the other christological titles of the gospel indicate its reality in the gospel. The author's approach is purely exegetico-theological.

Exploring Kierkegaard's complex use of the Bible, the essays in this volume use source-critical research and tools ranging from literary criticism to theology and biblical studies, to situate Kierkegaard's appropriation of the biblical material in his cultural and intellectual context. The contributors seek to identify the possible sources that may have influenced Kierkegaard's understanding and employment of Scripture, and to describe the debates about the Bible that may have shaped, perhaps indirectly, his attitudes toward Scripture. They also pay close attention to Kierkegaard's actual hermeneutic practice, analyzing the implicit interpretive moves that he makes as well as his more explicit statements about the significance of various biblical passages. This close reading of Kierkegaard's texts elucidates the unique and sometimes odd features of his frequent appeals to Scripture. This volume in the series devotes one tome to the Old Testament and a second tome to the New Testament. Tome I considers the canonically disputed literature of the Apocrypha. Although Kierkegaard certainly cited the Old Testament much less frequently than he did the New, passages and themes from the Old Testament do occupy a position of startling importance in his writings. Old Testament characters such as Abraham and Job often play crucial and even decisive roles in his texts. Snatches of Old Testament wisdom figure prominently in his edifying literature. The vocabulary and cadences of the Psalms saturate his expression of the range of human passions from joy to despair. The essays in this first tome seek to elucidate the crucial rhetorical uses to which he put key passages from the Old Testament, the sources that influenced him to do this, and his reasons for doing so.

Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible for the first time compares the ancient law collections of the Ancient Near East, the Greeks and the Pentateuch to determine the legal antecedents for the biblical laws. Following on from his 2006 work, Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus, Gmirkin takes up his theory that the Pentateuch was written around 270 BCE using Greek sources found at the Great Library of Alexandria, and applies this to an examination of the biblical law codes. A striking number of legal parallels are found between the Pentateuch and Athenian laws, and specifically with those found in Plato's Laws of ca. 350 BCE. Constitutional features in biblical law, Athenian law, and Plato's Laws also contain close correspondences. Several genres of biblical law, including the Decalogue, are shown to have striking parallels with Greek legal collections, and the synthesis of narrative and legal content is shown to be compatible with Greek literature. All this evidence points to direct influence from Greek writings, especially Plato's Laws, on the biblical legal tradition. Finally, it is argued that the creation of the Hebrew Bible took place according to the program found in Plato's Laws for creating a legally authorized national ethical literature, reinforcing the importance of this specific Greek text to the authors of the Torah and Hebrew Bible in the early Hellenistic Era. This study offers a fascinating analysis of the background to the Pentateuch, and will be of interest not only to biblical scholars, but also to students of Plato, ancient law, and Hellenistic literary traditions.

The place of the Law and its relationship to religious observance and faith is a contested topic in the study of both the Old and New Testament. In Law and Religion, members of the Erhardt Seminar group provide an insight into the debate, probing key topics and offering new contributions to the subject. Their essays are grouped into three sections, focussing in turn on the Law's place in Israelite religion, in the Jesus tradition, and in Paul and the Apostolic tradition. Thus, the foundation of the connection between law and religion in ancient Israel is explored, along with the decisive influence of the Deuteronomic reform and the radical new understanding now emerging of the later development in Judaism of the New Testament Period. So, also, the contemporary challenge to the conventional picture of Jesus and the Law is addressed, the attitude of Paul is shown in new light, and post-Pauline developments are examined. Readers will find in this symposium a refreshing breadth of opinion on a debate that spans the gamut of disciplines within Biblical studies.

Plundering the Egyptians focuses on the study of the Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary from 1929 to 1998. More specifically, it presents the lives and academic labors of Robert Dick Wilson (1929-1930), Edward Joseph Young (1936-1968), Raymond Bryan Dillard (1969-1993), and Tremper Longman III (1981-1998). These featured scholars were highly influential in changing the shape of Old Testament studies at Westminster through the introduction of novel scholarly tools and ideas that reveal methodological and theological development. Their individual historical contexts, scholarly contributions, and interactions with historical-critical scholarship are presented and analyzed. Modifications in their respective methodologies are highlighted and often indicate significant shifts within the Old Princeton-Westminster trajectory from an anti-critical stance toward a position of openness toward historical-critical methodology and its conclusions. The implications of these shifts within Westminster are important because they mirror the current changes and challenges in evangelicalism today.

For hundreds of years, scholars have debated the meaning of Jesus' central theological term, the 'kingdom of God'. Most of the argument has focused on its assumed eschatological connotations and Jesus' adherence or deviation from these ideas. Within the North American context, the debate is dominated by the work of Norman Perrin, whose classification of the kingdom of God as a myth-evoking symbol remains one of the fundamental assumptions of scholarship. According to Perrin, Jesus' understanding of the kingdom of God is founded upon the myth of God acting as king on behalf of Israel as described in the Hebrew Bible. Moving Beyond Symbol and Myth challenges Perrin's classification, and advocates the reclassification of the kingdom of God as metaphor. Drawing upon insights from the cognitive theory of metaphor, this study examines all the occurrences of the 'God is king' metaphor within the literary context of the Hebrew Bible. Based on this review, it is proposed that the 'God is king' metaphor functions as a true metaphor with a range of expressions and meanings. It is employed within a variety of texts and conveys images of God as the covenantal sovereign of Israel; God as the eternal suzerain of the world, and God as the king of the disadvantaged. The interaction of the semantic fields of divinity and human kingship evoke a range of metaphoric expressions that are utilized throughout the history of the Hebrew Bible in response to differing socio-historical contexts and within a range of rhetorical strategies. It is this diversity inherent in the 'God is king' metaphor that is the foundation for the diversified expressions of the kingdom of God associated with the historical Jesus and early Christianity.

The few popular Bible stories about women are often presented in black and white the women were good or bad, Ruth or Jezebel. But most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Good Girls, Bad Girls invites readers to take a more nuanced look at 12 women in the Old Testament, to explore their lives more deeply in historical context, and to grasp what these stories might mean to women today. T. J. Wray, a biblical scholar, asks readers to consider whether Jezebel was really as bad as generally believed, and includes women ranging from the infamous Delilah to the mysterious Witch of Endor. Impeccably researched and beautifully written, Good Girls, Bad Girls will appeal to both individual readers and groups interested in learning what the Bible really has to say about these twelve important women.

Inspired by the author's preparation of two major commentaries on Isaiah, these essays range from comprehensive to specific, and from popular to scholarly. They first appeared in biblical dictionaries, scholarly journals, and popular periodicals. Gathered here together for the first time, they display in various ways how the authors sees the various parts of Isaiah functioning together to give a coherent message to the church. The opening chapters lay out Oswalt's understanding of the overall message of the book of Isaiah. Subsequesnt chapters consider such themse as holiness and righteousness as they function in that larger structure.

Jeffrey Stackert addresses two of the oldest and most persistent problems in biblical studies: the relationship between prophecy and law in the Hebrew Bible and the utility of the Documentary Hypothesis for understanding Israelite religion. These topics have in many ways dominated pentateuchal studies and the investigation of Israelite religion since the nineteenth century, culminating in Julius Wellhausens influential Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel. Setting his inquiry against this backdrop while drawing on and extending recent developments in pentateuchal theory, Stackert tackles the subject through an investigation of the different presentations of Mosaic prophecy in the four Torah sources. His book shows that these texts contain a rich and longstanding debate over prophecy, its relation to law, and its place in Israelite religion. With this argument, A Prophet Like Moses demonstrates a new role for the Documentary Hypothesis in discussions of Israelite religion. It also provides an opportunity for critical reflection on the history of the field of biblical studies. Stackert concludes with an argument for the importance of situating biblical studies and the study of ancient Israelite religion within the larger field of religious studies rather than treating them solely or even primarily as theological disciplines.

There has been an explosion of interest in wisdom literature, and many studies are now available. There is every opportunity for people to 'get wisdom, get insight' (Prov. 4:5). However, in today's world it seems that the practical sensibilities that come from wisdom are found in very few places. Wisdom literature is needed now more than ever. By walking in the way of wisdom we will 'find favour and good success in the sight of God and man' (Prov. 3:4). Richard Belcher's valuable study begins with a survey of the problem of wisdom literature in Old Testament theology. Subsequent chapters focus on the message and theology of the books of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. These books point forward to the need for Christ and the gospel. Belcher concludes by exploring the relationship of Christ to wisdom in terms of his person, work and teaching ministry.

Kamrada's study analyses three narratives concerning the greatest heroic figures of the biblical tradition: Jephthah's daughter, Samson and Saul, and includes a consideration of texts about King David. All three characters are portrayed as the greatest and most typical and exemplary heroes of the heroic era. All three heroes have an exceptionally close relationship with the deity all die a traditionally heroic, tragic death. Kamrada argues that within the Book of Judges and the biblical heroic tradition, Jephthah's daughter and Samson represent the pinnacle of female and male heroism respectively, and that they achieve super-human status by offering their lives to the deity, thus entering the sphere of holiness. Saul's trajectory, by contrast, exemplifies downfall of a great hero in his final, irreversible separation from God, and it also signals the decline of the heroic era. David, however, is shown as an astute hero who founds a lasting dynasty, thus conclusively bringing the heroic era in the Deuteronomistic history to a close.

This final book published in the Ashgate SOTS monograph series collects together for the first time in English translation a selection of important essays on central themes and texts in Old Testament criticism and exegesis by Rudolf Smend, one of the world's most eminent senior scholars in the field. The essays focus on key topics such as Moses, covenant, history, Old Testament theology, the state, Elijah, Amos, and major movements in the history of the discipline over the past three centuries. All are marked by penetrating exegetical and critical insight as well as by an unrivalled knowledge of the history of Old Testament scholarship, and many of them have already made highly-respected and influential contributions. Their publication will serve to make the range and vitality of Smend's work more widely known to English-speaking readers.

Radio messages from J. Vernon McGee delighted and enthralled listeners for years with simple, straightforward language and clear understanding of the Scripture. Now enjoy his personable, yet scholarly, style in a 60-volume set of commentaries that takes you from Genesis to Revelation with new understanding and insight. Each volume includes introductory sections, detailed outlines and a thorough, paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of the text. A great choice for pastors - and even better choice for the average Bible reader and student! Very affordable in a size that can go anywhere, it's available as a complete 60-volume series, in Old Testament or New Testament sets, or individually.

n this thoughtful and expansive work Thomas W. Mann analyses the early prophets of the Bible corresponding to Joshua through to Kings. The narrative, with its richly diverse cast of great, good, and sinful characters, is unpicked as Mann draws a number of sensitive conclusions from a vital religious and historical source. Mann persuasively asserts that a thorough understanding of the Judeo-Christian narrative can illuminate our own era by comparing events in the Old Testament with a diverse collection of modern material from video games to the war in Iraq. Mann speculates that the Israelites were able to acknowledge culpability as well as success, while the modern West finds similar acknowledgement more challenging, particularly in relation to Vietnam. Mann is also careful to consistently question the motivations, period of writing, and intended audience of the scriptural authors, factors which have influenced our understanding of the text. 'The Book of the Former Prophets' will be of great value to students of theology and those wishing to understand more fully the narrative upon which so much of contemporary western self-understanding is based. Written in an eloquent and anecdotal style, this analysis reveals above all that the biblical scholar must accept the multifaceted nature of the truth, and be able to be aware of the contradictory versions. Thomas W. Mann has taught religious studies at the college, seminary, and doctoral levels and served as a parish minister in the United Church of Christ. He is also the author of "The Book of the Torah" (1988). "Having retold the first part of the Bible's story of ancient Israel in his acclaimed The Book of the Torah, Thomas Mann now presents the second half with critical and theological acumen. The difficult themes and pictures are not glossed over, but Mann's rich interpretive retelling opens up avenues into a contemporary appropriation of this story, on which, for better or for worse, the Christian community is grounded." Patrick D. Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary. "An amazing achievement. Lucidly, with illuminating parallels from modern times, Mann guides us superbly through vast terrain. He keeps the big picture always in view, yet has an unerring eye for the telling detail. . . . We see complexities and ambiguities in narratives fraught with violence and we confront the challenges they present today's reader. . . . In Mann's book, the ancient work has an excellent modern companion." David M. Gunn, Texas Christian University

Some chose to follow God. Others followed only fame and fortune. They lived through times of difficulty and times of triumph, through political and emotional turmoil, through popularity and through discontent. This ten-session LifeBuilder Bible Study focuses on the character of the Kings of the Old Testament and what we can learn from them. For over three decades LifeBuilder Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions-making for a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 120 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies.