The volume reflects the recent debate on intermarriage and its implications for group identity in the formative phase of Judaism. Intermarriage and group identity in the Second Temple Period will be investigated from different points of view with regard to methodology and analyzed texts. With an introduction to the history of research and a summarizing final section, the individual contributions will be associated with the larger context of the recent debate. Thus not only the diversity of texts on mixed marriage within the Hebrew Bible and related scripture will be shown and emphasized but the question of continuity and discontinuity as well as the socio-historical background of marriage restrictions will be dealt with, too. Covering a wide range of texts from almost every part of the "Hebrew Bible" as well as from "Elephantine", "Qumran" and several pseudepigrapha, like "Jubilees", its focus is on possible counter texts with a more positive notion of foreign wives, in addition to restrictive and prohibitive texts. These different approaches will illuminate the dynamics of the construction of group identity, culminating in conflicts concerning separation and integration which can be found in the debate on the topic of the "correct" marriage. Over the last 30 years this pioneering series has established an unrivaled 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.

Classical Pentateuch research mainly dealt with the books of Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy and it is only in recent decades that the literary and theological meanings of Moses' fourth book has been rediscovered. In this volume, Christian Frevel lets the interplay between narrative and legislative material - which is often not understood - emerge into new light, examining the texts of the Book of Numbers as inner-biblical interpretations and tradition-bound innovations. Cloaked in the Israelites' 40-year long sojourn in the desert, the Book of Numbers presents a tightly-woven fabric of texts which reflect the social and cultic orders, discuss questions of leadership and explore the meaning of the Promised Land to Israel's existence. The Book of Numbers is characterized in its entirety by transformations: for example, the exodus generation becomes the desert generation and leadership is transferred from Moses to Joshua, from Aaron to Eleazar. Important innovations such as the hierarchical organization of the cult, including the role of the Levites or the hereditary law concerning daughters, are cultivated within these transformations. The people's time in the desert (re)form their social frameworks and renders them sustainable for the existence in the Promised Land. Important themes such as community and cult organization, the enduring election of the Israelites, the meaning of the Promised Land for the collective identity, questions of hierarchical leadership and democratic participation, of collective guilt and individual liability, along with many other aspects, are dealt with in the texts. Without the literary traditions of the Book of Numbers, which were mostly set down around the 5th-4th centuries BCE, the formation of the Pentateuch as Torah would not have been conceivable. The studies of this volume reveal the thematic diversity of the book against a backdrop of its literary creation within the Penta- and Hexateuch.

Der Sammelband enthAlt knapp dreiAig substantielle Artikel namhafter zumeist alttestamentlicher Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler beider Konfessionen und unterschiedlicher Generationen zu den fA"r die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft grundlegenden Themen Theologie, Philologie, Recht und Geschichte des antiken Israel. Die LektA"re der einzelnen BeitrAge zeigt, dass diese Bereiche in vielfAltiger Weise miteinander in Beziehung stehen und einander beeinflussen. Damit wird das Werk von Udo RA"terswArden zugleich aufgenommen, gewA"rdigt und weitergedacht.

This volume investigates intermarriage and group identity in the Second Temple Period from different points of view with regard to methodology and analyzed texts. With an introduction to the history of research and a summarizing final section, the individual contributions are associated with the larger context of the recent debate. Thus not only the diversity of texts on mixed marriage within the Hebrew Bible and related scripture is shown and emphasized but the question of continuity and discontinuity as well as the socio-historical background of marriage restrictions is dealt with, too. Covering a wide range of texts from almost every part of the Hebrew Bible as well as from Elephantine, Qumran and several pseudepigrapha, like Jubilees, its focus is on possible counter texts with a more positive notion of foreign wives, in addition to restrictive and prohibitive texts. These different approaches illuminate the dynamics of the construction of group identity, culminating in conflicts concerning separation and integration which can be found in the debate on the topic of the "correct" marriage.