Isaiah’s Political Message: An Appraisal of His Alleged Social Critique (Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 29). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2008. 231 pp. ISBN 978-3-16-149637-0. 

Bäckersten questions the scholarly consensus that Isaiah 1–39 contains a social-critical discourse, i.e. passages where the Jerusalemite elite is condemned for their complacent attitudes, their decadent life-style, and their more or less systematic oppression of the poor. He argues that the texts that have been proffered as proofs belong instead, with surprisingly few although notable exceptions, to a foreign-political discourse, where the target for the critique is Judah’s decision to rebel against Assyria (not social injustice). Bäckersten also makes a novel suggestion on the topic of why and how a social-critical outlook has been related to a foreign-political discourse in the book of Isaiah as a whole.

How to order
Mohr Siebeck
www.mohr.de

Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming after Exile. 2008. X, 200 pages. FAT II 31, ISBN 978-3-16-149773-5, sewn paper € 49.00.

In this study, Fredrik Hägglund presents an interpretation based on a hypothesis that conflicts emerged between the people in the land of Israel and those who returned from exile. He analyzes these conflicts with the help of contemporary refugee studies, other texts of the Old Testament, and also relevant passages in Isa 40-55. At the end of the exile, there was hope that the deported people would return to Israel, that it would be rebuilt, and that Jerusalem would again flourish. This hope is most clearly expressed in Isa 40:1-52:10. However, as time went by, there was a realization that the envisaged glorious return was in reality a rather limited return, and the joy of receiving those who returned had turned into conflicts, not least regarding the possession of land and the availability of places to live. In this situation, someone probably reflected on the message of Isa 40:1-52:10 and sought to understand what had gone wrong. Isa 53 was then inserted as an explanation of how the people in the land of Israel, i.e. the "we," should have received those who returned, i.e. the servant. If this embrace had taken place, Mother Zion would have rejoiced, as described in Isa 54. Instead of these pictures painted for us in Isa 53 and 54, we encounter the reality of the conflicts described in Isa 56-66.

How to order:
URL: http://www.mohr.de/en/theology/new-books/buch/isaiah-53-in-the-light-of-homecoming-after-exile.html

The Eden Narrative: A Literary and Religio-historical Study of Genesis 2—3 (Eisenbrauns, 2007, 165 pp. Price USD  26.55 (List price: 29.50).

In Mesopotamian mythology, we find in Adapa and Gilgamesh two figures who were exceedingly wise, their wisdom ultimately deriving from the god Ea, The two were also figures who forfeited immortality by a narrow margin. On the basis of this observation, he idea dawned on me that the biblical story of Eden is a text where we have the same combination of knowledge and immortality, there symbolized by the two trees. Might the combination of motifs in the two Mesopotamian texts be able to shed light on the Eden Narrative?

Ever since Karl Budde (1883) a number of scholars had contributed to a deforestation of Eden, running the tree of life through the chipper of classic source criticism—the tree of life being regarded as a late intruder in the text. How many special trees can sound exegetical ecology tolerate in the Garden of Bliss and, above all, what is the Eden Narrative really about: What is (are) its theme(s)? The present book was born out of this curiosity.

I felt a strong need to employ a consistent method, and one, moreover, that meets the needs of the material, a piece of verbal art that takes the shape of a narrative which has become one of the most precious pieces of world literature. Consequently, I found it natural to approach the Eden Narrative my vision armed with the methods used by literary scholars. There appeared to be reasons to question the source-critical approach (Literarkritik) to the Eden Narrative.

My investigation proceeds as follows. After a brief survey of the relevant research and a statement of my agenda (chap. 1), I first undertake a narratological analysis (chap. 2). The text appears to make excellent sense on the assumption that both trees belong to it from beginning. A striking insight from my analysis is that the man and the woman do not at all share the knowledge possessed by the narrator. They are informed about the existence of one tree only. But this does not necessarily mean that we must eliminate the other one from the text. 

The next chapter (chap. 3) discusses the theme of the narrative. I argue that the text is about a divine test, related to the passages about God’s testing of Israel, Abraham, and Job. The thesis of the Eden author is that obedience to the divine commandment leads to life and disobedience to the forfeiture of the possibility of immortality. In important respects the Eden Narrative repristinates significant elements of Deuteronomistic theology (the Law and obedience).

Only in chap. 4 do I arrive at the question of which genre the narrative belongs to. My conclusion here is that the narrative is a myth. Among the various methods to investigate myths—structuralist, semiotic, functionalist—I opt for the last, as I want to come to grips with the question of what the poet wanted to perform in his reader. That issue calls for a functionalist approach.

The last two chapters are devoted to material prior to the work of the Eden Poet. Chapter 5 analyzes Ezekiel 28 with the aim of recovering the basic elements of an Adamic myth used by Ezekiel. It is thus a discussion of tradition-history. On the assumption that this myth was known to the Eden Poet who produced the narrative that we now have in Genesis 2–3, I raise the question what the Eden poet did with his material, looking at how he changed it and finally focusing on the purpose of these changes. After this study of the biblical narrative I proceed to a discussion of the prime ancient Near Eastern material, Adapa and Gilgamesh (chap. 6). In spite of the considerable differences with regard to plot, I find in these narratives a stable thematic marriage of wisdom and immortality, two concepts that are essential both to the oldest form of the Adamic myth as known from Ezekiel 28 and to the Eden Narrative in Genesis. The book ends with a Synthesis (chap. 7), where I discuss some implications of my findings).

How to order:
Eisenbrauns, Inc.
P.O.Box 275
Winona Lake, IN  46 590-0275,  U.S.A.

URL: https://www.eisenbrauns.com/ECOM/_2AJ0B11IE.HTM

Blazenka Scheuer

The Return of Yhwh: The Tension between Deliverance and Repentance in Isaiah 40 –55. (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 377), de Gruyter, Berlin, 2008. 175 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-019034-2.

The theology of Isaiah 40 – 55 has two seemingly contradictory aspects: the tension between the consolatory message of deliverance, and the harsh tone of accusation. In this part of the Book of Isaiah, yhwh ’ s return to his people is demonstrated through the accumulation of declarations about yhwh ’ s ability and his will to deliver the Israelites from the exile. At the same time, the Israelites are exhorted to return to yhwh , who is the only God for them. This raises the following questions: What is the essence of the repentance called for, and why is repentance required, once the deliverance has been carried out?

Analysing these and related questions, this study arrives at a new understanding of that tension. It is argued that such tension does not necessarily disclose a different authorship, but that it expresses the basic nature of the relationship between yhwh and the Israelites, in which the actions of yhwh and the actions of the people stand in a relationship of interdependence. This implies that repentance is not a condition for deliverance, nor does deliverance condition repentance, but both these actions condition the reestablishment of the relationship between yhwh and the Israelites. It is further argued that such an understanding of the interaction of the actions was vital for the shaping of the identity of both the exiled and the non-exiled Israelite communities in the latter part of the sixth century bce .

The five main chapters of this book include a brief survey of the scholarly discussion of the prophetic call to repentance in general and of the idea of sin and repentance in Isaiah 40 – 55 in particular (chapter 1), an analysis of those texts in Isaiah 40 – 55 which, on the one hand express accusations against the Israelites, and, on the other, call for the repentance of the people (chapter 2), an investigation of the texts about the fabrication of idols together with the texts that present yhwh ’ s dispute with the nations (chapter 3), a survey of the ideas of repentance and transformation in the Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (chapter 4), and a discussion of the central concepts considered, i.e. a discussion of the implications of the theology of interaction between yhwh and the Israelites, with a concluding reference to the importance of this theology for the socio-political and religious life of the Israelites in the aftermath of the Babylonian exile (chapter 5).

How to order

The book can be bought from the bookstore Arken, Box 1026 , 221 04 Lund ,
phone –46 46 333 888, or directly from the author: Blazenka.Scheuer@teol.lu.se

Sacrifice and Symbol. Biblical Shelamim in a Ritual Perspective. Coniectanea Biblica. Old Testament Series 52. Stockholm 2005. 388 pp + indexes. ISBN 91-22-02120-5. Monograph. Dissertation Lund University .

For the sacrifice shelamim in the Hebrew Bible, scholars have suggested a number of different interpretations and uses. This sacrifice also had an ambiguous role in Israelite culture. Lack of a general consensus and the failure to reach a satisfying solution makes the shelamim a puzzle and an interesting sacrifice to investigate with insights gained from modern ritual studies.

In this study, it is suggested that an investigation of ritual issues should start in the situation that creates the need for the performance, not in an analysis of the ritual’s form or content. Rituals are here understood as human reactions to various causae, that is, events in nature or culture. Determining a ritual’s causa is the first step in a ritual analysis. To better grasp the “meaning” of symbols and rituals, three levels of interpretation should be identified: the level of ideology, the level of use and the level of structure. A single ritual may have different interpretations on different levels. Furthermore it is suggested that symbols and rituals can be classified as legitimizing, defining or marking in function. This analysis makes it possible to determine the position of a particular symbol or ritual in the culture.

Once the shelamim was identified as a marking symbol, it was possible to understand the use of it, mirrored in the Hebrew texts. Without having to postulate a long historical development, it is suggested in this thesis that, although there was a differentiated use of the sacrifice, it always appears in a specific context. This context is identified as any texts, which concern the peak moments of the Israelite cult. Since the context is on the textual level, it is suggested that the term shelamim entered the texts through glossation, in order to specify the slaughtered sacrifice, the zebah, of the legitimate cult.

Most probably, the need for this specification began to be felt when the centralization of the cult in effect divided the old slaughtered sacrifice in two: a domestic slaughter of lesser ritual value and a solemn cultic performance in the only legitimate cult site, the temple of Jerusalem . Step by step, it is demonstrated that the glossation was an effort to correct the textual incongruities that were created in the old texts by the centralization.

Keywords: Interpretation of ritual; Causa, focusing and defining; Legitimizing, marking and defining symbols; Sacrifice; Shelamim; Zebah; Zebah shelamim; Milluim; Nedabah; Neder; Todah: Glossation; Centralization of cult; Legitimacy of ritual; Blood; slmm; Ugarit; the Jerusalem temple.

How to order

EISENBRAUNS
URL: https://www.eisenbrauns.com/ECOM/_2AJ0B11IE.HTM

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