Glory And Power, Ritual And Relationship: The Sinai Covenant In The Postexilic Period (library Hebrew Bible/old Testament Studies)
by Richard J. Bautch /
2009 / English / PDF
4.4 MB Download
The book's point of departure is the return from the Exile, which
is presented as an opportunity for Jews, primarly those in Judah,
to interpret anew the relationship between God and Israel. The
relationship had traditionally been thought of as a covenant, and
central to the book's thesis is that post-exilic writers used a
paradigm that was essentially that of the pre-exilic Mosiac
covenant, i.e. a pact between God and humanity conditioned by the
latter's observance of the law. The first part of the book
describes the process whereby the Mosaic covenant was renovated
and its content brought up to date. In this discussion, familiar
topoi of Second Temple Judaism such as penitential prayer,
creation theology, and kinship ethos are shown to be integral to
a contemporary concept of creation.
The book's point of departure is the return from the Exile, which
is presented as an opportunity for Jews, primarly those in Judah,
to interpret anew the relationship between God and Israel. The
relationship had traditionally been thought of as a covenant, and
central to the book's thesis is that post-exilic writers used a
paradigm that was essentially that of the pre-exilic Mosiac
covenant, i.e. a pact between God and humanity conditioned by the
latter's observance of the law. The first part of the book
describes the process whereby the Mosaic covenant was renovated
and its content brought up to date. In this discussion, familiar
topoi of Second Temple Judaism such as penitential prayer,
creation theology, and kinship ethos are shown to be integral to
a contemporary concept of creation.
The second part of the book explores a paradox. On the one
hand, the fact that the Mosaic covenant was articulated in the
discourse of kinship marked it with an insularity that in turn
made this covenant attractive to sectarian groups. Here, evidence
is adduced largely from the Dead Sea Scrolls. On the other hand,
as the dominant paradigm the Mosaic covenant had ascribed to it a
high level of normativity, as seen in the work of tradents such
as the Priestly editors and the author of Jubilees. Ultimately,
the Mosaic covenant was invoked at the center and the periphery
as both a normative theological concept and a cipher to sectarian
self-identity. The book concludes that by the end of the Second
Temple period, although the Mosiac covenant was normative in
terms of a covenantal nomism that was incumbent upon the Jews,
the covenant's sectarian tendenz made its precepts non-binding
and optional.
The second part of the book explores a paradox. On the one
hand, the fact that the Mosaic covenant was articulated in the
discourse of kinship marked it with an insularity that in turn
made this covenant attractive to sectarian groups. Here, evidence
is adduced largely from the Dead Sea Scrolls. On the other hand,
as the dominant paradigm the Mosaic covenant had ascribed to it a
high level of normativity, as seen in the work of tradents such
as the Priestly editors and the author of Jubilees. Ultimately,
the Mosaic covenant was invoked at the center and the periphery
as both a normative theological concept and a cipher to sectarian
self-identity. The book concludes that by the end of the Second
Temple period, although the Mosiac covenant was normative in
terms of a covenantal nomism that was incumbent upon the Jews,
the covenant's sectarian tendenz made its precepts non-binding
and optional.
