Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

100

the technical term for the list of books that a particular community considers sacred and authoritative. This Greek word means “measure” or “rule.” There is a multiplicity of canons according to the needs of people, as the canon serves as a way to govern people’s lives. Both the Jewish and the Christian canons were produced over time by complicated processes. “to build a fence around.” (Coogan 545, lecture notes 9/2) Final canonization of the HB occurred by 200 CE and was preceded by the Council of Jamnia in 90CE (Lecture: 9/2)

What is Canon

200

means “the Bible” and is the term formed from the initial letters of the names of each of the three principal parts of the Bible according to the Jewish tradition: the Torah (law), the Neviim (“prophets”), and the Ketubim (“Writings”), [I (KFF) also have these three components as Torah, Naneen, and Khoeen (lecture Aug 28)] (Coogan 545-49) Written in Hebrew; has 39 parts; developed in Palestine after the fall of the 2nd temple; Contrasts with the Septuagint, see below. (Burns’ lecture – day one) formal canonization came about after destruction of the first temple and the need to scribe oral tradition during the diaspora, Jewish tradition- text became more central

What is Tanakh

300

the Hebrew Bible texts were written down and canonized according to the traditions as they were transmitted orally (lecture notes 9/2) laws functioning in an normal way orally, remembered with centuries of prophecies being worked out by the people before documentation or canonization. Darius demanded the compiling of the laws. Oral tradition as the overall influence of the writings, including the various influences of Ancient Near East, narratives and mythologies, folklore. Various opinions exist regarding when the HB was actually compiled/written down (no longer solely reliant on oral tradition)  Knight, unlike Coogan, downdates it. He argues that it was written during the Restoration after the Babylonian exile due to the higher rates of education and literary resources available in Babylon. Coogan argues the following: J – 10th century E – 9th century D – 7th century P – 6th century

What is Oral Tradition

400

a type of modern interpretation that upholds the idea that the Bible must be a compilation of various sources, each source bringing their own lens or presuppositions to the text. In 1878 Julius Wellhausen wrote a book articulating the documentary hypothesis, a development of source criticism. For Knight, source criticism is a valid method but not fully reliable—he tends to think that the Hebrew Bible is a compilation of a long oral tradition, the concern being when the compilation was done, not necessarily who was writing. Source criticism alone does not fully explain either the prehistory of the narrative or its later stages of development. (Coogan 22-3, lecture notes 9/2)

What is Source Criticism

500

a methodology for interpreting the Bible which studies the smaller and earlier units within each source that were adapted and incorporated into the larger narrative developed by Hermann Gunkel. It begins by trying to identify a form, or genre, and then moves on to determine its function in its original context; one important form is the etiological narrative. This method is also applied to the psalms. 1. Establish outline, structure of text 2. Look for others with similar outline to establish genre 3. Postulate the life setting of the people (sitz im leben, see below) 4. Establish intention of text (not function) (Coogan 28-9, 64, 69-73, 460-66, lecture notes 9/2)

What is Form Criticism

Jewish Bible

100

Hapiru (or Apiru or Habiru)

What is the name given to a group of people living as nomadic invaders of the Fertile Crescent, not necessarily Hebrew, there is a reference to Apiru/Habiru in historical knowledge of Exodus and from various sources, yet, no outside verification that these were Hebrew/Israelite slaves (lecture notes 10/12, 14) resembles the word Hebrew, not an ethnic group but a class of people, term means outcast in Sumerian

200

Geographical region of Palestine

What is despite its size, the region includes a number of dramatically distinct geographical regions: 1. Highlands 2. Coastal plain 3. Jordan rift valley 4. Desert 5. N by Galilee (from notes) coastal plain, Shephelah, hill country, rift valley, transjordanian plateau, negeb and Sinai (from text) (Coogan 47-51, lecture notes 9/9) When in doubt, go with Knight: Highlands – “Spine” of country; dry, rugged terrain Coastland – lowlands leading to foothills; arable and temperate Jordan Rift Valley – below sea level; location of Dead Sea, etc. Desert – the “Negev” – south of the Dead Sea North by Galilee – around the sea; arable/nice

300

Ugarit

What is city-state discovered in 1929 with string of myths and narratives, notably about the gods El and Baal, very similar to Israelite system; the discovery of tablets illuminated the larger context in which the HB was written; modern name is Ras Shamra; Ugaritic is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew used in second-millennium BCE texts from the site of Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. The Ugaritic texts include a number of myths and epics that shed light on Canaanite religion, (Coogan 565, 74, 221, lecture notes 9/23) El + Asherah (his consort) and Baal + Anat (his consort)  These appear in the HB and influenced the Israelites – show us syncretism, an archeological discovery where documents were found

400

Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures developed for the post-exilic Jewish community in Alexandria, the Septuagint interpretation – red sea, shorter book of Jeremiah, Samuel divided into two parts – together with the books of Kings they were understood as the first part of an extended history of “the kingdoms” of Israel and Judah from the beginning of the monarchy until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE (Coogan 231, 366, 459, 501) Included 46 parts (7 more than the TaNaK) – these 7 parts- deuterocanonical or apocrypha. adopted by Christians (all) until the Reformation (Burns lecture . . .) supposedly written by 70 authors who all came up with the same Greek translation

What is Septuagint

500

Feminist Criticism is also very much concerned with reclaiming women of the Bible who have been marginalized and establishing their relevance. feminist readings of the biblical text vary according to different views and agendas. Given this diversity, feminists tend to challenge systems of domination, are concerned with power relations, and are sensitive to the plight of people that are exploited and oppressed; feminist critique is not necessarily hostile to men, nor do the majority of feminist readings seek to dominate men. (from discussion notes 10/16: is this what he’s looking for???? KFF seconds this question – anyone? This seems good to me…)

What is Feminist Criticism

Tanak

100

Hyksos

What is 1650-1550 bce- second intermediate (hyksos) period, rule of Egypt for foreign dynasties (the hyksos), when expelled from Egypt in the mid-sixteenth century, provided a convenient date for the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (Coogan 56, 98)

200

tel or tell

What is (archaeology): tell is an artificial mound formed from the stratified accumulated debris of successive human occupations. Coogan says that the process of understanding biblical texts, like Genesis, is like the excavation of a tell…within it are fragments of very ancient tradition, sometimes misunderstood by the biblical writers themselves, sometimes too reused for purposes different from their original function, much as stones from an ancient wall might be reused in construction of a later period. As with excavation, it is difficult to reconstruct the earliest levels with any certainty. But the attempt to do so is a necessary one, which can often be illuminating, especially by using parallel data from other ancient texts. (Coogan 564, 64)

300

Song of Miriam

What is one of the elements packed into Exodus 1-15 and combined into a relatively coherent narrative by the final Priestly editors, hymn in Exodus 15:1-18, one of the oldest parts of the Bible, also called Song of the Sea, the presentation of women in the Exodus story suggests that women had status in ancient Israelite society on a number of important levels, (Coogan 87, 96) Only one verse, an echo of the 1st verse of the preceding Song of Moses  condensation of longer song (Lecture: 10/14) Song of Miriam and Song of Deborah are among the oldest materials in the HB.

400

Myth

What is Definition: A traditional narrative concerning the remote past in which gods and goddesses are often principal characters Often interpreted (wrongly) as fiction Set back before time, history (usually located in quasi-time) Primal context (not the world as we know it) Gets down to (not back to) the origin (don’t go back but go deeper) (Lecture: 10/5; Glossary, p. 11 – Coogan) 


500

Apocrypha

What is Definition: Jewish religious writings of the Hellenistic and Roman periods that are not considered part of the Bible by Jews and Protestant, but are part of the canons of Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, who also call them the deuterocanonical books Not part of the traditional Hebrew canon, although authentic Jewish texts Part of Christian Bibles until Reformation, when Luther decided that only books in Hebrew (from the TaNaK) should be included – Protestants follow suit Word first used by Jerome in the Latin Vulgate translation, misleadingly meaning “hidden (books)” Books in the Apocrypha include: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and Baruch, plus extended versions of Esther and Daniel (Lecture: 9/2; p. 529 – 530, 548 – 549, Glossary – Coogan) 


Septuagint

100

Symbolism of snake in Gen 3

What is Our interpretation of the snake: - Quasi-externality of evil  we make it seem as if evil is out there (projection of our desires on the “other”) - A Tradition of Evil is already present Implications of the snake in the story: - Cosmic indifference - in final analysis, the world isn’t necessarily here for our best purposes - a difference b/t us and the world - It located evil NOT in the world or intrinsically in us but in our ACTS  evil is to be blamed on our acts; a verb, not a noun - The snake is not “Satan” (external force of evil) but a creature of God - Also a character is Gilgamesh (Lecture: 10/7; 16 - Coogan)

200

Gilgamesh

What is Definition: The hero of the Mesopotamian epic named for him, who with Enkidu travels widely and ultimately meets Utnapishtim - Dates to the third millennium BCE - Similar to the Odyssey and other epic Relationship with Genesis 1 - 3: - Presence of a snake - Immortality-giving plant - Inevitable fact of death - Seduction of Enkidu by prostitute: loses closeness with nature and becomes clothed  Adam and Eve seduced by fruit with same results (possible sexual connotation Relationship with Genesis 6 - 9 (The Flood): - Flood story is common in ancient near East - Common themes between two: divine anger, warning, detailed building instructions, takes family/animals on board, boat rests on mountain, release of three birds (Lecture: 10/05; Glossary, 15, 17, 40-41 - Coogan)

300

Etiology

What is Definition: A narrative that explains the origin of a custom, ritual, geographical feature, name or other phenomenon A story that answers the perennial question: Why? Examples: Isaac (means “to laugh”), place names in the Exodus story Gen. 1 – 11: Etiology of all etiologies – accounts for why the world is the way it is (Lecture: 9/9, 10/5; Glossary, 35, 71 – Coogan) 


400

adam and Adam

What is Ha (article)/adam – the generic word for human; not a proper noun/name Occurs 26 times in Gen 1 – 3, only 5 times w/o “ha” (so usually generic, not Adam) “Humanity gets the Hebrew better Almost de-sexed – at first, no differentiation b/t sexes Folk etimology (attempt to trace origin of word without trained linguistics) – creates adam from adama (“earth”) This is similar to English – human created from humus Creation from the dust is a familiar motif in ASWA (Egyptian, Mesop. Myth, etc.)

500

Tiamat

What is A goddess from the Enuma Elish – A Babylonian myth that describes how Marduk became the high god Goddess of the salt waters With Apsu, god of fresh waters, she created the 1st generation of gods After the younger gods killed Apsu, Tiamat decides to kill them in revenge Marduk fights Tiamat and defeats her, becoming supreme Marduk forms the cosmos from Tiamat’s body Depicted as a prototypical dragon in Mesopotamian art – connection to Leviathan Connection to HB creation story: Hebrew word for “deep,” tehom, is linguistically related to Tiamat Tehom has no article – translated as Deep, not the deep à re-telling of cosmogony (Lecture: 10/5; p. 5, 7, 9, 487 – Coogan) 


Old Testament

100

Curses in Gen 3

What is part of the “etiology of all etiologies” Answers perennial questions: Why do snakes have no legs? Why do people fear snakes? Etc. Stems from a recognition of the following: - There is enmity between humans and snakes - There is sexual tension/attraction between males and females - Childbirth is painful - Cultivating the earth/farming is difficult - All of these describe why life is hard Two possible explanations: - Some say these are just punishment for disobedience - there should be pain - (Better/Knight explanation) - The desired/intended state of being is Gen 2 (beginning)  Our moral goal is to transcend curses and go beyond enmity  God wants us to return to pre-curse way of being

200

Babel

What is A J narrative (Gen 11: 1 - 9) that served two primary functions: - An etiology to explain the multiplicity of languages  a punishment from Yahweh due to megalomania, humans wanting to be gods - A satire on the pretension of the inhabitants of ancient Babylon, dominated by a large ziggurat (sacred platform on which temple was built) - Pun on the word “babble” - Continued separation of human and divine realms - by end of Chapter 11, we see the world as it truly is (Lecture: 10/7; 35 - Coogan)

300

Aqedah (Akedah)

What is literally means “binding;” refers to the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22) Etiological story: - To account for prohibition of child sacrifice (according to Knight, but Coogan disagrees) - connects to its prohibition in Lev. 18:21 - To explain the practice of substituting an animal for the firstborn son - Identifies place name of Moriah (Lecture: 9/30; 68 - Coogan)

400

Levirate marriage

What is - The Israelite marriage practice that a childless widow should marry her brother-in-law (“levir” in Latin) and have children that take her deceased husband’s last name - Biblical evidence: Gen 38 (Tamar), Deut. 25, Ruth - If this cannot happen, the widow should return to her parents (Lecture: 9/16; 227 - Coogan)

500

Monolatry

What is Definition: the worship of only one God, but does not deny the existence of other gods - Very similar to Henotheism (a given ethnic group worships specific deity over all others - “Our God”) - One step away from monotheism (belief in only one God, denying the existence of any other) - Clearly defined in the Decalogue (Ex. 20:3) - command to worship no other God, but does not clearly deny their existence (Lecture: 9/23; 413 - Coogan)