Source Criticism, Creation Stories, and Flood Stories
This theory helps explain why Genesis contains two different creation stories and two interwoven flood stories. What is this theory, and what does it propose?
The Documentary Hypothesis proposes that the Pentateuch is a compilation of multiple earlier sources rather than a single unified work. These sources were later woven together by editors -- and the goal was often preservation over harmonization.
In Hosea 1-2, what does the marriage metaphor suggest about Israel's relationship to YHWH and to other gods? What deeper problem do these chapters address?
The deeper problem is that Israel misattributes its prosperity and material blessings to other gods instead of YHWH. The issue is misplaced loyalty, recognition, and covenantal failure.
In this unit, we learned that biblical law is not mainly about revealing brand-new moral truths. Explain the broader function law serves in the Sinai story.
What is a cultic site, and why are cultic sites significant in biblical texts?
A cultic site is a place of formal worship, including sacrifice, prayer, and other ritual acts like fasting. These sites are significant because YHWH's presence was thught to be especially concentrated or intense there.
What is the difference between a petition psalm and a praise psalm?
A petition psalm addresses God in distress and asks for help, healing, rescue, or forgiveness. A praise psalm magnifies who YHWH is and what YHWH does, celebrating divine greatness and acts of care or deliverance.
Explain one important difference between the Priestly (P) and Yahwist (J) creation stories and what that difference suggests about their respective portrayals of God.
P portrays God as more distant and orderly, creating through speech. J portrays God more anthropomorphically, forming the human from clay and walking in the garden. This suggests that the sources imagine divine action differently.
At Mount Carmel, Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal is about more than abstract belief. Explain what is really at stake in 1 Kings 18.
The contest is about which deity actually has power over nature and deserves loyalty and recognition. The issue isn't so much whether Baal exists but which of the two gods is capable of enacting their divine will.
What does Exodus 19 contribute to the Sinai covenant beyond simply setting the scene?
Exodus 19 establishes YHWH's authority through overwhelming and dangerous presence -- and restricted access to that presence. Smoke, thunder, and trumpet blasts make divine authority feel powerful and kingly before laws are even given.
Explain the difference between ritual impurity and moral guilt in texts like Leviticus.
Ritual impurity is a ritual state caused by ordinary human experiences, like childbirth, bodily discharge, sexual intercourse, or skin disease -- and it does not necessarily imply sin. Ritual impurity and moral wrongdoing can overlap, but the the problem with ritual impurity is that it marks a person as unfit to be in God's presence.
What is paralellism, and how does it help us interpret biblical poetry?
Parallelism is a feature of biblical poetry in which lines intensify, restate, or modify one another. This tells us that meaning builds across multiple lines and that psalms or proverbs may not simply appear as isolated.
Genesis 1 does not really describe creatio ex nihilo, or creation out of nothing. What does it describe instead?
Genesis 1 begins with pre-existent darkness, water, and "the deep" (tehom). It seems more interested in ordering reality through acts of separation and naming than about making matter from nothing.
Why does God repeatedly harden Pharaoh's heart in Exodus instead of ending the conflict immediately?
The point is to prolong the conflict so that God's victory becomes decisive and unmistakable. The narrative builds toward a public demonstration of divine power over Pharaoh and the Egyptian empire.
What is the difference between casuistic and apodictic law? And how does that distinction help us understand biblical law?
Casuistic law is conditional, using an "if...then" structure for specific cases. Apodictic law gives direct commands or prohibitions. The distinction tells us that biblical law includes both case-based regulation and broad moral or religious obligations.
In its original priestly context, what is Leviticus 16 mainly interested in purifying -- and why?
It is mainly purifying sanctuary, because impurity threatens YHWH's ability to dwell among the people. The ritual preserves the conditions necessary for divine presence.
How does Hannah's petition in 1 Samuel 1 help us understand prayer in ancient Israel?
Hannah prays at a cultic site, expresses her suffering verbally and physically, and makes a vow to dedicate her future son to God, which suggests a few things.
1. Prayer was closely tied to sacred space.
2. It was uncommon to pray silently; psalms and other prayers were usually recited aloud.
3. There was a principle of exchange between the petitioner and the deity. Not transactional in the monetary sense but reciprocal.
In P, the flood reverses creation by allowing the ordered world to collapse back into watery chaos when the waters break through. Afterward, God re-establishes order, re-blesses life, and renews the covenant.
In 1 Samuel 4, why are the Israelites defeated even after bringing the Ark of the Covenant into battle? What does that suggest about divine power?
The Israelites treat the Ark like a tool or weapon that automatically guarantees victory, but their defeat demonstrates that divine power cannot be controlled and that God's presence in battle in conditional.
The three major collections are the Covenant Code, the Holiness Code, and the Deuteronomic Code.
The Covenant Code is often casuistic and resembles other ancient Near Eastern law collections. The Holiness Code emphasizes holiness and separation. The Deuteronomic Code stresses centralized worship and seems to have a more humanitarian cast.
Genesis 28 and Deuteronomy 12 imagine sacred place differently. Explain the difference.
The prophets don't simply reject ritual as worthless. What is the deeper "critique" in texts like Isaiah 1 or Isaiah 58?
Ritual worship (sacrifice, prayer, and fasting) cannot function properly when the community is unjust. The problem is not ritual itself but ritual severed from social justice, especially care for the vulnerable.
Genesis 1 and the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish have significant parallels. Explain one similarity and one major difference.
Similarity: Both involve watery chaos and the deep ("tehom" in Genesis; Tiamat in Enuma Elish).
Difference: Enuma Elish features divine combat between Marduk and Tiamat, while Genesis 1 has no battle; God creates through speech and ordering.
Explain why Isaiah's mission in Isaiah 6 is surprising or even unsettling. What does it reveal about prophetic speech?
Isaiah is commanded to prevent understanding rather than immediately produce repentance. This reveals that prophetic speech can be efficacious: it doesn't just describe judgment or lack of understanding but participates in bringing it about.
In class, we talked about how Deuteronomic laws can sometimes seem both protective and troubling. Explain what that means.
Some Deuteronomic laws place limits on abuse and offer relative protections to vulnerable people, especially within family and household structures. However, they do not challenge patriarchy or hierarchy; instead, they regulate harm within an unequal system that still centers male authority.
What is the broader significance of centralization in texts like Deuteronomy 12 and 2 Kings 22-23?
Centralization is not only about theology but about authority -- who gets to define legitimate worship and where sacrifice may occur. It concentrates ritual power and marginalizes local shrines like Bethel. There seems to have been an internal development in Israelite worship from a decentralized to centralized model.
How do Job and Ecclesiastes complicate the worldview of Proverbs?
Proverbs often assumes that wisdom and righteousness bring reward, but Job raises the problem of righteous suffering, and Ecclesiastes qustions whether success, work, and even wisdom are stable or meaningful in the face of unpredictability and death.