Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on the Interpretation of Jeremiah 30-31 (Oudtestamentische Studiën, Old Testament Studies)

This book, originally published in French under the title "Que faire du Capital?", offers a new interpretation of Marx's great work. It shows how the novelty and lasting interest of Marx's theory arises from the fact that, as against the project of a 'pure' economics, it is formulated in concepts that have simultaneously an economic and a political aspect, neither of these being separable from the other. Jacques Bidet conducts an unprecedented investigation of Marx's work in the spirit of the history of science, exploring it as a process of theoretical development. Traditional exegesis reads the successive drafts of Capital as if they were complementary and mutually illuminated one another. In actual fact, like any scientist, Marx only wrote a new version in order to correct the previous one. He started from ideas borrowed from Ricardo and Hegel, and between one draft and the next it is possible to see these being eliminated and restructured. This labour, moreover, was never fully completed. The author thus re-assesses Marx's entire system in its set of constitutive categories: value, market, labour-power, classes, working class, exploitation, production, fetishism, ideology. He seeks to pin down the difficulties that these encountered, and the analytical and critical value they still have today. Bidet attaches the greatest importance to Marx's order of exposition, which assigns each concept its place in the overall system, and makes the validity of the construction depend on the pertinence of its initial presuppositions. This is particularly the case with the relationship between market mechanism and capitalism - and thus also between the market and socialism. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 10 1.2 The Art and the Act of Interpretation......Page 12 1.3 The Book of Consolation......Page 14 1.4 The Outline of this Book......Page 19 2.1 Introduction......Page 22 2.2.1 Zero Variants......Page 27 2.2.2 Linguistic Exegesis......Page 31 2.2.3 Instance where the MT Has a Corruption......Page 34 2.2.4 Instances where the Old Greek Did Not Understand Its Vorlage......Page 35 2.2.5 Secondary Additions in the LXX......Page 37 2.2.6 Minor Content Variants......Page 38 2.2.7 Content Variants......Page 43 2.2.8 A Rearranged Unit......Page 50 2.3 Conclusions......Page 57 3.1 Introduction......Page 60 3.2 Previous Proposals......Page 63 3.3 Petuha and Setuma in Various Manuscripts......Page 72 3.4 Macro Syntactical Indicators......Page 80 3.6 The Composition of Jeremiah 30–31: A Proposal......Page 84 3.7 Delimitation of Lines......Page 101 3.8 Delimitation of Strophes......Page 118 3.9 Delimitation of Canticles......Page 134 3.10 Remarks on the Macro-Structure of Jeremiah 30–31......Page 139 4.1 Introduction......Page 146 4.2 Text and Translation......Page 149 4.3 Composition......Page 151 4.3.1 Awful Terror Jer. 30:5–7......Page 152 4.3.2 Prophecy of Liberation Jeremiah 30:8–9......Page 160 4.3.3 Oracle of Salvation Jeremiah 30:10–11......Page 165 4.4 Literary and Conceptual Unity of Jeremiah 30:5–11......Page 174 5.2 Text and Translation......Page 176 5.3.1 Critical Positions: Duhm, Volz and Holladay......Page 181 5.3.2 Arguing for Literary Unity......Page 182 5.4.1 Motif and Model: Incurable Fracture and Divine Force Majeure......Page 187 5.4.2 The Linguistics of lākēn......Page 193 5.4.3 Relations between the Actors......Page 194 5.5 Divine Changeability and Shifts in Time......Page 197 6.1 Introduction......Page 199 6.2.1 The Quotation in Matthew......Page 200 6.2.2 The Literary Structure of Jeremiah 31:15–17......Page 206 6.2.3 A Conceptual Comparison between Jer. 31:15–17 and Mt. 2:18......Page 215 6.2.4 Conclusion......Page 217 6.3.1 Text and Translation of Jer. 31:18–20......Page 218 6.3.2 Compositional and Stylistic Observations......Page 219 6.3.4 Ephraim's Complaint and Change......Page 220 6.3.5 Yhwh's Compassionate Reaction......Page 222 6.4.1 Text and Translation......Page 227 6.4.3 Ketîb-Qerê and the Return of the Divine Glory......Page 228 6.4.4 An Enigmatic Motivation......Page 232 6.5 The Conceptual Coherence of Jeremiah 31:15–22......Page 236 7.2 Tragic Fatalism versus Personal Responsibility......Page 238 7.3 The Context of the Saying......Page 249 7.4 The Interpretation of the New Saying......Page 254 8.1 Introduction......Page 255 8.2 The Text of Jeremiah 31:31–34......Page 256 8.2.1 Translation......Page 257 8.2.2 Textual Remarks......Page 258 8.2.3 Syntactical Analysis......Page 261 8.2.4 Stylistic Remarks......Page 264 8.2.5 Text-internal Chronology......Page 266 8.2.6 On Dating Texts......Page 271 8.2.7 The Text-external Chronology of Jer. 31:31–34......Page 273 8.3 The Reliability of Reality......Page 274 8.3.1 Jeremiah 31:35–37: Translation and Textual Remarks......Page 275 8.3.2 Conservatio Creationis......Page 276 8.3.3 Time and Space: Divine Construction and Threatened Reality......Page 277 8.3.4 Adynata......Page 278 8.4 Covenant and Cosmos—Reliability and Relationship—The Conceptual Coherence of Jer. 31:31–37......Page 279 8.4.1 History as the Ground of Being......Page 280 8.4.2 Creation as the Ground of Being......Page 282 9.1.1 Twofold Transformation......Page 284 9.1.2 Sin and Sorrow: The First Transformation......Page 285 9.1.3 Return and New Relationship......Page 286 9.1.4 Divine Changeability......Page 287 9.2.1 Van der Wal's Thesis......Page 288 9.2.2 Analysis of Van der Wal's Position......Page 290 9.2.3 Conclusion......Page 294 10.1 Reading a Text Theologically......Page 295 10.2.1 Cosmic Law......Page 298 10.2.2 Law to Live With......Page 299 10.3.1 Cosmic Battle......Page 300 10.3.2 God's Royal and Loyal Power......Page 301 10.4.1 The Secret of Life......Page 303 10.4.2 Daily Life......Page 304 10.5.1 Restoration and Return......Page 307 10.5.2 Relation between Theme and Tripartite Theology......Page 309 10.5.3 Text in Context (Short)......Page 310 10.5.4 The Distortion of the Economy of Guilt......Page 312 Bibliography......Page 314 Index of Authors......Page 334 Index of Textual References......Page 340 Annotation Jeremiah's Little Book Of Consolation Is An Intruiging Text That Provokes A Series Of Interpretative Difficulties. Is The Text Originally From Jeremiah? Can It Be Construed As A Literary Coherence Or Is A Complex Literary Process Of Emergence To Be Accepted? What Is Meant By The 'new Covenant'? In This Monograph Jer. 3031 Is Read Applying A Variety Of Methods. The Text-critical Chapter Argues For The Reinforcement Of The Editorial Theory According To Which Mt And Lxxjer. Are To Be Construed As Two Different Versions. Much Attention Is Paid To The Delimitation Criticism Of These Two Chapters Leading To The Assumption That They Are Composed Of Ten Sub-cantos. Five Of These Sub-cantos Are Interpreted Taking Into Account Ancient Near Eastern Textual Material In Order To Understand The Mental Framework Of The Ancient Reader. The Final Chapter Pleads For The Conceptual Coherence Of Jer. 3031 Which Is Seen As Based On The Idea Of Divine Changeability. A Dissonant Voice Of Hope: An Introduction To The Interpretation Of Jeremiah 30-31 -- Abbreviation, Expansion Or Two Traditions: The Text Of Jeremiah 30-31 -- Cola, Canticles And Subcantos: The Macrostructure Of Jeremiah 30-31 -- 'i Will Break His Yoke From Off Your Neck': An Interpretation Of Jeremiah 30:5-11 -- Divine Changeability: An Interpretation Of Jeremiah 30:12-17 -- Between Anger And Harmony: An Interpretation Of Jeremiah 31:15-22 -- Sour Fruit And Blunt Teeth: The Metaphorical Meaning Of The M−aš−al In Jeremiah 31:29 -- Covenant And Creation: An Interpretation Of Jeremiah 31:31-37 -- Is The Conceptual Coherence Of Jeremiah 30-31 Based On An Exodus-theology'? -- Overwhelming Wisdom, Divine Battle And New Life: The Symbol System Of Jeremiah 30-31. By Bob Becking. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [303]-321) And Indexes. v. 24. Crises and perspectives v. 25. New avenues in the study of the Old Testament v. 26. In quest of the past v. 27. P.A.H. de Boer: selected studies in the Old Testament exegesis v. 28 Converting the past v. 29. Abraham Kuenen (1828-1891) His major contributions to the study of the Old Testament v. 30. Der Himmel im Alten Testament v. 31. The Vengeance of God v. 32. Rhetorical Criticism and the Poetry of the Book of Job v. 33. The Reform of King Josiah and the Composition of the Deuteronomistic History v. 34. Synchronic or Diachronic? v. 35. Prophets of Old and The Day of the End v. 36. The Targum of Judges v. 37. The Provenance of Deuteronomy v. 38. Manasseh through the Eyes of the Deuteronomists v. 39. Genesis 49 in its Literary and Historical Context. v. 40. Intertextuality in Ugarit and Israel v. 41. The structure of Classical Hebrew Poetry: Isaiah 40-55 v. 42. The Crisis of Israelite Religion v. 43. Studies in Isaiah 24-27 v. 44. Past, Present, Future v. 45. The Elusive Prophet v. 46. 'According to My Righteousness'. v. 47. Creation and Judgement v. 48. Reading Scripture in the Old Testament v. 49. Women in Ugarit and Israel v. 51. Between Fear and Freedom, Essays on the interpretation of Jeremiah 30-31 v. 52. The Old Testament in Its World. The Reform of King Josiah and the Composition of the Deuteronomistic History defends the thesis that 1 and 2 Kings arose in three redactional phases. The first author described the history of Judah and Israel from Solomon to Hezekiah (1 Kgs 3-2 Kgs 20). A second redactor, inspired by Deuteronomy, completed the history up to King Josiah and altered the work of his predecessor. The work of these two redactors was limited to Kings. A third redactor, also inspired by Deuteronomy, completed the history up to the exile. Unlike the preceding authors he reworked the whole of the deuteronomistic history. . The first part of this study subjects the regnal formulae to a critical analysis. The second part studies 2 Kings 23:1-30 as a text case in detecting the redactional structure of Kings.