Facets of Fear : The Fear of God in Exilic and Post-Exilic Contexts

"The notion "fear of God(s)" is widespread in and beyond the Hebrew Bible. How was it understood and why did it make sense among ancient Jewish scribes to couple "fear" terminology with "God(s)" terminology? How was this notion applied, and what taxonomical challenges does it involve? Phillip Michael Lasater addresses such questions through philological, concept-historical, and exegetical analyses, responding to the history of research on the topic and opening up fresh perspectives." Cover 1 Titel 4 Acknowledgements 9 Inhalt 12 Introduction 17 I. Philological, interpersonal, and theological dimensions of ירא 22 1. The distribution of ירא-derivatives in the Hebrew Bible 23 2. The semantic field of ירא: synonyms, collocations, antonyms 27 2.1. Language, feelings, and meaning – with special reference to ירא 36 2.2. Specifying the meaning of ירא 40 3. Reconsidering the history of research on ירא 43 3.1. Bidding farewell to the alleged relationship between קדוש and ירא 46 3.2. as response to greatness and authority ירא 51 a. Overlap between kings and deities in the ancient Near East 52 b. Deities, kings, and ירא: the link between ירא, greatness, and authority 60 4. Transitive usages of ירא with מן and מפני 73 5. The relationship between ירא and statements of divine nearness 74 1. Developments regarding “religious experience” and the “self” 81 II. Anthropological dimensions of fear and fear of the divine 81 2. The anthropology of ירא 88 2.1 as a natural function of the ירא 89 2.2. The human-regulated לב as the source of ירא 92 a. Jeremiah 5:20–24 92 b. Isaiah 57:7–13 94 c. Isaiah 29:13–14 96 d. Deuteronomy 5:29 98 2.3. The divinely-regulated ירא :לב as an outworking of divine initiative 99 a. Jeremiah 32:38–41 99 b. Psalm 86:8–13 103 c. 1 Kings 8:37–43 105 d. Isaiah 63:15–19 108 1. Introduction 118 2. The text of Jeremiah 10:1–16 (MT) 118 III. ירא in the iconic parody of Jeremiah 10:1–16 118 3. Textual history, structure, and themes 120 4. The date and content of Jeremiah 10:1–16 124 4.1. The issue of dating Jeremiah 10:1–16 124 4.2. The logic of יראת יהוה in Jeremiah 10:1–16 128 5. Briefly contextualizing Jeremiah 10 among texts from the Neo-Babylonian Period 147 6. Summary 151 1. The nature and date of the Holiness Code 157 IV. The Priestly use of ירא in Leviticus 17–26 157 2. The context and use of ירא in Leviticus 17–26 163 2.1. Leviticus 19 168 2.2. Leviticus 25 185 3. Briefly contextualizing H among texts from the Persian period 193 1. Dating the material in Proverbs 1–9 198 V. יראת יהוה, wisdom, and the transcendence of human finitude 198 2. The shape of Proverbs 1–9 200 3. and the transcendence of human finitude through יראת יהוה |חכמה 203 3.1. Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 as an interpretive bracket 204 3.2. Proverbs 1:29 207 3.3. Proverbs 2:5 210 3.4. Proverbs 3:7 213 3.5. Proverbs 8:13a and the origins of חכמה in Proverbs 8 216 4. Excursus: wisdom, transcendence, and ancient translations of ירא -derivatives as θαυμάζειν 227 5. Excursus: Otto, das ganz Andere, and transcendence 231 6. Contextualizing Proverbs 1–9 among texts from the Hellenistic Period 235 VI. Concluding summary 241 Select Bibliography 248 Index 263 "How was the widespread notion "fear of God" understood? Why in the first place did it make sense among ancient Jewish scribes to pair "fear" terminology with "God(s)" terminology? Phillip Michael Lasater addresses these questions through philological, conceptual, and exegetical analyses, responding to the history of research on the topic and opening up fresh perspectives."-- Back cover Back cover: How was the widespread notion "fear of God" understood? Why in the first place did it make sense among ancient Jewish scribes to pair "fear" terminology with "God(s)" terminology? Phillip Michael Lasater addresses these questions through philological, conceptual, and exegetical analyses, responding to the history of research on the topic and opening up fresh perspectives