Re-Reading the Scriptures: Essays on the Literary History of the Old Testament (Forschungen Zum Alten Testament)

This volume contains 15 papers written by Christoph Levin between 2001 and 2011, four of them unpublished. One main focus is on the Pentateuch, mainly on the oldest comprehensive narrative source, the Yahwist, which was written at the beginning of the Jewish diaspora. One paper gives an outline of the features of this source as they emerge resulting from an inquiry into their redaction history. In addition the full text of the Yahwist's history is given in an English translation, the sources used by the editor being distinguished from the editorial text. Other papers deal with single stories of the Yahwist's history, such as the narrative of creation and fall in Gen 2-3, the story of Joseph's fate in Egypt in Gen 39, the story of the call of Moses in Exod 3, and the story of the miracle at the sea in Exod 14. A second focus is on the books of Kings, on their chronological structure as well as on the final two chapters 2 Kgs 24-25. The author deals with the prophetical books, in particular with the theology of the word of God in the book of Jeremiah and with the day of Yahweh within the book of Zephaniah. He also studies the Israelite religion in the time of the monarchy, the origins of biblical Covenant theology, and the Old Testament attitude to poverty. All the papers are based on a detailed investigation into the literary growth of the biblical text. The author shows that the Old Testament as we know it originated from a process of continual re-reading during the Second Temple period. Re-Reading the Scriptures: Essays on the Literary History of the Old Testament 4 Preface 8 Table of Contents 12 List of Abbreviations 14 The Yahwist: The Earliest Editor in the Pentateuch 18 I 18 II 22 III 27 IV 29 V 32 VI 33 VII 38 The Text of the Yahwist’s History 42 Genesis 2–3: A Case of Inner-Biblical Interpretation 68 The Earliest Form of the Narrative 69 The Fundamental Anthropological Viewpoints 73 The Nature of Sin 74 The Origin of Mortality and the Possibility of Eternal Life 79 Righteousness in the Joseph Story: Joseph Resists Seduction (Genesis 39) 82 The Literary-Historical Problem 82 The Original Shape of the Scene 89 The Narrative within the Yahwist’s History (J) 90 The Righteousness Edition 91 Further Traces of the Righteousness Edition 96 Appendix 97 The Yahwist and the Redactional Link between Genesis and Exodus 100 Appendix The Yahwist as Editor in Exodus 3: The Evidence of Language 106 Summary 110 Source Criticism: The Miracle at the Sea 112 Definition of the Method 112 The Miracle at the Sea 115 The Supplementary Hypothesis (1): Late Revisions and Expansions 117 The Documentary Hypothesis: The Separation of the Yahwist’s History and the Priestly Code 121 The Supplementary Hypothesis (2): Supplements within the Priestly Code 125 The Redaction Hypothesis: The Narrative within the Yahwist’s History 128 The Fragment Hypothesis: The Transmitted Sources 130 On the Cohesion and Separation of Books within the Enneateuch 132 Single Books or Large Redactional Units? 132 The Size of the Scrolls 135 Samuel and Kings 137 Judges and Samuel 138 Joshua and Judges 142 Deuteronomy and Joshua 146 Genesis und Exodus 147 Exodus and Leviticus 150 Leviticus and Numbers 151 Numbers and Deuteronomy 153 Conclusions 156 Israel and Canaan: The Origins of a Fictitious Antagonism 160 Conditions in the Period of the Monarchy 162 “Israel” as the Subject of the Pre-State Narrative 167 Israelites under Canaanites: the Era of the Patriarchs 168 Yahwist and Deuteronomist 172 The Developed Concept 176 Old Testament Religion: Conflict and Peace 182 The “Balance of Power” in Nature and Politics 182 Mythology Mirrors the Experience of Life 183 Yahweh, the Victorious King 185 The Temple as the Residence of Yahweh 191 The King in Dialogue with Yahweh 193 The King Trusts in Yahweh 196 Judaism: Israel becomes Yahweh’s Vassal 197 The Synchronistic Excerpt from the Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah 200 II 201 III 203 IV 206 V 207 VI 208 VII 209 Abstract 210 The Empty Land in Kings 212 Jehoiachin and the First Deportation 214 Zedekiah’s Fate 221 The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Deportation 226 The Reign of Gedaliah 231 The Rehabilitation of Jehoiachin 234 Conclusions 236 The “Word of Yahweh”: A Theological Concept in the Book of Jeremiah 238 Introduction 238 Jeremiah 1:4–10 240 Jeremiah 1:11–14 243 Jeremiah 2:1 245 Jeremiah 13:1–11 248 Jeremiah 16:1–9 252 Jeremiah 18:1–6 254 Jeremiah 32:1–15 255 Jeremiah 35 257 Conclusion 259 The Origins of Biblical Covenant Theology 262 The Starting Point 263 Factors of Transition 265 The Crisis 267 The Religio-Historical Turn 269 The Application on History 273 The Application on the Performance of the Cult 276 Zephaniah: How this Book became Prophecy 278 Seven Main Layers in Zeph 1:1 – 2:3 280 The Book’s Superscription (Zeph 1:1) 283 The Present Book’s Motto (Zeph 1:2–3) 284 The Sin of Manasseh (Zeph 1:4–6) 285 The Proclamation of the Theophany (Zeph 1:7) 287 Why the Catastrophe Has/Shall Come (Zeph 1:8–13) 288 The Day of YHWH (Zeph 1:14–16a) 290 Prophetic Interpretation (Zeph 1:15abαβ) 294 The Pious Pour Shall be Saved in the Coming Catastrophe (Zeph 1:16b–2:3) 294 Conclusion: the Growing Process of Zeph 1:1–2:3 296 The Poor in the Old Testament: Some Observations 298 Introduction 298 The Ancient Near Eastern and Preexilic Israelite Attitude to Poverty 298 The Social Criticism in the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament 301 The Problem of Debt in the Torah and its Possible Cause in Post-Exilic History 305 The Poor as a Distinctive Group Within Late Postexilic Judaism 309 The Poor (Anawim) and the Messiah 311 Outlook 316 Abstract 317 Sources and Acknowledgments 318 Index of Hebrew Words and Phrases 322 Subject Index 324 Reference Index 328 Author Index 334 This volume contains 15 papers written by Christoph Levin between 2001 and 2011, four of them unpublished. One main focus is on the Pentateuch, mainly on the oldest comprehensive narrative source, the Yahwist, which was written at the beginning of the Jewish diaspora. A second focus is on the books of Kings, on their chronological structure as well as on the final two chapters 2 Kgs 24-25. Christoph Levin also deals with the Israelite religion in the time of the monarchy, the origins of biblical Covenant theology, and the Old Testament attitude to poverty. All the papers are based on a detailed investigation of the literary growth of the biblical text. The author shows that the Old Testament as we know it originated from a process of continual re-reading during the Second Temple period.