Front Matter

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87365-9 - The God of Israel Edited by Robert P. Gordon Frontmatter More information

The God of Israel

In the ancient Near East the God of Israel stands unique; he is the central character of the Old Testament. The collection of essays in this volume presents the historical background against which belief in him developed and discusses aspects of the topic that remain unresolved or largely unaddressed. What was he like? How does he differ from other gods of the ancient world? And what difference does the worship of this god make, both in the world of the Bible and now? The papers presented contribute to the continuing discussion about the God of Israel and other deities in the ancient Near East, and the emergence of monotheistic belief and worship. A multifaceted approach is adopted in which comparative, theological, historical, literary-critical, cultural, narratological, canonical, exegetical and ethical issues feature prominently.

robert p. gordon is Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 64 The God of Israel

A series list is shown at the back of the book

The God of Israel

edited by

ROBERT P. GORDON University of Cambridge

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, S˜aoPaulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521873659 C Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

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ISBN 978-0-521-87365-9 hardback

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For John A. Emerton

CONTENTS

List of contributors page ix Preface xi List of abbreviations xiii

Part I General perspectives 1 Introducing the God of Israel 3 Robert P. Gordon 2 Aniconism in the Old Testament 20 Nathan MacDonald 3 Imitation of God in the Old Testament 35 John Barton 4 Monotheism and the God of many names 47 Ronald E. Clements 5 God, creation and the contribution of wisdom 60 Katharine J. Dell 6 By royal appointment: God’s influence on influencing God 73 Diana Lipton 7 Is monotheism bad for you?: some reflections on God, the Bible, and life in the light of Regina Schwartz’s The Curse of Cain 94 R. W. L. Moberly 8 Old Testament monotheism and Zoroastrian influence 113 Simon J. Sherwin

Part II Texts and themes 9 God, women and children 127 Janet E. Tollington 10 The exegesis of the divine name in Exodus 139 Graham I. Davies

vii

viii Contents

11 The de-deiﬁcation of deities in Deuteronomy 157 Judith M. Hadley 12 Is God moral?: on the Saul narratives as tragedy 175 Peter J. Williams 13 Standing in the Council: when prophets encounter God 190 Robert P. Gordon 14 Ugaritic polytheism and Hebrew monotheism in Isaiah 40–55 205 Klaus Koch 15 Interpreting Jonah’s God: canon and criticism 229 Philip P. Jenson 16 The God of the pre-Maccabees: designations of the Divine in the early Hellenistic period 246 James K. Aitken 17 Deity in Ecclesiasticus 267 William Horbury

Index of passages cited 293 Index of authors 305

CONTRIBUTORS

JAMES K. AITKEN,Teaching Fellow in Hebrew and Aramaic, University of Cambridge JOHN BARTON,Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scrip- ture, University of Oxford RONALD E. CLEMENTS, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies, King’s College, University of London GRAHAM I. DAVIES, Professor of Old Testament Studies, University of Cambridge KATHARINE J. DELL,Senior Lecturer in Old Testament Studies, University of Cambridge ROBERT P. GORDON,Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Cambridge JUDITH M. HADLEY,Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Archaeol- ogy, Villanova University WILLIAM HORBURY, Professor of Jewish and Early Christian Studies, University of Cambridge PHILIP P. JENSON, Lecturer in Old Testament, Ridley Hall, Cambridge KLAUS KOCH,Emeritus Professor of Old Testament, University of Hamburg DIANA LIPTON, Lecturer in Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, King’s Col- lege, University of London

NATHAN MACDONALD, Lecturer in Old Testament, University of St Andrews R. W. L. MOBERLY, Professor of Theology and Biblical Interpretation, University of Durham SIMON J. SHERWIN,Sometime Post-Doctoral Fellow, The British Academy JANET E. TOLLINGTON,Director of Old Testament Studies, Westminster College, Cambridge PETER J. WILLIAMS, Senior Lecturer in New Testament, University of Aberdeen

PREFACE

In recent years there has been a developing interest specifically in Israel’s God, even while attention has continued to be paid to the religion of ancient Israel and to the theology of the biblical books that informs accounts of, and responses to, that religion. The reasons for this more focussed interest in Israel’s God are various, but they include the continuing contribution of archaeological and inscriptional evidence to our appreciation of the religious and cultural context in which Israelite religion and faith developed, the application to biblical texts of literary approaches that have established themselves elsewhere in the humanities, and the challenge of issues that changing cultural agendas bring to bear on the biblical text. The present volume seeks to make its contribution partly by taking up issues that have already proved fruitful in discussion and also by giving attention to some that have not been explored to the same degree. The papers presented here originated in a series of seminars held under the auspices of the Old Testament Seminar of the Faculty of Divinity and the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge, in the period 2001–4. Most of the contributors are regular members of the Seminar, or have been in the past, while two – John Barton and Klaus Koch – made guest appearances. As is noted in the introductory chapter, we may take it as axiomatic for the period of the Israelite kingdoms that worship was not mono-focussed in the way that the prophets and others demanded. Nevertheless, the working title of the Seminar series, The God of Israel, has been retained for the volume, as representing an essential truth about the relationship of YHWH to the people of Israel. The first meetings of the Old Testament Seminar were held in St John’s College in the late 1960s, under the leadership of Andrew Macintosh, Ronald Clements and the late Barnabas Lindars. The chairmanship then passed to John Emerton when the Seminar moved into a faculty setting just over twenty-five years ago. It is the wish of the current co-chairmen of the Seminar – Graham Davies, Katharine Dell and myself – that this volume be dedicated to John, who set a standard of contribution from the chair that is rightly remembered as one of its most notable features during the many years that he organized the Seminar.

xii Preface

Finally, warm thanks are due to Michael Sharp, Sarah Parker and Elizabeth Davey of Cambridge University Press for their ﬁne work under pressure during the preparation and production stages, and to Jan Chapman for the exceptional care and skill with which she copy-edited the volume.

Robert Gordon

ABBREVIATIONS

AB The Anchor Bible ABD D. N. Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992) AGAJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums ANEP J. B. Pritchard (ed.), The Ancient Near East in Pictures (1954) ANET J. B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd edn, 1969) AfO Archiv fur¨ Orientforschung AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament ATD Das Alte Testament Deutsch AThANT Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments BARev Biblical Archaeology Review BBB Bonner Biblische Beitr¨age BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906) BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Bib Biblica BibS Biblische Studien BIOSCS Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library BKAT Biblischer Kommentar: Altes Testament BN Biblische Notizen BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies BT Babylonian Talmud BWANT Beitr¨agezur Wissenschaft vom Alten (und Neuen) Testament BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur¨ die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago CBET Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology

xiii

xiv List of abbreviations

CBOT Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Series CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CIJ Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum CPJ Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum CTA A. Herdner (ed.), Corpus des tablettes en cuneiformes´ alphabetiques´ , I–II (1963) DDD K. van der Toorn et al. (eds.), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (1995; 2nd edn, 1999) DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments GK Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar (as edited and enlarged by E. Kautzsch; 2nd English edn, revised in accordance with the twenty-eighth German edn by A. E. Cowley, 1910) GTA G¨ottinger Theologische Arbeiten HALAT W. Baumgartner and J. J. Stamm (eds.), Hebraisches¨ und Aramaisches¨ Lexikon zum Alten Testament, I–VI (3rd edn; Leiden, 1967–76) HdO Handbuch der Orientalistik HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs HTR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual ICC The International Critical Commentary IOS Israel Oriental Studies ITC International Theological Commentary JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JB Jerusalem Bible JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JTS Journal of Theological Studies KAI H. Donner and W. R¨ollig, Kanaanaische¨ und aramaische¨ Inschriften, I–III (1962–4; 2nd edn 1966) KAT Kommentar zum Alten Testament KTU M. Dietrich et al. (eds.), Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit (1976); The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places (1995)

List of abbreviations xv

LXX The ‘Septuagint’ Greek Version of the Old Testament MIO Mitteilungen des Instituts f¨urOrientforschung MOS MOS Studies MT Masoretic Text NCB New Century Bible NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament NIV New International Version NRSV New Revised Standard Version NS New Series OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis OTG Old Testament Guides OTL Old Testament Library OTS Oudtestamentische Studi¨en PAAJR Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research PG J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca PL J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Latina PRU Le palais royal d’Ugarit PT Palestinian Talmud RB Revue Biblique RHPR Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses SBL Society of Biblical Literature SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity SJSNT Supplements to Journal for the Study of the New Testament SJSOT Supplements to Journal for the Study of the Old Testament SJT Scottish Journal of Theology ST Studia Theologica STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah SVT Supplements to Vetus Testamentum TCS Texts from Cuneiform Sources THAT E. Jenni and C. Westermann (eds.), Theologisches Handbuch zum Alten Testament, I–II (1971–6) TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries TSAJ Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism TU Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur TWAT G. J. Botterweck et al. (eds.), Theologisches Worterbuch¨ zum Alten Testament (1970–) UF Ugarit-Forschungen UT C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (1969) VF Verkundigung¨ und Forschung VT Vetus Testamentum

xvi List of abbreviations

WBC Word Biblical Commentary WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament ZAW Zeitschrift fur¨ die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZTK Zeitschrift fur¨ Theologie und Kirche