cover next page > title: Old Testament Ethics : A Paradigmatic Approach author: Janzen, Waldemar. publisher: Westminster John Knox Press isbn10 | asin: 0664254101 print isbn13: 9780664254100 ebook isbn13: 9780585323909 language: English subject Ethics in the Bible, Bible.--O.T.--Theology. publication date: 1994 lcc: BS1199.E8J29 1993eb ddc: 241.5 subject: Ethics in the Bible, Bible.--O.T.--Theology. cover next page > < previous page page_iii next page > Page iii Old Testament Ethics A Paradigmatic Approach Waldemar Janzen < previous page page_iii next page > < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv © 1994 Waldemar Janzen All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster/John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Scripture quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyrighted © 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. Cover design by Susan E. Jackson Book design by Drew Stevens First edition Published by Westminster/John Knox Press Louisville, Kentucky This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39.48 standard. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Janzen, Waldemar. Old Testament ethics : a paradigmatic approach / Waldemar Janzen. 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-664-25410-1 (alk. paper) 1. Ethics in the Bible. 2. Bible. O.T.Theology. I. Title. BS1199.E8J29 1993 241.5dc20 93-32885 < previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page > Page v To my esteemed colleagues past and present on the faculty of the Canadian Mennonite Bible College Winnipeg, Canada < previous page page_v next page > < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Contents Introduction 1 1. Ethical Model Stories 7 7 The Old Testament's Ethical Impact 7 Stories of Saints and Sinners 8 When the Saints Also Become Sinners 9 Yet They Did Right 9 A Familial Model Story: Genesis 13 9 Abraham's Right Act 10 Wider Contexts 12 A Priestly Model Story: Numbers 25 14 A Wisdom Model Story: 1 Samuel 25 15 A Royal Model Story: 1 Samuel 24 17 A Prophetic Model Story: 1 Kings 21 17 Clashing Stories 19 The Role of the Prophet 20 Stories Shape Paradigms 2. The Familial Paradigm 26 26 The Meaning and Function of Paradigm 26 Paradigm Defined 28 Paradigm Versus Law and Principle 29 Paradigms in Canonical Context < previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii 31 Paradigm, Character, and Story 31 Story, Character, and Ethical Decision 32 The Story Context of Genesis 13 33 The Ancient near Eastern Alternative 33 A Second Familial Paradigm Story: Ruth 33 The Paradigmatic Behavior of Ruth and Boaz 35 The Story Context of Ruth 36 A Third Familial Paradigm Story: Judges 19 36 Models and Countermodels of Hospitality 38 The Israelite Context of Hospitality 38 The Three Stories Compared 40 Components of the Familial Paradigm 40 Life 40 Excursus: Individual and Society 42 Land 42 Hospitality 44 An Ethic Rooted in God's Story 3. Principle and Law 55 55 Story and Principle 55 Life, Land, and Hospitality 56 Justice As Principle 57 Law As Principle 57 Two Views of Laws 58 Rabbinic and Rational Influences 59 Law As Story 59 The Story Context of Old Testament Law 60 The Judicial and Covenantal Function of Law 62 The Community-Shaping Function of Legal Series 64 The Primacy of Story over Law 64 Law As Secondary Genre 66 The Interpretive Force of the Sinai Framework 68 Proposals for the Anchoring of Law 68 Emil Brunner: One Divine Imperative 70 The Need for a Middle Level 71 Dale Patrick: Unwritten Law 72 Christopher J. H. Wright: A Paradigm-Shaping Triangle < previous page page_viii next page > < previous page page_ix next page > Page ix 76 Bruce C. Birch: Covenant Community and Decalogue 78 The Multiplicity of Genres and the Unity of Old Testament Ethics 79 Summary 4. The Decalogue 87 87 The Sampling Nature of Old Testament Law Codes 89 The Decalogue's Comprehensiveness and Limitation 89 Comprehensive Function and Sampling Content 90 The Search for Comprehensive Coverage 92 The Content of the Decalogue 92 Comparison with Leviticus 19 94 Comparison with Deuteronomy 27:1526 95 Conclusion 96 The Decalogue and the Familial Paradigm 99 The Decalogue's Centrality of Place and Function 5. The Priestly and Wisdom Paradigms 106 106 The Priestly Paradigm 106 Introduction 107 Familial Ethos and the Zeal of Phinehas 108 Gideon's Response to the Holy 111 Leviticus 19: Israel As Holy Congregation 113 The Instruments of Holiness 113 The Subordination of Priestly to Familial Values 116 Leviticus 25 117 Conclusion 119 The Wisdom Paradigm 119 Introduction 120 Holiness and Wisdom < previous page page_ix next page > < previous page page_x next page > Page x 121 Popular, or Folk, Wisdom 121 Its Village Setting 122 Its Theological and Historical Nature 123 Wisdom and Character 123 Wisdom Models 125 Joseph: A Familial-Royal Model 126 Job 31: A Familial-Wisdom Model 129 Royal, or Court, Wisdom 130 The Limits of Wisdom 6. The Royal and Prophetic Paradigms 140 140 The Royal Paradigm 140 Introduction 141 Ideal and Ambiguity of Kingship 141 The Ideal 142 The Ambiguity 143 Models and Antimodels 143 Canonical Considerations Concerning Kingship 144 David 145 Beyond David 146 The Centrality of Justice/Righteousness 146 Psalm 72: Justice with Messianic Horizons 149 The King and the Law 150 Distinctive Israelite Kingship 150 Justice and Story 151 The Law of the King 152 Davidic Line and Messianic Hope 154 The Prophetic Paradigm 154 Introduction 156 Prophet and King 156 The Naboth Story Again 156 The Turn in the Eighth Century 158 The New Class of Leaders 160 Prophet and Priest 164 Prophet and Sage < previous page page_x next page > < previous page page_xi next page > Page xi 166 The Good Life in Prophetic Perspective 166 Jeremiah's Letter 167 The Interim Ethic of Ezekiel 18 169 Second Isaiah: Prophet of Hope 169 The New Exodus 170 The Servant of Yahweh 173 The Prophet As Model Israelite 173 The Older Prophets 174 Jeremiah 175 The Merging of Prophet and Israel 177 Retrospect 7. The Old Testament Paradigms and the Paradigm of Jesus 187 187 Introduction 188 Linking the Testaments 188 A Canonical Approach 189 An Ethic of Following Jesus 193 The Paradigmatic Roles of Jesus 193 Jesus As Priest 195 Jesus As Sage 196 Jesus As King 198 Jesus As Prophet 200 The Paradigmatic Roles of Jesus and the Kingdom of God 202 The Kingdom of God and the Familial Paradigm 202 Continuity of Grace 203 Life 205 Land 206 Hospitality 209 Conclusion Index of Scripture References 217 Index of Authors 224 Index of Subjects 227 < previous page page_xi next page > < previous page page_1 next page > Page 1 Introduction This book speaks to the church. It addresses Christians who have the Old Testament before them in its entirety and accept it as part of their canon. As such, they consider it to be relevant and authoritative for themselves, at least to some degree, not only in the realm of theological doctrine but also in the realm of ethics. When such Christians search for a way to appropriate the Old Testament's guidance for the ethics of the church, they face a major problem in the multiplicity of Old Testament genres. Where should they begin to listen? Jewish tradition has heard the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, first and foremost as law. Many Christians, perhaps despairing of the multiplicity of genres and the sheer volume and complexity of the Old Testament, have attempted to limit God's requirements for the good life to the Ten Commandments. Others have reduced the Old Testament's ethical message to a general call for justice. But what of the many stories modeling God-pleasing behavior? Or the wisdom writings? Or the preaching of the prophets? It is my goal to provide Christians with a model for grasping the Old Testament's ethical message in a comprehensive way, thereby avoiding a reductionist concentration on any one genre, like law, or any one selection of texts, like the Ten Commandments or the prophetic calls for justice. In this quest, I will argue, it is better to begin with the genre of story than with that of law, as is done so often not only in Judaism but also in Christian and in religiously detached academic treatments of Old < previous page page_1 next page > < previous page page_2 next page > Page 2 Testament ethics. Story is the literary genre that, next to actual cultic practice, Was most important in the transmission of theological-ethical instruction in ancient Israel itself. The central mode of transmitting biblical faith was recital. When the Israelite child asked his or her parents for an interpretation of their religious and ethical practices, the father was to reply by telling a story (Deut. 6:2025). The Old Testament as a whole, in all its diversity, is in a sense a story. Even its legal collections, including the Ten Commandments, have been incorporated into that story in the final canonical text. They no longer function as self-contained law codes, as they once did, but have become sermons heard by Israel in a particular story context, whether at Mount Sinai, as part of the proclamation of God's covenant (Exodus 20-Numbers 10), or on the Plains of Moab, where Moses exhorts the people to a new life in the new land that they are about to enter (Deuteronomy 1226).