The Messenger of the Lord in Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis

Camilla Hélena von Heijne

Published by De Gruyter 2010

The Messenger of the Lord in Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis

Camilla Hélena von Heijne

Volume 412 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110226850

Overview
Contents

About this book

The focus of this book is on early Jewish interpretations of the ambiguous relationship between God and ‛the angel of the Lord/God’ in texts like Genesis 16, 22 and 31. Genesis 32 is included since it exhibits the same ambiguity and constitutes an inseparable part of the Jacob saga. The study is set in the wider context of the development of angelology and concepts of God in various forms of early Judaism.
When identifying patterns of interpretation in Jewish texts, their chronological setting is less important than the nature of the biblical source texts. For example, a common pattern is the avoidance of anthropomorphism.
In Genesis ‛the angel of the Lord’ generally seems to be a kind of impersonal extension of God, while later Jewish writings are characterized by a more individualized angelology, but the ambivalence between God and his angel remains in many interpretations. In Philo's works and Wisdom of Solomon, the ‛Logos’ and ‛Lady Wisdom’ respectively have assumed the role of the biblical ‛angel of the Lord’. Although the angelology of Second Temple Judaism had developed in the direction of seeing angels as distinct personalities, Judaism still had room for the idea of divine hypostases.

Author / Editor information

Camilla Hélena von Heijne, Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm, Sweden.

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	I
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XV
1. Defining the Issue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Early Jewish Exegesis – A Survey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
3. The Ambiguous Identity of the Angel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
4. The Angel of the Lord – Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
5. Comparative Analysis and Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Backmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Academics, Institutes, Libraries
Pages
- Front matter: 17
- Main content: 417
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 4
- Other: frontispiece
Keywords: Old Testament; Angel; Genesis; Angelology; Early Jewish Interpretation

eBook

Published: September 29, 2010
ISBN: 9783110226850

Hardcover

Published: September 17, 2010
ISBN: 9783110226843