Covenant in the Persian Period: From Genesis to Chronicles

Published by Penn State University Press 2015

Covenant in the Persian Period

From Genesis to Chronicles

Edited by: Richard J. Bautch and Gary N. Knoppers

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575063577

Overview
Contents

About this book

The 22 essays in this new and comprehensive study explore how notions of covenant, especially the Sinaitic covenant, flourished during the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, and early Hellenistic periods. Following the upheaval of the Davidic monarchy, the temple’s destruction, the disenfranchisement of the Jerusalem priesthood, the deportation of Judeans to other lands, the struggles of Judeans who remained in the land, and the limited returns of some Judean groups from exile, the covenant motif proved to be an increasingly influential symbol in Judean intellectual life. The contributors to this volume, drawn from many different countries including Canada, Germany, Israel, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States, document how Judean writers working within historiographic, Levitical, prophetic, priestly, and sapiential circles creatively reworked older notions of covenant to invent a new way of understanding this idea. These writers examine how new conceptions of the covenant made between YHWH and Israel at Mt. Sinai play a significant role in the process of early Jewish identity formation. Others focus on how transformations in the Abrahamic, Davidic, and Priestly covenants responded to cultural changes within Judean society, both in the homeland and in the diaspora. Cumulatively, the studies of biblical writings, from Genesis to Chronicles, demonstrate how Jewish literature in this period developed a striking diversity of ideas related to covenantal themes.

Reviews

“R. Bautch and G. Knoppers are to be thanked for a volume that at the same time provides an excellent foundation as well as a wealth of ideas for future research.”
—Joachim J. Krause, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1 Pentateuch
Abraham amidst the Nations: The Priestly Concept of Covenant and the Persian Imperial Ideology Jakob Wöhrle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
The “Eternal Covenant” in the Priestly Pentateuch and the Major Prophets Andreas Schüle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
Correlating the Covenants in Exodus 24 and Exodus 34 Wolfgang Oswald Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
The Covenant in Leviticus 26: A Concept of Admonition and Redemption Thomas Hieke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Part 2 Historical Books (Deuteronomistic History)
“The Unwritten Text of the Covenant” Torah in the Mouth of the Prophets Reinhard Achenbach Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
A Balancing Act: Settling and Unsettling Issues Concerning Past Divine Promises in Historiographical Texts Shaping Social Memory in the Late Persian Period Ehud Ben Zvi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
From Covenant to Connubium: Persian Period Developments in the Perception of Covenant in the Deuteronomistic History Cynthia Edenburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Part 3 Prophecy
The Covenant in the Book of Jeremiah On the Employment of Family and Political Metaphors Dalit Rom-Shiloni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Inner-Biblical Interpretation in the Redaction of Jeremiah 33:14–26 Matthew Sjöberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Breaking an Eternal Covenant: Isaiah 24:5 and Persian-Period Discourse about the Covenant J. Todd Hibbard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Presumptions of “Covenant” in Joel James Nogalski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Curse, Covenant, and Temple in the Book of Haggai John Kessler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Zechariah 11 and the Shepherd’s Broken Covenant Richard J. Bautch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
The Reproach of the Priests (Malachi 1:6–2:9) within Malachi’s Conception of Covenant Elie Assis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Achaemenid Persian Concepts Pertaining to Covenant and Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi Christine Mitchell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Part 4 Wisdom Literature
The Psalms, Covenant, and the Persian Period W. H. Bellinger Jr Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Poems, Prayers, and Promises The Psalms and Israel’s Three Covenants Carol J. Dempsey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
“When the Friendship of God Was upon My Tent” Covenant as Essential Background to Lament in the Wisdom Literature Jamie A. Grant Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
Qohelet and the Covenant: Some Preliminary Observations Thomas M. Bolin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Part 5 Chronicles, Ezr a, and Nehemiah
Ezra 10:3: Solemn Oath? Renewed Covenant? New Covenant? Douglas J. E. Nykolaishen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	371
Reenvisioning the Relationship: Covenant in Chronicles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391
“The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord” The Place of Covenant in the Chronicler’s Theology Louis C. Jonker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	409
Index of Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	431
Index of Scripture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	437

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 464

eBook

Published: November 4, 2015
ISBN: 9781575063577