Through a close semantic analysis of the Hebrew terms hata' and hatta't (commonly translated as 'sin') in Leviticus 4-5, this study reveals their lexical meanings, unknown for two millennia both in Judaism and in Christianity. 'Sin' has been commonly understood as referring mainly to a violation of God's commandment pertaining to personal conduct. However the revision Nobuyoshi Kiuchi proposes for the meanings of the terms has significant and far-reaching implications for other major themes such as uncleanness and atonement, meaning human salvation before God. The author also provides a...

Joy Philip Kakkanattu provides an exegetical theological analysis of Hosea 11:1-11 through a synchronic and diachronic reading. Detailed critical notes accompany the translation of the text from Hebrew. In the detailed exegesis, special attention is given to study of the key terms theologically significant in Hos 11:1-11 against the context of the whole book. The exegesis shows that in Hos 11:8-9 it is not the repentance of Yahweh that causes the withholding of His anger against Israel, but Yahweh's constancy in His election of Israel as His son. The author concludes that the parent metaphor...

J. Todd Hibbard examines the way in which Isaiah 24-27 reuses earlier texts and traditions as part of its literary strategy. He seeks to define a methodology based on an intertextual approach that is useful for studying prophetic texts. It requires that texts share common vocabulary and themes, be chronologically possible, and exegetically meaningful. Intertextual connections may be forged through citations, allusions, and echoes. The major exegetical categories for understanding the intertextual connections noted in Isaiah 24-27 include texts which universalize earlier judgment passages,...

Although Judah's prophets and priests often stood united in their concerns for the cult, many prophetic texts from the 6th and the 5th century BC testify to a major disagreement between them as to how to worship God. On the basis of Isaiah 56-66, Haggai, Zechariah 1-8 and Malachi, Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer analyzes the critique of the priests as found in the prophetic texts from that period. In these texts, the prophets accused the priests of misdemeanours in both the cultic and the social realm. The author further explores how the same prophets envisioned a more righteous priesthood. Much of the...

This study brings insights from character ethics in addition to the much discussed biblical scholarship on social justice in order to elucidate the concept of righteousness present in the book of Proverbs. Sun Myung Lyu's study finds Proverbs to be very distinctive in emphasizing the ideal human character as the paradigm of moral life. What this ideal person embodies is righteousness, the character in toto, which encompasses yet transcends specific virtues and moral actions. After presenting a comparative study of Proverbs with the Psalms and the ancient Egyptian wisdom texts, the author...

This volume presents collected essays of a symposium held in Jena in August 2012 whose main question was whether there was something like a post-chronistic feedback into the Books of Samuel. The articles investigate the relationship between I-II Sam and I Chr in general aspects as well as by means of a number of case studies. Can I Chr be regarded as a relecture of some Samuel scroll? If so, is it possible to identify some of the latest layers in Samuel as chronistically influenced, that is: as a rereading of the relecture? And by which methods and criteria could that goal be achieved?