The epoch from the eighth century B.C.E. up to the exile is marked by a great transformation in the society of ancient Judah, as reflected especially in the texts of the pre-exilic prophets. A relatively egalitarian society transforms into a class society, wherein a class of wealthy landowners is opposed to a growing class of impoverished farmers. The main factor in this development is the indebtedness of the farmers. All the forces of society and state are afflicted by this transformation. This book endeavours to describe this transformation as precisely as possible, by examining the...

Le present ouvrage tente la mise en oeuvre de l'analyse structurelle pour vingt psaumes, soit les Pss. 52, 54-60, 108, 62, 64-66, 78-80, 91-92, et le grand Ps. 119. Son ambition est de montrer a quel point l'architecture de ces textes en conditionne et en ouvre l'interpretation. Les considerer comme des ensembles structures, faisant jouer entre les diverses unites des rapports multiples et ordonnes, est necessaire a leur comprehension. A l'occasion on montre comment l'analyse structurelle permet de mieux saisir l'enchainement des psaumes consecutifs dans le Psautier, ou encore les rapports...

This volume is concerned with the origin and development of the Targum to the Prophets, focusing for this purpose upon the Twelve Prophets (from Nahum to Malachi). A wide-ranging introductory chapter sets current research in context by surveying almost two centuries of Targumic study. It is argued that the evidence in the extant text for a Second Commonwealth phase in the Targum's history is meagre and that, in particular, the Qumran Habakkuk pesher is not dependent upon the Targum to Habakkuk. Other issues discussed are the Hebrew Vorlage of the Targum, incipit formulae,...

This volume describes how the rhetorical devices used in Judges inspire its readers to support a divinely appointed Judahite king who endorses the deuteronomic agenda to rid the land of foreigners, to maintain inter-tribal loyalty to YHWH's cult, and to uphold social justice.
Matters of rhetorical concern interpreted here include the superimposed cycle-motif and tribal-political schemata, concerns reflected in the plot-layers of each hero story, the force of narrative analogy for characterization, the strategy of entrapment which foreshadows portrayals of Saul and David in 1 Samuel, and...

The present monograph is the first, since 1848, to be entirely devoted to the study of the cereal offerings. Its purpose is to attract attention to a form of sacrifice which was largely neglected and solely considered as an appendix to the animal sacrifice.
The study of their substance, ritual and the circumstances in which the cereal offerings are brought to God demonstrates their great complexity as well as their specific function.
His vegetarian utopia has led P to give the cereal offerings a prominent place among the sacrifices. A similar appreciation of the cereal offerings is also...

Rhetoric and Redaction in Trito-Isaiah attempts to integrate the insights of rhetorical criticism into a diachronic study of Isaiah 56-66. Whereas previous, redaction-critical approaches to these chapters have tended to be strongly fissive in their treatment of this material, insights from rhetorical and stylistic criticism are used here to emphasize the elements of unity and coherence in longer sections of text, and to provide additional criteria by which to delimit and structure sections of this poetry. On this basis, a number of new proposals will be presented concerning the...

This volume contains the papers presented to a symposium organized by the Theological Faculty of the University of Groningen on the occasion of the seventieth birthday of Adam S. van der Woude, former Professor of Old Testament and Early Judaism and former head of the Qumran Institute at the same Faculty. The essays, eight in English and four in German, explore (through case studies) the developments over the last few years in the different areas of study of the Old Testament and of Early Judaism, observe the new perspectives opened in these areas and map the directions in which the research...

This volume deals with the question of the "deuteronomistic history" in the Old Testament and attempts to demonstrate that such a uniform history never existed; the books of Deuteronomy - 2 Kings do not contain such a history.
The first part of the book shows that there is no homogenous conceptual framework in the deuteronomistic historical books. For example, different concepts of sin and punishment are found. Even the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem does not represent a "Leitmotiv" of divine punishment.
The second part of the book deals with problems relating to the various...

This volume offers a critical examination of recent theories concerning the growth of biblical literature in the light of the oldest textual witnesses (the Qumran biblical scrolls and the Septuagint). On the basis of a fresh examination of a selection of passages in the book of Joshua, it is shown that these witnesses do not reflect a stage in the literary formation of the book prior to the standardised (Masoretic) text, but a reinterpretation and reformulation of its contents. The study presents a new literary-critical solution to the intricate problems of Joshua 8 and a detailed exegesis of...