The Old Greek translation of Zechariah has not received much scholarly attention even though it contains several well known passages. Questions concerning its origin and character as a translation have yet to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner. The present monograph aims to bridge this gap by offering new methodological perspectives. The Old Greek Translation of Zechariah attempts to answer questions concerning the outlook of the translation, and what faction of the Jewish society was interested in translating this book into Greek. It argues that the translator had pro-Hasmonean...

Isa. 52:13-53:12 has occupied a special position within Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as within biblical scholarship. This book focuses particularly on different ways of reading this text. Historical-critical readings in the tradition after Bernhard Duhm are challenged. In Duhmian readings of Isa. 52:13-53:12, Gottesknecht has become a technical term, Ebed-Jahwe-Lied a genre, Stellvertretung an established theological concept and "servant song research" a separate discipline within biblical scholarship. After a critical presentation of the Duhmian readings, three other ways of...

Various biblical studies on wealth and poverty have been published over the last thirty years. Some of these studies touch on the wealth of the patriarchs in Genesis 12-50, but they focus predominantly on other parts of the Bible. Scholars who have studied the patriarchal narratives in detail comment on aspects of patriarchal wealth, but do not offer an in-depth analysis of this topic. This book on Jacob's wealth shows that such an analysis is warranted. In the Jacob story, material possessions and their associated attitudes and actions are essential to understand the various relationship...

Prior studies of incubation have approached it from a history of religions perspective, with a view to historically reconstruct the actual practice of incubation in ancient Near East. However, this approach has proven unfruitful, not due to the dearth of relevant data, but because of the confusion with regard to the definition of the term incubation. Suggesting a way out of this impasse in previous scholarship, this book proposes to read the so-called "incubation" texts from the perspective of incubation as a literary device, namely, as a type-scene. It applies Nagler's definition of a...

Eschewing both so-called minimalist and maximalist readings, this volume advocates an understanding of the book of Samuel as ancient narrative historiography that must be understood according to its own conception and ideology of history before being judged as a historical source. This study shows how narrative strategies and literary embellishment, unaccustomed in modern historiography, are used to express familiar historical concepts such as causation, meaning and evaluation of the past. The requirements for historical 'accuracy' within the book's cultural milieu are investigated through...

The present volume contains a collection of essays on the Book of Isaiah offered as a tribute to Arie van der Kooij on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, which coincides with his retirement as Professor of Old Testament at Leiden University. The twenty-four contributions, written by leading scholars in the field of Old Testament studies, focus on the Book of Isaiah within the context of Hebrew and ancient near-eastern writings, particularly those from the Neo-Assyrian period, as well as on the book's reception history, particularly in its Greek and Syriac translations. Together these...

This monograph seeks to determine the geographical provenance of Isaiah 40-55. It reassesses past research pertaining to Babylonian influence and reexamines the claims that all or parts of Isaiah 40-55 reflect the concerns of the exilic community in Babylon. It further challenges the prevalent view that the return of the exiles is of central concern in Isaiah 40-55, and instead proposes that Jerusalem and her imminent restoration is its focal point. It interprets Isaiah 40-55 as a polyvalent text that allows multiple and often contradictory views regarding Jerusalem's current suffering. The...

This volume brings together the main contributions to the 20th congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) held in Helsinki, Finland in August, 2010. The 24 articles discuss the following five topics: Archaeology and texts, with an emphasis on the Persian Period; Qumran, the Septuagint and the Textual History of the Hebrew Bible; Deuteronomistic texts, with a special focus on the question "What is 'Deuteronomistic?'"; Wisdom and Apocalypticism; and methodological and interdisciplinary issues such as Bible and art and intertextuality. The volume gives...

Written by leading experts in the field, The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation offers a wide-ranging treatment of the main aspects of Genesis study. Its twenty-nine essays fall under four main sections. The first section contains studies of a more general nature, including the history of Genesis in critical study, Genesis in literary and historical study, as well as the function of Genesis in the Pentateuch. In the second portion, scholars present commentary on or interpretation of specific passages (or sections) of Genesis, as well as essays on its formation,...

Greek papyrus codex 967 (p967) manifests a different edition of Ezekiel from the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT). This study defines and uses a "manuscript approach" to argue that p967 qualifies as a variant literary edition of Ezekiel. Methodologically, the approach is rooted in text-critical analysis, clarifies p967's textual significance, and shows that its text usually reflects the Old Greek translation and in many cases an early Hebrew edition of Ezekiel. The literary analysis of p967 and MT procedes according to sets of variants that participate in literary Tendenzen, adopting the...