In 1 Kings 1-2 King David’s impending death divides the monarchy over which of his two sons, Adonijah or Solomon, should be the future king. At this pivotal moment one might expect YHWH to reveal who should take over after David, as YHWH had done before (1 Sam 9:1-10:1; 16:1-13); however, YHWH is silent and the human characters take the lead. Nevertheless, YHWH has not disappeared completely from 1 Kings 1-2 because, as the narrative unfolds, YHWH is invoked twenty-four times. Although this language has drawn some attention, with scholars arguing that it either adds theological validation to the characters’ actions or re"ects a theological perspective that assumes that YHWH acts behind the scenes, there is more that might be said regarding its function in the narratives. In this study, I adopt narrative criticism to undertake a close reading of 1 Kings 1-2 that pays particular attention to how characters and the narrator use invocations of YHWH and the events in the plot that prompt or result from this language. I argue that invocations of YHWH have a number of functions in 1 Kings 1-2, with the function of characters’ invocations being particularly dependent on the identities of the characters, their relationships, and the narrative contexts in which they participate.

Though interpreters commonly neglect the masoretic accents in exegesis, this system clarifies and confirms the sense of the text through highly predictable patterns. This dissertation seeks to establish the presence of intentional Masoretic accent patterns that correspond to syntactic features of the text. After establishing the statistical consistency of the pattern in the book of Judges, each chapter examines various examples of the pattern and intentional divergence. Intentional divergence also serves to establish the premise that the patterns are indeed laid down in a systematic fashion. Various examples of divergence illustrate their usefulness by indicating points of semantic interest. The value of these regular patterns and divergent examples warrants greater attention in the exegetical process. Chapter 2 presents the pattern for Etnachta at the conclusion of mid-verse direct speech (e.g., Judg 1:3; 4:9; 6:20; 7:9–11; 8:20; 15:1). Chapter 3 examines the pattern for the interjection ועתה (ve‘atah) from Genesis to Kings (e.g., Judg 13:7; 15:18; 1 Sam 9:13; 2 Kgs 7:9). Chapter 4 opens up the pattern for framing conditional clauses (e.g., Judg 4:8; 6:17; 9:15; 9:19–20; 11:30–31; 13:16; 13:23; 14:13; Gen 18:3; 28:20–22). Chapter 5 investigates the use of Masoretic accents in contexts of contrast, specifically in the presence of the contrast structures vav + X + verb, and vav + לא + verb (e.g., Judg 1:27; 2:17; 10:13). The examination of these patterns forms the heart of the dissertation. At least three practical implications for exegesis emerge from this study: (1) confirmation of clause boundaries, (2) guidance in grouping clauses, and (3) indication of literary interest via accent patterns. The consistency and predictability of the accents benefits the interpreter in the course of regular Bible reading, and the intentional divergence from these patterns often signals a point of literary interest. Readers must know the typical patterns in order to spot divergence from them. The dissertation concludes with suggestions for future study related to Masoretic accent patterns.

There is no consensus on why Ezekiel 20 differs so strongly from the other historical traditions and texts known from the Torah. Are the authors simply purposefully selective in their reuse of earlier ‘historical' material, or do they offer a synopsis of all the material available to them, inadvertently preserving a particular stage in the development of the pentateuchal material? Or, more likely, is the answer somewhere in between? It is these questions that the present study begins to answer. Part One offers an analysis of the general linguistic influences of the priestly, Holiness, and deuteronomic corpora on Ezekiel 20, demonstrating that the impact of all three has been overstated. Part Two, the core of the study, examines in detail four texts of the Torah which share a statistically significant number and type of locutions with Ezekiel 20: Numbers 13-14; Exodus 6.2-8; Exodus 31.12-17; and Leviticus 26. Across these texts, both unilateral and bilateral literary reuse of or by Ezekiel 20 is established, and the ramifications for the composition and rhetoric of both the Torah texts and Ezekiel 20 is explored in detail. Part Three synthesises these findings, confirming that, and describing how, Ezekiel 20 compositionally interacts with the priestly and Holiness writings, offering insight into the extent and nature of a stratified, likely independent P. Three prevailing models of the composition of the Torah are then examined for points of continuity and discontinuity with this picture, with the result that none of them are able to account for all of the data collected herein. In sum, it is no longer sufficient to consider the literary dependencies between Ezekiel 20 and the priestly or Holiness material, let alone Ezekiel and the Torah, as mono-directional.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted

The aim of the research is to derive a set of hermeneutical principles of the author of the book of Hebrews from the introductory formulae and, to a lesser degree, to contrast these with contemporary hermeneutical approaches. The research is important for three reasons. Firstly, the introductory formulae have largely been neglected as a source for consideration when analysing the hermeneutic of a writer, such that this study is, to some degree, ground-breaking in nature. Secondly, the introductory formulae provide the clearest presentation of the author’s hermeneutic in that here may be found the most explicit statements revealing the author’s hermeneutic rather than deriving these. Thirdly, in the book of Hebrews we have the best example of how a New Testament writer interpreted the Old Testament (most quotations and introductory formulae per size of book). The research was conducted along the following lines: A comprehensive and workable list of introductory formulae in Hebrews was derived. This list was compared and contrasted firstly within the book itself and secondly in comparison to that of the other New Testament writers. A set of principles was derived from the introductory formulae of Hebrews and compared to the hermeneutics of contemporary modern approaches. The results of the research are encapsulated in six principles which together summarise the author of Hebrews’ hermeneutic. The Old Testament is understood as, -- spoken not written, -- spoken by a Trinitarian God comprising Father, Son and Holy Spirit, -- dynamic, that is, spoken with equal authority and equal effect to a current generation, -- authoritative and complete, -- the words of God do not require the intervention of man but rather the removal of man permitting God to address His people personally, -- pertaining to the person and work of Christ. The conclusion of the research can be summarised in one sentence: “God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is speaking to you now and what He says concerns His Son.” When these principles are compared with contemporary modern hermeneutic, the following is observed; -- the ‘written-and-dated’ nature of God’s revelation instead of an understanding that God is speaking to us today. -- a focus on a single person of the Godhead and a resultant infatuation with some doctrines at the expense of others. -- an illegitimate concern to make God relevant. -- the reader no longer reads in order to understand but reads in order to define meaning and the meaning primarily pertains to himself -- the listener has become the speaker and the speaker is a primarily concerned about himself and how he is coming across not about God. -- the exposition of the Bible has degenerated from theology to anthropology. / Dissertation (MA (Biblical Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Biblical and Religious Studies / unrestricted

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The recent discovery of documents at Qumran has provoked renewed interest in the possibility of Jewish influence on primitive Christianity in several areas. The purpose of this dissertation is to describe historically Jewish and Christian disciplinary procedures, particularly excommunication, in order to determine whether the practice of the church indicates indebtedness to pre-Christian Judaism. Since an important excursus, der Synagogenbann, in the Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch by H. Strack and P. Billerbeck is frequently referred to in works on church discipline, a secondary purpose of the dissertation is to examine the methodology and results of the excursus. The investigation covers the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Manual of Discipline, the Damascus Document, rabbinic literature, the New Testament, and the Apostolic Fathers. The curses alah, arar, qalal, and especially herem, were used (often by intimidation)in the Old Testament to maintain moral and spiritual standards. Since anathema is the usual translation in the Septuagint for berem, its use in its classical setting is examined. In addition to the curse, the threat of immediate punishment or future divine judgment was employed to guard the purity of the worship of Yahweh. In the literature of the Intertestamental period, all traces of punishment have disappeared from the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, except for the mention of the curse in a few poetic passages. However, an elaborate system of punishment is found in the Qumran literature. Further evidence of the practice of excommunication in this period is revealed in the rabbinic material. In IQS and CD the punishment for sins generally depended on whether the sins were considered to be against an individual or the community as a whole. Mild punishment was reserved for social infractions against one's neighbor, but irrevocable expulsion was the sentence for sins thought to have been prompted by an attitude that was not sympathetic with the ideals of the group. The conclusions of the excursus, der Synagogenbann, must be revised by giving closer attention to the problem of chronology. The synagogue at the time of Jesus knew of only one ban, the niddui. The shammatha, as a disciplinary measure, was an interchangeable term with niddui, but was confined to the Babylonian Jews. Herem probably did not appear as a term for excommunication in the synagogue until the third century. The principal reason for the pronouncing of the niddui was to safeguard the halakhah. The practice of excommunication in the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers scarcely appears, and the use of the curse as a means of discipline does not occur at all. The first Gospel shows that even though Matthew conceived of the church as a corpus mixtum, judgment was properly a (divine) matter for the future. The mark of a Christian in the church was a readiness to forgive an offending brother. In the crucial Pauline passages excommunication has no prominent place. Paul's use of anathema bore little relationship to church discipline. In the remainder of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers a spirit of restraint with regard to excommunication characterized the early Christian movement. Thus, members in good standing were to take note of offenders, rebuke them, pray for them, invite and receive them back if they repented. Despite the conclusion that Judaism and the church exercised considerable restraint in the matter of discipline, one cannot claim with certainty the dependence of the church on known Jewish disciplinary practices.

The book of Amos preserves powerful critiques of injustices in ancient Israel, and accordingly it has become famous as a resource for social justice movements across the centuries. The text has also been a testing ground for the history of prophets and prophetic literature. Given these emphases on socio-economic justice and historical dimensions of human culture, there has been a glaring neglect of “nature" themes in Amos and how these references to the non-human, created universe function in shaping the moral character of the readers. Without ecological features, the ethical message is hollow, since the character of humans and even of Yahweh as God are often evaluated and illustrated by realities in the rest of the natural world. Amos reciprocally connects the natural world (cosmos) and the moral world (ethos) together, implying that the condition and conceptions of the cosmos are partly reflective of human character and partly formative for human character in turn. The second aspect deserves attention at last. There is an ethos of the cosmos in Amos. Nature is not neutral. To describe this cosmos and ethos, the study proceeds in two steps for each major section of the translated Hebrew text. First, after establishing a historical setting for the final form of the text, there is a careful analysis of the "creation rhetoric." followed by a second step that doubles back to ask how such nature imagery encourages or discourages moral “character formation” for an audience in Judah. The rhetorical analysis uses insights into genre and speech act theory, while the ethical analysis uses character ethics to discuss practices, dispositions, and desires for visions of good and evil in Amos. In the end, the cosmos in Amos is more than ancient cosmology or dispensable background scenery. Built into the cosmos are dynamics that link justice with matters of life and death, and only through the nature imagery does the audience most vividly gain reverence for each other, their world, and their God. From earthquakes to new growth, creation shapes character. Creation rhetoric and character formation are mutually related and profitably compared for Old Testament ethics. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A. Purpose of this Thesis:1. To present the variants between the Authorized Version of Genesis and the Inspired Revision of Genesis as published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and2. To indicated the implications of the most significant variants.B. Significance of This Thesis:1. This thesis helps to clarify the position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in regard to the problem of the Pentateuch. This is one of the most important, if not the most important, of the literary problems of the Bible; and the Latter-day Saint position concerning it needs further analysis and clarification, because many Latter-day Saints consider that the critical view is sound, apparently because they have not been made aware of the basic conflicts between it and the modern Scriptures of the Latter-day Saints. This Thesis reveals the relationship of the Inspired Revision of Genesis and The Book of Moses to the problem of the Pentateuch.2. This thesis also presents the portions of the textual material of The Book of Moses and The Book of Abraham, which correspond to the Inspired Revision of Genesis, aligned vertically with the textual material of the Inspired Revision so the reader can readily see the similarities and the differences.C. Method of Presenting the Data:1. In order that the reader might obtain a clearer picture of the data and their implications, the presentation of the data is preceded by "A Survey of the Origin and History of the Authorized Version of the Bible," and "A Survey of the History and Origin of the Inspired Revision of the Bible by Joseph Smith, Jr.".2. The variants between the texts compared are made to stand out conspicuously by means of a special interlinear system devised by the writer.a. The Text of the Authorized Version is assigned the top position, and the full text of it only is written out. Only the variants of the other texts compared are written out.b. The text of the Inspired Revision is assigned the position beneath that of the Authorized Version; and wherever the wording of the two are identical, the space assigned to the Inspired Revision is left blank. Ditto marks are not used.

The first objective of this thesis was to examine the Old Testament chronology carefully to see how it is computed. The second objective was to examine the modern scriptures to see what contributions they make in establishing a more accurate, reliable chronology. The third objective was to examine certain hypotheses in archaeology, carbon dating processes, and geology that seem to conflict with the Old Testament chronology with the purpose in mind of learning how accurate their findings are and what possibilities exist for a closer harmony between these sciences and the Old Testament scriptural chronology.