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Text in Afrikaans / Die bydrae van die lsraelitiese wysheidsliteratuur word in die teologiese nadenke oor die wese sowel as die regverdigheid van God in 'n groot mate onderbenut gelaat. Dit hoef egter nie so te wees nie. lndien die wysheid van Israel teen die agtergrond of breer konteks van die ontwikkeling in die konvensionele oud-Oosterse wysheid en vanuit 'n toepaslike orienteringspunt benader word, kan die betekenis daarvan histories en eksegeties op so 'n wyse ontsluit word dat die relevansie met betrekking tot die teologiese gesprek oor God en die teodisee aangetoon kan word. In die lig hiervan word die kritiese wysheid van Israel aan die hand van 'n elliptiese ordeningsbeginsel, wat enersyds die heerskappy van God en andersyds die moontlikheid van gemeenskap tussen God en mens as wentelpunte het, histories en eksegeties ondersoek. Verskillende reaksies op 'n gemeenskaplike ervaring van God se transendensie word in die lsraelitiese wysheid gehandhaaf en ontwikkel. Al word die terme 'transendensie', 'immanensie' en 'teodisee' nerens in die wysheidstekste van Israel gebruik nie, kom die motiewe nogtans voor. Die alternatiewe wat gehandhaaf en uitgewerk word, beklemtoon die verband tussen godsbeskouing en die ervaring van God as of verwyderd of immanent. Op soek na die balans tussen die transendensie en immanensie van God, bied die kritiese wysheid van Israel wel 'n perspektief waarin so 'n omvangryke ervaring van die wese van God moontlik is dat die beperkinge van rasionaliteit, en daarom ook vrae wat uit die teodisee-vraagstuk voortvloei, oorkom kan word. / The contribution of the sapiential literature of ancient Israel to theological reflection on both the essence and the justice of God is to a large extent neglected. This need not be the case. If Israelite wisdom is approached from a suitable vantage point and against the background or in the wider context of the sapiential movement in the ancient Near East, it becomes possible to historically and exegetically unravel the meaning and relevance of Old Testament wisdom in theological discussion of God and theodicy. In this light a historical and exegetical exploration of Israel's critical wisdom is undertaken with the aid of an elliptical guiding principle in which the supreme lordship of God is the one focal point, and the possibility of intimate communion between God and humans the other. Different reactions to a common experience of the transcendence of God are maintained and developed in the wisdom of ancient Israel. Although the terms 'transcendence', 'immanence' and 'theodicy' are never used in their wisdom texts, the motifs themselves did occur. The connection between the God concept and the experience of God as either remote or immanent, is emphasized by the alternatives which are developed in both the conventional and critical wisdom. In search of balance between the transcendence and immanence of God, the critical wisdom of Israel does offer a perspective within which comprehensive experience of the essence of God is possible to such an extent that the limitations of rationality, and therefore also the questions emanating from the riddle of theodicy, can be exceeded. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / Th. D. (Ou Testament)

M.A. (Semitic languages) / The characterirzatioon, "sister-narratives", is based on the formula "my sister is she" which is :found in two narratives concerning Abra(ha)m and Sarai (Genesis 12 : 10 - 20 and 20 : 1 - 18) and one recounting the experiences of Isaac and Rebecca (Genesis 26 : 1 - 17). Because of similarities between them, various comparative studies (usually focussing on historical and form-critical aspects) have been atternpted during the course of time. The present study analyses the three Biblical stories linguistically from a narratological perspective. Attention is paid to six categories, namely events, characters, narrator, space, time and reader. Conclusions arrived at concern processes of actualization and accomplishment, the dynamic (though varying) portrayal of the patriarchs, textual indications of the (implied) communication between narrator and reader, emotional connotations attached to different places, and "text.-time" versus "story-time".

The high Christology and unique pneumatology of John’s gospel has often eclipsed the apostle’s teaching on the relationship of the believer to Christ and the Father through the Spirit in Johannine studies. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap by providing an exegetically-focused treatment of sonship in the Johannine corpus that gives special attention to the role of the Spirit in bringing God’s children to participate in the life of the Son and his relationship with the Father. The central thesis is that John, in a manner distinct from Paul’s metaphor of adoption, presents the sonship of believer’s as the result of the Spirit’s work of regeneration out of which flows faith and participation in Christ’s life as Son. At the heart of this study are eight Johannine passages––John 1:12–13; 3:3–8; 14:16–23; 20:17; 1 John 3:1–3, 24; 4:13; and Revelation 21:7––that provide the exegetical lens to view the Spirit of Sonship in John. Although the exegesis of chapter 3 forms the foundation of study, chapter 2 considers the eight Johannine passages through the eyes of John Calvin and John Gill––both instrumental in advancing the theology of the Spirit and providing an exegetical foundation for their theology. Chapter 4 identifies three primary themes––obedience, love, and life––drawn from the eight passages and briefly synthesizes and correlates these themes with other key texts in the Johannine corpus. A brief survey of literature on sonship is reviewed in chapter 1, setting the landscape to which this dissertation seeks to contribute. By focusing on the role of the Spirit the persons of the Father and Son are not diminished, but brought into clearer focus, which is consistent with the Spirit’s ministry to glorify the Son (John 16:14). The Father is the divine initiator, the Son the divine accomplisher, and the Spirit the divine mediator of every spiritual reality that is in and through the Son to the believer. At the center of the Spirit of sonship is the glory of the Son who reveals the glory of the Father in the hearts of the children.

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As the title indicates, this work has two related objectives. The first is to determine whether the literary conventions of the pesher genre deprive the "historical allusions" of any significance. In other words, do the allusions refer to real events and characters, or are they simply symbols or allegories. The second objective follows closely upon the first. Once the historical nature of the allusions is demonstrated, we proceed to investigate the consequences of that demonstration in one specific area: the identification of the three principal characters: the Wicked Priest, the Teacher of Righteousness and the Liar. This work is divided into three parts: Part One: Literary Genre. This section is devoted to the first objective: to determine whether the pesher allusions are in any way historical. Part Two: Information in the Pesharim. Here we list and interpret the references to the Wicked Priest, the Teacher of Righteousness and the Liar found in the commentaries. Part Three: Identification of the Characters. This final section is dedicated to the identification of the three principal characters. The information collected from the pesharim is arranged and compared to what we know about possible candidates from outside contemporary sources. Part One consists of two chapters. The first (The Problems of History in the Pesharim) spells out the problems involved in historical research based on the pesher allusions: has history been subordinated to literary device, and if so, is it possible to determine the extent of this subordination; are the characters individuals, or are they categories, types or titles. There follows upon this exposition of the question, a brief review of the various theories of identification which have been proposed for the Wicked Priest, the Teacher and the Liar. The second chapter (The Effect of Literary Genre on the Pesharim) answers the questions raised in the previous chapter. After analyzing the content, conventions and finality of the pesharim, we conclude that the allusions must refer to known events and characters. The allusions are too fragmentary and basically uninformative to have any meaning or power to convince, if they did not call to mind people and occasions that were well known to the readers. The fact that the readers necessarily had to be well acquainted with the events involved, if they were to make sense of these allusions, does not allow the author to tamper excessively with the historical narrative. Moreover, the very purpose of the whole exercise would be defeated if the author could both re-interpret the texts and falsify the history. He did not tailor 'history to fit prophecy, but rather strained the meaning of the prophet's words to fit the events of the sect's history. The second part begins with a brief introduction which explains the method we shall follow to work out the identity of the principal characters. We then gather all the passages in the pesharim which name them (principally IQpHab, 4QpPss^a, and 4QpNah.) We consider as well those places in the Damascus Document where the Teacher of Righteousness and the Liar are mentioned. The third part is divided into three chapters. Chapter Five examines the background of the documents: archaeology, paleography, the identity of the Kittim and the Qumran Community, and finally the single, apparently chronological indication to be found in the scrolls: the three hundred and ninety years in the Damascus Document. We then examine the pesher allusions to the Wicked Priest (Chapter Six) and distinguish between those statements which refer to verifiable facts, and those that merely express the hostility and disapproval of the author. By comparing these statements to information in external contemporary sources (Josephus and the Books of Maccabees) we reach the conclusion that the most likely individual to fit the scroll description of the Wicked Priest is Jonathan Maccabaeus. The texts referring to the Liar are subjected to the same scrutiny, but the results are less satisfying. There is, however, a strong possibility, but only a possibility, that the Liar and the Wicked Priest are the same individual. In that case, Liar would be another name for Jonathan Maccabaeus. Finally we analyze the pesher allusions to the Teacher of Righteousness and compare them to what we know from non-Qumran sources (Chapter Seven.) Although there is abundant information about the Teacher's role in the community, his peculiar teaching, and the esteem in which his followers held him, there is little that points towards his personal identity. Similarly, there is too little information in external sources about those individuals who might be the Teacher of Righteousness to allow us more than random guesses. We can only go so far along truly evidential lines: we can determine a certain period, discover a likely candidate for the Wicked Priest and possibly the Liar, and make certain definite exclusions. Anything beyond this enters the realm of pure conjecture.