History, justice, and the agency of God : a hermeneutical and exegetical investigation on Isaiah and Psalms / by Christoph O. Schroeder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schroeder, Christoph O.

Series:

Biblical interpretation series 0928-0731 ; v. 52.

Biblical interpretation series, 0928-0731 ; v. 52

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible.

History--Biblical teaching.

History.

Providence and government of God--Biblical teaching.

Providence and government of God.

Bible. Psalms III-VII--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible. Isaiah I-VI--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xiv, 236 pages ; 25 cm.

Other Title:

History, justice, & the agency of God

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2001.

Summary:

The central thesis of this volume is that the biblical view of divine agency in creation and history is realistic. History unfolds according to how human society relates to the sphere of powers that is beyond it. Next to the hermeneutical discussion this is demonstrated exegetically by analyzing texts from Isaiah and Psalms: (1) In Isa 6:9-10 the prophet receives the commission to proclaim and to anticipate YHWH's 'strange work' in response to the people's violation of the torah. (2) The psalmist's change of mood in Psalms 3, 6, and 7 is caused by the acting of YHWH, the creator, with the psalmist partaking in the change that occurs in the creation surrounding him. The section on Psalm 7 is especially important for the Psalms scholar. It provides a rich comparison with prayers to the divine judge in ancient Near Eastern texts.

Contents:

Part 1 God's Agency in History: The Hermeneutical Problem and Isaiah's Prophetic View of History

1. Justice, Harmony, and Power: Three Diffrent Cultural Experiences of History 3

1.1 God's Agency in Creation and History 3

1.2 Greek Historiography and its Understanding of the Universality of History 9

1.2.1 The Human Soul as a Microcosmos in the Physis 10

1.2.2 Culture as a Continuation of Nature 11

1.3 The Biblical Notion of the Universality of History and the Reality of the Divine Council 13

1.4 Justice and the Agency of God 14

1.6 History as the Sequence of Facts in the Causal Continuum 17

1.7 Thesis: The Realistic Dimension of Biblical Experiences of History 24

1.7.1 The Universality of History and the Finiteness of Human Reason 24

1.7.2 Realism Versus Nominalism 28

1.8 Outline of the Investigation 29

2. The Eclipse of the Biblical Experience of History 33

2.1 The Romantic View of the Biblical Notion of History 33

2.2 The Construers of History as Its Lone Agents 34

2.2.1 The "God Who Acts" and the Biblical Theology Movement 34

2.2.2 Critique 37

2.3 History and Kerygma: Israel's Ongoing Actualization of Its Foundational History 39

2.3.1 Hans-Georg Gadamer's Critique of the Historical Method 39

2.3.2 Critical History and Kerygmatic History (Gerhard von Rad) 42

2.3.2.1 Critique 43

2.3.3 Story and History (Hans Frei) 46

2.4 Conclusion: The Limitedness of the Modern Concept of History 47

3. Toward Regaining the Universal Dimension of History. Isaiah's Prophetic View of History: the People's Violation of the Torah, the Coming of the Assyrians, and the "Strange Work" of Yhwh 53

3.1 Recapitulation: Toward Regaining the Universal Dimension of History 53

3.2 The Prophetic View of History: Hermeneutical Considerations 57

3.3 History as Trial (Isaiah 1-4) 60

3.4 The People's Violation of Justice and Righteousness (Isaiah 5) 63

3.5 Isaiah's Vision of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 6) 70

3.6 Isaiah's Prophetic Commission and YHWH's "Strange Work" 72

3.7 Outlook: Isaiah's Role in the Unfolding of History 76

3.8 Intermediate Reflection: YHWH's Acting Against Evil 78

Part 2 God's Agency in Response to Prayers: the Psalmist's Change of Mood in Psalms 3, 6, and 7

4. Divine Acting and the Psalmist's Change of Mood from Lament to Joy in Psalms 3 and 6 83

4.1 Introduction: How Does the Psalmist's Change of Mood from Lament to Joy Occur? 83

4.2 Methodological Issues 85

4.3 The Cultically Mediated Oracle of Salvation 87

4.3.1 The Priestly Oracle of Salvation (Joachim Begrich) 87

4.3.2 The Ordeal at the Temple (Walter Beyerlin) 88

4.3.3 Private Piety and the Ritual Expert's Oracle of Salvation (Erhard Gerstenberger) 89

4.4 The Temple-Theological Dynamic of Divine Absence and Presence 90

4.5 Critique 96

4.6 The Psalmist's Dream-Oracle in Ps 3:6 100

4.7 The Petitioner's Change of Mood from Lament to Joy in Ps 6:9 11 105

5. Psalm 7: the Petitioner's Appeal to Yhwh, the Judge, at Dawn 109

5.1 YHWH's Acting as Judge in the Individual Complaint Psalms 109

5.2 Psalm 7: the Psalmist's Appeal at Dawn to YHWH, the Universal Judge in the Heavenly Height 110

5.2.1 Text and Structure 110

5.2.2 Ps 7:13-17 and the Doctrine of Retribution 113

5.2.3 The Psalmist's Appeal to the Divine Judge at Dawn 114

6. The Theory of the Judicial Ordeal at the Jerusalem Temple 121

6.1 The Cultic-Institutional Hypothesis 121

6.1.1 The Ordeal at the Temple as Israel's Supreme Court of Justice 121

6.1.2 The Concept of the Judicial Ordeal 123

6.1.3 Beyerlin's Reconstruction of the Ordeal 125

6.1.4 Individual Complaint Psalms in the Framework of the Ordeal 126

6.1.5 The Ordeal in Light of Individual Complaint Psalms 128

6.2 Critique: The Hypothetical Character of the Cultic Institution 132

6.2.1 Deut 17:8-13 and 19:16-20: Instruction from the Deuteronomic Torah 132

6.2.2 1 Kgs 8:31-32: YHWH's Acting as Judge Through the Activation of Curses 133

6.2.3 Summary: YHWH's Acting as Judge in 1 Kgs 8:31 32 137

6.3 YHWH's Acting as Judge in the Individual Complaint Psalms 138

7. God's Acting as Judge in the Context of Treaty Violations 143

7.1 An "Alliance Background" of Psalm 7? 143

7.2 The Prayer of Tukulti-Ninurta I to Shamash, the Judge 147

7.3 Sargon's Letter to Assur Concerning his Eighth Campaign 153

7.4 The Oath Between the Serpent and the Eagle in the Legend of Etana 155

8. Divine Acting as Judge in the Context of Divination 159

8.1 Introduction: YHWH's Acting in the Judicial Assembly in Ps 7:7-12 159

8.2 The Prayer of the Diviner to Shamash, the Judge, at Dawn 160

8.2.1 The Diviner's Preparation for His Appeal to the Divine Court 162

8.2.2 Shamash's Presiding Over the Divine Judicial Assembly 163

8.2.3 Excursus: The Hermeneutical Principles of Divination 166

9. Divine Acting as Judge in the Context of Incantation-Rituals and Individual Complaint Psalms 173

9.1 Introduction: YHWH's Reversion of Evil in Ps 7:13-17 173

9.2 Incantations to Shamash, the Judge 174

9.2.1 Namburbi-Rituals: The Procedures of "Dissolution" of the Evil Fate Announced by the Omens 178

9.2.2 A Namburbi-Ritual Against the Evil Announced by the Behaviour of Dogs 180

9.3 Structural Analogies Between Incantation-Ceremonies and Individual Complaint Psalms 184

9.3.1 Incantation-Ceremonies 184

9.3.1.1 The Petitioner's Liberation from Evil 184

9.3.1.2 The Elimination of Evil in the Sacramental Cult 187

9.3.1.3 "May She Gnaw at Her Own Fingers Like Cheese:" Ea's Reversion of Evil Against its Agent 191

9.3.1.4 Maqlu I:1-36: "Her Word is Turned Back in Her Mouth; She is Tongue-Tied" 195

9.3.2 Individual Complaint Psalms 198

9.3.2.1 YHWH's Reversion of Evil 198

9.3.2.2 "God Shoots the Arrow at Them." The "Work of God" in Psalm 64 200

9.3.2.3 The Universal Dimension of YHWH's Judicial Acting 202

9.5 "Joy Comes With the Morning" (Ps 30:6): Psalms 3-7 as a Redactional Liturgical Sequence 206

9.6 The Absalom Narrative as a "Midrash" to Psalms 3-7 209

10. The Universalistic Theology of Divine Agency in the Old Testament. Summary Conclusions 215

10.1 Recapitulation: The Realistic Dimension of the Biblical Experience of History 215

10.2 The Invisible Power of YHWH'S Voice (Psalms 28-30) 218

10.3 Human Participation in the Universal Communication of YHWH's Righteousness (Psalm 40) 221.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [225]-229) and indexes.

ISBN:

9004119914

OCLC:

45439936