The Torah Unabridged : The Evolution of Intermarriage Law in the Hebrew Bible / William A. Tooman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tooman, William A., author.

Series:

Critical studies in the Hebrew Bible.

Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Old Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Interfaith marriage in the Bible.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

University Park, PA : The Pennsylvania State University Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The Torah Unabridged is a detailed examination of legal reasoning in the Hebrew Bible. Focusing on the exegetical operations by which biblical laws related to intermarriage were applied to circumstances and persons that lie outside the sphere of their explicit content, this book reconstructs the ways in which laws regarding intermarriage evolved, were interpreted, and were applied across time and place.William A. Tooman argues that the "exegetical impulse" to expand upon the gaps left by laws relating to marriage in the Torah is expressed in several distinctive ways in later texts in the Hebrew Bible. Adopting a diachronic approach, Tooman examines the techniques biblical writers used in their appropriation, expansion, and manipulation of legal ideas within earlier biblical texts in order to apply the laws to more situations, circumstances, and people. Tooman's analysis reveals that from Exodus to Ezra-Nehemiah, legal reasoning on intermarriage moved in a singular direction: toward an ever-greater restriction of marriage between Israelites/Jews and gentiles. The final chapter sums up the ways that this was accomplished, summarizing the logical and exegetical operations executed in the process of expanding the relevance of these laws, and describing the hermeneutical assumptions that motivated the process.Grounded in a detailed philological analysis of the Hebrew texts, this tightly argued monograph is an important impetus to further debate in the field. It will be welcomed by biblical scholars and by specialists in the history of law.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations and Sigla

Introduction. The Abridged Torah

Chapter 1. Explicit Intermarriage Laws in the Torah

Chapter 2. Deployment of Intermarriage Law in Joshua and Kings

Chapter 3. Deployment of Intermarriage Laws in Ezra-Nehemiah

Conclusion. The Unabridged Torah

Appendix 1. Annotated Catalogue of Biblical "Marriage" Laws

Appendix 2. Catalogue of Nonlegal Scriptural Texts Related to Marriage and Intermarriage

Bibliography

Ancient Source Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-64602-219-X

OCLC:

1380733822