Eberhard Bons

Biblical lexicology : Hebrew and Greek : semantics, exegesis, translation

Lexicography, together with grammatical studies and textual criticism, forms the basis of biblical exegesis. Recent decades have seen much progress in this field, yet increasing specialization also tends to have the paradoxical effect of turning exegesis into an independent discipline, while leaving lexicography to the experts. The present volume seeks to renew and intensify the exchange between the study of words and the study of texts.

Judith 5:5-21 ou le récit d’Akhior: les mémoires dans la construction de l’identité narrative du peuple d’Israël

In the book of Judith, the Ammonite official Achior tries to dissuade Holofernes from engaging in war against the people of Israel. In fact, he is convinced that the God of Israel will protect his people. Achior’s description of these “mountain folk” is an example of how the identity of an entire people can be conceived. Like a single person’s identity, collective identity finds its roots in memory and, by consequence, within the various human memory systems. In particular, one can distinguish an episodic (“remembering” events or situations already experienced) and and a semantic (“knowing” about events, concepts, objects, ideas or facts) memory.The present study attempts to describe how episodic and semantic memories contribute in constructing and narrating the identity of the people of Israel. Achior’s speech also allows for a distinction between two other facets of identity, as described by Paul Ricoeur: that of “sameness” (“idem” identity, based on uninterrupted continuity or permanence in time) and that of “selfhood” (“ipse” identity, based on self-constancy or self-maintenance). Thus, the narration of such a collective identity enables Achior to project himself into the future and to affirm that the God of Israel would protect his people against the Assyrian army.

Zwei Überlegungen zum Verständnis von Hosea XI

Das 11. Kapitel des Buches Hosea weist zahlreiche Schwierigkeiten auf, die sich einer zufriedenstellenden und zudem konsensfahigen Interpretation des Abschnitts widersetzen. Sie beruhen zu einem groigen Teil auf Problemen der masoretischen Textgestalt, die stellenweise seltene, ungew6hnliche oder im iibrigen biblischen Hebraiisch unbekannte Formen enthalt, was zu zahlreichen Emendationen Anlaf gegeben hat. Aber selbst dort, wo die Formen bekannt sind, bleiben Probleme bestehen, die schon das elementare Textverstandnis betreffen. In diesem kurzen Artikel seien zwei die-