Ehud Ben Zvi

The Authority of 1-2 Chronicles in the Late Second Temple Period

In many societies, the image of a distant historical past functions as a means of self-understanding. This image (’remembrances’+thc inferred historical ’laws) provides a conceptual framework for the understanding of contemporary reality, making this reality meaningful to the individual as well as to society as a whole. Since the historical image as pattern transforms unique situations into illustrations of an

A gateway to the chronicler's teaching: The account of the reign of ahaz in 2 chr 28,1–27

Abstract Using the account of the reign of Ahaz in the Book of Chronicles (2 Chr 28,1–27) as a gateway to a better understanding of the Chroniclers work and teaching/preaching methods, this article shows that the Chronicler conveyed a nuanced theology through separate accounts qualifying each other. The lessons abstracted from the separate “historical” accounts were thus set in “proper” theological perspective. This article concludes that the Chronicler wished the receiving community to abstract from the “historical” account several lessons, among them: (a) the existence of a correspondence between actions and effects that is maintained by God, according to certain rules and qualifications; (b) the continuity of history through time due to the permanent character of both Gods rules for governing the world and the human choice to accept or reject Gods will; (c) the godly character of freeing the captive, feeding the hungry, and the like, (d) the actual meaning of divine elections; (e) sin is not necessa...

The Account of the Reign of Manasseh in II Reg 21,1 18 and the Redactional History of the Book of Kings

According to l 2 Kings, Manasseh was the worst king of Judah; moreover, his deeds angered the deity to the extent that Gods response to them was an irrevocable sentence of punishment against Judah. Consequently, the account of his reign is one of the most important pieces in l 2 Kings and one of the most important test cases for any comprehensive theory about the redactional history of the Book of Kings. Does this account support or contradict the idea that there was a basic and comprehensive historiographico/theological work (dtr-H) that was reinterpreted and partially reshaped by two redactional traditions, one »prophetic« oriented (dtr-P) and the other »Torah« (Deuteronomy) oriented (dtr-N)?

Observations on the Marital Metaphor of YHWH and Israel in its Ancient Israelite Context: General Considerations and Particular Images in Hosea 1.2

The marital metaphor became for the (mostly, if not exclusively, male) literati of ancient Israel—and for those who accepted their discourses—a way to shape, imagine, express, and communicate their understandings of the nature and story of their relationship with YHWH. This article addresses systemic aspects of this metaphor within this social and ideological setting and deals with the interplay of these aspects with the worldview and world of knowledge of these literati. A brief consideration of a particular instance of this metaphor, Hos. 1.2, serves to illustrate ways in which the actual use of the metaphor brought about matters that were related but clearly go beyond the ‘generic’ issues that the metaphor evoked in the readership of books in which it was used. Among them, one may mention the nature of Israel, its election by YHWH, explanations that served to solve or attenuate the cognitive dissonance between the status of the literati (and of Israel as a whole) in worldly affairs and their perceived place in the divine economy, and the importance of education.

Looking at the primary (hi)story and the prophetic books as literary/ theological units within the frame of the early second temple: Some considerations

Abstract This paper deals with some of the features of two large collections of works: (a) those constituting the Primary (Hi)storical Narrative (i.e., Genesis ‐ Kings) and (b) the prophetic books (i.e., those later called “the Latter Prophets). It is advanced that the PHN serves a role akin to that of a founding myth, or better of a “truncated”; creation myth of Israel. The significance (and to a large extent, necessity) of this “truncatedness”; is explored against the background of the Early Second Temple Period.

The List of the Levitical Cities

A close study of the list of the Levitical cities and of the account of their allotment among the tribes in Josh. 21.1-45 demonstrates that the most probable historical background for their composition is that of the post-monarchic period. Alternative— and commonly accepted—historical backgrounds, such as the United Monarchy or the Josianic era, are not reasonably sustained by the data, and should be rejected. Neither the list nor the account supports the historicity of 1-2 Chronicles or an early date for P, or P traditions, as is usually claimed in modern research. Instead, the list and the account contribute to our understanding of the world of claims, disappointments and hopes of a post-monarchic Judah-centered society and of its Aaronites in particular.

>The Prophets<: References to generic prophets and their role in the construction of the image of the »prophets of old« within the postmonarchic readership/s of the Book of Kings

This article is a contribution to the understanding of the general image/s (hereafter, image) of the prophets of old – to be distinguished from that of particular prophets associated with the monarchic period (e.g., Elijah, Isaiah) – which the Book of Kings as a whole most likely evoked among its intended and primary rereadership. This image was shaped and communicated through the reading and rereading of the book by its ancient readers. It reasonable to assume also that it reflected in some way ideological positions that existed within the discourse/s of the postmonarchic literati who composed the Book of Kings and for whom the book was composed. To be sure, the world of knowledge of authorship and target readership included already concepts of prophet and prophecy, and particular stories about individual prophets who lived in the monarchic period – which is the only one dealt in the book. In other words, there were clear limits to the malleability of images of prophets and by extension, prophecy that the book may advance. This being so, shifts of focus and comments on existing images of prophecy demand much attention. As one approaches the way in which the categories of prophets and prophecy were construed and communicated by the book, more than one path of research is available. One approach is basically inductive. In other words, first one is to study the characterization of each individual that the book presents as a prophet, and then one is find which elements of these particular instances seem to speak to and implicitly construct the whole, that is, the category of prophet, and indirectly of prophecy, as relevant to Israel’s monarchic past. There is much to say in favor of this approach, but also some systemic problems are clear. To begin with, whatever we construe as a basic common denominator that may serve to characterize prophets as a whole through our selection of certain attributes for inclusion and ex-

A sense of proportion: An aspect of the theology of the chronicler 1

Abstract The Chroniclers emphasis on certain theological teachings rather than others is better explained in terms of the rhetorical situation of the writer and the historical audience, and of their theological/ideological questions, rather than by assuming a dogmatic writer who was inconsistent or incoherent at times, or alternatively, one who grudgingly admitted here and there that reality did not follow the prescribed path. In fact, the Chronicler consistently set the lessons that the historical audience may have learned from some, or even many, of the individual accounts in the book in theological/ideological perspective by qualifying them with the message conveyed by other accounts. The Chronicler, thus, shaped within the text, and communicated to the audience, a sense of proportion that is integral to the thought and teachings conveyed by the Book of Chronicles as a whole. This sense of proportion conveyed an image of Gods ways in a manner consistent with a less than predictable world; moreover, i...

Chronicles and social memory

This written version of the 2016 Mowinckel Lecture draws attention to and characterizes in broad strokes a particular approach that is strongly influenced by Social Memory studies and then, through a number of examples, demonstrates its potential use for addressing questions about Chronicles, as read among the literati of the late Persian or Early Hellenistic Yehud/Judah, and especially about the contribution that Chronicles made to the social memory of this group.This written version of the 2016 Mowinckel Lecture draws attention to and characterizes in broad strokes a particular approach that is strongly influenced by Social Memory studies and then, through a number of examples, demonstrates its potential use for addressing questions about Chronicles, as read among the literati of the late Persian or Early Hellenistic Yehud/Judah, and especially about the contribution that Chronicles made to the social memory of this group.

Thinking of Water in Late Persian/Early Hellenistic Judah: An Exploration

Water was, of course, vital to the existence of the community in Judah during the late Persian/early Hellenistic period in very practical terms. In fact, water is vital to the existence of any human community or even to most eco-systems anywhere and anytime, both directly and indirectly. Precisely because water is a vital resource and is widely acknowledged as such, because it is experienced by all, and directly and indirectly touches most aspects of human and community life, water often develops into a very important ideological and linguistic symbol that stands for and evokes central concepts (or networks of concepts). To be sure, these concepts, and even the symbolic values socially assigned to ‘water,’ may vary from group to group and are historically dependent. This being the case, the study of ‘water’ itself, that is, of what ‘water’ may stand for in a particular community and of the roles played by ‘thinking of water’ in such a community is likely to shape a pathway leading to a better understanding of matters that are important to that community and to its social mindscape in general. Since every member of the community interacts with water at multiple levels (both in the ‘literal’ and seemingly less literal, or ‘symbolic,’ meaning of the term), one is to expect that within the discourse of the community, water will carry numerous associations. To be sure, not all of these associations are equally important for the reconstruction of the social mindscape of the community; there are obvious issues of mindshare. For instance, in Canada, water is more likely to evoke and stand symbolically for wilderness, purity, glaciers and rivers, or conversely, in particular settings, for pollution, eco-degradation and the like. It is far less likely that the first associations a person in Canada would come up with after hearing or reading the term ‘water’ would be those conveyed by expressions such as ‘treading water’ and ‘does not hold water,’ even if these are widely used expressions. In our case, it is my contention that one may learn much about the social mindscape of the community in Yehud by exploring ‘thinking of