Reinhard G. Kratz

A Great United Monarchy? Archaeological and Historical Perspectives

Twelve years have passed since I first presented – to the German Institute in Jerusalem – my ideas on the chronology of the Iron Age strata in the Levant and how it impacts on our understanding of the biblical narrative on the United Monarchy of ancient Israel.1 I was naïve enough then to believe that the logic of my ‘correction’ was straightforward and clear. Twelve years and many articles and public debates later, however, the notion of Davidic conquests, Solomonic building projects, and a glamorous United Monarchy – all based on an uncritical reading of the biblical text and in contradiction of archaeological finds – is still alive in certain quarters. This paper presents my updated views on this matter, and tackles several recent claims that archaeology has now proven the historicity of the biblical account of the great kingdom of David and Solomon.

The Visions of Daniel

The book of Daniel divides stylistically into two halves: the third-person narratives of chapters 1-6 and the first-person visions of chapters 7-12. Whereas in the first part Daniel is able to guess and interpret dreams and to decipher the writing on the wall, in the second part he becomes a recipient of visions which he does not understand and for whose meaning he is dependent upon the angelus interpres . According to the first interpretation, the statue represents the Babylonian kingdom, and the individual body parts and metals represent the Babylonian kings; according to the second interpretation, the metals symbolize the kingdoms of the world. Daniel is still anxious after the interpretation and retains the matter in his heart. Two years later, in the third year of Belshazzar, he becomes the recipient of another vision which he expressly relates to the first. Keywords: angelus interpres ; Babylonian kingdom; Belshazzar

Israel in the Book of Isaiah

The name ‘Israel’ is employed by all sections of Isaiah in various ways and with various meanings. As such, the book takes part in the fundamental transformation the name has undergone both in the history of Israel and in the literary history of the Old and New Testaments as it evolved from a political to a theological concept, from the Israel of history to the Israel of faith. According to an insightful thesis proposed by Leonard Rost, this development took its point of departure from the prophets of the eighth century BCE and has left especially deep traces in First and Second Isaiah. The name Israel can thus serve as a leitmotif that allows us to retrace the development of Isaianic prophecy as well as the various stages of the book’s origins.

Rewriting and interpreting the Hebrew Bible : the biblical patriarchs in the light of the Dead Sea Scrolls

In the recent two decades many unknown texts from Qumran have been published, which rework passages from the Hebrew Bible. Dated from the second and first centuries BCE these documents display the methods of biblical interpretation at this early stage and the links to the inner-biblical interpretation and final shaping of the Hebrew Bible. The volume concentrates on the various reworking of Genesis and the Patriarchs, which were a favorite subject of the owners of the Qumran library. The volume thus contributes to the exegesis of Genesis during the second and first centuries BCE, and its prehistory within the Hebrew Bible.

The Two Houses of Israel

Although I know that Hugh Williamson already has his own view and has commented on this verse, I would like to take this opportunity since when I was writing this contribution, only the first volume of his excellent commentary on the book of Isaiah had been published.1 Because of this I am free to express my humble remarks on that verse on which he himself has certainly already reflected. Nonetheless, I hope that he will enjoy my remarks, whether we coincidentally agree with each other or whether he has already disproved my view on this verse.

The Analysis of the Pentateuch

Abstract This essay addresses several methodological questions that constantly reappear in the discussion of the composition of the Pentateuch and that impede understanding among the various approaches to its analysis. The aim of this essay is not to argue for or against any particular hypothesis. Rather, it is to play out the different explanatory models, and to point out misunderstandings, one-sidedness, and inconsistencies in an effort to overcome barriers of thinking and to reopen the discussion. The following aspects are discussed in detail: 1) the three fundamental hypotheses (documentary, fragmentary, and supplementary hypothesis); 2) the role of empirical (external) evidence; 3) the criteria of the analysis; 4) the argument of quantity of literary layers; 5) the interrelation of literary layers; 6) the concrete situation of scribal practice; 7) historical presuppositions and expectations. In concluding, a proposal is sketched for how an analysis of the Pentateuch can be conducted that is based primarily on the phenomena found in the external evidence and in which all of the disputed methodological and historical presuppositions and options are left open to the greatest possible extent.

Rewriting Torah in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The authors contribution can be seen as a continuation of the debate about the role of Wisdom in Deuteronomy, as he would like to look at the reception of Torah within the Hebrew Bible and in the Dead Sea Scrolls. His biblical examples are taken from the Covenant Code and Deuteronomy. As the reception of Torah in wisdom literature, so is the reception of the Torah in legal corpora within and outside the Hebrew Bible characterized by the phenomenon generally labelled rewriting. As there is an extensive debate on the phenomenon of rewriting, this chapter proceeds as follows: First, it presents the textual evidence; next it scrutinizes the phenomenon of rewriting and defines how the author understands the term; and finally, it looks at some textual examples in an attempt to show the dynamics of composition and interpretation within the process of rewriting. Keywords: covenant Code; Dead Sea Scrolls; Deuteronomy; Hebrew Bible; Penal Code; phenomenon of rewriting; Torah; wisdom literature

Zwischen Elephantine und Qumran: Das Alte Testament im Rahmen des antiken Judentums

This chapter shows that intermediate between Elephantine and Qumran in the Old Testament has its historic place. Elephantine and Qumran are two Jewish archives and at the same time they named two opposite poles between which the Old Testament moves geographically, time and content. The chapter exposes the problem in research historical context and gives some examples which demonstrate the transition from non-biblical to biblical Judaism in the Old Testament. It indicates the direction in which one might look for a possible solution to the problem. The chapter describes the archaeological and epigraphic evidence for the existence of the two provinces of Judah and Samaria. The marginalization and the exclusion of the specific design of the world, might have been the reason that the margins of society, has developed an alternative world, the world of biblical Judaism. The original text of the chapter is in German. Keywords: biblical Judaism; Elephantine; Old Testament; Qumran