Chapter Objectives:1. Pentateuch2. 2 Creation Stories3. JDEP sources4. Original Sin5. Abraham>Isaac>Jacob>Joseph6. Promise Land>Exodus>Promise Land7. Ambrahmic, Exodus and Sinai Covenants8. Sinai9. Death of Moses

The call of Abraham begins a new history of blessing, which is passed on in each instance to the chosen successor (Gen 18:18; 22:15-18; 26:2-4; 28:14). This call evokes the last story in the primeval history by reversing its themes: Abraham goes forth rather than settles down; it is God rather than Abraham who will make a name for him; the communities of the earth will find blessing in him.

Abraham’s journey to the center of the land, Shechem, then to Bethel, and then to the Negeb, is duplicated in Jacob’s journeys (33:18; 35:1, 6, 27; 46:1) and in the general route of the Conquest under Joshua (Josh 7:1; 8:9, 30). Abraham’s journey is a proleptic “conquest” of the land he has been promised. In building altars here (vv. 7, 8) and elsewhere, Abraham acknowledges his God as Lord of the land.

1. Ancestral (Patriarchal) Stories in general (Gen 12-50)2. Abraham and Sarah Stories (11:27-25:18)3. Look ahead to the Jacob cycle (25:19-ch. 50)

--------------------------------------------------------------• Two full cycles of stories (Abraham and Jacob), not three. Isaac

shadowy. Wordplay on right of firstborn (bekorah) and blessing (berakah).

• Ancestral stories’ (chs. 12-50) links to Gen 1-11: themes of land and progeny; Abraham’s family part of the migration of the seventy nations, yet set apart from them; Ugaritic (today Syria) stories, Kirta and Danel, pre-1200 BC, have similar themes: childless king, anxious prayer, compassionate God (El), and eventually an unlikely child.

• Genre of stories varies. Stories skillfully and economically told, with care for dramatic tension. No more than two speak; words reveal thoughts; “background” rather than “foreground” (Erich Auerbach); divine-human communication taken for granted. Gen 37-50, “Joseph Story,” differ, extraordinary in style and depth of theological reflection.

• Three generations of Abraham’s family in Canaan (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), and then descent into Egypt.

Common Themes in the Ancestral Stories (Wenham, Genesis)

- Heroes must leave their homeland 12:1; 28:2; 37:28 (38:1)- All quarrel with their brothers (13:7); 27:41; 37:4- Three go down to Egypt (one to Gerar, toward Egypt) 12:10; 26:1; 37:28; 46:6- Their wives are barren and quarrel (of Abraham and Jacob) 16:1-6; 29:31-30:8- Younger sons are divinely favored (also Joseph) 17:18-19; 5:23l;48:14; 49:8-12, 22-26. - Brides met at well 24:15; 29:9- Promises of children, land, blessing e.g., 12:1-5; 26:2-5; 28:13-14- Gentiles acknowledge God’s blessing on patriarch21:21-22; 26:28-29; 41:39-40- Burial in cave of Machpelah 23:1-20; 25:9; 35:27-29; 49:29-32- Patriarch buried by both/all children 25:9; 35:29; 50:7-8- Good relations with “Canaanites,” but endogamous marriage! 27:46; 38:2

Possible Chiastic Arrangement of Abraham Stories (T. Alexander)

A Sarah endangered, Abraham in Egypt 12:10-13:1 B Lot Episode I13:2-14:24 C Covenant with Abraham 15:1-21 D Birth of Ishmael 16:1-16 C Covenant with Abraham 17:1-27 B Lot Episode II 18:1-19:38A Sarah endangered, Abraham in Gerar 20:1-18

• Abraham cycle Introduced by 11:27, “These are the generations of Terah”; next section introduced by 25:12, 19, “These are the generations of Ishmael, Isaac.

• Abraham’s journey (12:4-9) to the center of the land, Shechem, then to Bethel, then to Negeb, foreshadows Jacob’s journeys (33:18; 35:1, 6, 27; 46:1), and the general route of the Conquest under Joshua (Josh 7:1; 8:9, 30). Abraham’s journey is a symbolic “conquest” of the land he has been promised.

• Two accounts of the covenant with Abraham, ch. 15 (J, “cut a covenant”) and ch. 17 (P, “establish a covenant,” and “eternal covenant” berit ‘olam). “Eternal covenant” used also of covenant with David, and is used of future covenant.

• Covenant in ANE and OT: agreement between two parties sworn before the witnessing god(s). Covenant of grant versus conditional covenant?

Gen 13-14. Abraham and Lot part; The four kings. Melchizekek (NT, Hebrews 5-7).

Chs. 15 and 17: J and P covenants Chs. 18-19. Abraham’s visitors and the destruction of

Sodom. 21:9-21. Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. Parallel to ch.

22 Ch. 22: “voice,” etiological legend? Father “giving up” son

(or not) as Judah in 38:11 and Jacob in 43:11. NT: John 3:16.

Ch. 23. Cave at Machpelah. Humor? Ch. 24: a bride for Isaac Legacy of Abraham. His faith. Judaism, Christianity, Islam Looking ahead to the Jacob cycle (25:19-ch. 50)

Selected Episodes

Abraham, 3.5 billion humans revere him in their scriptures, but for different reasons: Jews for his election, Christians for his faith, and Muslims for his monotheism.

The faith of Abraham. His call and commission (12), frustrations and disappointments, test (22), & rediscovery of God.

Isaac cycle (25:19-50:25). Toledot formula in 25:12, 19; 36:1 (9); 37:2. Chiastic structure: Canaan 25-28; Aram-Naharaim/Paddan 29-33; Canaan 34-50. Wordplay on bekorah (right of first-born) and berakah (blessing). Rivalries: Jacob-Esau, Rachel-Leah, four primary Leah sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah)-Rachel son (Joseph)

Jacob-Esau, three attempts to wrest bekorah from Esau. Does Isaac know what Rebekah knows? Has God promised anything to Jacob? Laban does to Jacob what Jacob did to Esau.

Chs. 32-33. End of Haran phase and entry into Canaan. Jacob still shrewd and resourceful head of the family; his children still young.

{• Chs. 34-37. Three Leah

sons try to displace Jacob. Death of Rachel (16-20) affects Jacob. Fourth Leah son, Judah, unsullied.

• Chs. 37-50: usual: “Joseph Story”; 38 & 49 out. Climax: ch. 45. But . . . 37:2, “This is the line of Jacob,” matches 36:1, “This is the line of Esau,” and chs. 37-59 have many actors, esp. Jacob.

• Ch. 37 introduces elder Rachel son--Joseph. Ch. 38 introduces only Leah son left--Judah.

Isaac’s Family (cont.)

{ { Ch. 37: Double dream of

dominance; clueless son and selfish father.

“Went down away from his family.” Judah’s and Reuben’s strategies. Why?

Brothers show bloody coat to the father: “recognize whose this is.”

Depressed further, Jacob continues to fail as family leader.

Chs 39-41. Joseph successful in Egypt by interpreting dreams.

44:14-45:28. Key: Joseph recognizes his brothers’ sale of him was necessary for the family’s survival.

Ch. 38. “Went down away from his family.” Marries a Canaanite, withholds his son from Tamar, visits prostitute.

Tamar in disguise pregnant by Judah.

Tamar shows seal, cord, and staff to Judah: “Recognize whose this is.”

Key: Judah recognizes that Tamar has replaced his two dead sons (Er and Onan).

Joseph Judah

{Adam von Noort 1561-1641. Metropolitan Museum in New York

Testament of Jacob Genesis 49

{ {Judah 49:8-12

8“You, Judah, shall your brothers praise —your hand on the neck of your

enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down

to you.9Judah is a lion’s cub, you have grown up on prey, my son.He crouches, lies down like a lion, Like a lioness—who would dare rouse

him?10The scepter shall never depart from

Judah, or the mace from between his feet,Until tribute comes to him,*

and he receives the people’s obedience.11He tethers his donkey to the vine, his donkey’s foal to the choicest stem.In wine he washes his garments, his robe in the blood of grapes.*

12His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

Joseph 49:22-26

“Joseph is a wild colt,a wild colt by a spring,wild colts on a hillside.

23Harrying him and shooting, the archers opposed him;24But his bow remained taut,

and his arms were nimble,By the power of the Mighty One of Jacob,

because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

25The God of your father, who helps you,*

God Almighty, who blesses you,With the blessings of the heavens above,

the blessings of the abyss that crouches below,The blessings of breasts and womb,26the blessings of fresh grain and blossoms,the blessings of the everlasting mountains,the delights of the eternal hills.

May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his

brothers.

Testament of Jacob

1. Transition from Gen. Exodus in Pentateuch.2. Outline of Exodus. Its two moments: liberation and

formation. Its drama. Moses 3. Historicity of the Exodus. 4. The name Yahweh. Plagues, esp. the 10th. 5. Liturgical reenactment (chs. 12-13, 19). 6. Exodus 15.

Genesis to Exodus

• By Gen 50, third and climactic generation of the family. Whole (12 and 70) & healed.

• Joseph makes brothers swear to bring his bones back to Canaan. Jacob’s are there.

• Exod 1, a Pharaoh “who knew not Joseph,” raising specter of danger.

• Exodus: a family becomes a people/nation• Exod 1:1-7 picks up defining imperative of Gen 1:26-

28: “Be fruitful and increase!” “Fill the earth and subdue it!” [take your territory]

1. Transition from Gen. Exodus in Pent.

I. The Hebrews Freed from Pharaoh in Egypt (1:1-18:27)(A) Danger (1:1-2:22)(B) God Commissions Moses: First Narrative (22:23-6:1)(C) God Commissions Moses: Second Narrative 6:2-7:7)(D) The Ten Plagues (7:8-13:16) and accompanying rituals(E) The Destruction of the Egyptian Armies and the Thanksgiving of

Miriam (13:17-15:21)(F) Journey to Sinai after the Egyptians Have Been Destroyed

(15:22- 18:27). Three tests.

II. Israel at Sinai (19:1-40:38)(A) Solemn Concluding of the Covenant (19:1-24:18)(B) Divine Command to Build & Maintain the Dwelling (Chaps. 25-

31 (C) Apostasy and Renewal of the Covenant (chaps. 32-34)(D) Building of the Dwelling & Descent of the Glory (chaps. 35-40)

Outline of Exodus. Its two moments: liberation and formation. Its drama. Moses role

Yahweh, form of the verb hayah, “to be,” prob. causative, “to cause to be, to create.” Possibly, an abbreviated sentence name, ’El du yahweh seba’ot, originally “God who creates the heavenly host.” Most important: significance of “Yahweh” comes not from its etymology, but from its close association with the exodus..

“Plagues” (mĕgēpāh) are usually “signs and wonders,” demonstrations of divine power designed both to persuade and give glory to God. Two clusters of miracles in OT.

Tenth plague: death of firstborn. Capricious? Cf. Exod 1:22; 4:22-23. Hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.

Passover, Unleavened bread. Note Exod 19:16, 18.

The name Yahweh. Plagues, esp. the 10th.Liturgical reenactment (chs. 12-13, 19).

Biblical minimalism (“The Copenhagen School”) since 1990s makes two main claims: (1) Bible does not offer reliable evidence for what had happened in ancient Israel; (2) "Israel" itself is a problematic subject for historical study. The exodus never happened. “Minimalism” is derogatory term and so is its opposite, “maximalists,” who are either “Neo-Albrightians” and evangelical scholars

Basis of Minimalist denials: no corroborative evidence for the exodus; “mythic” or “folkloric” traditions in any case; written down too long after alleged events.

True, no certain archaeological evidence in Delta for any historical period, BUT there is good evidence for Semitic pastoralists pasturing in northeast Delta region from 1900 to 700 BCE esp. during famines. Hyksos, Semitic, constituted 17th dynasty (1650-1540 BCE), Avaris their capitol. Hapiru. Tomb of Rekhmire: POWs making bricks.

Place names in Exod 1:11, Raamses (prob. = Pi-Ra’amasses, “House of Raamses”) and Pithom (prob. = Retabeh). Raamses ceased to exist after 1075, when the Pelusiac branch of the Nile shifted away from it. Minimalists claim that these names reflect much later geography.

Route of exodus. Coast has receded ca. 20 miles making it likely that “Sea of Reeds” (Yam Suph) was near along Mediterranean, explaining why Israel turned back. They had to avoid the heavily fortified “Way of the Land of the Philistines.”

Conclusion: no good reason for doubting that a group of slaves escaped from Egypt and persuaded others to join them in Canaan. Enslaved or oppressed peasants in Canaan could identify with the Egyptian story.

Historicity of the Exodus

15:1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted;

horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.2My strength and my refuge is the LORD,

and he has become my savior.This is my God, I praise him;

the God of my father, I extol him.

3The LORD is a warrior,LORD is his name!

4Pharaoh’s chariots and army he hurled into the sea;the elite of his officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

5The flood waters covered them,they sank in the depths like a stone.

6Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.

7In your great majesty you overthrew your adversaries;you loosed your wrath to consume them like stubble.

8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,the flowing waters stood like a mound,the flood waters foamed in the midst of the sea.

9The enemy boasted, “I will pursue and overtake them;I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them;I will draw my sword; my hand will despoil them!”

10When you blew with your breath, the sea covered them;like lead they sank in the mighty waters.

11Who is like you among the gods, O LORD?Who is like you, magnificent among the holy ones?Awe-inspiring in deeds of renown, worker of wonders

12You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them!13Faithfully you led the people you redeemed;

in your might you guided them to your holy encampment.14The peoples heard and quaked;

anguish gripped the dwellers in Philistia.

15Then were the chieftains of Edom dismayed,the nobles of Moab seized by trembling;

All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away;16terror and dread fell upon them.

By the might of your arm they became silent like stone,while your people, LORD, passed over,while the people whom you created passed over.

17You brought them in, you planted themon the mountain of your heritage—

The dais of your throne, LORD,the sanctuary, LORD, that your hands established.

18May the LORD reign forever and ever!

Exod 19: Moses elicits free assent of the people; “priestly people,” i.e., set apart as the LORD’s own; the LORD IS revealed in the storm, speaking Ten Commandments to all.

Book of the Covenant, chs.21-23, apodictic and casuistic law, sampling of laws.

Ratification of the covenant, ch. 24, in two rituals, one, sprinkling blood on altar and people, and the other, great Sheik inviting representatives of people to share a meal with Him.

Chs. 25-31. Tabernacle and its court foreshadow later Temple in Jerusalem. “House/palace” of LORD, popular worship in court. Ordination of priests in chs. 28-29, partly through their being clothed with sacred vestments, is continued in Leviticus 8-10. Priest represents people.

Exodus 19-40

Exodus 19-40: Israel at Sinai 1

Chs. 25-31. In the P account of the construction of the tabernacle in Exod 25–31, the seven speeches of Moses (each initiated by a divine command) imitate the seven-day construction of the universe in Gen 1. Though of widely varying lengths, the speeches are recognizable by their common introduction, “The LORD spoke to Moses”: 25:1–30:10; 30:11–16; 30:17–21; 30:22–33; 30:34–38; 31:1–11; 31:12–17. Moses’s seventh speech harks back to Gen 2:2–3: “For in six days LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he ceased [creating] and was refreshed” (Exod 31:17). The point: Tabernacle/Jerusalem Temple reflect and represent divine power and life.

Chs. 32-34. Apostasy of the people, under Aaron, shortly after the ratification. Moses, the true servant, persuades the LORD not to destroy the people and to accompany them to the Promised Land. Important issue for exiles.

Chs. 35-40. Tabernacle is built according to instructions. Glory (kābôd) of the LORD fills the Tabernacle, signifying divine forgiveness, presence, and accompaniment.

Exodus 19-40: Israel at Sinai 2

Exodus and Liberation Theology according to Norbert Lohfink.

Leviticus. Relating to God through gift exchange. Structure of book. Types of offerings. What is sacrifice?

Lev 16. Day of Atonement or Purgation? Lev 17-26. The Holiness Code (H). Numbers. Three parts (1-10; 11-25; 26-36). Two

generations (chs. 1 and 26). 10:11: the journey resumes. Episode of the spies (chs. 13-14) and of Moses’ sin (ch. 20): lessons for exiles.

Balaam Episode (Num 22-24). Apostasy at Baal Peor (Num 25).

Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers

1) God is interested in the here and now. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "In the Bible there is really no basic opposition between 'this world' and 'another world.'"

2) God is interested in material things. God in the OT leads people into a land of milk and honey and Jesus does not transpose that worldliness into unworldliness. Jesus feeds the hungry and there are to be no needy among the Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 4:34).

3) God is interested in society. The faith and goodness of individuals are to be realized in union with God's people. "Hear O Israel...you (pl.) shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart..." (Deut 6:4). God delivers not individuals but a people. Zion is God's city, the place where a new people is to begin (Second Isaiah). In the NT, communities (ekklesia) form. Book of Revelation ends with the vision of a new Jerusalem.

Five theses of Norbert Lohfink on Liberation Theology

4) God is interested in plenitude and riches. Term "church of the poor" occurs in Qumran mss (4QpPs 37:2, 9, and 3:10) but not in NT. Contemporary interest in the concept comes from André Gelin's The Poor of Yahweh, born of the French spirituality of immediate post-war years, and modern generation of middle and upper middle class youth rebellion. God creates so that all have enough and are "sated." Bible images Zion as a place from which fertilizing streams water the earth (Ezek 47), and where God's glory that shines over it attracts pilgrims from the nations (Isa 60). Same themes in NT: Rev 21:23-26, and Magi in Matt 2:11.

5) God's interest in the world unleashes a drama. "Thy will be done" means "Realize the plans You have for this world!" God has a plan for world history - to call people together to transform them and through them to transform the world. Mark 3:33-35 shows that God intends people to break away from their human family to enter a new kind of family. God's will is therefore historical and dramatic, not a static concept. Solidarity with the convoked group therefore does not limit divine love to a particular group. God's plan for the world in one particular phase begins with the poor. Partisanship toward poor and "struggle" of the poor are not timeless and metaphysical but dramatic and historical.

Five theses of Norbert Lohfink on Liberation Theology

How to honor and placate the Holy One in the encampment? How can the All-Holy One live amid a sinful people?

Ritual impurity. Source: bodily flows, corpses, etc. Effect: temporary, contagious defilement of persons and objects. Resolution: bathing, waiting. N.B. These render one “temporarily unfit to encounter the sacred.” Klawans, Jewish Study Bible , 2041-7.

Moral impurity: Source: sins: idolatry, sexual transgression, bloodshed. Effect: long-lasting defilement of sinners, land, and sanctuary. Resolution: atonement and punishment, and ultimately, exile.

Sacrifice: Latin sacrum + facere, “make holy.” Transference of property from profane to sacred realm. Fundamental sacrificial terms connote “gift,” mattanah (23:8), minchah, (NRSV “grain offering”), ’ isheh “food-gift” (NRSV “offering by fire”).

Lev 1-5, sacrifices characterized by donor (burnt, cereal, well-being); 4-5, sacrifices required for expiation, 6-7, sacrifices regrouped by sanctity (Milgrom, HarperCollins Study Bible.

NRSV “sin offering,” better, “purification offering”: removes sin inflicted on sanctuary by inadvertent violation of prohibitions, i.e., those not done “with a high hand” (= advertently).

Leviticus. Relating to God through gift exchange. Structure of book. Purity and impurity. What is sacrifice? Types of sacrifices.

Lev 16. Milgrom: Moral impurity creates stain or miasma that is attracted magnet-like to the sanctuary. Unless removed, it will cause All-Holy One to leave camp.

High priest enters once yearly to smear blood on cover of ark; blood acts as detergent or carrier of stain and is smeared on “(e)scape goat” that carries it into wilderness “no-place.”

Hebrews: Christ, high priest, enters once only into heavenly tabernacle; his blood sanctifies all

P has strands in Lev. “P” (1-16): spatial holiness limited to sanctuary; descriptions of sacrificial system, inaugural service at sanctuary, and laws of impurities. “H” ( = “Holiness Code”), spatial holiness extended to promised land. Adapts P “holiness” to laity.

Lev 16. Day of Atonement or Purgation?Lev 17-26. The Holiness Code (H).

Book structured by two genealogies, chs. 1 and 26, depicting first and second generations. Further, chs. 1-10, preparations for moving out, people obedient though occasional mention of death. Chs.11-25, rebellion, culminating in ch. 25, though with occasional glimpses of hope. Chs. 26-36, second generation, no deaths, victories, triumph.

Story of the spies in chs. 13-14 and of Moses in ch. 20. P elements in both, with lessons for the exile.

Balaam chs. 22-24 Culminating sin and apostasy in ch. 25, with resonances of

Exod 32-34 with God acting in mountains and people’s apostasy in the plains of Moab.

Chs. 26-36. Second generation. No deaths recorded. Victories and careful and fair distribution of the land.

Numbers. Two generations (chs. 1 and 26). 10:11: the journey resumes. Episode of the spies (chs. 13-14) and of Moses’ sin (ch. 20): lessons for exiles

{

Preceded by ch. 21: four kings (Edom, Arad, Sihon and Og ) stand in Israel’s way on the Plains of Moab; three are defeated. Then Balak hires the famous seer Balaam to curse Israel.22-24: three parts 22:1-14, Balak hires Balaam, and 22:15-24:35, Balaam and the ass; 22:36-24:25. Oracles about Israel. In 1967 inscription depicting Balaam in a positive light as an important light was found at Deir `Allāh in eastern Transjordan. In Bible, only Num 22-24 gives positive picture of Balaam.Balaam .Balaam speaks of Yahweh, “my God” (22:18) and “the Spirit of God descends upon him” (24:2. God is able to turn a pagan seer into a Yahwist prophet!

Balaam and Balak Num 22-24

Deuteronomy—general perspective: Moses addresses Israel on how they are to live in the land they are about to enter. Perennial stance of Judaism and Christianity.

Origins of Deuteronomy.(a) Genre: treaty/loyalty oath-turned-speech. Neo-Assyrian Empire (935-612 BCE) treaties and loyalty oaths, and its conquest of the Northern Kingdom.

(b) Josiah’s reform, after a century of Assyrian domination. Deut 5-28 is “the book of the Torah” in the Temple (2 Kings 22:8), which formed the basis of the reform of Josiah (640-609 BCE), described in 2 Kings 23.

Highlights of Deuteronomy. Chs. 5-11, Sermons on the Great Commandment; ch. 12, central sanctuary; 17:8-18:22, chief officials; 26:16-19, swearing of the covenant; chs. 29-30, treaty at Moab; chs. 31-32, Song of Moses.Deuteronomic History (Deuteronomy to 2 Kings). History of scholarship. Literary structure. Speeches as editorial comments.

Lectures on Deuteronomy and Deuteronomistic History

In ANE political life, treaties were common. Best known are from Hittite (2nd millennium) and Neo-Assyrian (935-612 BCE) Empires. Regulated international interactions and thus had common features: included rituals and sworn oaths by both parties; they defined both the contours of the relationship and the consequences of disloyalty. Thus they included stipulations, lists of divine witnesses, and curses.

Hittite treaties, vassal or parity, were intended to foster loyalty in partner, so they included a detailed historical prologue detailing what the suzerain had done for the vassal king. The treaties even commanded loyalty and “love.” See William Moran’s ground-breaking article on Blackboard.

Neo-Assyrians used treaties and loyalty oaths in first millennium to regulate matters in their “western” territories including the Northern Kingdom, Israel. Loyalty oaths were imposed on subjects so they would accept the king or his son (and successor) as their king. Unlike earlier Hittite treaties, they seek to engender fear, threatening with curses; they also insist on the interior disposition of loyalty. Best example: Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon (681-670 BCE; = VTE). See sample comparison of VTE and Deut below.

Deuteronomy seems to have adapted and subverted such loyalty oaths, insisting rather on interior loyalty not to an Assyrian king, but to the divine king Yahweh.

Genre of Loyalty Oath Neo-Assyrian Empire

Comparison of VTE and Deut 28

Chs. 5-11: Sermons on the Great Commandment in different situations Moses Is Made the Mediator of the Decalogue (5:1-6:3). “You shall love (‘āhēb)…” Israel Is to Love Yahweh Alone upon Entering the Land (6:4-25). [Uses rituals

(e.g., Exod13:11-16 that link later rites celebrating the primal events of the exodus. Rites enable later generation to experience event. "When the Lord brings you into the land. . . you shall do [a ritual act]. . .// When in time to come your child asks you, `What does this [rite] mean?' you shall say to him, `By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt. . . '" Our text adapts by substituting for the rite "these words" (6: 6) and "these statutes" (6:24)]

Israel Is to Remain Faithful to Yahweh despite threats from Seven Nations (7). Israel Is to Live by Divine Commandment in the Land as It Lived by Manna in the

Wilderness (8). [Text alternates mention of fundamental command, desert, cultivated land, fundamental command, =cultivated land, desert, fundamental command.]

The One Lord Who Rules History also Rules the Fertility of the Land (10:12-11:17) Conclusion to the First Part of the Covenant Formulary and Transition (11:18-32) Not Israel's Righteousness but Yahweh's Grace Gives the Land (9:1-10:11)Ch. 12. Law of Central Sanctuary. “the place that the LORD your God will choose” = Jerusalem. Revised calendar ch.

16

Highlights of Deuteronomy Part 1

Chief officials detailed in 17:18-18:19. No single person has absolute power, even the king. Lohfink sees an anticipation of the political philosophy of Montesquieu (1689-1755) who inaugurated idea of separation of judicial, executive, and legislative powers as a way of preserving individual liberty.Transferability of the Mosaic office (18:15-22). Attained a messianic sense, Acts 3:22.Swearing of the covenant (26:16-19). You have agreed today to the declaration of Yahweh that he will be your God that you will walk in his ways that you will keep his statues and his ordinances that you will obey his voice Yahweh has agreed today to your declaration that you are ready to be his people, a special possession as he promised you, that you are to keep all his commandments that he will set you high over all nations he has made, in praise and in fame and in

honor that you shall be a people holy to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.Covenant at Moab. Chs. 29-30.Chs. 31-32. The Song of Moses as a “witness” against the people: Introduction 1-6; Gracious Act 7-14; Rebellion 15-18; Divine Anger & punishment 19-25; Day of judgment & new beginning 26-43

Highlights of Deuteronomy Part II

Previous scholarship: Joshua was the 6th book (hexateuch, hexa- = 6). Martin Noth, 1943, proposed DH, Deut to Kings, a single work designed to convince exilic generation that exile was just punishment for Israel’s sins. Its “speeches” (Josh 1, 23; Jdg 2:6-3:6; 1 Sam 12; 2 Sam 7; 1 Kings 8; 2 Kings 17) were editorial interpretations.

Frank Cross (and others): two editions, the first composed under Josiah to support his reforms (emphasizing the Mosaic and Davidic promises) and the second to include the exilic destruction. The first edition (Dtr) probably began with Deut 1-3:28 + 31:1-8 + Joshua forward, ending with 2 Kings 23:25a, which has the look of an ending. The second edition (Dtr2) added material at beginning (Deut 4-34) and at end (23:23b-25:30). Later, separately, an editor made Deut the fifth book of the Pentateuch by adding the J-E account of the death of Moses in Deut 34, effectively separating Deut from the DH.

Deuteronomistic History (DH, Deut to Kings)

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I. Conquest (from K. L. Younger, NOAB)A. Preparation (1:1-5:12)B. Conquest of the land (5:13-12:24) Central campaign (5:13-8:35): Jericho, Achan and Ai; covenant renewal at Shechem Southern and Northern campaigns (9:1-11:15): Introduction (9:1-2); Southern (9:3-10:43); Northern 11:1-15). Summary of total conquest (11:16-23) Selective list of defeated cities’ kings (12) II. Allotment of the Land (chs. 13-24)B’. Division of the land (chs. 13-21) Land remaining (13:1-7) Transjordanian tribal allotment (13:8-32) Cisjordan tribal allotment (14-19) Allotment to persons of marginal status (chs. 20-21). Cities of refuge, Levitical cities.A’. Epilogue to conquest and allotments Misunderstanding with Transjordanian tribes (ch. 22 Concluding charges (chs. 23:1-24:28) Appendices (24:29-33)

Joshua. Deut speeches (1, 23-24)

History is more or less bunk. Henry Ford History has had assigned to it the office of judging the past and of

instructing the present for the benefit of future ages. To such high offices the present work does not presume; it seeks only to show the past as it really was (wie es eigentlich gewesen). Leopold Van Ranke: History of the Latin and German Peoples, 1824.

History, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. . . .The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all. Jane Austen

Genuine historical knowledge requires nobility of character, a profound understanding of human existence -- not detachment and objectivity. Friedrich Nietzsche

The historian can learn much from the novelist. Samuel Eliot Morison

Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell

History is the intellectual form in which a civilization renders account to itself of its past. Johann Huizinga

Definitions of History

References: Clifford, R. S.J. (2013). Old Testament Narrative

Introduction [PowerPoint presentation]. Chestnut Hill, MA.