- Dept. of Bible
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat Gan, 52900
Israel
Joshua Berman
Bar-Ilan University, Bible, Faculty Member
- My new book, Inconsistency in the Torah: Ancient Literary Convention and the Limits of Source Criticism is due out in June 2017 from Oxford University Press.edit
This is the first book-length study to explore the Hebrew Bible, and specifically the Pentateuch, as a coherent book of political philosophy. In Created Equal, Joshua Berman engages the text of the Hebrew Bible from a novel... more
This is the first book-length study to explore the Hebrew Bible, and specifically the Pentateuch, as a coherent book of political philosophy.
In Created Equal, Joshua Berman engages the text of the Hebrew Bible from a novel perspective, considering it as a document of social and political thought. He proposes that the Pentateuch can be read as the earliest prescription on record for the establishment of an egalitarian polity. What emerges is the blueprint for a society that would stand in stark contrast to the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East -- Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and the Hittite Empire - in which the hierarchical structure of the polity was centered on the figure of the king and his retinue. Berman shows that an egalitarian ideal is articulated in comprehensive fashion in the Pentateuch and is expressed in its theology, politics, economics, use of technologies of communication, and in its narrative literature. Throughout, he invokes parallels from the modern period as heuristic devices to illuminate ancient developments. Thus, for example, the constitutional principles in the Book of Deuteronomy are examined in the light of those espoused by Montesquieu, and the rise of the novel in 18th-century England serves to illuminate the advent of new modes of storytelling in biblical narrative.
Introduction Appended
In Created Equal, Joshua Berman engages the text of the Hebrew Bible from a novel perspective, considering it as a document of social and political thought. He proposes that the Pentateuch can be read as the earliest prescription on record for the establishment of an egalitarian polity. What emerges is the blueprint for a society that would stand in stark contrast to the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East -- Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and the Hittite Empire - in which the hierarchical structure of the polity was centered on the figure of the king and his retinue. Berman shows that an egalitarian ideal is articulated in comprehensive fashion in the Pentateuch and is expressed in its theology, politics, economics, use of technologies of communication, and in its narrative literature. Throughout, he invokes parallels from the modern period as heuristic devices to illuminate ancient developments. Thus, for example, the constitutional principles in the Book of Deuteronomy are examined in the light of those espoused by Montesquieu, and the rise of the novel in 18th-century England serves to illuminate the advent of new modes of storytelling in biblical narrative.
Introduction Appended
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Comparative Politics, Jewish Studies, Political Theory, History of Economic Thought, and 49 moreLegal History: Ancient Near East, Equality Studies, Republicanism, Legal Anthropology, Legal History, Hebrew Bible, Political Science, Old Testament Theology, Nationalism, History of Democracy, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Comparative Constitutional Law, Law and Literature, Athenian Democracy, Covenant Theology, National Identity, Biblical Ethics, Biblical Theology, Equality, Political Theology, Ancient Literacy, Democracy, Ancient Near East, Ancient social & political philosophy, Biblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Comparative Legal History, Torah/Pentateuch, Ancient economy, Biblical Exegesis, Book of Deuteronomy, Ancient Near Eastern Economy, Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Alphabetic Writing, Collectivism & Individualism, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Ancient Political Thought, Biblical Covenants, Old Testament Exegesis, Sacred and divine kingship, Pentateuch Studies, Covenants Bible, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Ancient Literature, Biblical Theological Studies, and Political Theory (Esp. Egalitarianism
This volume sheds fresh light upon the phenomenon of narrative doubling in the Hebrew Bible. Through an innovative interdisciplinary model the author defines the notion of narrative analogy in relation to other literatures where it has... more
This volume sheds fresh light upon the phenomenon of narrative doubling in the Hebrew Bible. Through an innovative interdisciplinary model the author defines the notion of narrative analogy in relation to other literatures where it has been studied such as English Renaissance drama and makes extensive critical use of contemporary literary theory, particularly that of the Russian formalist Vladimir Propp. His exploitation of narrative doubling, with a focus upon the metaphorical, reorients our reading by uncovering a major dynamic in biblical literature.
The author examines several battle reports and demonstrates how each could be interpreted as an oblique commentary and metaphor for the non-battle account that immediately precedes it. Battle scenes are revealed to stand in metaphoric analogy with, among others, accounts of a trial, a rape, a drinking feast, and a court-deliberation.
Joshua Berman offers new insights to the ever-growing concern with the relationship between historiography and literary strategies, and succeeds in articulating a new aspect of biblical ideology concerning human and divine relationship.
The author examines several battle reports and demonstrates how each could be interpreted as an oblique commentary and metaphor for the non-battle account that immediately precedes it. Battle scenes are revealed to stand in metaphoric analogy with, among others, accounts of a trial, a rape, a drinking feast, and a court-deliberation.
Joshua Berman offers new insights to the ever-growing concern with the relationship between historiography and literary strategies, and succeeds in articulating a new aspect of biblical ideology concerning human and divine relationship.
Research Interests: Hebrew Bible, Narratology, Biblical Studies, Narrative Methods, Narrative Theory, and 12 moreLiterary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Biblical Exegesis, Ancient Warfare, Inner-Biblical Exegesis, Book of Esther, Book of Judges, Book of Chronicles, Book of Joshua, Ancient Weapons and Warfare, Book of Kings, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Inner-Biblical Allusion
Tiberias marshals cutting edge advances in the field of machine learning and computational linguistics to empower users to easily conduct their own experiments analyzing and classifying the texts of the Hebrew Bible through the measurable... more
Tiberias marshals cutting edge advances in the field of machine learning and computational linguistics to empower users to easily conduct their own experiments analyzing and classifying the texts of the Hebrew Bible through the measurable features of linguistic data, and providing them with verifiable results. For a brief video demonstrating the program's unparalleled capacities, see here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUx7VD6YHpw. For a short written demonstration, see here - http://etcbc.nl/bible/linguistic-dating-and-the-tiberias-stylistic-classifier-for-the-hebrew-bible/
Research Interests: Diachronic Linguistics (Or Historical Linguistics), Digital Humanities, Hebrew Language, Computational Linguistics, Hebrew Bible, and 9 moreAncient Hebrew, Pentateuchal Theory, Biblical Hebrew (Languages And Linguistics), Torah/Pentateuch, Late Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Source Criticism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Documentary Hypothesis (Biblical Studies)
Academic scrutiny of scripture, a discipline prey to intellectual fashion since its inception, is today pursued by many in the service of secular liberal positions. The essay also offers a critical intellectual history of source criticism.
Research Interests:
The Late Bronze Age Šunaššura treaty (CTH 41) employs an unusual political metaphor, "the cattle have chosen their stables", to refer to the leanings and loyalties of contested vassal kings. This study employs bovine ethology to... more
The Late Bronze Age Šunaššura treaty (CTH 41) employs an unusual political metaphor, "the cattle have chosen their stables", to refer to the leanings and loyalties of contested vassal kings. This study employs bovine ethology to understand the lived reality behind the metaphor. This background sheds light on similar political imagery concerning cattle behavior in the ark narrative of
Research Interests:
While many are prepared to accept that God punishes as He sees fit, the command to Israel to annihilate the nations of Canaan is particularly troubling , because the responsibility to do so is given over to human hands. Why must Israel be... more
While many are prepared to accept that God punishes as He sees fit, the command to Israel to annihilate the nations of Canaan is particularly troubling , because the responsibility to do so is given over to human hands. Why must Israel be warriors? In this paper I seek out four constructive roles that Deuteronomy envisions in the engagement of warfare: to bolster cultural confidence, to serve as a vehicle of self-reproach, to act as agent of national bonding, and as a spur to greater faith.
Research Interests: Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Just War, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, and 11 moreViolence in the Bible, Biblical Theology, Just War Theory, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Deuteronomy, Religion and Violence, Torah/Pentateuch, Old Testament Exegesis, War and Religion, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Warfare and violence in the Hebrew Bible
The parable of the poor man’s ewe (2 Sam. 12.1-4) is best interpreted along two separate axes as a commentary upon the David and Bathsheba narrative in 2 Samuel 11. In one, the parable is an allegory for the sin of adultery with... more
The parable of the poor man’s ewe (2 Sam. 12.1-4) is best interpreted along two separate axes as a commentary upon the David and Bathsheba narrative in 2 Samuel 11. In one, the parable is an allegory for the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. In the other, the parable is an allegory for the sin of the murder of Uriah. This double interpretation of the parable matches Nathan’s censure of David in 12.9-12, where the prophet twice uses the formulaic opening, “thus says the Lord”, introducing two separate censures, one that focuses exclusively on the sin of adultery, and one on the sin of murder.
Research Interests:
The last decade has seen a growing interest in empirical models from the cognate literature to trace the growth of Hebrew scriptures. Yet, deeply rooted intellectual commitments within the history of the diachronic study of the Bible... more
The last decade has seen a growing interest in empirical models from the cognate literature to trace the growth of Hebrew scriptures. Yet, deeply rooted intellectual commitments within the history of the diachronic study of the Bible retard the incorporation of this approach within source-critical theory. Intellectual winds of the Enlightenment and German historicism and romanticism contributed to this situation and a reconsideration of some basic premises of source-critical method is needed.
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Intellectual and cultural history, and 10 moreBaruch Spinoza, Spinoza, Pentateuchal Theory, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Biblical criticism, Source Criticism, Old Testament Exegesis, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Scholars studying the evolution of the biblical law corpora are today divided into two camps. For one, the authors of these respective corpora revised earlier law collections with the aim of superseding them. More recently a growing... more
Scholars studying the evolution of the biblical law corpora are today divided into two camps. For one, the authors of these respective corpora revised earlier law collections with the aim of superseding them. More recently a growing counter-movement has challenged the classical paradigm. These scholars maintain that as biblical authors revised an earlier code they did not reject the authority and standing of the earlier collection. Rather, they viewed their own literary works as complements to the earlier ones. Scholars routinely adopt one position or the other and demonstrate how that position produces constructive readings of the passages at hand. However, one is hard put to find studies that systematically set the methodological claims of each camp in conversation with one another to measure and mediate the validity of these respective approaches. This study seeks to redress this absence. In considering the positions of the two camps, I lay emphasis on how each relates to four critical issues: the ubiquitous use of lemmatic citation; their respective understanding of the reasons for the redaction of the Pentateuch; the ubiquitous blending of legal materials elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible; and a consideration of the legal terminology and models each uses to assess the texts. With these underpinnings revealed, I assess each position, concluding that the complementarian position is the more cogent of the two.
Research Interests: Old Testament Theology, Legal Theory, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and 12 moreBiblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Source Criticism, Old Testament Exegesis, Pentateuch, Covenant Code, Pentateuch Studies, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Composition of the Pentateuch
In the 1980's scholars identified the "legal blend"—the phenomenon in Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles whereby the practice of a law is expressed as a conflation of two earlier iterations of the law as found in the legal corpora of the... more
In the 1980's scholars identified the "legal blend"—the phenomenon in Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles whereby the practice of a law is expressed as a conflation of two earlier iterations of the law as found in the legal corpora of the Pentateuch. The phenomenon is thought to reflect upheaval in Israel's history and the need to reach a great compromise between competing strands of legal tradition. Discussions have identified legal blends in the books of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles in descriptions of normative practice. This study claims that we also find the legal blend employed toward " aggadic " or rhetorical ends, whereby the law is extracted from its original focus and emerges within a new configuration of meaning. This study identifies seven narratives that blend iterations of the same law from across what are normally construed as distinct legal corpora. These examples are found in a broad range of narrative texts, most from the so-called Deuteronomic History. Trends that emerge from these examples are identified. The findings complicate the claim that the legal blend was exclusively a post-exilic phenomenon.
Research Interests: Old Testament Prophecy, Old Testament, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Biblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, and 10 moreDeuteronomy, Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical criticism, Source Criticism, Old Testament Exegesis, Biblical Narrative, Pentateuch, Pentateuch Studies, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Composition of the Pentateuch
This research tool, soon available on the internet, will offer scholars an unprecedented opportunity to conduct experiments concerning the style of the texts of Hebrew Scriptures. The tool is based on the work of computational linguist... more
This research tool, soon available on the internet, will offer scholars an unprecedented opportunity to conduct experiments concerning the style of the texts of Hebrew Scriptures. The tool is based on the work of computational linguist Moshe Koppel, whose work on the Hebrew Bible was featured in the summer 2015 issue of JBL. Funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Tiberias promises to give us new perspectives on the dating and authorship of the biblical texts. Tiberias will be presented publicly for the first time at a dedicated session at SBL 2015 in Atlanta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDjx99KTMto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDjx99KTMto
Research Interests: Jewish Studies, Old Testament Prophecy, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Deuteronomistic History, and 14 moreBook of Genesis, Book of Psalms, Biblical Interpretation, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Biblical Hebrew (Languages And Linguistics), Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical criticism, Source Criticism, Old Testament Studies, Prophets of the Hebrew Bible/"Old Testament", Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Adapted from my forthcoming study, "The Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II and the Sea Account of Exodus 13:17-15:18," in James Hoffmeier, Alan Millard and Gary Rendsburg, eds., "Did I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?" Biblical,... more
Adapted from my forthcoming study, "The Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II and the Sea Account of Exodus 13:17-15:18," in James Hoffmeier, Alan Millard and Gary Rendsburg, eds., "Did I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?" Biblical, Archaeological, and Egyptological Perspectives on the Exodus Narratives to be published by Eisenbrauns.
This study argues that the Exodus Sea account exhibits strong affinities with the Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II, identifying sequential and highly particular parallels of motif that structure both compositions. A series of controls suggest that these parallels are the product of literary dependence and that the Exodus account appropriates royal Egyptian propaganda in what it trumpets as YHWH's victory over Pharaoh himself. A hypothesis is offered to consider how the Kadesh Inscriptions may have reached Israelite composers and considers the possible dating of this transmission.
This study argues that the Exodus Sea account exhibits strong affinities with the Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II, identifying sequential and highly particular parallels of motif that structure both compositions. A series of controls suggest that these parallels are the product of literary dependence and that the Exodus account appropriates royal Egyptian propaganda in what it trumpets as YHWH's victory over Pharaoh himself. A hypothesis is offered to consider how the Kadesh Inscriptions may have reached Israelite composers and considers the possible dating of this transmission.
Research Interests: Egyptology, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, and 18 moreBiblical Archaeology, Ramesses II, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Pentateuchal Theory, Israelite Religion, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, New Kingdom (Egyptology), Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Ramesside Period, Exodus, ancient Israelite religion, Late Bronze Age, Biblical Hebrew poetry, Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel - Hebrew Bible and Archaeology; Phoenician-Punic language and epigraphy; Levantine Archaeology (espeically Biblical Archaeology), Book of Exodus, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Subtitle: Why some scholars want to see the exodus as just a great story. A response to Ronald Hendel
Research Interests: Egyptology, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, and 16 moreBiblical Archaeology, Ramesses II, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Pentateuchal Theory, Israelite Religion, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, New Kingdom (Egyptology), Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Ramesside Period, Exodus, ancient Israelite religion, Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel - Hebrew Bible and Archaeology; Phoenician-Punic language and epigraphy; Levantine Archaeology (espeically Biblical Archaeology), Book of Exodus, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Research Interests: Jewish Studies, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, and 26 moreBiblical Theology, Jewish-Italian Literature, Jewish Thought, Book of Genesis, Thomas S. Kuhn, 19th-century German philosophy, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Pentateuchal Theory, Interplay between Archaeology and Rabbinic Sources, Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Modern Jewish Thought, Biblical criticism, Italian Jewish history, Orthodox Judaism, Source Criticism, Paradigm Shifts, Old Testament Exegesis, Julius Wellhausen, Pentateuch Studies, Umberto Cassuto, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Composition of the Pentateuch, Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, Jewish Studies and Thought, and Modern Jewish Thought and Theology
Research Interests: Jewish Studies, Hebrew Language, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, and 19 moreOld Testament, Biblical Theology, Ancient Near East, Thomas S. Kuhn, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Pentateuchal Theory, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Biblical Hebrew (Languages And Linguistics), Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Late Biblical Hebrew, Biblical criticism, Source Criticism, Paradigm Shifts, Old Testament Exegesis, Pentateuch Studies, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, and Composition of the Pentateuch
The many discrepancies between the historical accounts in Deut 1-3 and the parallel accounts in Exodus and Numbers led classical scholarship to conclude that the author of Deuteronomy could not have intended his work to be read together... more
The many discrepancies between the historical accounts in Deut 1-3 and the parallel accounts in Exodus and Numbers led classical scholarship to conclude that the author of Deuteronomy could not have intended his work to be read together with those alternative traditions. A cogent historical record, it is reasoned, cannot have conflicting versions of the same events. In this paper, I claim that an ancient literary model for precisely such activity was available to the author of Deuteronomy in the Hittite treaty prologue tradition. Building on work by Moshe Weinfeld and his students, I begin by highlighting the many elements and motifs of Deut 1-3 that find parallel in the Hittite treaty prologue tradition, demonstrating that the author of Deuteronomy was familiar with this tradition. In the second part of the paper I analyze the four successive treaties between the Hittite kingdom and the kings of Amurru. As we move from treaty to treaty we see history retold again and again and that the various retellings of the same event differ markedly one from another. I demonstrate that even as the Hittite kings redrafted their historical accounts in accord with the needs of the moment, both they and their vassals would read these accounts while retaining, and recalling the earlier, conflicting versions of events. Drawing inspiration from studies of the El Amarna letters, I turn to the field of international relations for a social science perspective to explain why the Hittite kings composed such conflicting histories and how, in turn, these were read and interpreted by their vassals. Finally, I return to Deuteronomy and discuss the implications of this practice for our understanding of the historical accounts of Deuteronomy 1-3 within the context of the Pentateuch, where other, conflicting versions of those same stories are found.
Research Interests: Hittitology, Hebrew Bible, Covenant Theology, Hittite, Ancient Near East, and 20 moreLiterary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Torah/Pentateuch, Neo-Assyrian studies, Hittite Religion, Book of Deuteronomy, The Hittites, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Esarhaddon, Hittites, Biblical Covenants, Deuteronomic Literature and Law, Neo-Assyrian Treaties, George Mendenhall, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon, Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, and Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Languages
For over forty years the dominant view within scholarship has maintained that Deuteronomy 13 is a composition of the seventh century BCE. Remarkable similarities of language and norms exist between the apostasy laws of Deuteronomy 13 and... more
For over forty years the dominant view within scholarship has maintained that Deuteronomy 13 is a composition of the seventh century BCE. Remarkable similarities of language and norms exist between the apostasy laws of Deuteronomy 13 and the disloyalty provisions set out in section 10 of the Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon of 672 BCE. So compelling are the parallels of phraseology, so clearly defined is the historical setting, that Richard Nelson speaks for the consensus when he writes in his Deuteronomy commentary, “[Deuteronomy 13] breathes the atmosphere of Assyrian treaty documents, paralleling the requirements for loyalty found in them… The similarities between this chapter and VTE are so close that a deliberate imitation of Assyrian forms is nearly certain.” In this paper I propose that a more compelling backdrop for the apostasy laws of Deuteronomy 13 can be located in the Late Bronze Hittite vassal treaty tradition. Although Hittite treaty forms were a subject of keen interest in the 1960’s, crucial material has come to light since that has been largely ignored by the scholarship until now. I will draw attention to the sedition stipulations of the Hittite treaties that closely match the apostasy laws of Deuteronomy 13. In case after case we may see that the Hittite parallels are closer in content and in form to the laws of Deuteronomy 13 than are the parallels from the Neo-Assyrian tradition.
Research Interests: International Relations Theory, Legal History: Ancient Near East, Hittitology, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, and 39 moreCovenant Theology, Hittite, History of International Relations, Ancient Near East, Ancient Legal Systems, Amarna Letters, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Biblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Amarna Studies, Torah/Pentateuch, Ugaritic Studies, Biblical Exegesis, Neo-Assyrian studies, Hittite Religion, Book of Deuteronomy, Biblical criticism, Source Criticism, Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Esarhaddon, Pentateuchal Studies, Hittites, Biblical Covenants, Old Testament Exegesis, Julius Wellhausen, Deuteronomic Literature and Law, Neo-Assyrian Treaties, Ugaritic Literature, Pentateuch Studies, Covenants Bible, George Mendenhall, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Vassal Treaty of Esarhaddon, Composition of the Pentateuch, Tell El-Amarna, and Pentateuchal Studies, Comparative ANE Law
Research Interests: Constitutional Law, Jewish Studies, Theology, Political Theory, Equality Studies, and 23 moreHistorical Theology, Republicanism, Hebrew Bible, Political Science, Old Testament Theology, Old Testament, Egalitarianism, Covenant Theology, Theology and Culture, Biblical Theology, Equality, Hittite, Political Theology, Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Torah/Pentateuch, Hittite Religion, Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Hittitology, Hittite, Ancient Near East, Pentateuch Studies, Covenants Bible, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Covenants in the Old Testament
The article explores an unusual literary phenomenon in both biblical and Mesopotamian traditions: a consecutive order of clauses in a law collection serves to structure the plot of a later, narrative composition. The plot of Ruth follows... more
The article explores an unusual literary phenomenon in both biblical and Mesopotamian traditions: a consecutive order of clauses in a law collection serves to structure the plot of a later, narrative composition. The plot of Ruth follows the list of
commandments in Deut 24:16-25:10, while a portion of the Neo-Babylonian work, “Nebuchadnezzar King of Justice” follows the order of LH 1-5. Strikingly, these narrative compositions invoke the venerated law codes of their respective traditions, and yet, at the same time, the practice of those very same laws invoked, is seen to be at variance with the prescriptions of the earlier codes. The implications of the phenomenon for understanding processes of legal revision in the ancient Near East are explored.
commandments in Deut 24:16-25:10, while a portion of the Neo-Babylonian work, “Nebuchadnezzar King of Justice” follows the order of LH 1-5. Strikingly, these narrative compositions invoke the venerated law codes of their respective traditions, and yet, at the same time, the practice of those very same laws invoked, is seen to be at variance with the prescriptions of the earlier codes. The implications of the phenomenon for understanding processes of legal revision in the ancient Near East are explored.
Research Interests: Legal History: Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Mesopotamia History, Law and Literature, and 19 moreAncient Legal Systems, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Biblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Torah/Pentateuch, Biblical Exegesis, Neo-Babylonian period, Inner-Biblical Exegesis, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, Akkadian Literature, History of Religious Concepts, Book of Ruth, Neo Babylonian Empire, Pentateuch Studies, Ancient Legal History, Neo-Babylonian Law, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, The Code of Hammurabi, Biblical and Neo Babylonian Law, and Pentateuchal Studies, Comparative ANE Law
Even as most scholars acknowledge that biblical law cannot be equated with legislation in the modern sense, there are many ways in which modern—and hence, anachronistic—notions about law continue to permeate discussions of biblical law.... more
Even as most scholars acknowledge that biblical law cannot be equated with legislation in the modern sense, there are many ways in which modern—and hence, anachronistic—notions about law continue to permeate discussions of biblical law. It is difficult to clear away intuitive assumptions without an alternate set of coordinates to assess the issue at hand in a new and different way. To move beyond a view of biblical law as legislation we need to identify a well-grounded empirical model that answers the fundamental questions: What is law? How is law determined? What is the role of sanctioned texts in determining that law? This study seeks to re-appropriate the common-law tradition of jurisprudence as a heuristic aid for the study of biblical law. This approach went largely out of favor in the mid-nineteenth century and we have lost touch with its basic assumptions. Re-engaging the common-law tradition will enable us to re-examine basic questions raised by the critical study of biblical law: What are the mechanisms that governed the evolution of law in ancient Israel? Finally, how did the evolution of legal theory in the nineteenth century influence the study of biblical law?
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Legal History: Ancient Near East, Legal Anthropology, Legal History, Hebrew Bible, and 27 moreLegal Theory, Socio-legal studies, Biblical Theology, Early Modern Intellectual History, Ancient Near East, Ancient Legal Systems, Legal Philosophy, Biblical Interpretation, Biblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, European intellectual history, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Comparative Legal History, Torah/Pentateuch, American Intellectual History, History of Law, Bible studies, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Common Law, Codification, Savigny's Volkgeist Theory, Statutory Interpretation, Pentateuch Studies, Jeremy Bentham, Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
An abbreviated version of chapter 2 of my Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought (Oxford, 2008)
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Comparative Politics, Political Philosophy, Theology, Political Theory, and 10 moreLegal History: Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Comparative Constitutional Law, Ancient Legal Systems, Constitutional Theory, Ancient social & political philosophy, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Biblical Law, and Deuteronomy
Research Interests: American History, Intellectual History, Sociology of Culture, Constitutional Law, Comparative Politics, and 35 morePolitical Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Theology, Political Theory, History of Economic Thought, Legal History: Ancient Near East, Republicanism, American Legal and Constitutional History, Hebrew Bible, Political Science, European Constitutionalism, Economic Theory, History of Democracy, Biblical Studies, Edmund Burke, Comparative Constitutional Law, Law and Literature, Culture Studies, Athenian Democracy, Democracy, Ancient Legal Systems, Max Weber (Philosophy), Ancient social & political philosophy, Biblical Law, Deuteronomy, Torah/Pentateuch, Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, Democracy and Good Governance, Bible studies, Robert Putnam, Fukuyama, Pentateuch Studies, Democracy and Citizenship Education, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Many modern expositors of the image of the knowing ox in Isa 1:3a do not address the pastoral reality that animates the image. Drawing from the glosses of two medieval rabbinic exegetes and from studies of bovine ethology this study... more
Many modern expositors of the image of the knowing ox in Isa 1:3a do not address the pastoral reality that animates the image. Drawing from the glosses of two medieval rabbinic exegetes and from studies of bovine ethology this study explores the suggestions that have been raised concerning this reality. The study probes the implications of each suggestion for a fuller understanding of the oracle of Isa 1:2-3 and its place at the beginning of the book of Isaiah.
Research Interests: Religion, Music, Literature, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Prophecy, and 22 moreBiblical Studies, Old Testament, Culture, Mediterranean, Biblical Theology, Metaphor, History of Biblical Interpretation, Prophets, Rabbinic Literature, Biblical Interpretation, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Biblical Medieval Exegesis, Biblical Exegesis, Myth, Central Asian Archaeology, Book of Isaiah, Prophets of the Hebrew Bible/"Old Testament", Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Medieval Jewish biblical exegesis, Rabbi David Kimḥi, and Ancient Near Eastern
The ascription of blame to an entire people for the infraction of a nondescript individual found in the account of the sin of Achan (Joshua 7) is without parallel in the Hebrew Bible and in the legal and treaty literature of the ancient... more
The ascription of blame to an entire people for the infraction of a nondescript individual found in the account of the sin of Achan (Joshua 7) is without parallel in the Hebrew Bible and in the legal and treaty literature of the ancient Near East. Attempts to explain the account through concepts such as "corporate personality" or the "contagion" to be found in devoted goods have rightly come under great scrutiny. This paper seeks to understand collective punishment in Joshua 7 by engaging in a close reading of the final form of the text and with recourse to notions found in contemporary ethical theory. The paper introduces the rhetorical use of minor characters as markers of collective attitudes in biblical narrative. Central to the exposition of the Achan account, is the role of the spies' report (7:2-3) as such a marker of collective attitudes shared by the polity as a whole.
Research Interests: Ethics, Theology, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Collective Action, and 20 moreBiblical Studies, Old Testament, Biblical Ethics, Biblical Theology, Political Theology, Biblical Interpretation, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Karl Jaspers, Biblical Exegesis, Collective Responsibility, Inner-Biblical Exegesis, Collectivism & Individualism, Book of Joshua, Old Testament Exegesis, Collective guilt, Former Prophets, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Larry May, Biblical Theological Studies, and The Book of Joshua
The Late Bronze Age Šunaššura treaty (CTH 41) employs an unusual political metaphor, "the cattle have chosen their stables”, to refer to the leanings and loyalties of contested vassal kings. This study employs bovine ethology to... more
The Late Bronze Age Šunaššura treaty (CTH 41) employs an unusual political metaphor, "the cattle have chosen their stables”, to refer to the leanings and loyalties of contested vassal kings. This study employs bovine ethology to understand the lived reality behind the metaphor. This background sheds light on similar political imagery concerning cattle behaviour in the ark narrative of 1 Sam 6 and the opening oracle of the Book of Isaiah (1:3).
Research Interests: Hebrew Language, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Hittite, Ancient Hebrew, and 9 moreAncient Near East, Books of Samuel, Biblical Interpretation, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Biblical Hebrew (Languages And Linguistics), Book of Isaiah, Biblical Hebrew Language, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
The essay claims that our modern notion of law as statutory law has profoundly skewed our understanding of the nature of law and legal texts in the biblical and rabbinic traditions.
Research Interests: Jewish Law, Jewish Studies, Theology, Legal History: Ancient Near East, Legal Anthropology, and 36 moreLegal History, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Legal Theory, Biblical Studies, Jewish History, Biblical Theology, Rabbinics, Jewish Thought, Ancient Near East, Ancient Legal Systems, Rabbinic Literature, Jewish Philosophy, Legal Philosophy, Medieval Jewish History, Biblical Interpretation, Biblical Law, Pentateuchal Theory, Deuteronomy, Judaism, Socio-Legal Studies (Law), Jewish Cultural Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Maimonides, Comparative Legal History, Torah/Pentateuch, Mishnah, Bible studies, Orthodox Judaism, Common Law, Rabbinic Judaism, Statutory Interpretation, Talmudic Law, Pentateuch Studies, Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Research Interests: Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Prophets, Biblical Interpretation, and 15 moreLiterary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Rape Culture, Biblical Exegesis, Inner-Biblical Exegesis, King David, Storytelling and Self-Confrontation: Parables as Communication Strategies, Prophets of the Hebrew Bible/"Old Testament", Old Testament Exegesis, Outcomes following Rape and Sexual Assault, Parables, Former Prophets, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Prophet and King David, King David's Wives, and Uriah (Hebrew Bible / Old Testament)
This study claims that the book of Ruth constitutes a legal homily whose plot unfolds according to the sequential order of the legal materials found in Deuteronomy 24,16–25,10, and is a commentary upon them. Ancient Near Eastern law... more
This study claims that the book of Ruth constitutes a legal homily whose plot unfolds according to the sequential order of the legal materials found in Deuteronomy 24,16–25,10, and is a commentary upon them. Ancient Near Eastern law codes, such as that of Hammurabi, exhibit the organising principle of associative concatenation or linking of different legal material. Through this reading strategy, the order of those laws in Deuteronomy may
be understood as an organic unit. The author of Ruth transposed these laws into a sequence of legal themes that form the structure of his plot.
be understood as an organic unit. The author of Ruth transposed these laws into a sequence of legal themes that form the structure of his plot.
Research Interests: Legal History: Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology, Legal Theory, Old Testament, and 11 moreLaw and Literature, Ancient Near East, Biblical Law, Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Biblical Exegesis, Book of Deuteronomy, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Book of Ruth, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and The Code of Hammurabi
The term 'double- (or, multi-) edged sword' appears three times each in the Hebrew Bible (Judg 3:16; Prov 5:4; Ps 149:6) and the Christian Bible (Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16; 2:12), and once each in the Apocrypha (Sir 21:3) and the Pseudepigrapha... more
The term 'double- (or, multi-) edged sword' appears three times each in the Hebrew Bible (Judg 3:16; Prov 5:4; Ps 149:6) and the Christian Bible (Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16; 2:12), and once each in the Apocrypha (Sir 21:3) and the Pseudepigrapha (Ahiqar, col. 7, 100b). Whether in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek, the term reads in all of these texts, literally, 'a sword of mouths.' While the word hrb stands as a trope for the potency of speech in only some of its five hundred instances in the Hebrew Bible, the 'sword of mouths' does so in seven of its occurrences, across several bodies of literature, while the eighth occurrence offers a slight variation on the theme. Archaeological and philological evidence is adduced in support of the notion of the orality of the image of the sword.
Research Interests: Proverbs, Hebrew Bible, Aramaic, Biblical Studies, Metaphor, and 17 moreBiblical Archaeology, Book of Psalms, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Book of Revelation, Ancient Warfare, Book of Judges, Ben Sira, Book of Hebrews, Ancient Weapons and Warfare, Sirach, Ahiqar, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Languages, Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible, Bible History and Archaeology, and Aramaic Proverbs of Ahikar
This short article addressed to a broader readership investigates the impact of the King James Bible upon the American founding. In order to show that impact, the article's first half portrays the political context for the formation of... more
This short article addressed to a broader readership investigates the impact of the King James Bible upon the American founding. In order to show that impact, the article's first half portrays the political context for the formation of the King James, charts the influence of the Bible upon early modern political thought, and then sketches the impact of the KJV upon the rhetoric and political thought of the Founders. The essay is accompanied by a timeline.
Research Interests: American History, European History, Intellectual History, Constitutional Law, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, and 22 moreJewish Studies, Theology, Political Theory, Early Modern History, Republicanism, Colonial America, American Legal and Constitutional History, Hebrew Bible, Political Science, Old Testament Theology, European Constitutionalism, History of Democracy, Law and Literature, Early Modern Intellectual History, John Locke, Bible and Popular Culture, Thomas Paine, John Selden, Bible studies, Deism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and ENGLISH LITERAURE
Regnant documentary theories do not account for the large amount of Aramaic narrative framing seen in Ezra 4–6. The discourse employed by this narrator shows him to be a Samarian in orientation. The implied author constructs this... more
Regnant documentary theories do not account for the large amount of Aramaic narrative framing seen in Ezra 4–6. The discourse employed by this narrator shows him to be a
Samarian in orientation. The implied author constructs this narrative perspective as a poetic device through which the reader/listener learns the foes of his time—Samarian and
Persian—are not as formidable as he may have thought them to be, and that the God of Israel works in ways that he may not have appreciated without this external testimony.
Samarian in orientation. The implied author constructs this narrative perspective as a poetic device through which the reader/listener learns the foes of his time—Samarian and
Persian—are not as formidable as he may have thought them to be, and that the God of Israel works in ways that he may not have appreciated without this external testimony.
Research Interests: Hebrew Bible, Aramaic, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, and 9 moreSecond Temple Judaism, Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Second Temple Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Ancient Judaism, Ezra-Nehemiah, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Languages
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This is the fourth essay in my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Literature." In it I maintain that the discrepancies between the narratives of Deuteronomy and the parallel narratives in the other books of the Pentateuch are best... more
This is the fourth essay in my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Literature." In it I maintain that the discrepancies between the narratives of Deuteronomy and the parallel narratives in the other books of the Pentateuch are best understood with recourse to a literary convention found in the Late Bronze Hittite treat literature. Here we find that the sovreign would routinely present the vassal with contradictory versions of their past history. The essay is a condensed version of my artilce, "Histories Twice Told: Deuteronomy 1-3 and the Hittitel Treaty Prologue Tradition,' Journal of Biblical Literature 132.2 (2013): 229-250.
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This is the third essay in my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism." In it I summarize the main lines of similarity that scholars have identified between the Late Bronze Hittite vassal treaties and the idea of covenant... more
This is the third essay in my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism." In it I summarize the main lines of similarity that scholars have identified between the Late Bronze Hittite vassal treaties and the idea of covenant between God and Israel in the Pentateuch.
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This is the second essay in my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism." In it I show that Maimonides and Gersonides each recognized deep theological significance in reading the Hebrew Bible against its ancient Near Eastern... more
This is the second essay in my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism." In it I show that Maimonides and Gersonides each recognized deep theological significance in reading the Hebrew Bible against its ancient Near Eastern context, and not see this reading strategy as compromisng the sanctity of sacred scripture.
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This is is the first essay of my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism". In it I lay out why both rabbinic and reigning source critical methodologies fail to adequately account for the discrepancies between Deuteronomy and... more
This is is the first essay of my series, "Rethinking Orthodoxy and Biblical Criticism". In it I lay out why both rabbinic and reigning source critical methodologies fail to adequately account for the discrepancies between Deuteronomy and the other books of the Pentateuch.
Research Interests:
"The presence of a large block of Aramaic narrative in Ezra iv-vi has long posed a conundrum for scholars of Ezra-Nehemiah. Bill Arnold has explained the presence of Aramaic as a shift in perspective to “an external point of view.” This... more
"The presence of a large block of Aramaic narrative in Ezra iv-vi has long posed a conundrum for scholars of Ezra-Nehemiah. Bill Arnold has explained the presence of Aramaic as a shift in perspective to “an external point of view.” This study expands upon Arnold’s thesis on two fronts. First, the evidence suggesting a perspective of narration that is external to the camp of the returned Judeans is far stronger than Arnold indicated. Second, a concrete identity for this external voice of Aramaic narration is proposed. The argument begins by identifying the constructed perspective and position
of the speaker “we” in v 4, concluding—counter to the consensus within scholarship— that it is a gentile speaking. This conclusion is then supported by attending to the vocabulary and discourse utilized throughout this Aramaic pericope. In the final stage the precise gentile identity of the narratorial voice of this Aramaic pericope is identified."
of the speaker “we” in v 4, concluding—counter to the consensus within scholarship— that it is a gentile speaking. This conclusion is then supported by attending to the vocabulary and discourse utilized throughout this Aramaic pericope. In the final stage the precise gentile identity of the narratorial voice of this Aramaic pericope is identified."
Research Interests: Hebrew Bible, Aramaic, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Second Temple Judaism, and 9 moreLiterary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Second Temple Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Ancient Judaism, Ezra-Nehemiah, Persian Period, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Historical Criticism Old Testament, and Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Languages
In ways that were astonishingly new and counter-intuitive, in ways that served the purposes of no known interest group, the political philosophy of the Pentateuch may be seen to rise like a phoenix out of the intellectual landscape of the... more
In ways that were astonishingly new and counter-intuitive, in ways that served the purposes of no known interest group, the political philosophy of the Pentateuch may be seen to rise like a phoenix out of the intellectual landscape of the ancient Near East. Throughout the ancient world the truth was self-evident: all men were not created equal. It is in the Pentateuch that we find the birthplace of egalitarian thought. When seen against the backdrop of ancient norms, the social blueprint espoused by the Torah represents a series of quantum leaps in a sophisticated and interconnected matrix of theology, politics and economics.
Research Interests: Political Theory, Equality Studies, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Egalitarianism, and 7 moreCovenant Theology, Ancient social & political philosophy, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Torah/Pentateuch, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Political Theory (Esp. Egalitarianism, and Constituational Theory
This study examines the interplay between the various players on the stage in this narrative--Pharaoh, Joseph and the brothers-- from an integrated perspective that sees the negotiations over Jacob's burial as cross-cultural responses... more
This study examines the interplay between the various players on the stage in this narrative--Pharaoh, Joseph and the brothers-- from an integrated perspective that sees the negotiations over Jacob's burial as cross-cultural responses and counter-responses that evolve with each stage of the procession as Jacob is taken from expiration to interment.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Egyptology, Theology, Social Identity, Hebrew Bible, and 18 moreBiblical Studies, Cultural Identity, Narrative and Identity, Acculturation, Literary Approaches to Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Acculturation strategies, Death and Dying, Mourning and Remembrance, Burial, Patriarchs, Public mourning and burial, Mummification, Genesis, Assimilation, Ethnicity and National Identity, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Ideology in the Bible, and Jacob
The article traces the character of Esther in light of clinical theories of coming out. It borrows from feminst theories of Simone de Beauvoir. It claims that as Esther grows along two concommitant tracks: as a woman who moves from... more
The article traces the character of Esther in light of clinical theories of coming out. It borrows from feminst theories of Simone de Beauvoir. It claims that as Esther grows along two concommitant tracks: as a woman who moves from object to subject, and from denial of her Jewish identity on through a process of coming out, and adopting a positive Jewish identity.
Research Interests: Feminist Theory, Feminist Theology, Queer Theory, Gay And Lesbian Studies, Old Testament, and 11 moreMinority Studies, Feminism, Postcolonial Feminism, Simone de Beauvoir, Constructions of femininity, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies, Book of Esther, Feminist Political Theory, Coming Out, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Book of Esther Literary Analysis
Video of lecture given at the conference "A Literary Creation: Literary Approaches to the Book of Genesis," Bar-Ilan University, June 2014. The presentation seeks to find an underlying theme uniting the four masebot that Jacob erects, as... more
Video of lecture given at the conference "A Literary Creation: Literary Approaches to the Book of Genesis," Bar-Ilan University, June 2014. The presentation seeks to find an underlying theme uniting the four masebot that Jacob erects, as fulfillments of the various and individual promises made to him at the dream at Bethel in Genesis 28.
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While many are prepared to accept that God punishes as He sees fit, the command to Israel to annihilate the nations of Canaan is particularly troubling, because the responsibility to do so is given over to human hands. Why must Israel be... more
While many are prepared to accept that God punishes as He sees fit, the command to Israel to annihilate the nations of Canaan is particularly troubling, because the responsibility to do so is given over to human hands. Why must Israel be warriors? In this paper I seek out four constructive roles that Deuteronomy envisions in the engagement of warfare: to bolster cultural confidence, to serve as a vehicle of self-reproach, to act as agent of national bonding, and as a spur to greater faith.