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CONTOURS OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY
Bernhard W Anderson with the "ssistmICe of St",,,, Bishop
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Fortress Press M...
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CONTOURS OF OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY
Bernhard W Anderson with the "ssistmICe of St",,,, Bishop
-" "
Fortress Press Min ncapolis
Conwurs vi Old TbL1m~..,[ Theology Cop)'right 0 1999 Au~rg Foru~s. All nght5 r~.-d. Except for- brief qu(>(3t10nS in crit· ical an:icb or r~io:'oO·~. no pan of Ihis book may b.: reproduced in any mann~ "'ithol.,, prior ",riuen permission from the publisher \);tritC'- Permissions, Augsburg Fonreu, Box ]209, Mirmeapolis, 1\'IN 55440. Cover deiign: Brad N OTT D.,.;ign hllcrior design , Peregrine GrJphics Sel"\.· ,ce~
Co/lragll( ill
Figure .~ on page 82 is reprinted from U.Jmlm..Juogl& Old TI'l41"(\ll ( p p.
=
]nc]ucks. bibligr.lphial rd.-n-nces
~nd in ..(.d ThroIcgy
words and events are charged with sacred meaning so that they become, as Abraham Joshua Hcschcl put it, "hyphens« connecting heaven and earth, Cod and humanity,3 Theology o f this sort is nearer w art than to science, to imagi native portra yal than to prosaic d iscourse. It appeals to the poet within us, as "deep calls umo dcq>" (Ps. 42:7). To comprehend CoOs relationship to the world and God's activity within it, writes Patrick MilleT as he rdb:ts on theological [rends of the past decades, "it may be that ou r most helpful language will turn out to be located in poetic spetth and in images that belong more to poetry and Story than to philosophical a na lysis ,~~
The Old Ttslamtlll as Cmlollienl Scriphm O ld Testament theology is a Christian discipline. SillCe the dawn of Christian ity, ·Old Testament" (Old C ovenant) has been the Sl<mdard label for the Scriptures that the early Christian community inh('rited from ancient Israel. The t('rm indi · cates that the early Christian movement began in th e heart of judaism, that the pristine Christian proclamation was based on the Jewish Scriptures (called the Law and the Proph('ts), and that the IWO communities of fa ith belong togethe r, as Paul argued effectively in Romans 9- 11, sharing a common Bible and therefore a common story.' The language Nold covenanf (testam('nt) is reminiscent of a famous prophecy in the book of Jeremiah (31 :31-33 ) about two epochs: the time of the old l\'losaic covenant. which ended in human failure; and the time of t~ new covenan t, when the divine loral, (law, teaching ) will be written on the heart and there will be such personal know ledge of Cod that religious teaching will no longer be necessary. In Jer('miah's prophecy t he issue is eschatology, the relation between the old age and the new, not ben-'ccn two bodies of Scripture. Thcjewish community located at Qumran o n the shor~of the Dead Sea (end of third century B.C. to A.D. 70 ) thought of itself as a community of t he new covenant, Believing tha t the new age was about to come. these covenan ters (prob· ably Esscncsl searched Jewish Scriptures for propheci~ that were going to be ful filled. Similarly, the early Christian community considered itself a community of the new covenant. In their own way Christians also readjewish Scriptur~ with the convicti on that the anticipatcd age of the new cove nant had already dawned through the life, death , and resurrection o f Je'ills, th ~ Messiah (Christ). It was app ropriate, the n, that in the second century, when Christians compiled their own writings, they labeled them the Scriprures of the new covenant, to disti nguish 3. Abraham JO'IhlU Hesche1. C.od in 511>n:b 4 1\1.;". A Phif.:"o(Jby of j ,d ais," (New Yon.., hrrlT, Slraus and Cudahy, 1935 l. 244. 4. From lhe con.;luding pilTiBriph of an editOrial, "Re"i5ilin8 Ihe God \'1;'110 ACls: TToJ.zy, 54. no. I (l 997) S.
5. See my nHY, "The Bible as the Shuw. 5to l)" of I Prople: in Th OIJ ~n~ Iht NtII' TtlWow:tl ThriT Rd•• Ii."jbip " ,.J IlK -(x\trt(St.:IlIIC the Old Testament 10 be a problem. This pa rt of the Bible is sometimes wTinen off as "pre-Christian" literature , be from Egyp t was nOt just a politicill e~'e m in world his tory but an exodus from a symbolic world that ena bled ilncicm em pi res, like that of Egypt. 10 sec: themselves ilS belongmg 10 a cosmic order. Cods ilnd hUfTliI ns, cosmos and h istory. the heilvenly order and earth ly empire, were bound up in one compact wh ole. Israel, however, broke from this "cosmological sym bol ism" and achieved a sense of "transcen dence: Ihil l is. iln aware~ss of the rule of God that cannot be ide nt ified with the political order or ~ny~hing "wo rldly." The revelalion of the Iranscendent God and God's created orde r, e:xpressc:d in the symbolis m of the biblicill language, came to inspired persons, ocginning especially with Moses, whose souls were so auuned to God and God's cosmic ki ngdo m (rule: ) that t he:y represented a new type of hllman bcmg m wo rl d hislC!),. Accordin g to Voe:gelin, God's re\·elalion came: ~I a gre:at COSt. which he described as a "mongage" of Israel's mundane existence on th e transcendent rul e of Cod, as evidenced in attachment 10 elhnic group (the: pc:o ple Israel ) and a promised. Iilnd (the land of Israc:l). As long as Ihis mongage: \,'as in c:ffen. God ... revdat ion could nOI achie\'e Ihe univers.J1 implications ant icipated in the call of Abraham (Gen_ 11: 1-3 ). In Christ ianity, however. this mongage was liqUidated . so to spc:ak, and the promises to Israel ",'ere eXlended IC all people (nol JUSt the cho· ~n people ) on the wh o le "eanh" (not just the "land" of Israel). H ere we fin d a bold attempt 10 deal wit h a fundamental theological subjen: divine revelation. Even Ihose who do not share Vocgelin's philosophical presupposition5 will be iI!1ured by the author's treatment of rel igious symbol ism . p,micularly the symbolism of biblical language. To this malleT we sha ll re turn again and again. The thorny problem, however. is the proposed understanding of the rd at ion· ship between the )e"' ish and Christian communi t ies of fai th . It is ironic that Voegdin. for whom re\·elat ion to Isra el is the found ation and staning point, comes OUt with a negat i\'e assessment o f th e fu ture of Israd in God's purpose. As a ChriStian, he fi nds much that IS tme and good in t he Old Teslament. but t hese
,m
t 2. Pet~r L Bergcr. A R~""" o} An;Ids. ,\ \aJmI s....--,,~. ,,"J tbi R,J:k""oo,"Y aJ th. S./Jtrr..;:~r~l (~'. .... d_ ..
Ne"" Yo rk., Doublrdl)·. 1990), 60-61 . 13. En c Voegelin, O,d" 3"J Huwry. "01. I, };r."j clnJ R" ·,/"-r",,, IllalOll R(H.I.II~' LOUisi;ma S tat~ Un;v. Prc~~, 1956). s.,~ my rcviCVo' cs~y, ' Pol it ics and the Tnnst:endr::nt Vrxgo:::hn's Philo:9 Dr""," of tlJ( Bibk 5 has ha d considerabl~ influence in the rv.'emi~th c:~ntury. It is defe nded , above all, b}' the New Testam ~ m t heo logian Osc:ar C ullm ann in h is book St11"aliol1 i" His/ory ,6 Although he avoids using the term 4. See B~n C. Ollenbu rger, · O ld T~tam~nt Theolog}'c A Discourse on lI.1ethod," in BiJ,!i",1 Tb< ol0!lY' P,oH, .. s dnJ Pmp
Cod:
The Future 01 Old TtStammt T/xala!/y So, where do we go from hc:-re} As a student humorously asked, -Is thc:rc: life after
HtilsgtSl:nicnld
Waite r Brueggemann begins an essay on "FulU~ in Old Testamc:nt Theology" with the observation: "TIle only [Wo things sure about Old Testament thc:ology now are : 1. The ways of Walther Eichrodt and Gc:rhard von Rad are no longer ade':quate. 1. Therc: is no co nSe':nsus among us abo ut w hat comc:s ne':x t.·"
BTlllg9C-llllll's Bipolnr Thoblgy Among scholars of a younger gene':ration Brue':ggemann has take':n the': lead in addressing the problc:ms and possibilities of producing an Old Testament theology in the': "postmodem- climate of biblical studies, that is, in thc: period afte':T the dom ination of the': c:ighteenth.century Enlighlenml:nt_ '8 In advancc: of t he recent appearance of his own major opus, Thtol"9Y of thr Old Tf'SliIlllmt,1 9 he wrote several t6. c;..m.,rd ~~n !bd. OIJ T...I.:;..... r n:....\ofy. mlns. D_ M_ C. Sulker, 2 vols. (New YOr1: Ha~r &: Row, 1962--65)' 2:428---2 9_ 17. Wah~r Bruegscminn, OL:I Tgy (M inneapol iSe Fortrns Pn:-ss, I 994), 18. A he1phti introduction 10 po'itmodern philosophy and its impaCI On Christ ian theology is A Pri~r aJ Posr.."J,.",j. , ed. Stanl",,· J. CrenI (Grand ~pid>, Eerdrrnon' , 1996). See al.lesill, Propt,ro oJ fxl~: Nirt"~ H~gn: FOOlfQ~k ~ IBo:rkdey: Un iversity of C.lifomi~ Pn:s~.
1985). 19. Wah~ Bruegaemann. n...k'!1y cf tr.. O!J TI'I"',"",~ Ttrtimmty. Dis~1t. Ad_MY (Minn~apolis:
Fort r~'
Pn:ss, 1997).
Old TC:Slameru Theology in ,he: T...·~tic:th Century
23
preliminary c:ssays that give some indications of how a Mn~w" Old Testamenr the. ology should be conceiv~d. To begin With, he proposc:s that the biblical theologian should Macce pt a mode probably mor~ appropriate to our cultural moment of scatt~rin8 and our intdle(> tua! moment of hermc:neutical self-kno ..... ledge: WI: should be realistic about th~ brc:akdown of any consensus in biblical studies and about th~ inescapabiliry of a hermeneutical perspective. This is no t ime, hc: avers, fo r "a grand design" that "i nd ud~s and aC
lend 10 reflect the prte'§t Wright: 36. Will Heroerg. f aith E""dlJ ~I His ~'Y (Philadelphia, \I::'eslminSlCr. 1976), 156-60.
27
C h ri stian theologian has to deal in some way with the factuality of the crudfixion. t o say nothing of Ihe reality of the rcsurrection. Third, it is ques tionable .... hether Brueggemann does justice to the fact that Old Testament theology is in a special scnse a Christian discipline, as the designation 60 ld Testament" suggests. He seems to feel that the so-c;:alled Old Testament stands by itsclf, independent o f the: Jewish and Christian communit ies, and then:-fore may be understood in in own right .... ith the method of modem rhetorical cri t icism.)7 But this does nOt do JUStice 10 the canonical status of these .... ril ings in [he Jewish and Christian Bibles. This literature is inseparably related to a m mmunity of faith , M the people of God,~ that produced ;t and im" rpn:-t" d it dur· ing its historic;:al pilgrimage. In the mysterious grace o f Cod the Christian commun ity. along .... ith the Jewish, belongs to the Israel of God (Gal. 6,17). In the future, new light may break forth as these rwo commun ities of faith engage in dialogue about t he meaning o f the Scriprures they hold in common:18 Finally. in Bruc:ggemann'li th= logical exposition the question of "revelat ion" comes to the fore_ H e does not say tha t the biblical tcstimony rrowls God, but that the testi mon y is ad judged to be truthfu l and is takflllls revelation. "That is, the lestim ony tha t Israel bears to the ch aracter o f God is taken by the cedesial m mmu· nit)' of the text as rel iable disclosure about the true character of Cod_"39 /I.'lore clarity is need ed on th" identity of this "ceclesial communi I)' of the tex( (t h" jury) in whic;:h the testimony Ot("OIIIrs revela tion. Brueg8emann concludes his ThQI~gy with a ringing c hallenge to this communit)', where.... er it is preSent, to "ngage tilt theo logic;:a! claims of the biblical tcstimony and to reorder its life according to "the .....orld of Yahwe h-"40 In conclusion. Brueggemann maintains that new revelation occurs. and will occu r, through the dialectical conAict between Israel's core testimony of Cod's saving power and (he countertestimony of Gods maintenance of order. In the fac;:e of c;:ountertcstimony, whic;:h also claims (0 be true, the coun has to decide what is (he truth. The questio n of the true linguistic ponrayal of Cod is debatable, and a fi nal ... erotc;:t has not been reached. In the great court trial, '"the ....ait ing is long and disc;:orx::en ing, because other gods are sometimes most formidable. And th" jury only trickles in----here and there, no..... and thcn -"~ I
Ie-gilimar" objecuon of Denn,s T. O]o;,on, "B,blical Theolo8Y 3S Pro\'ilional Mono\ogizaliono A Dialogue wilh Child~, Bn«g;:em;tnn and Bakhtin: lM/, And having nudkd undervon Rad. 1 "Ias much inHucnced by t~ history of Israelite tradi tions, ~ginning wilh the early oral period Indeed. I look the time 10 translate Ma rt in No th's study of the hIStory of the tr.msmission of ~nta tcuchal tradi tions?
Brroard Chi/dss Approach A decisive turning point was rea ched in 1970 with the: publication of Brevard C hilds's Bihliclll Thtology in Cm;f,$ Chllds showed the weaknesses of a biblical the-
o logy resting o n the revelation of Cod in histOrical events. During the days o f the so-called biblical theology movement (jUS t afte r World "(lar 11), Ihis ~'lew had been sel forth preeminentl)' by George Ernest W riSht in his monogra ph God lVbo Acts. in which he took a stand againsI a doctrinal approach and emphasized historical rec ital. that is, the narra ti\'e of God's acting in the world.9 Ch ild ~ was crit ical of any attem pt to ba~ b iblica l theo logy on objective historical events (the Albright K hool). and he extended his criticism 10 history in the sense of ~hislOry of traditions" (Noth. ~'on Rad. and others). He insisted tha t there mUS t be "a still more excellent way."
CmoJl anJ Biblical TbroJogy The even better way. in Childs's view. invol\'Cs laking seriously the fi nal fonn of the traditio n, not just as il is shaped by redaclors but oS set fort h in the canon o f bi blical books tha t the commun ity of faith aCCeptS as auth oritative. Agai nst his critics. he insis ts tha t emphasis on th e canon does not meon a flat interpretiltion o f Scri pture, which lacks the d yn amic of a d,achronic move ment. The interpreter, he declares. must take seriously Ihe -depth d i men sio n .~ that is, the stages o f .mJC.,.,.,.,.;ry- {Philaddphil: Fomn, Press. 1984). and -AciapYble for wft The NaIUK and Function of Ca non: In ,\ s..;n../", Vc. Th ,\Itghly Att, ~f GoJ. bWJ1 0" ~ &blr nJ Arrb.::",j.,gy"" AIr>no.>ry "f G ElJ1l'! Wngill "d. Fr.mk M CIlK5 Jr el 1I ,(;;,rden OIY. N .Y · Doohleda}·. 1976), j 3 r --60,- sec my "x,C"r'Kkd rt"\'i·is h -Ch.; sti~n Readin g of the Hebrew Bible: cha p. 4, in Ca""" ad ThroIDjl)'. 13. Jon D . U:vcnson. Sj~ai ,,~J Z:""" A" felt), jn:~ :b. Jt",;,b B,b1, (Minneapolis, WrinSlOn~ 1985). t4. Chri lloph B~rth , GoJ ,,"I~ U, A Th,,!cgi
Isr.,tI. x. 7. ludwlg Koehler. 00 TtSI4 .. t'IIl T1ow1.>gy. I... n. A.
36. 4 1.
S Todd (Phil~del phiil' W~tery and wonder he ga\'e the term "the numinous" (from La tin lIu"'rn, "divine spiri t or powet). Ouo's work has been carried further by orilC:r studies in the phenomenology of religion (o r "compara tive religion'"). especially Mircea Eliade's examination of hierophanies o r "ma nifestations of the saCTed~ in \'ariOlls cuhures. 14
,r.r
8. Dilk Moody. W(ltJ pfTrwtb tGrand RapKk En-dmall'l. 1981 i. 9-1. 9. For music appr«il(ors, .. good .-~ampk ir Rr!i~''''''. rrilns. R. Sh«d (Clev.,llnd: World, 1963, French Otiginll, 19-tS)
The Exp.-rience of the Holy
43
1lK Ovrrwhrlmi1:9 M)'>I"')'
.'\ ccording to 0 110, the sense of the holy (the wonde rful. the a ....eful , the numi nous) has [v,.·O ilSpcc[S, dreild and fascination . One is drawn to the mystery and at the same time repelled by it, as in Ihe case of Moses' experience at the burning bush (Exodus 3). Similarly in the sto ry of the theophany at .....Iount Sinai (Exodus 19) the people are d raw n to the mystery of the sacred mountain, but they stand back in fea r and d read lest they be consumed by d i"ine holiness. Fa~inatjon and dread, ho .... C'VCr. are human m¥>oJ:SfS 10 the peculiar nilture of the holy. In Duo's \'iew, the hol~' is no t JUSt m)'s t~ry described by '>lK h words as "the ineffable , the wholly other, the transcenden t: Even more fundamentally the ho ly is power that 0110 describes as; • 3wdulnes~, pleni tude of po..·er which evokes i s.ense of dr.-ad • 0~·erpoweringne5s, plenitude of being. absolU1e unapproachability • urgency. vi tality. will, (orce. mo'·emem. excitement. activity. energy, [metilphoriully aJ consuming f1 .... il Dtlo Further stales that already in the Bible there arc: all empts to '" ra tionillizc" the m}'~te ry, that is. to con\'ert it into a theol ogical concept (such as the idea of God} or into eth ical \'alues (as in "ethical monotheism" ). But these conceptualizations and rationalizations cannot destroy the senSe of the hoh' that erupls again and again in the presence of the mysltr:mll r,""/'IId""" as in the book of Job {the voice fmm the whirlwind}. The sense of the holy is "beyond our calegories of apprehension and comprehension, and causes the radical disablement of me laphor: 16 The holy Cod is veiled in mystery and is even ·beyond good ilnd evil : all our moral categories. Perhaps o n this level there is common ground between Je ....'SI Christians an d Buddh ists. who. though nOt usually using the word ~God: believe that the truly Real is beyond conc~Ptualizatio n and therefore approachilble only through medi tation. I, A possible weakness of Onos book is that it can be underslOod as reducing holiness lO a state of consciousness, that is, Ihe holy is vie"" ed soldy horn the subjecti\,e, anthropological side. la Read this way, Ihe work could be laken to support Sehleiermacher's em phasis on "feeling" (Gtjiib/r). which accounts for the polemic against it in neo-orthodoxy (e.g., KarJ Barth). But th is objection must be weighed against Ono's contention that these feelings are human responses to manifestations of numinous divine power. In any case. in the ancient world, and c1eilrly in
15. See Camm1e'~ precis of 0110·$ study HO/'''fll i~ 11,~t! 5.
16. Da,·id R. EIlumenlhal. FQricg r\>( ANsmg G~· A Thto!~gy 01
PrO!fl)
(loui. villc,
W~t ·
m"'~ter"'John
Knox, 1993 ). 23. 17. See the reporr on the Kerlll,lcky meeling for dialogue bet\o'een Buddhists and Christians. ·Vi'·ergencc, Conv{"rgmce, Buddhi~I·ChriSli~n Eru:oumcl'l." Cbti~U~~ ( .... ,"1')' I 13. no. 29 (1996) 964--73 .
18. A Cilv("at of c:;.,rhard von Rad. OU Ull","",: York, Harpt"f" So Row, 1962--65 ), 1,205
~1"91.
lnons D 1-.\ C. 5t3Ike~. 2 ,·ok. (Ne ..'
Th .. Experience of th .. Holy lsrad, the holy was ~x~ri ~nc~ d as power that breaks into {h~ human world. thrca[(~ning ~xist ence and arousing bo th fascination and dr~ad_ Holiness is not a qua lity, or a state of consciousn~ ss, bm is power- highly active. energetic, dynamic. ~ven threatening.
Eartlutuakt, Wind, mid Fire A classical iHus tra tion of th~ manifestation of the holy in Israel is the ponrayal of th~ theophany at Mount Sinai . in conn~ction with th~ issuing of the Ten Commandments (Exod_ 19,15--10,11 ) and Ihe making of the covenant ( 19;3 -9, 24,3·8)_ H~r~ holiness is tremendous power manif~st in a fierc~ mountain stonn_ 'There was thunder and lightning." th~ mountain was envdoped in a thick cloud, a loud trum~t blast IHled the air. causin g the people [Q tremb le ( 19,16; 20,18}_ The naJT.1 . 57: 15
TM Filet 0/ God In summary, holi ness belongs essentially to the divine, whether experienced in Israel, Canaan, or elsewhere. It is th e Wllolly Other. which exceeds everyth ing worldly : all human concepluality, all moral categories, all metaphors. It is the power that belongs to ~the very essence o f deil}'_wIt may be mo re fundamental in
H A ~ LaLcm~ nl iLttributed. I ~Iie"c , to Alfred Nonh Whitehead. H Ekhradr, OIJ Trs~!r.ml "Thto logy, 1",,,lo n of 'The Hohncu of 170-82. It is ~r."Ingc thlt it took E,chradt 270 P~II~"5 10 ("1:lJCh Ihi' fundamental dimension o f Old Tcsli meol
God:
thcoiogy.
Blumcmnal. in
I", A.Owr;r.g God, ma,"l~i",. however, that "'Cod hiS IWO esscmi. 1 ;m.ibu t= hoIine>s ~nd personality" {p. 7 and chips 2 and l ). \~Incr "persona lity' is """,ti.;-i!o God's ocing i~ a ph ilo ... phiul QUeslion thal ...-ill come up lalCr. 2:5.
Fao~
The Name of God
6. THE NAME OF GOD
1- ThOlI Rdatiol1siJip w
Holiness is no t impersonal power, Nlt. but is m"nifest as "Thou,u signified by a personal name , Yahweh, which people use in the "I _Th ou" relations hip of prayer and worsh ip. \\"!alt her Eichrod t, an eminent twen tieth.century O ld Testament theol ogi"n, " 'rites: "Hol( i~ the ,-,"pithc{ deemed ~ ltest to describe the divine Thou whose narur1 )'''~ ,ho~til"l:t
"MKr of Hi",'
Ps. 8,3-4 (RED)
Tb. Givi"g of Gods Nmn( In the final edition 01 th e Pentateuch, produced by Priestly theologians. grea t stress falls on the name Yahweh. as the Holy O ne o f Israel, the c reator and redeemer. The Priestly writers presented a 101,.10117 (generations} h istory, from the time of creation to the Mosaic period. They sch ematized the history as a h istory of covenants: Noachic, Abrahamic, II.-Iosaic. l each period being characterized by a particular divine epithet, creat ion to Abraham : • From Ab'al1am to '\-\ OSI:~' • From Moses on, • From
Elohim (God) El Shaddai (Cod Almi ghry) Yah"·,,h (Ihe Lo rd)
\Xialther Eic hrodt, Thwlogy oj Ilx OIJ T,,/a"''''t t",ns. J. A. llahr, 2 ,"ok , OTL (philadelphia: WestminS ter, 1961 ---67). 1:274. 2. Martin Buber, I ,md'n,.,.", trans. R G. Smith (Edinburgh, T & T cr.rk, 1937L 3. See the disrussion of the Prie,lly periodization of history in chapler 10.
49
n us in a Priestly passage, we read: God also spoke to Mo~s .lno SJid to him, "I am the Lord [YahwehJ- I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and J"cob "s I1 Thtc!"JIY
God is not nameless but has a peT50nal na~ , so that w OT5hipeT5 may call on this God in prayer. usi ng the language of "Thou· Paraphrased in more philosophical language: God does no t remain as Being: being-in. itself, metaphysicill reillity and power; ra: ther, Cod is kno .... n as being.in. relationsh ip, being wi t h identity. being that is identified with a people. The name o f Yah ..... eh sig nilles the being of Cod turned toward a people wi th personal con· cem a nd cthical demand . Cod chooses to ha\'C idcntity. to e nte r into relatio nship w it h the finite and the human , 10 be "God with us" or "God in our midsl.~ Accordingly, Israel does nOI build altaT5 (0 an un k nol.m God, but to the Cod ""ho is known personally and therefore is to be both feared and trusted . I1 would be fruitless theologIcally to try to und e rstand the signillcance o f God's giving a personal name b}' exploring the sounds an d lette rs of the word · Yahweh" itself (a causative verbal form , "he causes 10 be~) ,! or e \'en the cryptic etymology of the teuagra mmato n in Exod, 3: [3-15, chych mhcr cby(h (I am who I am ), The nam e Yahweh cannot be understood by e xploring its etymology, any more than the name of any person-you r name o r mine--ca n be understood by analyzing its co nstituent elementS, JUSt as a peT5on's name belo ngs to hi s o r her life SIOI)' and loses its meaning w hen abstracted from that na rrative co nte xt, so God's name, Yahwe h, belongs essentially to the StOry or h isto ry in whi ch the H o ly One bro ke into the world of slaves wi th redeeming an d demand ing powe r. That is how it is in the book o f Exodus, the na me of G od is given in connec tion with an event in whi c h Cod's holiness was manifes te d as saving powe r, as suggested in the: condensed narrative: "I am Ya hweh your God who brought you out o f the land of Egypt" (Exoo, 20: I). The prophet H osea speaks in the name of this saving God: I """" hm. Yabrd, )""" GcJ n.-rr ~"Ct Itv W,.} aj E!1Y1'I; )'1l'I b."", no Col f..d "".
rrt
anJ ,,".Jo lilt Ibm '" ~a l' Em"rirus, Middlebury College. 9. W~ltl>tr E,chrodl. Tbto1cgy 4 tbt OU T" ..",,,,1. t"ms . .L A. Baker. 2 vols .. on (Philadelphia: WC"Slminuer. 1%1-67), 1:273. 10. Em,l FKkcnheim, GoJ'i ~r i" Hi~ID'Y (5;an Fr~oth's Filjlhf~lm51 In this characterization of Yahweh, the Holy One, we ~nd one of the most important theological terms in the Old Testame nt, brsd, It is very difficult to render into English, as evidt'nced in the \'arious translations: "mercy" (K)V), "steadfast love" (NRSV), ·love" (NIV), "kindness" (NJPSV)_ "Loyalty~ is probably the best transla. tion, as e\'idenced by the adjacen t term "faithfulness." "loyalty and fai thfuln ess" is a hendiadys . a figure of speech in which two words, connected by a conjunction, connote a single idea. Here Yahw'eh's relation to the people is described in terminology drawn from interpnsonal relationshi p. The relations hip could ~ a political cove nan t or "treaty," such as the treaties made betv.'een ancie nt H ittites and their vassal states ( to be considered in chapter 18). Or it could be a cove nan t of friendship, such as the "sacred covenam,« lite rally "a covenant of Yahweh ,~ between David and jonathan ( I Sam. 20;8 ). Following Katharine Sakenfcld's treatment of the term. bmd refers not to a rela. tionship in which panies an: strictly equal (peers), but rather to relationships in whic h one party is "superio r" in the sense of haVing more power or influence because of social position. As lo ng as Jonathan had the superio r position as th e king's son, it was his obligation as a friend to help David escape from Saul's wTath; but ) onathan made David promise that whe n their roles were reversed and David rose to power, Da"id would ma nifest loyalty (!l'5t'd ) to h im ( I Sam. 10: 12-171David's obligation of friendship las ted even ix:yond Jonathan's death ( 1 Sam_ 9:1, 2, 7).
I.
Such loyalty, according to Sakenleld, is not a virtue but ralher an obligationSOmething 10 be done, whi ch accounts for the emphasis on "faithfulness in action", to do, to maintain, 10 love mtd {Mic. 6 :8 ) _ Moreover, we must not think of noblesse oblige-people 01 high standi ng behaving nobly toward inferiOrs, for example, the rich gi vi ng condescendingly 10 the poor. Rath er, royalty arises from the relatio nship itself, not from external law or social custom. O ne is free 10 be loyal or not 10 be loyal , even though the weaker party may have no other source of help.
It is significant th at this term, which describes a huma n relationsh ip that is st rong and steadfast, is used to describe the rdation between th e holy Cod and the people. Yahweh, the holy God, acts with freedom , is not bound by any necessity (cf. hod. B, 19, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on w'hom I will have compassion"). [n freedom God makes a commitment to the people, and is free to keep or tenninate the relationship. But Yahweh is trustwonhy, rich in ~J . God's faithfulness is firm , not fickl e; it is steadFast, not capricious. This tenn comes close to the meaning of the New Testamen t term ,h",l's, \'Tace" later we shall see how this important theological term is nuanced 15. K~tharine Doob Sakenfdd, FaitbJw/n('i5 in Actio~ · Lcyail)' ;~ Biblical Ptljlowill!/ ~'''' Ih Jar ~ ,"o,",d I hil '"y J"" jrom )'~~, but ~~i!h ">r,w,ti,,g lw~ I ~~JI h~ ~" ",,,,~,,;,;,,,, er. yaw, "')'S t~, LOR/) {Y"b~,J,], )'Olir
RdWl'l(1". - lsa. 54:7·8
The meaning of di"in e failhfulness is beautifully expressed in Ps. 103:6- 13. a passage that ec hoes the ancient litu rgical proo~! Tho~ ~Io~r~,t n~[I.J 0., r,;rlb who;. tx"It"J7 Tbow-' Tbo~ "toxe art n:a!trJ.
Finally, the high gods and goddesses were regarded as powers who upheld order in sociely in the face of lhe ever-threatening forces of chaos. They were arranged in a hierarchy, an orderly system, with the hi gh god El presiding over the council o f the gods. These gods dealt with all the concerns of human life: fenilily of the soil, political security, mil itary adventures, life in the household. wisdom and th e arts, and s.o on _ It is not surprising that Israel drank deeply at the wells of ancie nt religio ns.
[he book by Mark S. Smith, wilh ;15 intriguing tid~, n, E,"[y Hi,/ary of Gv1 (San Francisco, Harper & Row. 1990), wher~ Ihi ~ ,·iew i~ mli nta incd. 6. H~nri A. Franl/ort. el at l~!.!I"hd AJI'tbly of 1« I;dy Q~. Fo • ...... ;,. r!.. SM "'" lit C.,.p.>IfJ 10 tbt LoRD [Y~J:.w"b.i w&o a..""!! ~ bt3llf!lly btings ;1 lib It... LOIW [Y~Im'fb}. a GoJ jr:' ~If II' QM..J /m,, ) -Ps. 89:5·7
The mythical langu age is retained in other psalms:
Fo. Y~Mb is ~ !1n,!1 GoJ, and ~ !1m11 Kill§ ~bot'r ~Il !Jod;. -Ps. 95:3, also 103:19·20 The book of Job, one may recall . opens with a scene in the heavenly council where "the heavenly beings" or "sons of Cod" co nven e before the high Cod (Job 1,6 ). 12_ Gc:rhard ,-on R3d, O!d 1ok BIble, Old and N"", T«ta""'nI5, 1. OBT \ Mon~~poI i.: Form'Ss Press. 199-4), chap. 3. j. Sce my effl.
y"" arr "'y btiOl"J S"". p,odwcd Jnm TOy "'y ;II«Ig' .Micb I b.wt rst.rb(,,/nl "" rbt tartb. I baot IKJ. C1OII'JI"'9 J"., t..3J with glory ad '-mol'. y"", "",J., hi.. IIloUlrr OI!(J' al/lbal you ~I'I'-.k -Ps. 8: ~·6 (REB) W}.n,
ha,,,
This -coronalion- does nOI give huma n beings license to violate God's c reation or to misuse its resources; rathe r, they are called to be God's vice .. regents in the e arthly sphere of d ivine sovereignty. The modem notion of a spli t betv.'ccn na ture and history, which is said to be the basis of the subjet4Ct bt """",,1. Soly. lilt LoRD [Y"hnb}. ",,,-, b~; ["",,..,,,w,, P" Y""_ - Is.a_ 5-l,,9- IO (NIV)
In Christi an perspective, the t'oachic covenant belongs 10 a history of God's cove nantS that leads Up to the ~eve rlasting covenan t" made through the blood (sacrifice) of Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20). Christ's covenan t of peace does nOI super· sede t he Noachic co\'enant: it is buil l upon it. as th e tem ple atop the graduated levels of a ziggura t rests on a broad foundatio n_
97
to the Old Testament wi thOllt having to regard it christocentrically a.. a book tha t poin ts not JUSt to Christ (the /I.·lessiahl but to JIS" ! C hrist. Theology of creation, to which the Old Testament bears witness, is common ground on wh ich the religions of the ",·o rld- at leas! some of them---may stand togethe r, in d ialogue and, pcrha p'i in some !;Cnsc. in worship. 16 It is oo[c\o"onhy that in the Psalms of God's kingship (Psa.lms 47, 93 99). to be considered later (chapter 14 ), the nations are in vited to praise God in ecumenical worship. The basis of this global wimess is creation faith. Dtclarr 1GoJi: JglcO rh "1110"9 "t} tbr lItopln.
FOf g,r~1 is lilt LORD, "d 911"dy 10 bt pr"i~J; lit IS III bt rtVffl'J ~J,o,,'f ,,1/ gcJJ. For ~rJ 11.. gwpltl ~rr ,;"11. bul lilt LORD fY~bwb] sMllbt Iltavtns. - Ps. 96:3·5
Creatioll alld Global Witness The New Testament makes surprisingly lew references to God's c reation of the universe. This paucity is not to be explained by saying that the Christian gospci sh ifTs h orn creatiOn to redemp tion, as Marcion argued in his deviant re interpreta · tion of the gospel in the second cen w ry, rather, creation is presupposed as a fundamental witness of the Scriptures that the church shared with th e Jewish people. Paul's preach ing to the Gen tiles presuppo!>Cd some knowledge of the Hebrew ScriptureJI' to Da.bt, f"pk>m--!l"~ OiJT""". ,,,1 n""" (London. SCM, t983 ). The lalte r is Ihe title 01 a book br mJl good friend and former colkague at Col gale University. M Hol~ HM'Ishomc (Engic",oo.-l (lifl., N ..!., Prentice ·H.Il, 1963,\.
Promj~'iOry
Covenant with Abraham
101
In the SlOt)' Abraham's question about the validity of the land promis
102
ConlO~rs oJ OU
Ttslil"'''''1 Thtolllg)'
The Promissory Covenant wilh Abraham
paso;ag!! in Exod, 6:2-9, where El Shaddai discl0'5es the proper name of God that signiAes relationship 10, and presence with, the people,
In this view, t he people of Cod is a worshi piog community that is allowed to know God's personal name {ident ity, character} and therefore to be in an I·Thou relationsh ip. To worsh ip Cod is to ~call upon the nam e ofYahweh· in times of dis· tress. as in psalms of lament (Ps. 116,4) or to "call upon the name of the Lord- in t imes of ddiveraoce from trouble, as in psalms of thanksgiv i ng ,~ In a song of t hanksgiving, a poet says,
Wb"t sh,,11 (JI'(I( back 10 Yahvrb
fo, all bis /nJrrjrs 10 me) J ",iUli}llbt "'P of saloar""n, ~r.J c,,11 01, rIH "".. I of Y~bwtb. -P~ . 116:12· 13(SW.!I. )
Third Pro".ist (cj. Gttl , IM-7) The Abrahamic covenant is connected essentially with ltle land, the geographical dimensions of which ne already stipulated in Ghid, ~ CC~jif771IJ to }~,ob a. a '~'Iwll', ~ {Iratl "5 an fl)f,I" '!i~!.I 'Ot'tI1~d,
and my book 0..1 of Lt.r D,Pl!:'!, Th
P,,,i,.,
Spt"~
fo< Us TOJ,, )'
(Ph iladelphia, ~/e'Srminster, 1983, Tl:V. ed. forthcoming 10(1)). chap". ,and 4. 5. Mashe Weinfeld. "The Coven ani of Cran( in the Old Tesumem and in Ihe AnCient Near )AOS90 ( 19701 184--203.
Eas,:
'To )''''' J will;irr Ibt Ia~J of Cm"-Ynagogue) . Early Christians, who read Israel's Scriptures in Greek , adopted the teTTIl eI<lia to show that they, along with the Jews of the sy>lago!J1, belonged to the people of God. (No tice Acts 7: 38, ~t h e church in the wilderness.") In this cr.ap'cr I d"' .... on a lectu re that I was im'i ted to gi"c On the Catholic rite of ordination in use at that time, "O.-dinal;on to the Prit<J P"pm JI~ Prilol~. ed. Eberhard Be'hge, l1o~ Regmald Fuller Cl al (Ne .... York, j\·\acmillan. 1967), 182. I ~m ¥laldull0 R""'erend BaninJ Kluen~m~n for ,his
reference. 1 ~ Cc:rhard HlI"per I
'~ To, ""ly!/)( 1~I",JCf 0/ Lybr boJdh rb.r 6 [n Old Epic traditio n, God's \'isi ble manifestation is a IUm inOllS cloud. see n 3S a bright cloud by da~, and fi re by night (Exod . 16: 10). In Priestly tradition, however. God's glory is visibly man ifest in, or abo\'e, the tabernacle. ;i protorype of tOe later te mple (as in Isaia h's temp le visio n). Thus ",e read in Exod_ 40:34, Then the cloud tabernacle.
co~'" ..,d lhe lent 01 meeting,
and lh" IIlor)' ot Yahwc h filled the
The narrator goes o n to say tha t whenC"\'er this radiant cloud was take n up, the 15raelites moved forward in their journey, with God goi ng ahead of them. God's ~glory" co uld fill the sanctuary, shOWing the presence of God, but God's "glory" is not co nfi ned to a holy place (lsa. 63;_ even the i!TC3[ temple o f Jerusale m. As we shall see when deali ng wilh ,he prophecy of Ezekiel . God's "glory" could Ica..-e the temp le and go ...·ith the people into exile (Ezek. 10:4 1. The symbolism indiC3te.510&0 .ltrnJ~rs! ~JlO'
That sense of human unworth iness is also expressed in the message of the priestly prophet, Ezekie1 , who was overv.'helmed with the aweful contrasl be,ween the ho ly God and human beings. In the Priestly view, however, the sacrificial rituals, and preeminently the '>3crifice o n the Da~' of Atonement, the high holy day, signify Cod's willingness to accept, cleanse, and renew so that people may live in Cod's holy presence and offer themselves in the service of God. In these sacrifices the shedding of blood was held to be efficacious; for blood was regarded as the seat of the mystery of life and as such was sacred !O Cod, the give r of life_ Echoing Old Epic I'r
119
A'laiH Ty;t>ts o} Sanijiu
Leviticus 1---6 presen!> three types of s.acrifice,4 I. The who le burnt offering ( olah). This "hol ocaust," probably the olde5t kind of sacrifice, is the only offering to Cod that is wholly consumed by fin: on the altar. It is fundamentally an act of praise, in recognition that Cod is th e giver of life, health , and peace, 1. The "peace offering" (zrbllb sh.-lamim or shr/!'IrI ). or as Jacob Milgrom translate5, "th e well.bd ng offering," is the second type .~ Part of this offering (suet) is offered in smoke to Cod, part is rece ived by the priests, and the remainder is given to the donor for a familr meal. This is a social occasion for celebrating the I-Thou covenant relationsh ip, communion with Cod and fellowship with one anothe r. 3. The -sin offering" (ba!tath ) and ~guilt offering"' ( asb'lm j belong togelh er. The purpose of this sacrifice is 10 remove contamination arising from inadvertent violation of laws (e.g., those that specify the distinction between "dean" and "uncle ~ n ") . The priestly manual emphasizes that Ihis is efficacious for sins commined · unwittingl y" and hidden from the community_ For sins commilted "With a high hand, " that is, in del iber!< Row, 1985); Roland d.- Vaux pro·
vidc> ~ 'horough discussion in 19641j , J3elve in an ~'ourcondua; lor it i~ wrilten, "You shall be holy, 10f' I am holy.w -1 Pet 1: 15
In li ne with this, Ch ristians confess in the Apostles' Creed that they believe in a "holy, catholic [universal) church.w If the people Israel arc to be holy, they "must abide by a more rigid code of behavior than that practiced by the nations, just a~ the priCSt lives by more strin. gent standards than those: applying to common Isradites :~ T hus larab in the se:nse: of "law' is fundamental in Priestly theology. By obeying th e "statutes and ordinances" of th e covenant the people show themselves to be holy. As David Blumemhal, a modem Jewish theologian , explai ns, qdushah ( holines~) "is created by an act of the Will," that is, of obedience to the Torah. 'Through it: he goes on to say. "one dedicates an act to God. It is a function of mi/sva, of commandment, and of the intention to ful~l1that commandos Contrary to extreme interpretations o f the Christian gospd, the Christian is not hee horn, or above, the law, but is called 10 show a holy life by performing works of righteousness, a point made forcefully in the Epistle of James.
Ho.!illtss as St/HI ratian Fro", Holiness of life has two aspects: one negati~ and the other positive. Negath'dy, it means that the people of Cod arc: to be separated horn other nalions so as to live in special relation to Cod. Speak 10 the- people of Israel ~nd sa)' to them: I am the: loID [Yah~h J your Cod. You shall nOt do as they do in the land of Egypt, ...hI=- yoo livffl, and)'ou d\all not do "$ they do in (ne land of Canaan, to .... hich J am bringing you. You shall n()t 101. low their stilNtC'S. ~'l y ordi nilncn you sh.o l1 o~. and my statute you shall keep , follO"" ing them: I am the: LORD (Yam.·eh J. -le\-·.1 8:l ·" The H oliness Code, then, draws a boundary that separates lsrad from other peoples. In sociological terms, a distinction is made between "us~ and wthcm: insideT"> and outsiders.' At the conclusion of Leviticus 18 (vv. 24·29), the people are
4. MilgTOm. "leviliCU$." in &ola ~J rhr &1>It. 68. 5, BIllmenthat F.ri"ol tbt Abu!,~g W. 25-26. 5«: abo Abraham Joshua Ht',chd. W ,~ Su,d, 4 A-1.o~ {New York: b,teridiiln, 1951 l. part l 6, The socioloJPa,1 dimeMion of separatio n be""~n "us" and ' them" is di~scd by Simon B. Park~r, '1'he Hebrew Biblellld Hom~xual i ly: OR 11, nO. 3 (199 1) 4--19.
125
told that ther mu~1 keep the: covenant statutes and ordinances and not commit the wabominations" practiced by the nations. The fine is drawn so sharply that any per~on who commits o ne of these abominat ions is to be "cut ofr horn the people (excommunicated) and in some instances put to death. Take a look at the commandments comamed in the code. Thc:y an! quite a mix. • No memocr of the Isradite community o r residen t alkn (sojoumo-) may eat blood, a person who eats blood shall be "CU I ofr from the people ( 17: 10-16). • Various forms 01 incest are prohibited: JNone of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness" ( 18:6 - 18). Almost every society, according to anthropologists. has taboos aga inst incest to protect the identity and "'itality of t he social group. • Prohibition against sexual intercourse during a woman's menstrual period ( 18:}9). a taboo based on revulsion at a flow of blood. for ~the blood is the life of every creature" ( 17: 14). • Prohibition against homosexual relations between men ( 18:22; also 20: 13). Nothing is said «",lion Ihn Yah ...."h ,,·m b.:- fully hunorcd and Tgy
147
It ....·u bccaU>oC lne loRDlYah .... ehJ loved you ;and kept the ooIh thill he S'oOOf"ilble ('l;SiY. 'The Fonn·Cnltcal
and your mighl; whal !loci in heaven or on cann can perform deeds and mighty act~ like "ours' . . -Deut.3: 2-t Librrnfiol: for Se",i£:(
Some interpreters find in the exodus story the basis for uliberation theology,· 'v.·hkh ha5 been influential in latin America, South Korea, the African American com munity, and elsewhere. 10 Moses' demand before the pharaoh. ~let my people go: is unde rstood to mean that Cod is on the side of the poor and oppressed e"erywhere and that Cod acts to overt hrow structures or regimes that hold peo· plc in bondagel1 Indeed. the exodus story evinces ~a preferential Option for the poor."!l There can bt" no dOubt that the Cod of the Bible demands justice. as evident from the o;ummary of prophetic preaching in the book o f Micah (6: 1.. 8 ). In some respects this passa~ resembles ~the covl.'nanl lawsui( considered previously. • Summons to Trial (6: 1.. 1): The passage begins with a summons: Yahweh has a "controversy" (rib ) with the people. and ~the mountains~ and "the hills" arc to hear the case. H • The Question before the Court (63·5 ), The aggrieved cO'l,enant parry, Yahwch. asks who is to blame ior a breakdown of relations. in vie",' of Yahweh's actions in libe rating the people from slavery. proViding the leaders Mose, Aaron, and Miri.'!oses who came not to abrogate the Torah but to fulfiU it. Christians need to get over a negative atti rude toward tOTah (law, teaching) that has been innuenced by Paul's interp ret ation , or possibly our misinterpretation of his polemical wri ting (e.g .. GalatiansJ. r Thus the core of Israel's legal tradition is the Decalogue, around which other interpretive laws (ordinances) have gathered in the history of the tradition. as can be seen in Exodus 20-13. Around this co re is also gather~d priestly legislation, found especially in Exodus 15-31 and the book of Leviticus. From an original nucleus the la ...' expanded as th~ core law was interpret~d in \'"Ver new situations: th~ agricultu ral situation of Canaan, the complexitil'"S of the monarchy, the pOStexilic community, and so on. To take a s«ular ana logy; it is something like lif~ in th~ United States . ...,here th~ American Constitution pro"ides a fundamenta l legal core around which ha\'e gathered case laws , or a body of applications of Ih~ fun damentallaw. Ne.... situations call for the reinterpretat ion of the Cons titution ...'ithout changing ils fundamental character.
r
"I"bc An: of Ibt ( 01ll'llQ,,' In Deuteronomic tradition the stress on th(: Decalogue is funher \'"Vid(:nced in the statement that Moses put the tablets containing the Decalogue in the ark, "and there they are as Yahweh commanded me" (Deul. 10:5; cr. 2 Kgs. 8:9). The vie .... of the ark as a reposi tory for sacred objects may ....ell be \'cry ancicnt. Another pentateuchal tradition. howevcr, vicws the ark somewhat differently: it is the throne-seat on ...'hich Yahweh is invisibly enthroned, and it "goes before" the people during their ....ars and wan derings. The Song of the Ark, one of the oldest pieces of poetry in the Hebrew Bible , reAects this view. \'Vh t"n th~ ark advanced at the head of the people, Moses exclaimed:
I. Sce Iht poonted. ind iPptOPriil~. remarks of ,he Jewish theologIan . .Ion D Levenwn. Si"-,, .nd Zi"" (t\'linneapolis: Win51on, r98S l. 1- 2.
An«. D LORD [y"hwth). ItI YOOJ.f tntIIIit'l !It" sc"Itt>"fJ. ,,~J YOOJ.' PN jilt
bt/art YOM! - Num. 10 :35
When the ark cam~ to rest at the ~nd of th~ day's march, Moses wou ld summon Yah .... ~h to retum to be .... ith the myriads of Israel. R~rurn . 0 LORD I Yahw~h ) of
rhe ren thousand thousands of lsra~l !
-Num. 10,36 One o f David's great accomplishments. according to the StO!)' in the books of Sam uel, was to bring the ancient palladium into the temple, where it was enshrined in th e Ho l}' of Holies. This evem is memorialized in Psalm 24, wh ich depictS Yahwch. thc King o f glory, being escorted in procession. prl'"Sumabl y enthroned invisibly on the ark. through the gates of the city of Jerusalem.
LJI ~p yOOJ.T 10.,,11. 0 g~ltS t "nJ b, !if/,J 3», 0 Q~( it711 Joo m 16.1 Iht Km9 of glory ",_11 com! i~. \VIro i, IIx Ki!:, of glory' Tbt LORD [Yah"'tb J. !lronJl ,,~J ,"1gbt)'o tltt loRD[Yahu"h }. ,"~bl)' ir. ball!t. - Ps. 2-1·7·8 In Psalm 132 the ancient Song of the Ark is reinterpreted in the light of God's trio umphant march to the new "resting place" in the temple of Jerusalem. These n.·o vie\"s----thc ark as Yahweh's throne·seat and as the repository for th~ two tablets of stonc-are combined in the Solomonic prayer in I Kgs. 8:6- 12, a Dcuteronomistic passage. In the Deu terono mrstic \'iew, the twO traditions are comp;ltibl(:. for th e giving of the la ..... like the ark it~lf, is a sign 01 the presenc~ 01 Yahw~h among: the ~ople. l
Tk TtI"I Wods At nf5 t, the Ten Commandments were probably short, c risp commands or "ten words" (Dccalogue) tha t amounted to 1\0'0 brief Hebrew .... ord5, a5 in 10 tirtsa~. "You shall not murdcr"; 10 lin apb. "You shall not commit adultery", 10 I(qlloh. "You shall not steal: In som~ cases the b rief ".....ord· was expanded with interpretive comments to provide explanation o r motivation. A good example is the commandment 10 keep the Sabbath holy.' In the Exodus versron (20:8 - 1 I }, on the one hand, the interpreth'e comment says that th is commandment harks back to the Sabbath "hidden~ in God's creation (&n. 2:1 · 3). This acco rds with the overall movement from creation to Sinai in Priestly trad ition, whe re the Sabbath. observed by God al creation. is the "sign of thc everlasting covenan!.' In the Deuteronomic version (5: 12-15). o n the other H
2. On 1he me. ning 01 the uk in Prititl ~' IflIdillo n. see abov~, ch~pter 13. 3. Sec lunher in rhis chilptef. -t. Stt abm·e. chaple, 10 .
158
(""/OVI3" O!J T",IImom/ Th~)'
hand, the commandment to observe a day of rest from work is connected with the saving event of the exodus: "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt" (Deut. 5: 15). This accords with Deu teronomy's emphasis on the inseparable relation between ~the saving experience" and "the commanding experience," exodus and Sinai.s Thus in each covenant perspeilyi"8. "",re have sinned and hav(' done ""rong, we have acrnl. ",·;ekedly." The prayer reaches its climax ..... ith an appeal to God's freedom. the freedom of divine grace and forgiveness: Then hear in heaven yourd .... elling place their prayer and Iheir plea. maimain th eir eause and iorgwe your P
21 . GOD AND WAR
Before m~jor
fu ming to prophecy in the Mosaic trJdition (Hosea and Jeremiah). a theme of the Deuteronomistic history demands attention: Cod's involve-
men t in war. T he book of Josh ua ~gins by aS5IJ ring the new leJder that Yahweh has given the people the land of Gnaan and that, if he is obedient to -this book of the law" (Dcutcronom)'), no onc will ~ able to stand against the invaders. Yahweh is quoted as saying: I here by command )'ou: I:k strong and cOl.ll'a8eous, do OOt be frig htened or dismayed, lor the LORD [Yan""'eh ] your God is ""'ith you ""herever }'OU liD.
-)osh. 1,9
In p~i ous ages, God's participation in war was not as problematic as it has come to be in our time. In the seventeenth century, for instance, Oliver Cromwdl's soldiers wem into battle singing psalms (though Ihe same songs could have bei:n sung on the ot her side), The problem of God and war has assumed gigantic pro· portions in the (v"en tieth century, which has witnco ,he imponan. study by P~trick D. Miller. Thr D"."',,, \V~rricr i~ E.II/Y Is,,,d. HSM 5 {Cimbridg~, Ha".,.rd Un;"'. I. s,,~ lht diSCUSSIon above , cha~ler 8. l, s"e lht later discu~sion of royJI th
n..
8.
5Ticul tural matters, "The Gift of Good Land; may pro ..oide some hdp in fac· ing this difficul t problem. 11 The main interest in Berry 's essay is to develop a b ib · lical ba si~ fo r ecological responsibi lity. H e proposes turning to the book of Deu teronomy. rather than the story of the Garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve arc placed in the garden to ta ke care of it. "The gh'ing of the Prom ised und to the Israeli tes; he wriln. "is more ser.·iceable tha n the stOI)' o f the giv ing of the Carden of Eden. because the Promised Land is a divine gift to a fanen pcople.That makes the gift "more problematical" and the receivin g of the gift more con· d itional and more difflcult:!l In speaking of a "fallen people," Berry is using traditional Ch ristian la nguage. What he means. I belie... e, is that any people-not jll5t ancient Israel-receives God's g ifts in a situation where self·imerest and human pride tarnish them. In sociological language, the lIift has an Mideological ta int" that justifies an d suppons th e social group. The theme of Cods gift o f land 10 a people, Berry goes o n to say, · sounds like the SOrt of rationalization that invariably accompaniccs nationalis tic aggression and theff; and he draws attention to "the similarit iccs to the .....esrv.·a rd mo ... ement of the Ame rican frontier." Berry argues. h o ..... e ... er. that whereas the movement into the American frontier produced an e thic o f gr«d and violence, the Israelite conquest of Canaan from the ...ery first was infonned by an ethic of responsibility based on the view that rhl! land i5 Cod's undese rved gift. To quote again- "The dtfficulty but also the wonder of the stOI)' of the Prom ised Land is that . there. the primord!al and still CO ntinuing dark story of human rapaciousness be:gan to be accompanied by a vein of light which . howe"'er improbably and uneenainly. sull accompan ies uS.wlJ 5e~'eral points descr.'e anention. First, the SWI)' o f the promise to Israers ancCCStOrS pcnains to a people of the paSl, ancien! Israel. It is "historically conditioned,~ rderring to Israel at a particular time lo ng ago_ It should not be: construed as a divine mandate fo r other f>C'Oples in other times and historical situations to engage in territorial expansion or cu hural domina tio n at thl! expense of nat ive populations . " '\orco"er, the 5tOry is about an ancient people who. like e ... ery pc:aple and nation from time immemorial. has been inescapably involved in the ~dark history" M
I I . W'tnddl Ikrry. TIt Cift of GO~d (San F.-. n(isco: North POim, I 98 I l. 167-28 I. For an imroounion 10 thi s come mponry ",·riter. lee "To"'ard l H ealthy C ommunity , An 1me"',,,,,, ",uh Wcndell Ikrry: Q.rii UaK C",t"'Y I I.J. no. 28 (l 997) 911- 16_ Write, {he Intervie ..... er: "Berry hiS a pa,{io nJle Io-·e lOT the land [of the local community! and l C01Xem th~1 people lIve ,n rCipon· sible relacionihip ""uh the land and wich om: anachn: 12. Ibid .. 169, t 3, Ibid .. 170
1T1
of struggle for power and for land, the strife in pa rts of the former Yugoslavia being a recent example_ Hence the formulatIOn o f God's promise 10 ancient lsrad has an ideolOgical coloradon. Just as the promises of grace to David provided the just ification for [he Davidic throne (psalm 78), as we shall s~ , so the promise of land to Abra ham and hts descendants provided a theol ogical Tiuionaie lor the conquest of
Gnaan. In the pc:rspc:crive of the community o f falih . however, Cod works through the suHerings. dislocations. and tragedy of human h istory (including the tTaged), of Israel when the: nation fdl and many f>C'Ople ...:ere carried into exile) 10 achieve a purpo'iC tha t will ult imately ~nefil all JXop les. The promise to Abraham and Sarah also included Ihe aSSurance that in Cod's purpose: Israel's role: would bc: nefit "all rhe fami lies of the eanh" (Ccn. 12;3; d . lsa. 49:6 ). Perhaps nali,,'e people. who have been overrun by invaders, may say in retrospect that some good came of it after all and that, in rhe words of Joscph, "Even though you intended to do harm to me. Cod inte nded it for good" (Cen. 50.20). Such positi ... e sta tements are more easily made by the oppressor th an by the oppressed, as an African American stude nt onc~ observed in th is connection . Fi nally, in la ter Jewish tradition Cod's promise of land was broadened to mean "~arth. world' {Hebrew (f(ls can mean eit her "eanh~ or "land") under the inAue nc~ of the unive~1 implications of "all the famili es of the earth" {Cen. 12:3}. [n this larger sense ...... hich transcends the limitations of nationa l territory or political ide ology, Paul declared that the promises to Israel's ancestors ha ... e been endorsed by Cod's revela tion in Jesus Christ, including the promise that Abraham would inhent "the world~ (Rom _4, 13). t4
Tht Mttaphor of tIJr Divillt Warrior Given Isracfs fierce struggle for survival and for living space. it ..... as inevitable that the f>C'Ople prayed and tlUsted that Yahweh ..... ould be on the ir side in the struggle for possessio n of the land of Canaan. Yet faith in Yah ..... eh. the Divioc Warrior, ca n not be reduced W ideology, for at least two rea sons. Fim, Yah ....·eh was not alwa ys t he supponer of the people Israd ...... hether ri gh t or wrong, on the COntrary. Yahweh acted to discipli ne the people fo r mei r covenant failures. The Deuteronomistic h i~torians stress this cri t ical theology of war. According to the epitome in Judg. 2:6--3:6. which interprets the wh ole period of the early judges (rulers) of Israel. Yahweh allowed alien nations to oppre~s I~rae l for a t ime, in order to -test" the people_Om kno ...... whether Isrole! woul d obey I h ~ commandments of Yahweh ....... h ic h he commanded thei r anceslors by !I.'lo~cs~ Uudg _ 3,4 L Similar1 >', the fal! of the Northern Kingdom in 711 R_C a t the hand of the: A,syrian Empire is int~rp re:tl!d as Ih e: di~cipline of Yahweh for Ihe ir T~ject i on of the commandments o f the covenant (2 Kgs. 17: 18 ). This teaching is hardly what the defenders of the: political eSlabli5hment want to hear_ I.J . See are not in a narrow sense f1~h and blood but po""ers of chaos that threaten to chal· lenge th~ Creator's sovereignty or 10 eclipse order wilh disord~r. Th~ movement from history to !>ymbolism [hat transcends the literal world of IS. f!",,, t 0","' /'ecm 01 tha! n~
by E. W~ 2. ~ above. chapler 5.
~en
182
Co~tours oJ OU
T..,-ram",1 Thtou,!!y
Pmphc-cy in Ihe Mosai" Bur Itr }m llr, mll dCllm liltr w.1lm, ~"J rigbt.w ,,,rs, !jh a" ffl.tj/<JU';ng ;1"""'_ - Amos 5:23':2-1
]_ 5« I h~ accla'med (poizt-""'in ning'j ~slm:!,
!bm- rh')" J mit ja'I)'!"']y ...";1), nu_
- Hos.6:7 To be in covenant wilh God is to "know" God. that is, to know God rdational1y like a husband and wife (d_ Gen_ 4, I). but Israel's corporate life, in the realms of religion and politics, displayed betrayal of G od's covenant demands, a lack of "knowledge of God_ w Set!m rr.""pft to )'PNf r;~ s-, 0", like a ""]r,,l1' :\ ()tyr tk /rou", of Ib, Lo~ /) [Y~bu""). h'''~5f
tho' hmv brow my (ovmar.:.
"Ha Ir~nlgm~a my la"'. -Hos_
8, 1
H e complains {hat Israel's covenant devot ion (~cd) i~ tra nsient, like morning dew that quickly vanishes; th erefore God's Rwords" (oracles), spoken by the prophets, have a cutting edge that huns, eve n kills _ FOf l Jr; irr ,rwaj.N lot'r [ J:!esed], no:a no! '''cri.fie.,
lk h o",!dgt DJ God r~l,," Ib~H hl mr aJfm"95. -Ho~_
6,6
O n twO occasions, according 10 the Gospel of Manhew, Jesus asked his critics to go and learn what th is text means (J\.'\att _9: 13; 12,27)_
"Lom Th" r Will Not hI Go ~ [n one respect Hosea goes further than Amos; the MosaiC covenant, in his view, means not just punishment but also th e po~si ble rejection of Israel. God has
184
(OHI""n of 01.:1 Ttsl~m(>ll Tl:>rolo9y
Prophecy in the Mosaic Tridi lion
entered into the covenant relationsh ip fredy and, il the people ;lre unfai th ful. God can fredy annu l it. Tha t seems to be the ominous meanmg of the nami ng of onc of the prophet's children. Then I~ loRD fYahwehJ Silid: "Name him Lo·ammi [i.e .. 'n!X my prop le'1 for you are not my people and I am nol your God:
U nlike the Abrahamic covenan t, which H osea does nOt mention, the ,\:\osaic CO'o'ena nt holds no guarantee for Israel's fu rnre welfare. The presen t crisis iS;l time for the people 10 shape up and change I ~ir wa}'S (repen t), lest divine judgmenl bring about an a nnulm ent of th e rdation tx: tv:een Cod and peo ple. Yet paradoxically the prophet holds OUl hope for the fu ture, a hope that is based not on Israd's behavio r but on the illCredible grace of Cod, whose co~'enan t faithful ness is greater and d~per than the slrict tenns set by th e covenant. T his is the message of the marvelous poem (Has. \ 1: 1-9) in which the prophe t shifts from the husband· w ife metaphor (chapters 1-3) to the parent-child image to portray God's loving, nurruring care for the people. The prophet portrays a struggle that goes on wi thin the heart of Cod. so to speak . Sho uld the Parem d iscipline this people as severely as they deserve} Should the Parent give up on and reject a child that persistS in re bellious waysl Strictly speaking, dlC covenant could be termi· na ted by Cod's complete rejection of Israel, if the people fail in the relationship. Bu t God's co mmitm ent is based on love, li ke that of a parent only far grea ter. love th at finally cannot stand to let Ih e people go. In the lau analysis this ;\ what it means for God to be wthe H oly One in your mi dst:~ HOIC' (~1I1 giey y"" w~. Epbr~, .. ) H01/I ",n I b,.,..J y"" oro-, Olmltl7
185
terislically related One. Yah ...·ch's holiness, in this formulation, is in and .... ith and fOf Israd.6 Because o f this holy love. beyond the lime of the broken cove nan t God will make a new covenant. In the end time the people will respond as in the (honeymoon ) -days of her youth , as al the time when she came out of the land of EgyptW (Hos. 1 : [5 ). Then Cod w ill show pity on those who deserve no pity:
ad 1..~11 X'ly 10 u...ammi, "Y"" d.C "'Y p.t(Ip/t", ~,.J lot sh~i! "'y. I'ou IIft.y GoJ.-
-Has. 2,23
Imminb, a Propbd Likt A10stS The "/I.·losaic" the mes of covenant ma k ing , covenant breakin g, and covenan t renewal are interpreted in Jeremiah's preaching with even grea ter power. In its present ronn the book. of Jeremiah comes 10 us from Deuteronomistk editors who, as we ha\'e see n, edited th e hiStory that extends from Jos h ua t hrough the monarchy to its final demise in the seventh centu ry, the time of Jeremi ah ;lnd Ezekid . It is ohen difficuh, if not impossible, to separate t he words and deeds of Jeremiah from thei r Dcuteronomistic interpretation (as in Jeremiah's temple sennon, chapler 7). The prob lem is complicaled by the fael that Je remiah may have suppo rted, at least ini tially. the relonn of King Jasiah. wh ich was based on the book of the torah of Moses-the core of the boo k o f Deuleronomy (sec 2 Kings 22-23). The Oeuleronomislic interpreters apparently regarded Jerem iah as a prophet like Moses.
By " fIr~ the l.oit:D [Y"bvotb] "=lhi~ ""e "'Y comp,mil)!< ill'OU1S D"'r7II~,J lntkr. /..,;U 1"'dl of tb, p.~/>k rtb.lld ugaiusl m" I'" />mp hru />mphnilJ i" tb, ""P'" af Baal a..J jol!o""d gods who !I'm- ",,,-,,rb ta bd/>. - jeT. 2 ,8 (REB )
T1( JUJ9li FerJie/. Finally Yahw~h places a charge before th~ court: N my people" have done something for wh ich there is no precedent or parallel- they have excha nged thei r "glo ryH(their Cod) for no-gods. Yahweh appeals to th e members
of the heavenly court;
B, dgb~SI at ,bi,. yw b'at'Pll, sh.lJd" ;~ ~II" horror. "'Y' th. LoRD [Yabw.h). ,\1)' ~lopI. haut com",i/l,,i lu'O >i~s, Ib')" baut flj'~t.d mr, "Wllrct ~f iiv;11il ~'al(j",
and Ibry h.1~' """" aliI jor tb""'5I1ro ci11trn5. cmcfttJ rn-rtrn, which bold "0 w~j.... - Jer. 2,12 - \3 (REB)
In th es~ tennsJeremiah ~ddre-sse-s the people of Cod who have a special story to tell. To forget tha t story, or to turn to anoth~r story, is d i'iastrous, for the story is the basis of knowledge of Cod and of th ~ community's identity.
188
Prophecy in the Mosaic T",dilion
CCI'IlotIrs of ()lJ Testa",",! Thtology
Stipulations of IJ1t (ovtna111 We now rum to a second thcmc of Jercmiah's preaching. Closely connected with the basic experience, God's deliverancc from Egyp tian bondage, is thc other crucial experience: the giving of th e law that signifies th e covenant relationshi p. Exodus and Sinai, the two "root experiences: are inseparable. \X'hen Jerem iah declares (2:8) Ihat the "interprete rs of the law- did not '1mow" Cod (the knowing of relationship ), he stands in agreement with Hosea. That nOrthe:rn prophet also an nounced Yahwch's covenant lawsui t , which cited the commandm ents of the Decalogue:
Htilr dtt vor.:i of tOt lom [Ya!.:;.yb}, o prop!tDf lmx/, J;r rbe lOlw [Yahwt"1ba! a" iKJi,III!
189
One of thc key vcrbs in the prophet's vocabulary is the vcrb shub, Cl verb of turning. In a ncgative sense the verbal noun means turning away, apostasy, in Cl positive sense thc vcrb means a turning to, a rctum-that is, repentance. Emphasizing thc conditional "i of the r>.'losaic covc nan t, Jeremiah seems to say that the promise 10 Abra ham, that na tions Ivould be blessed by him (Ge n. 12:1 -3), dcpends on Ihe people's rcpentan ce. If )'0:1 rth,,,,. 0 imln. ~ Ihr l.oJ{[} {Y;!b ....m~ if Y"" rl/!jnr /" "C, if YOll m"ort YOlI' abonrir..1 li"", f ro", "'Y P",t1'. ",.J if Y"" Sn";!r, "As tl...lORD [Y.1_1!rots!" in trvrl.. in P,llic(, a"J ir. M/l'I"9&!ottI"Ibtn ""ne,,, sb~U be bl"o;cJ by I",",
,1"J by hm. Ihty ![,.,Il '-It.
To Jeremiah , the prcsent is a time of u rgency, a time for soul searc hing, for measuring thc "values' (idols) that people 5CI'\'C. That is ..... hy the prophet rcminds th e people of their rOOI nperiences: so tha l lhey may know the iden tity o f their saving Cod a nd their identity as a people called by Cod. Also, tha l is why the prophe t portrays an ominous fu ture whcn a "foe from the north"" will comc upon [hem : so thalthcy may awake from th ei r dream ..... orld and "know" the God who is at ..... ork. sccki ng justice and peacc. Jeremiah is puzzlc d- and hc suggests that Cod i\ pun lcd-about the peo ple's misu5C of their fr« dom, thcir stubborn refusal to 5Cnse thc crisis and repent (tu rn around).
wt.m pro~ltf'lll,
~~t!/tl
wp "!(.1.->r} If thty go al t,~y. do IIxy Mt IWflI b.. ,b Wby Ibm M tbi, fItoPk Iwn,rJ .1lNy do rbey
b.KbliJio:g f/lJn",.~ """7 P Thr:r """.. btU fDS! la In:tit, IIry ,I;"VT ,rjWJ,J ro fI'I""'. -Je-r. 8:4-' ;" j>rrpf(W"J
Hc likens them 10 a horse · plunging hcadlong into battle" Ocr. 8:6). Even the birds know the times o f thcir migration, but "my people do no t know thc ordinance of Yahweh" (8:7). Could the people repen t' Could a people set in it S ways change its lifestyle, That is a relevant quest ion ~,·en today, when people are locked into an economy that concentrates wealth at thc tOP and ,·ictimizes the increasing number at the bottom, or a lifcstylc that pollutes the natural environm~ nt and threatens the continuation of life o n Earth. In passionat~. ha rd· hitting languagc Jere miah sought to awaken the people to thc seriousllCSS of their predicament. But Jcrcmiah was no NSy optimist. He sensed that the people ..... ere in bondage to their lifestyle and could not change-li k~ a person who is addictcd to a drug. Only the most sevcre shock treatment could shakc th em out of th cir habits and make liberation possible.
Proph"C}' in rhe MO'iaic Tradition In contrast to popular prophets, who preached soothing words, his task was to preach the judgment of God, through which God merCifully makes possible a new beginning.
Threat of tbe Rrtrmr of Chaos True to the j\'losaic covenant heritage, Jerem ia h rega rds it as his prophetic task to warn the people and to spell out "the curses" of the covenant, that is, the unavoid· able consequences of the people's behavior. At onc point he ponrays the awful possibility that God would nO t just abrogate the covenant with hrael but would bring a terrible judgment on the world, like that of the gn::at Aood, ,·.rhen the ear,h was on the verge of rewrning to precreation chaos (toh" waoohu; d. Gen. 1,] ).
I ioobJ On rh. runh,
n~J
h it "'~s 10.151. ad fJoiJ,
nnd Iq I'" bmvflll, and Ihry 6.1 nO lighr. r l""hJ"" rh. ""'wn~.,m,. ~..J IQ, rh')' .'trl qw~ki"g, ""J a/l rhl biils ","'I'fa to and fro. ! 1"",,".1, and 10, Ihm II'~> no 01" al ~ij, ,,"1,,11 th. birds ",j /'" ~ir h,d i.d. JI",,"'J, aHJ!o, tb. j""Ij"I I.mJ n\~~" dNrl, ",.1 nil it. cil,,, ""'" laid in ruin, fujorr IhI LoRD [y"hn"h}, k/ore hi, }i.m "~g" -Jcr. 4.23·16
Poetry like thiS, which universalizes the th reat of God's impending judgment, anticipa,es the later style of prophecy kno",'n as apocalyptic, which sees God's relationship wjth Israel in the context of the ominous threat of po'''ers of chaos to God's whole creation. lO [n the perspective of Mosaic covenanl theology, God mkes a risk in making a covenant commitment to a people. It is human freedom that makes the present precarious and that threatens the Israelite community, and uitima,e1y the world as a whole, with chaos. In Luthe ran and Calvinistic terms , th e problem is the bondage of the will.
&ycmd Tragedy Yet even in this =vena nt~l view, which throws great weight on human respons ibility, God does not lose control- not compl~t~ly. The prospect of catastrophe is God's way of alening people, through prophetic mess~ ngers , IO the true seriou~ ncss of the crisis. The suffering5 of history are Cod's shock treatment, inte nded to bring p~ople to thei r ..... nses. Beyond trag~dy, so Jeremiah insisted, God will mak~ a new beginning, a new covenant. This hope burned so fiercely in Jeremiah's hean tha t, whil~ the Babylonian army was pounding at th~ gat~s of Jerusalem, he bought a parcd of land and had
191
the decd legally notarized. 'What a pow" rful symbol: a man in prison, in a city about to fa ll, who makes an investment for the future! The issue is not the future value of real esta,e on the market but, in the worst of times, hope in the Cod who gives people a furure. According to the famous passage about "the new covenan( Uer. 31:31-33), there mus, be a radical change in human nature before th" weakness of the Mosaic covenant can be overcom e. God's law must be written on the heart. not just on law b(){)ks; and the knowl edge of God must be so inward that no longer will it be nec~ cssary to teach onc anOlher, saying BKnow the Lord.~ As a CQvenant partner, Israd remains fre e to respond to God's initia tive, but paradoxically God ~prnmises to make possible the very response which he inexorably demands,wll Above aI!, God's forgiveness "'QuId ultimately heal the wounds of th e people and inaugurate a last· ing rel~tionship , indeed, ~n everlasting cove nanl . is ~h" co~'enam that I Will make w;~h rhO' house of IHaei after those days, 'Klys rhO' LORD [Yahwchl I will pur my law within them, and I will write it on their heans; and I will J:,., Ih"ir God, and they , hall be my prop1".
Thi~
- .In. 31:33 The Christian community affirms tha t th is new beginning in history was initiated through God's grace an d forgiveness in Jesus Christ , As we well know, dis· tinctil'e Christian writings proclaiming rh al the new age had dawned we re eventually designated according to Jeremiah's prophecy of the new covenant.
Jeremiah', Temple Senno/! At one point in his ministT)'.. Jeremiah deliv~red a sermon that got him into trouble. The "temple sermon" is summarized in Jer. 7: 1-5. and his arrest immediately follOWing th~ sermon and the near loss of his life is n::ported in Jeremiah 16. Since we are on the verge of turning to the royal cov~nant theology associated with David, it is ap propriate to consider this sermon as a transition from Mosaic to Davidic the ology, For it is a forceful anack on th~ false confidence that was generated by one asp~ct of Davidk t heology. In this se rmon, as reponed by Deuteronomislic interpreters, 12 Jeremiah lashes out against fal ..... confidence in the temple. The people were saying that the templc of J~rusalem guaranteed tha t Yahweh was in their midst, making them safe and s~(ure from all alann . They were gl ibly chanting the theological cliche, "The temple of Yahwe h, th~ l" mpl~ of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh,wsupposing that God's presence with them gaw ,hem freedom to live as th~y pleas~d.Jeremiah attacks this temple theology by saying that wOfshi~rs had convened the temple
Nicholmn . GoJ ,id Hi, P""":>i,, 216. 11 AI'hol
My soul ~l, ~,J irJai~rl
J« rh< ccurls of v,. LORD [YaimtbJ. '"Y Mart a"J"" fose lil'!/ for JOY to rht lil'i..g Go.!. - Ps. 84:1-1
Moreover. the king was regarded as God's special agent or "messiah" ( r Sam. 24:6) , anointed for the leadersh ip of the people. ilnd in this sense the prototype of the one wh o is to come, th e ideal ruler. Thc term "anointed one~ (Hebrew Ir.h, ht 4iJ ~at cb.x>st tbt rri/Jr 0/ EfIh,..,,'' ' h' ht ,lmc tbr Itibt nf J.Jab, M""nl Z;O~. ",ki. Ix loo_ ---Ps. 78,67
The rejection of northern Israel and the choice of Judah is evidenced in twO divine actions: first . Yahweh "established his SOlnctuary on /\'Ioun t Z ion" wilh spacious dimensions of creation: "l ike the high heavenswof the cosmos, "like the earth~ that th e Creator established Rrmly (v. 69) , second, Yahweh deSignated David as "his servam ,wtaking him from the sheepfolds and maki ng him the shepherd (ruler) of the people (vv. 67-72 ). God's c ho ice of Zion. Cod's choice of David: these arc the twi n pillars on which the Zion "ideology/theologywrests. Psalm 78 dTCIws our atremion to a major problem in the commu nity of faith : the temptati on to present a theological justification of a sociopolitical program. \'I:le ca n find plenty o f illustrations of the ideological dim ension of faith in the h istory of Christianity---or of any religion, for tha t matter_ Relig ion oc.'eia lion o f the transcendent God. Like some liberation theologians, but for different philosop hical reasons, Voegelin maimains th at under David (and esJXcially under Solomon ), who adopted the way of thinking prevalent in the anci ent Near East. Israel fell back into a pharaonic 0l1l1001:..9 T he influence of th e cosmologica) symbolism o f the ancient Near East is apparent even in the architect ure of Solomon's palaceltemple co mplex as described in the account of SamucVKings. The whole plan. including temp le and palace. expresses an architectu ral style that was in flu enc ed by th e culture 01 C anaan and the ancie nt Near East, like other anciem temples excavated by a rchaeologists, it had a tnpartite structure ( I Kgs_ 6,1-6), an entrance portico {Mlm,,' . a main hall (btlwO, il1ld an inner sa nctuary (d~bid or · Holy of Holies· {v. 16}. IO It is significant that t he temple- ~Iace complex was constructed by a Phoenician (Canaanitc) architect, H iram o f Tyre ( I Kg that va,i, ou< lexts di ffermtia,e the ,ymbofl.m of Zion from Ya hweh'~ commitment [0 ,he D~ \'id i c king. r11. Scc AlI!fT, 165-66,
The PromiS(:s 01 Grace to David
205
The most radical change, however, was th at Israelite interpreters placed the symbolism of throne and temple in the comexl of Gods special covenant with David, Like the Abrahamic covenant. this one is also called an "everlasting covenan( (/>mr QII1I71), which guarantees the u nb roken continuity of the Da \'idic line, There is good reason to believe that this royal theology was not a ·theologi cal reconstruction" made in a la te period (the exi le ), whe n the Davidic monarchy was idealized. but rather "reAects the actual history of the Davidic period. "19 In an ancient poem, Da vid's "last words, - Davi d is quoted as say ing: /, ~oll7ly k~~1 Jik, tb" witb G"J} For Ix /',1, m~~'t Il'ith rnr ,1" n:t,J",I;>1'l c"I't>1"~~, odrnJ;~ ~ll lbi~g, ilcJ ~«~r(
hr MI '"wit III profr "Jl ..y blip ,,~J or)" J"irt)
Will
-2 Sam, 23:5
Closely related to this (ext is the oracle of the propllet Nathan, in which Yahweh makes a solemn oath of commitment to David and his house (2 Sam. 7;ltb-17). The story goes that David proposed to build a "house" (t empl e) for Yahweh, only to be told that Yahweh would build him a 'hou~" (dynasty) that would endure_ Further, e~'en though particula r kings commined offenses in office, God would not withdraw co~'enant loyalty (/xsrd j. This un ilateral covenant is qui te similar to the Abrahamic covena nt.- indeed, it has been suggested that David may have become acquainted with th is southern type of covenant theology at Hebron, where he reigned before making Jerusalem his capitaPO Be that a, it may. the Davidic cove nant, like the Abrahamic, is based on grace alone, not on human behavior, Nat ha n's orade contains the n"o essemial d emems or royal covenant >ymbol. ism: the unbroken continuity of the Davidic dynasty and of the temple as God's dwelling place in the midst of the people. T he oracle stipulates that Yahweh will make a "house" (dynasty ) for David_ I wil l Tili \-e up after you YOl.lr offspring, who will i~sue from your bad)'. and t wilt sta· bilize his kingdom. He sha ll build a ' house" 10. my name, and I will ~Iahl ish his .oyal dynasty in perpetuity la.i al"m}, (B\\":'\') MoreO\'e r, a special relationship will exist between God and the Davidic mler. I " 'ill be falher to him , Jnd he w;lI be son m me, \\:!hen he does wrong , I wi ll chasten him with the tod (If human punishment, and ",;,h th e stripe'> of human jusrice, bl.ll mV. lo"altv , ..fhe\-edl - ! \\' ill not withdraw from him, as I did in the CiI,e of ~u l,
, 19. This i. argued b}' Antli Laa!
F~s
Pn:'lS, t99.S).
22. Sec above. chapter 18
(~tinroeapo li~:
207
Davidic monarchy, Din those days there ..... as no king in Israel .. all the-: people did wha.t was right in the-:ir o,,'n eyes· (Judg. 2 1:25). The second elemem of Davidk covenant theo logy is also implied in this orade. especially ",hen read in its nalnth'e conte)(t and SlIpplememed. ..... ith s.ome of the psalms. [n 1 Samuel 6 , [h e chapter just before Nathan's oracle, David is described as escorting the ark into Jerusalem with great pomp _nd ceremony. drer JnirtJ it • -P5 132:13· 1-1
Summary In 5ummary, th e Davidic covenam. \"hich has affiniues with the Abrahamic covenant , represents a distinctive pattern of ~ymboli:zin 8 the relationship between God and Isrcrel and indeed berwe~n God and the world. It is a unilate ral co~'e nant, grounded solely in God's s.olemn oath, unconditioned by human behavior, t he re· fore it assures stabi lity, security, and hope for the future despi te the comingencies of history, /I.·lorcover, in this view the God who is ent hroned In cosmic transcendence is ~God with us: pn:sent in the midst of the ~ople through the office of the anoimed one and dwelling in their midst in the temple. At this poim there is affin· ity with the I'rie<stly theology of the t3hcrnading Presence.
208
C""""'rs o} Old TtSla",,..,t T/)(ciogy
Further, Davidic covenant theology, despite its ideological coloration, carries us into th e spacious realm of creation theology_King and temple symbolize Cod's ordering of creation and Gods will that the social order rellecl the peace and righ leousness 01 the cosmic order. The people learned to sing a Mnew 'iOng"-with the new notes of the kingdom of God that is to come on earth as it is in heaven. Finally. in this covenant the pri m,1ry s}'mbols are throne and temple. The Davidic king rules ex officio as Cod's representative. In poetic language, the monarch is described ,1S Yahwe h's anOinted, ind«d, t he ·son of Cod- (ps. 2:7) ",'ho is se,1ted "al the right h,1nd of God" (Psalm 11 0 ). Also, the temple of Zion is the axis ",undi . the center, to which not only IST,1e1 bur,1]1 peoples must come to find o rder. well-being, and peace. The ecumenical horizon of th is covenant per· specrive is e):pressed in the ...·ell-known poem. found in both Isai,1h (2:2-4) and " 'Iicah (4, 1·4), that ponrays the esch;l!ological consummation when all nations ...·ill ma ke a pilgrimage to the center, the elevated temple mountain of Zion, in order to hea r the word of God thal brings order, security, and peace.
24. THE COSMIC RUL.E OF YAHWEH IN ZION
No covet/autai persprctivr is
more prominent in the Bible, both the Old Testament and the Ne ...', than the one ,1ssociated With Da~'id . To be sure, it is not found explicitl}, in lhe Priestly Torah, though, as wc have nOted. there are affinilies between the everlasting coven,1ntS made wit h Abraham and with David. FurthemlOre. the Davidic cov~nant is a subordinate theme in Deuteronomy and t he Deutero nomistic histOJ)', which on the whole is governed by the M osaic covenantal perspective. In other literature. however. the theology of the Davidic covenant provides t he major perspeCt1ve, the book of Psalms. the book of Isaiah, and the Chronicler's history_ Each of these units of Scriptur~ we shall consider in successive chapl~rs.
Psalms: A Davidic HY!1111book We have already found that the Da\'idic coven ant is the subject of some o f the psalms_ Psalm 89, for in~t a nce . is a poetic celebration of th e promises of grace to David given in "'athan's oracle (2 Sam . i ,4-17. echoed in Ps. 89,28-37), flm in Ihe major key of hymnic praise ('IV. 1-27) ,1nd then in Ihe minor key of lament (w. 28- 5 1) with its poignant question:
/.D,J iY~b"'&'l. loohm;l rOIl' sI!~Jf~jt Io~ [~l l)f ol.i. ",bel. 10y 7"~r f",tb}~iKtS! yeti ll1>Ot't 10 Dd~,J} -Ps.. 89:49
Also we have touched on (he storytelling Psalm 78, which reaches a climax in God's choice of David and of Zion. and Psalm 132. wh~re the Iwin themes of DaYidic k.ing andJerusa1cm temple arc treated side by side. H aving looked at a few trees, how\"Ver. we now must stand back and look at the forest as a whole: the Psalms as a book_ The book of Psalms as a completed ...·hole is ,1ttri\:)llled to David. M the sweet singer of Israel- (2 Sam_ 23,1 , as some tnnslale ). David is specifically associat~d with some psalms who'ie superscriptions relate the psalm to a particular event in David's caree r. For imtance. Psalm SI is associated with David's ' sin with Balhsheba" (2 Samuel 11 ). The Hebrew expression It.lrrwid. found at the head of a numl.xr of psalms, may mean "dedicated to Oavid" or "belonging to a Davidic collection" (e_g. , Psalm I I). The composition . singing, and collection of 'iOme psalms can undoubtedly be traced back to the man who was reputed to be a favorite si nger of songs. Ho wever. the anrihution of Ihe book of Psalms to David does not mean th at he W,:iS the author of the whole collection. Rather. O,1vidic ",1uthorship" must he understood Iheologically. David symbolizes Ihe king who represents the people as they come before God in ",,·orship.
210
(",,1000'S
o} OM Trst.:.notnl Tbrolo;y
The Cosm.c Rule of Y;J.h .... eh in Zion
Also. the strucnne or arrangement of the book o f Psalms is slgni lc:ant theo.logically. The preface 10 the Psalter consists of two psalms, onc a psalm in praise of Cods torah or ~instruct ion" (Psalm 1), and the other a royal psalm. dealing with the installation of Yah ..... l"h·s "anointed" (messiah ) on thl" holy hill of Zion (psalm 2). Since both of theSt' psalms stand outside the first Da\'idic collcction, which comprises Psalms 3--41. and unlike other ~dlms in this collection th ey have no headin gs ascribing them 10 D.wid. we may safely assume that the)' ..... ere located here b)' an editor for the purpose o f sounding miljor themes of wo rship: rejoicing in t he torah and (he hope for a messianic king to role in Zion. Mixed in with hymns. laments. ilnd thanksg iVings are a number of royal psalms that highlight the imagery of kingship (e.g.. Psalms 45, 110. 118).'
Tbt TbtoIOgicd/ CtlIlu of tht &0.\: of PStl/ms JUSt as the orga nizat io n of a modem hymnal mdY indicate its overall theological tlavor, so th e canonical shape of the book of Psalms may contribute to our theo· logical understanding o f the book as a whole. Cen.ld H. Wilson has suggested an inu::reSling way to understand the present shape of the boo k of Psalms." He notes that the Psalter opens with a psalm of the Davidic covenant (Psalm 2), that there is a royal psalm at the end of book 11 (Psalm 72 1- illso that there is another royal psalm at the end of book [[[ (PS.llm 89). though this onc, ~s wc have seen. shihs from praise to I~me nt abou t the failure of the promises of grace to David. Looking at books I-Ill, Wilson suggCStS that the placement of these psalms is intended to display the failure of t he Davidic covenant and the need for a larger theolOgical vie ..... The problem is resolved. he maintains. in book IV. which he calls "the editorial center of the fina l fonn of the Hebrew Psalter: especially the psalms of Cod's dominion clusterl"d in Psalms 93, 95-99. In these psalms, sovereignry is lifted from the human level (IroSt in kings and princes) to the cosmic level (trust III the Cod who is cosmic king and creator!' This is an aurKtive. even tempting, hypothes is. It enables us to see t hat the book of Psalms was notjllst thrown together blll was composed in ils final form to make a theologicill statement. The hypothesis is challl"nged. however. by the structure of the book of Psalms itsclf, for Psalm 132, which comesaher the psalms of Yahwehs enthronement. presents a restatement of thl" tenets of the Davidic covenant: ekctmn of the Davidic king and choice of the tl"mple of Zion. The truth is th at Isradite intcrpretl"rs never regarded the Davidic covenant as superseded, but held on to the promises of grace to David, though lifting th em above the le... of prosaic historical real it}'. It is no tew orthy that August ine in his great \"ork, Th City of God (book 17), devoted great attention 10 Psalm 89.
cr
1
Sce my d~s(h] 15 km9. The U'(Ir/J isfirmly "1,,blisb,J; ;ls611 ~rotT 1n "w"d. H, ",,/1 jwJgr p.~~!ts u',lh qui!)"."
I'"
- Ps. 96, t 0
To be sure, there are Hare ·ups of disorder, when it seems tha! Cod has los t eontroL Israel ite poets, however, are confident tha t Yahweh is sovereig n, even (hough that sovereignty may be hidden at present or seemingly threatened by po\vcrs o f chaos, evident in attacks of forcign enemies, disruprion of fertility. or social breakdown. Confident that Cod is fully in comrol. poe!S looked to the future in the expectation that Cod would come to judge (rule) Ihe earth "'ith righteousness and trUlh (Ps. 96: I 0 - 13). Thus God's dominion provides grhe rock of as~urance amid the instabilities of timc and history" { Rylaa~dam). The I .... orship of ~rhe King, all glorioUS above," resounds in Christian worship seT\iices even today, as in our hymn , "0, \X/orship the King."
TlI< ,,,nb u'ilh 11, ,IOTf of ~'o~J(15 ~~IIJ, AI.,ighty. !by )'>0"''' "'lib JO"~J,J
sa
The Cosmie Rul., of Yahweh in:lion 217 Canaanite religion, Ya hwe h is nOl involved in "th e myth of the eternal retu rn"l2a dying-rising god who i~ subject to the powers of death and darknes~ . Some sugges t that the language is exis tentia l, referring to the co nfession that God has been dethroned in human life and needs [Q be reenthroned; but this is r ...
lboorgb IIx ."",,"'iIl5 I,.".bk .,,·,b illl~"wlt. -Ps. 46; 1-3
God's Do",i"i"" as Fut~.t Horizon God's dominion has a future horizon; for God's kingdom has > [Ylh,,·ehJ. ~5 it According 10 what
i~
-2 Chron. 14:4 i~
wTitten in thc law of MOSClO. -2 Chron. 23: 1B
wTinen in tile law. in the book of '-loses.
-2 Chmn. 2504
PriesI5 and u,v,te5 "took thcir accustomed posts according 10 the law of Moses the man of God. " -2 ChTon. 30,16 Burnt offerings .. , as il
IS
"'ritlcn in the law of the loRD [Yah ...ehJ." -2Chron.31:3
Strangely, in none of these cases is there mention of the exodus or the guidance in the wilderness. It has been observed that if we had only the Chronicl~r's history we would never kn ow that there was an exodus out of Egypt. ~ In Chronicles the Torah, understood in ItS halakic sense, is undoubt~dly identiRed with the whole Pentateuch. not JUSl the book of Deuteronomy. as inJosiah's reform. The Pe ntateuch. in substantially its Rnal form. was the Torah of Moses that a ra brought back to }udah from Babylonian exile and that became the const itutio nal basis of the restored community (see Nehemiah 9). The book of Psalms, as we have seen. begins With l he announcement that those persons are b lessed (happy) who meditate on the torah "day and night: making it the basis of their life and thought (Psalm 1).
fabu'cbs (ovmal1t wilb Dauid The second conviction. ""hich is much more dominant in Abijah's speech, is that w Yahweh ha~ "chosen David to be ruler and has chosen the Jerusa lem temple, including its priC'ithood. Accordingly. the Chronicler jumps into Israel's history (as pre5ented in the Deuteronomic ·source") at the point of Daliid's rise to power (I Chronicles 9~15 ) . All at once we are IOld about David bringing the ark to
4. C J\tangan. 1982). 16.
, -2 a,,"~KI~. Ez'~.
N,oo.11h. OTM 13 (W,lmlOgton. DcL
Mich~d
Gluier
222
Cl>Ipl( ,),';/1 Ix bu",bl,J, "roJ I'" pnd, of "'t'l)"',"1 ,1:,,/1 bt hr~"!ihllow. arod LOfID [\'I>!;IVo'bJIll",,! wi!1 />( aalld "" 11o..t Jay.
f'"
- lsa. },12-17
7k KJ·.,g, Ik Lord of Hosts One of the flrst things that strikes the reader who turns to so-called First Isaiah is that this prophet, unlike Hosea and Jeremiah . does not appeal to the exodus/Sinai root experienccs. at least not explicitly. To be sure, there is a passing reference 10 what Yahweh "did in Egypt" ( 10,26) and a poetic depiction of a highway from Assyria analogous 10 one Israel used in the exodus from Egypt ( II , 16 ). Bm these rderencI"'. "nl!/" p"'~!f'I ""lh his /",tb - p•. 96: 13
226
(",1'1"'111
Prophtty in th~ D«snfSs. -1s;t.5:15·16
Gods Dn..tlnJ for Social hSliu Yahweh'.. demand for social juslice rC'>ound.. through the prophet's preaching found Wilhin the Rrst booklet, chaps. 1-12. In a powerful poem found in Ihe pref. ace to thi .. collection ( I: 10-16), the prophet declares that God is not interested in Ihe Ptople's lemple sacrifices and will not even listen to their prayers, for your 6
goo.i, Kt.i: jW!tlCt, r
Col, SrfMcc"bIc "'/11
The Ba51s of Security Here, then. is a pattern of symbolism that grounds human security in the transce ndent, majestic sovereignty of [he holy God-not in the changes and fortunes of human histOJy. It imposes on rulers and people the sovereign demand of justice, with consequent divine judgme nt on the powerful who shirk their responsibility; but it enables people to rela x in the confidence that God is creator and the ruler of history. Indeed, acco rding to Isaiah· this is what faith means: to be firm in trust of God, who executes righteousness, and not to be shaken, not to be moved. Such faith is the foundation stone that G od lays in Zion, the city of Cod, ThII! lay, 1)", Lo,J [Yahwtb 1GOD. Sf(, J ~'" i..ymg i~ Z,-""" Jowd" ! ic~ 5Io~,. ~ I(!~J ,ton!.
~ P.,.,:iOK' CornW to~(, a ~~rr JO~Md"I'-O~, · (hU u,ho :"'111 U'I!l ,,~t panic ,.
- 1>.1. 28:16
Those who trust . that is, who place their faith in God rat he r than in human ach ieveme nts. will enjoy deep security, even in d ifficult times. T his theme of "walking humbly with God" in faith (cL I\'lic. 6 ,8) is expressed exquisitely in a passage that has come to be a favorite for many. For tbus 5aiJ th. l.oJ-J fY~bW([,] GOD, ri,( Hoiy Q,u of Im,.I, /" m~f}li~;l' ad rf"I),,,,, !b~!1 i>< !a~rJ, ," ~U,(rr.t5> aKj i~ /rw,r ,)"dr br Jawr slr"'9' tb.
5.
See lalcr di,cu>.1. 30: 15
Prophecy in the Davidic Tradition
232 C""tCllrs o} OU T61a,"nr/ Tlxorogy The basis fo r true security, said the prophet, lics in a "rewm to Coes6 and cQflfidence~ (Isa. 30: 1S, quo ted above). Thi§ cantO relaxed faith in God'~ ovelTUling 5O'o'ereigmy is also ellpressed in a ....·ell-known line from Ps. -16, e'o"
To g"iJ. I'" f"I"1(. as in ~!I(S p"st Yo~r bo/lf. YOII. ";"'#(I< ,e let II(ltbi>:9 SbDU, Ail "O'--~ m)'!tmOI/; !""II '" h-~hr al bst & Jlill, Ill)' SiI~t 11,.: .''"III'!~,.J .-id! JI,II.b.c,... 7Jx Gmt..oo .M/cJ tIK- .-btlrhc J .....I! briw
Pmphc.;y in the Oavidic: Tradition
It is not easy to live in the prC$Cnce o f the holy Cod ·",·ho dwe lls o n Mount Zion_" For on the -holy hill" Yahweh is performing a Strange wo rk (lsa. 10: 12; 28:22),' a work of judgment tha t is intended to purify thc city of God so that it may be "the fa ith ful city, the city of lighteousness_~ The baby lmmanud will gmw up in a time of devastalion (7; ]5· 171. bu t judgment is not God's last word; it is o nly the prelude to a new beginning. A purified remna nl of the people will look to the futu re wh en lmma nud will reign on the Davidic th rone (9:2.7). God's holiness, accordi ng 10 this prophc t. is the manifestation of divinc judgment temper~d with divine me rcy_God's judgment is inesca pable, yet God's mercy gives hope for the future. This is the Significance of the sign of lmmanuci, wh ich was tra nsposed into a new key in the New Testament.s
'TIt City of tbt Gnat Kill9 ~ In summary: the preceding discussion has shown that Davidic covenantal theology was "genera ted" by C\'C ntS in the historical experience o f Israel. Both temple and th ro ne were involved in Israel's attemp t to fin d a place in the sun and to fi nd security in the political st ruggles of the anc ient !\"ear Eas t. Israel adopted a king "li ke the nations· to find security in the emb.Inled co rridor of Canaan, where peoples were vying for control. And Israel built a temple "like t he nations" in o rde r to wor· ship Cod in th e mOljCStfc OITchitecrural style: of thei r neighbors. These ("..-0 realities th rone and temple-were, however, vie""ed in myth ical perspective. They belong to a metaphorical worl d as well as the real h isto ri cal world_ T hat symbolism continued, indeed was reasserted more: emphatically, when the Davidic monarch)' came 10 an end and Ih e temple o f Jerusalem was destroyC'd. Ko longer did these institutions se rve , at least in part , an ideological purpose:, but wefe meta phors in a pattern of srmbolization. The D avidic king became a symbol and prototype: of the onc I"ho was to come in order to introduce a new age of peace and justIce. The Davidic symbol ism finds powerful exp ression in the poem in \sa. 9:2·7 and in CL Christmas caro l that echoes Isaia h's prophecy, based on a li.fre~nt h .century German folk song and harmonized by Michael Pr::Letorius ( 1609 );
Le, bo.rt a R~ t'" HOOIII'''!J, from I...J" lIe- b.otb s.~I'~"'i: Of imil liK''-I;J,c'''''i~
(words by Kathenna von Schlagd, 1752 1
The prophetic word th at Yahweh would uphold the Davidic throne was accom· panied by a sig n: in du~ course a Davidic heir to the th rone wou ld be born and would carry the lofty thro ne name lmma nuel. signifyin g tha t "Cod is with us ," The holiness of God, however, transforms the mean ing of Immanuei, so that it does not connote the comforting assuraoce of popular religion_ In a bold rc-versal of the view that the D ivine Warrior fights for Israel agains t its enemies, th is prophet declares that Gods ·~nc:mies" are God's own people_
2 35
As.-. of"u hart I~..g_ /I r~ .. ~. ~ Jio~~',,: bnghr. A.. iJ I;,,(old of winllr. l\1l!t" b,'!f !pmt """ lbe "'!1hl_ 7. On (h~ ~,~S ,,!im~.. see above, chapler 6_ 8 5« furthcr my ~lodl' -God "" ,!h Us.-In Judj:,'mt-nt lnd to :-. krcl' The Edi(ori~1 S"uaur~ of I..,iah 5-1 0 ( 11): in Ca~~,,- TMD!CY)'. ~.u OIJ T"'I
PART III TRIALS OF FAITH AND HORIZONS OF HOPE
jomro/ It Jor hIS O ~'" ~boJt. Today Jews say prayers at the Western Wall, an archite.::tural remnant of the ancie nt temple: and Christians \' islt the Holy City and its sacred places. These people, jf they read Scripture ",-ith poetic imagination. move beyond the prose of history into a metaphOrical world ""here David"s thro ne and [he Jerusalem temple are powerful symbols of God's dominion in the cosmos and huma n history.
All this has come IIPOIl liS, ytt we have II0t forgotten you. or beel! false to YOllr COVfilaJlI. Brcallse oJ you we are beiHg kiIlrd al/ day 101lg. a/ld accol/nted as s11eep Jor the siallg})ter. PSAL\I 44:1 7. 22
,
-
27 . THE CRISIS OF COVENANTAL THEOLOGIES
We have foulld
that three covenantal perspectives govern much of the literature: of the Old Testament; the Priestly, the MosaiC, and the royal. In major bodies of Scripture each of these is associated 'w"ith an outstanding figure: the promisrory covenant "'ith Abraham and Sarah! the covenant of law with /I.·loses, Miriam, and Aaron, and the covenant of dynastic leadership with David. It is too simple to think of these covenants as belonging exclusively to a particular period or "dispensation." To be sure, in the Bible they fo!lo\,r one another in historical seque nce, (he Abrahamic covenant was instituted in the ancestral period; the Mosaic covenant in the time of the exodus and the Sinai sojourn ,- ,md the Davidic covenant at the beginning of the united monarchy_ Whcncvcr and howcver each of thcsc paaerns of symbolization arose, we should th ink of them as running alongSide of each other during most of the biblical period, like [he trajectories of three jet plilnes whose jet streilms pilrall cl cach other in the course of fl ight. In the Old Testamcnt, thcn , wc find a thcologicill pluralism. The situation is similar to the New Tcstamcnt, whcre we find diffcrcnt christological perspectives; the apocill yptic perspective of Mark, the S, 4 rht poor ~n,i >,,1 - lam. 1; 1
245
N
"face (presence) of Cod is hidden or, to echo the title of a book by the great Jewish philosopher 1'\1artin Buber, the time of Nlhe edipse of Cod."
Failure of Coamall! Theology It is striking that some psalms show how a panicular covenam p~ rspective becomes the basis for lament. Psalm 89 is a good exampl~_ Earl ier, \"hen dealing with Oavidic covenant theology, we noticed that the nrst part of this psalm (V\'. 1-37) is a song of praise to God for the promises of grace to David 6 EchOing Nath;m's oracl~ to David in 2 Samuel 7, the poet decla res that Cod has made an absolute commitment and will not go back on it, even though particular kings in the Da\'idic line may fail in office , Confidence in Cod's fait hfulness (lxs/d) prompts the poe t to look beyond the insecurities of history to the cosmic realm ",here God is enthroned as ru[~r. The social order, according to the poet, is grounded in the cosmic order, in Cod's right~ousnes~. rb, ja" ~J,'r"-'r. 4 )'C'"' r[,rv~.,.; ltMJjalliwr ~nJ j"itbf~l"m go b.j"" )'''''.
Ri9ht(""s~r;s ,,~J i~,lia ""
The city of Zion is in shock,
-
Look tw"
a"J )'O~ will ~ol ,m>t' l\fby do y~" m~h "" sa wr""'iJ~i~g m:d look ~llr""b)rl Drsj,uctiQ" ",,J vio!"'(t "'t biforr mc,
sInJI ,,"J (Ox(f>t(ia" ""st_ - Hab. 1:2·3 It is bad enough to see "vio lc:nce~ within the community of ISldd, where those who widd power oppress the weak. But the prop het also sees vio lence magnifled [0 a colossal world sCille , as evident in t he Babylonian ilnnies that sweep over the world , scofn ng at every foruess in their way and boasting of . heir military power. In this Question.and.answer dialogue, Habakkuk learns that God is doing a surprising thing. for- believe it or not- Cod has "ordai ned" this world power for S. :;e., P..Ioranson and K. tlut'l!an, ed~. , Th Cry 4 (b, f~air"" .. mr aM th: Rdn<M;,-.g o} Cbrill"", ( ,,,,l ,"r. T,,,J,lian (Sama Fe· Bear and Co,. 1984 (
248
Gmlou", "f Old T,,!.Jmn:1 Tkolol/Y
Th~
judgment. That, of cours~, is what previous prophets had been saying. like Isaiah. who described th~ Assyrian Empire as "'the rod of Yahweh's anger" with which Cod was perlooning the "strange work" of judgmem on Zion. Habakkuk agr~es-in part. Yes. Israel is culpable, but the punishme m does not fit t he cri m~ . The situa· tion has appa~ntly gonen OUt 01 God's control.· for the invading force is like a chaotic flood that overAo\"s the b,mks of God's purpose and obliterates all relative moral distinctions. YOII' 'Yts arr loo />11'( 10 JxhoM roil.
ad y~~ '4~~~! look o~ wro~gJo;~g, wby Jo you look O~ th, trr"c"",,wI.
I'"
ad ~rr ,il",/ whm ",;ckrJ 'lJdlo~' rM' ""'" rigbt,,,,,, thm 11,0"1 -Hab. I, 13
On his watchtower of faith Habakkuk rece ives an answer to his prayeL \Xlait' \'V'hat God is doing now is not clear, the present is a time when God's "face" is hidden. But in God's good time everything will become clear. ''If[lhe vision] seems to tarry, waj~ for i(; in the meantime "'the righteous live by faith" (Hab. l:4b}--fai th that holds on to God even when tim~s are troubled and the lig ht of God's purpose is eclipsed (2:3 -4 ).
Wailing jor God Habakkuk's dialogue with God did not answer the ques~ions_ Indeed, the ans\,·er. "wait patiently for the Lord and liberation will come in due time," only strengthens the force of his initial question: "How long, 0 Lord?"-a qu~stion with which apocalyptic prophets had to deal, as we shall see . BUI Habakkuk's prophecy provides a good introduction to literature of the postexilic period. when the inadequacy of the covenant explanation of suff~ri ng as des~rv~d punishment for sin was tried in the balanc~ and found wanting. In the community of faith , p~op l~ I~amed to wait patiently for God, like watchmen who watch for the morning. I ...."il fo,tb, LORD[Yahu"h ). "')' Will ",,,;rl,
.. ~J '" hi, IlWJ 161'rh] ""0"" tb"" rhoj, "''''' ~"" tch far rhe ..arn.;ng, "'~"" th~" Iho,( ",6 ",,,rch f~r rbr ,"orni~g -Ps. 130,5·6
Waiting for God is faith that turns to th~ horizon of the future in t he expectation that God will conquer evil powers and introduce C od's dominion on ~anh. In the fast pace of the human race, runners-~ven athletic youth- may fall exhaust~d,
Cris;; (If Cov~nantal Theologies 249
But tJ,.",( u,bo ",~il Jo, ,'" LOilil l Y~bwtb ] .""11 ""MP rhriT llmrgtb, tkKy ,kll ",o~"t wp wi/" wingllih Mglts, Ibl)' ;l;~1I rlln alld ~ol '" <MaT)".
rbry ,h,di 1lo,,,lk nil,! Hot f"i~l.
- lsa.4031 In the following pag~s , we shall explore this theme of "waiting for God in two kinds of Scripture: torah that b l~ nds with wisdom, and prophecy that moves into apocalyptic Bmh of these literary types deal with the ~mystery" or "secref of the dominion of God. But each represents a different approach to th~ mystery that, if known, would enable us to perceive how things hang together and the meaning of the struggles of human history. Wisdom explores the divine myst~ry "from bdow,w that is, ITom the angle of human experience. By contrast, apocalyptic purports to deal with th~ matter ~from "bo\'e; that is, in the perspective of the ~revelation" (apocalypse) given to a prophdic seer. M
PART III CONTINUED
A . FROM TORAH TO WISDOM
The teaching DJ the LORD is perfect, rfmwing life; The decrees DJ the LORD are endurin9, making the simple WiSE; The precepts of tile LORD are just, rejoicing the heart; The iustrucfian DJ the Lord is lucid,
making the eyes light up. The fear of the Lord is pure, abiding forever; The judgmfllts DJ the Lord are true, righteofls altogfthn,
More desirable than gold, than much fine gold, ,
sweeter than honey, that! drippings DJ the comb. PSALM 1907-\0 (NJf>SV, "" _8· 11)
,
28. REJOICING IN THE TORAH ~v/.' have
jOfllld
Ihal the exile, and everything associated with it, was a t ime ,,,hen f;,lith was put to the lest. In the l ime 01 the eclipse 01 God, how do the peo_ ple of Cod live? How do they re ta in a ~nse of orderly community when powers of chaos threaten to pull them apart' How do they find a way into the future when the purpo~ of Cod is not d ear in the presenti What hol&; this people together, enabling them to SUTVi\"(~ and giving them a sense of idem;ly and vOGltion7 Thesay, "All that Yahweh has spoke n we will do and we will be obedie nt" (bod. 24:7). The relation of these two, haggadah and ha[akah, is inseparably dose. like Siamese twins_ In this comprehensive sense the Torah became the basis of the people's life in the restored communit), of Judaism under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah (ca. 400 R.e l_ Ezra's reading of "the book of the torah of Moses: according to N ehemiah 8, must h~\'e been based on the Pent~teuch approximately in its flnal form. later known as '"the flve books 01 {I.·10ses or, in rabbinical terms, Mthe flve flfths of the Tor~h . " ff
I . Th;$ " choe'S Ih" ljtl ~ of a chapleT in a book by H. Ribo "" wi>t, 11'110 ~ "fin GoJ_ -Ps. 1,4;1 -1 Psalm 1 may be compared with t he similar poem in Je T. 17:5·8 that is structured according to th e sanc tions of cu rse and bleSSing of the Mosaic covenant. On thc one hand. a curse falls on those who "truSt in mere mortals." "whose hearts rurn away from Yahweh"J on the other. blessing is on th ose who put their trust in YI.;~ ld />y 1!',11/r, s""J;~g "" I il, root5 by tbe lh'W"'. It ,""'11 Hot 11"r II'htn bWI CO,",!, ad itl Impr; Ihall st.:zy g""" i" fbe yttlr of JrDIIght it JS ~ot an:>.iow,_
nor your anccstors were acquainted. in order to make you undCl>l.·lmphy, Ih: T... oJ LIt, Anchor Bible Reference Library (N",,' Yurk, Dollbkd..r. (990), IN_ See hi~ discussion of "Wisdom Lit{'r.lrure and Theology: Chapter 8.
130 04
In the proverh that the lear of the Lord is the heginning of Wisdom, as G erhard von Rad observes, 3 we have in a nutsh elll sr~eI'5 e pistemology or theory 01knowledge _ Knowledge does not l e~d to faith, but faith is the prerequisite for understanding, The opposite of wisdom is no t ig no rance but foolishness_ The fool gropes in confusion and stumble s ~cause of failure at the starting point of faith . Ht },,,, [ tlx LORD [Y~bwrb Jil tlx b'!ljMj~g 0.1 hou,[,Jg •• }oo!, J~i'ilt u,isJo," m;J ir.-! t""tim.oo' seems to agree ...·irh the Deuteronomic theme of the two ways: the way of th e righteous that leads to life. and that of the wicked that leads to death (Deut. 30, I 5-10). Also we read in Proverbs:
- Prov. 25:21 -2 2 {cf. Rom. 12:101
Social OrJ(1" mid Cosmic OrdtT In our pr~vious study wc have found that Davidic cove nant theology brok~ beyond the limitations of lsrael"s sacred history and mo\'~d into the vast context of heaven and earth, the cosmic and the mu ndane. It is Significant that Psalm 89, a psalm of the Da\'idic cm'enant . contains a hy mnic passage in which Yahweh is praised in the heavenly council (see 89:5-7) for his power as creator, demonstrated in the crushing of the powers of chaos and the establishment of the order of creation.
o LORD [Y"lIwrh j C.oJ of 1.>.1••
LOb.:. ~ "I ",~hry O. YOII. 0 LOJI.D1Yabu>d. P
Yo." Jai(b{~!mill WTJOII"J;)'O'II'. Yw rule ,Ilt '''fI'lY of rh. It.:L, u,b", i(lll"1t'fS riSf, ylW. sril1lhmo. rw uw,lod R,,&.!II j /iJ.t d C"'''d!!,
B~IIb.
p.llh of ,Ilt rigr,!tlW.lIS H:r IIx "ght of J~w~. u,b"b sh,nts llrighltr ~~J ImgWrT wntil fwll oL)' n.. "'11)' of Ibr wic"IItJ is MIX Jrt$> dan...I'SS, ~ J.., ....-.I ~OIO what Wry sl~"j,k 0IlU
yeti Kro~!r ,,,:d ~~t;on J b,,('( lot!J s"'~y -Sir. 14:3·6
H,,,
God searched among all people for a "resting place" where \X/isdom might tabernacle ("make her ten!", cf. Joh n 1:14 ) and found it in Israel , which has the Torah, and panicularly in the temple of Zion _ In tiN holy Irnt I nr,,,;,ttml brforr i",", "nJ ~ I 1/1"; ril~Hi!bd in l ion. Thu; i>: (lit I>!Iot-'(J (11)' ht gaPI m, a resting plaiX. ~r.J i>:
J"",., !""
U',1S
my do'r"';~,
W
) .
Wis,1Qm "5 5 In som~ passages Wisdom is ponrayed a5 a woman who performs the role of a prophetess, or spokesp~rson for God. She slands in the marketplace or at the city gate, appeali ng to people to heed her instruction and amend [heir ways ( Pro\'_ 1:20-33,8: 1-21 ). Not only does the prophetess plead for repentance. or change of lifestyl~. but also she announces judgme nt-[h~ i n evi!ahl~ consequence of the ir "tumi ng alk ,;~j t~ {"",~lam,,}'
A9'~ dgO
ojJ",,!, Jl be ~,sig"d IQ thr,w ill li,",I, ,~tb"r!h. .'atm m;ght ~Ol r"~n;9rr;s hi! command, ~,"'" j" IMrkd Q~ I Ih. fou~J"tiQy" of Ib, 'Mth,
Both 'Wisdom Woman and Srranger Woman are mal e crer It'bo Ii- Th A!yIltry DJ GoJ '" F..,";ll TlNlDgiul OiS«/flI'Sl (NC'oo' York: Cr""..-oad, 199~ ). c;.haps. 2, 5. 10. Sec alxwc chapt~"T 26.
274
Cor.l""f'l' 0} Old Tn.....,,' Th"logy
God's speaki ng to the peo ple, IST bas Il'ra~~d lb! u.\llm j~ his Ji~rmtcl1 \Vile ba! tstllbJjJ,.J dll Ib. al.""inn of Ih, ~" ...h7 IVb.>1 is h,s ....,"'" er his SO" i M.f, if )'01' bw:v ,11
G ."btjOrt 1Jir'
KItP iit> """ f,,{;( 1'Cf.iJ fl>/ 1,0" "'1' , Gil" lOt ..arhtr /'OOtrty ~O' rocbt., B~t pr",,,dr lOt l>ill> "'y J.. ,1y br/d, Ust. Dt;"!1 I """S. JJiJ(,pl;l'I. Of i'f IDMry of lns r!i>r(>."l/. Jot IlK Low [Y~J"OO, J'tiW.n'ts It.. "'" br lop/!, ~s I> faru.- d." SOt< jl! ",bom ht Jrligb!5. - Pro\·.3.1 1·12 2 In [""d ~r.J R~riCtr (discussed "oo\'C, chaptCl' 2), Enc VIX'j;l ~li n advocates this consub· snru iali,}" or continuity bero.'un t\lrrr. tu IU" /iJu a lP~ that ja(lS. /.i1.r =Im Iba: (~ ~1IOi ~ nlirJ on_ -Jer. 15,18 ( KJPSV)
Further, as ..·.re have seen, Habakkuk. appalled by the terrible avalanche of Babylonian military power that was sv.·eeping over the world, entered imo a dis· pute with God, raising the question of how long God would allow injustice to run rampant. People with this kind of faith do not endure absurd ity subm issively and patiently, th~ protest, they wrestle. they express an "agonistic· faith (from G reek ago"istn:, sports terminology referring to wrestling). It is instn.lctive to compare biblical heroes of the faith with G n:ek tragic heroes, for instance, Job I3gom','r> and
n...
7. loo l.evenson . in C7t~I;"" ~d n.. Pm'!lt>,bo&.~I T"/Irolon '" Ibt &oi of.kh, JSOTSup 111 (Shdlidd, Almond Press. t990. to. Su di<cu"ion of {he ch".ctrnution of Yahwch, chIp. 7.
282
The Justice of God
Conl"" of Old Tts!a,"",! Thrology
ness to attend to_ [I.·lore likely, the reader should understand tha t a great gulf is fixed between human wisdom and God's wisdom, and therefore God does not th ink as we think, or act as we do. In any case, Job finally stands before the llIy,!(rium trrrnndurn, the sheer holiness of God, and repents for his prl"'>Umption in trying to judgl" God by human standards. SUikingly, he seems to move beyond the limitations of human words into an ecstatic vision of Cnd.
I had bw,d of yo~ by rbt "'aring of tb. rar, !>ul now "'Y Q" s,t!; yow. - Job 42,5
The poetry e nds with a sacramental view of the creation, in which the works of the Creator display Cod's ineffable glory. Since the prose folktale (prologue and epilogue) constitutes th e lite rary frame of the poetic sections, and the book is to be read and interpreted as one composition, it is significant that in the end God commends Job for h is "agonistic" fa ith that boldly seeks undemanding_ The friends, who proved to ~ poor "pastoral counsdors" in a situation of suffering, were rebuked because they "have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7-8). Like Ab ra ham, Job had survivl"d the test and had demonstrated the "fea{ or reverence of God (cf, Gen. 22,12) that is the beginning of wisdom_
Tht Hiddn111f55 af Ga,l The book of Ecdesiastes (called Qohelet in Hebrew ) 11 takes the skeptical side of the dialogue about th e quest for \"isdom. There is only enough human wisdom 10 live prudently ~tween the unalterable boundaries of lile and death and eve n to Ilnd same joy in the midst of suffering. The writer advocate: Jors~Jm,) Or),,,, ~r.)·on' ,~llrJ W/XJI< billl ~"J bWl nUn, the wind, and the sea----endlessly repeat their move ments. Caught in the monOlOnous cycle and the transience of the natural world, the melancholy sage has the courage to realize that human life is brief and powerless (Ecd. ! :2 - \ t) and that, as Bemand Russdl pu~ it in powerful modern prose, Nthe slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark.«ll
m Tlm(l of Our
UVl'l
~
In the famous chapter on the "'l1mes of Our lives" ( 3: 1.15), the sage obselVcs that the times come one ahe r another, each with its particul ar meaning, but no dis· cernible purpose runs through them. Experie nce of time, or bette r, times (plural), is characteristic of human ~ings, but th~y cannot perceive how the tim~s ~Iong together in an ultimately meaningful whole. [God ) has made everything sui tab le lor its tim~, moreover, he has put a ~ense of pa~t and future imo their minds, yet they cannot find Out what God has done from th e hellinning to the end. ----Eec!. 3:11
Viewing the world of human experil" nce Sill> Sp«:i(lldernitali, God can make sense of the whol e, but from the standpoint of limited human wisdom everything is tran sit-nt and adds ultimately up to "vanity.NHuman beings are like animals in that th~y must di~ , but are unlike animals in that th ey know that they must die. "\Who knows
12. See the (";~y by Steven ai
29 1
three major parts: the message of I~a iah of Jerusalem (found within the compass of chapte~ 1- 39), the message of so-called Second Isaiah during the exile ( chapte~ 4(1.....55 ), and th e later writings found at the conclusion of the book, so-called Third Isaiah (chapters 55-66)_ \,(·'11at is the relat ion of these three pans to the book as a whole~
Thr Book of li.1illb Ill.:l l-tfbolr Lately some scholars have proposed moving beyond the "three lsaiahs,~ a tripartite d ivision that was supposedly an "assured gain of so-called historical criticism, to a consideration of the book as a whole _1 To use language introduced in another connection,' the proposed approach is synchronic rather than diachron ic. Or as Edgar Conrad puts it: "It is possible to conceive of the book as a composite created from dive~e materials at a particular point in time rather th an a document evolving through time_"4 There is much to be said for this holistic approach _ The book of Isaiah was read as a whole in the Essenelike community at Q umran (founded in the second century rI.c.) or in the early Christian comm unity_ Neverth eless, there are ,kologjwl advantages that accOle from studying stages in the composi tion of the book_ For instance, our appreciation of the message of so-called Second Isaiah (chapters 4(1.....55) is enhanced by understanding the concrete historical situation out of which the poems came and to which they were addressed_ s The t ext itself demands this; for instance, the poet hails Cyrus of Pe~ia as Yahweh's NmessiahM (anointed o nc), chosen to liberate peoples from bondage and oppression (lsa. 44:18 ; 45: 1J. l\loreover, when t his anonymous prophecy is interpreted in its historical context, (he poet-prophet appear, u.J ""ti<m' lW' do 1:01 itr.wo y ou ,h,1J1 .~" 10 Y"". brt"I;lI,I, ,"y sldfm.tJ.
s,,;J Ib!-l.oI1D fY~J
\V'IIO.a.lt d'....J /btOll)lb Ibt $I'd A><J d fIo>th Ibt""'9"b .i§bty ~"'Im, \'Ib.l Jmr'l))"J rb~ IlDt); ",,4 ho.~ A,.J aa/lit .. igb/y bost-
29 5
Tnt SuJ}ni"g
_lsa. 55: 4_5
S(>l1---;II5..,y .kfJ"'rt "d I.... biil! '" (m(l{OfJ, b~r '"y l1,,,Jf~st low
[J:!esedJ!w!l ~o, j'f>;1r! f",,. y""'.
"or O>J J"slnor.d it "od by hi"'JdJj:rd I!ft...ly, v>bo ,rrald I! I>O! as" fc".bs ""Ilit i>w! as .. ~. ~ br I",d ;,.: I ". Ibr LcrJ 1Yal:c-tb ]. ",,J Ibm ;s .",.,. othtr. n~J SlI)'S
- IS
The e"erlasting covena.nt wi th Noah is theolog ically appropriate because-, lim, it was a coveOant of grace, granted in spite of the fact that lhe inclination of thc human heart continued to be cvil {Gen. 8:2 I). Likewise, a.ccording to Second Isaiah, Yahwehs forgiveness is free and unconditioned by the behavior 01 the- peo . plc. Cod's wo rd of prom ise does not go forth in vain bur accomplishcs God's sav· io!! purpose- .
- I..... 45: 1B (RES )
Ft!< M lb. r,,," ,1r.J lb.t S"Il"' '(mIr J"rmc fmrn "'~vn:. ,,10.1' Jo 1101 ,,1~'1II"'rt ~nrij airy r,~t't lI'Iallr.J Ih. Mrtb, "",~;" g ir j"'"9 fCr1" ",,,J IPIt'III.
givi"!/l.d 10 lilt SCII't' ~"J I",,,,J 10 u,., ",Irr;
17. On ,he f',:o.tchic co~en~nt stt alxwe . (hlpCcr 11_
SlJift in TlJroiogicll1 EmpJmsis standing in the "halfway house~ 01 Second Isaiah, we have looked back to the seminal message of Isaiah of Jerusalem in th e atlempt 10 understand what theological shifts took place in the- movement of prophecy toward apocal}'ptic. Now, from the same van lage poim, let os look forward 10 the last chapters of the
So far.
Prophecy in a N~ Idiom book and to the !lnal apocalyptic reread ing of the Isaiah tT
299
I u,o'II rcj~i }(m",["". and Jrli!ihl i~ "'Y (>ro p!., ~o m~'( ,ball rbr 5",,~J o} o:.,y!ping lot hwd ;~ it. ~r tbrcry q Jijl,..",.
Comfort for tht AfJktrl In the tra nsition from prophecy to apocalyptic another shift in emphasis took place; from a call 10 repentance 10 a message of consolation. It is noteworthy Ihat the poetry of Second Isaiah, which stands at the turning point of the book of Isaiah, begins with a word 0/ corn /on announced in the heave nly council by the cosmic King, noCom/on, 0 corn/on m}' people: sa~'s your Cod" Usa. 40:1 l_ In one of his srudies of apocalyptic, Paul Hanson suggests tha t the diFfe ~nce between prophecy and apocalyptic may be expressed in terms of the metaphor of the heavenly council. PProphelic eschatology is transformed inlO apocalyptic at the point where the task of transla tin g the cosmic vision into the Categories of mundane reality is abdica ted ."r9 In his temple vision, as we have seen . Isaiah of Jerusalem was called to carry a heavenly message to the people of Israel. He was commissioned to nans la te a vision of cosmic righteousness a nd order into human society. thal is, to preach fo r social change so that the mundane rea lm might conform to the will of the cosmic King, \"h05e heave nly throne is "founded on righteousness and justice" (Ps. 89: 14 ). Apocalrptic visionaries. ho""e~'er, did not consider "translation o f the cosmic visionff to be their primal)' task, They received from the heavenly throne a message of comfon that had to do with the coming of Cod's kingdom on earth and the beginning of a new age. In answer to the lament, '" How 10ngJff they heard the answer, "not long." To be sure, they could sound the call 10 repentance in their own way. According to the CO\pe1 of 1\-lark, Jesus' preach ing began with the call "repent, for the kingdom uf Cod is at hand" ( 1,15 1. But apocalyptic visionaries placed the primary emphasis on offering a message of comfon to the afAicted in limes of trial. The re ason for this "abdication" of the prophetic task of translating the heav",nly vision into the realities of social life is to be fou nd in a dee per and more radical perception of the problem of evil. As we ha ve seen. in classical prophecy the sufferings of the times were explained by the people's fai lure or sin. The great prophets d id not say that the people were viclimized by demonic powers external 10 Israel's life. Rather, the problem- in their perception-lay within the people: their false way of life, their service of alie n gods, [heir refusal to bring \ociety into conformity with the righteousness of Cod's cosmic order. Apocalyptic writers, however, found this explanation of evil to be inadequate_ It was not enough to call for re~ntance and to blame the people for their failure of responsibility. They perceived that Israel. and all peoples, were caught in the grip of monstrous historical 19. Pal1! HJ",on, "Old Te" .mc nt Apocalypfic Rccxamined," l~! 1S (t971) 454--79.
300
Co"t~~"
of Old Tt5ramtl't Thwk.jy
Prophecy iJl a NI!\'>' Idiom
forces that ch ~ ll e nged the sovereignty o f Cod. Evil. in thei r view. is loca ted not JUSt "in here; in the heart. but out then:'. in colossal empires. oppressi~'c stl1.lcturcs of power, evil that sweeps like an a"alanche over innocent people.
301
cm age, who feel helpless in the face of massive social forces or colossal eVil, have come to a new appreciatioJl 01the apocalyp tic myth. The UhilMft (om/rmt of Evil
Overcoming ffJe Powm oJ Cfmos Accordingly. apocalyp tic writers revived the a ncient myth of the battle of the Divine \'(farrior against th e powers of chaos and the decisive vinor), tha t demon snated Cod's power as King. This ancient myth influenced th e pattern ollhe Song of the Sea (&od. 15, 1- 18 ), { I ) Yahweh's battle againSl adversaries, {2 ) Yahweh's triumph at the sea, and (3} Yahweh's ent hron ement as triumphant King in the sannuary.lCl At o ne point Second 15ai~h invok;~ ~i"'''.
In the Isaiah Apocal}'pse flsaiah 24---27) a passage portra}'~ the Ilnal trium ph of the Divine \'(fartior over the monster of ~vil. known as Tiamat in Babylonian tradition and Rahabll otan (Levialhan) in Canaanite mythology T he language is redol~ nt of the Canaanite myth of Baars conquest of h is adversary. Loran Ihe Mflceing serpent": 0,. tb.11 ,wy tIK LO~D [¥"j,lC'tb J ...,,/h hi, ",,,I bi! mighty ,,,,J I~o~""rful <w<prJ. !I',1f p ~r.ilb hlJJ'l!b~1I Ikll!m5lir~
5lQ
,,,,,,rJ.
mpnrr,
tb"t wri/hi"!i srrprl:l Ln,i"tha,, ; !or w,1I ,I"y Ibr m~~,t,r. wbo "",d,' tJx J.-prm of Ibt I(,~" "'.,y JOT Ibr rdtmttd!o cross t'tO
- lsa. 51 ,9·10 This imaginative poelry should not be consHued to mean that Cod actually sleeps through times of suffering a nd tragedy and ha~ to be "awakened" to actio n_ Here the poet is dra"'ing a correspondence bct,,"'een the event at the 5ea in the past and the new event of the "passing over" of libera(ed peo ple into (he promised land of Ih e fu ture. In apocalypt ic imagination the D iv;ne \\;tarrior's victory is no t res tricred to Israel's hislOry but he longs 10 a universal drama, in which the kingdom of Cod opposes the powers o! evil that afAi ct and cl1.lsh people. These visionaries portray a New Jerusalem, a new age, indeed, a new creation. In this perspective, t he coming of God's kingdom on eanh wi ll he the time of God's triumph-not onl}' over human sin and failure but also over all th e powe rs of evil that ha~'e £yrannize d people and conupted human h istory from time immemorial. Many people of the mod· 2 t . See further my ~s""Y, "The ConqueUffering in a ....·orld where. in the pC"f"ipect ive of faith, God is present and active. Other religions and philosophies are not necessarily tantaliz("d by th is prob. lem. In mainlin e Buddhism the problem does not arise since this religion d oes not alArm belief in God o r God's creation. Buddhism shows a way, attractive to many people, to transcend suffering and turmoil, bur it d0C'5 not deal wi lh theodicy. Another major world religion, Islam, emphasizes surrend("r 10 the 'iQ\'e reign will of Cod as sct forth in the Koran and promises tha t the injustices of this life Ivill be l"ClipSed in a glorious postmortem existence, a prospect that allegedly mak~ eve n suicide bombing, in the service of Allah, justiAable. One could go on . Fo r th e Judeo -Chrislian faith, however, theodicy is a poignant and inescapable issue because of the conviction that God, the Creator, is pr~ent and active in the world . This faith is summed up pregnantly in one prophetic word: Immanuel, Gacl with us. Christianity recei\'ed and int ensi fied Israel's witness. exp ressed in various cov("nantal tracliti ons, to the real presence of Cod in the world .
God "el"'lUs the Domi nion of Ev il
303
the execution of Gods plan th e see r resortS to highly !»,mbolic languago:: that has to be decoded. .M ythicallanguage, such as the Di vine: W arrior's vk:lOry over th e monster of chaos, is used to ex press the meaning of the historical drama. Finally, the perspec tive bc:COf1le'i un;,'ersal, inclucling not just the history of Israel but abo the whole sweep of the t imes from creation to co nsummation. To be !>Ure, Z ionthe city ..... here Cod is sacramenrally presen t (Ps. 46A.5)_ Kmains ce ntral in the new scenario. Z JOn is to ~jOKC , for God .....ill vi ndicate her and bring back her sons and daughters to their homeland. But Zion is the center of the world, the meeting place of heaven and eanh, and hence all peoples ancl nati ons w ill make a pilgrimage to Zion, the holy city. to And ultimate peac e and security by listening to God's wrah or teaching (lsa. 2:2-4). Poets e rwisi on a Kew Jerusalem, in which there will be: no mo~ vio lence o r suffering (Isa. 65: 1i.25 ). The vision of "the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Cod: is a\!iO found in the Apocalypse (Revela tion ) of John, the last book of the Kew Testament (Re\'elat ion 2--4). Gene ral iza tions an: risky, but o ne ..... ay to explain the diffe rence bet ..... een the ty,'o styl~ of pro phecy is to say that in classical prophecy the role of t he prophet is to proclaim the lI-'1lrd of God so that people may repen t; in apocalyp tic, the role of the seer is to pOrtray a V;S;Ol' of Cod's future so that people may And co mfort and hope. True, classical prophets speak about vi5ions, usually for the purpose of selling forth thei r c redentials to speak. t he wo rd 0/ God (Amos 7:7-9; 8: 1-3, Jer. 1, 1-12, 13 · 19). In apocalyp tiC, however, there is a shift to dreams and visions that, when expla ined by an interpre ter, disclose God's plan lor the future. 3 The ANit part of the book of Zechariah , for instance, contains eigh t mysterious visions; the book of Da niel also contains cryptic visions whose meaning IS tantalizingly elusive.
Th OilY of J~dgtllrnt FrOll1
Prophttic Word to Apocalyptic Vision
In our previous slucly we haY(" seen that classical prophecy, in the fa ce of the colossal violence and monstrous e\'il manifes t in human history, moved into a ne ..... type of prop hecy known as apocalyptic The boo k of I~iah in its final form dis plays an apocaly ptic rendering of the I~iah traditio n 2 In the transition from prophecy to apocal yptic several things happened. First, the prophetic m~sage mo\·ed from the plane: of o rdina ry mundane affairs into a suprahistorical realm, where God's dominion cl ashes with the powers of e\'jl. A see r announces the ' sccret" or "mystery" of Cods kingdom, which is hidden from peop le invol\'ed in o rd inary political o r economic reality. Second, in dea li ng wi th
t. K3lh leen O'Con nor suggests Ihis pOssib ility In ''W',~dom li tera rure and Ex perience o f ,he Divine ." in Bib!i ~a"j C. K... ed J;teob Neusncr el aL
(Philadelp hi a: Fortr~.s PTe$S, 1988}. 17-38.
At the e ncl of the Old T~lament, according to the arrangement of the Christian Bible, are fou nd thineen small ProPhetic w ri t ings tha t. in general, treat the th("me of the coming of God's day of judgment. T his arrangement, which includes the book of Daniel, marks one of the im portan t differences bel"'een the Christian Bible (O ld Tcs tamem) and t he H eb~w Bible, as noted earlkr.~ On t he one hand, in the Heb~w Bible the Book of the T",'elve is placed before the Writings (Kethubim ), ..... hich includ~ the book of Daniel . On the other hand, in the Chris tian Bible, whi ch is inRuencecl by the Creek transla tion (Septuagint), these small p rop hetic books, along with the book of Daniel, are placecl at the end of the Old Tcstamem, JUSt before th e Ne." .. Testa mem . Appropriately, the lib retto of Hanclel's Mtssiab . after citing passages from the comfort ing m~sa8e of Second Isaiah r Comfon Ye," lsa. 40: 1·3, -Every Valley Shall Be Exalted," 40:4; "And the Gloty of the Lord," 405), di ps into this prophetic collection: 3, Se.: Susan Niditch, n,.. S)"III!>olIC V,,_ '" BJ,J",,! T,,.},::,,,. HS:'1 30 (Adan.a: Scholars Press, 1983 ), ...·ho no'~ a ~hifl in the pattern of ,he ,",sion '" the t,..""moon from prophecy to apocalyptiC
4.5« abo,'." :J tbt u>1fh - H ag. 2:6 ·7
&t who ""'Y "b,d. Ib. Dr.y cf hIS «"'''''91 - Mal. U
A,.J})(!ha1l ~n'.fy tbt SOft; 0/ u..;_ - M.d. 3:3 ( KJV)
\X' h;Jt binds th~s~ proph~tic books together theologically is that they all d~a l ~ith the coming Dils 'r 1/;, ,,;rib bn. Al<J L,y ir """11", AnJr",;,1 JI> ;,uj"';'c A1: H~.,j",a id ~n./ .. iSI1t!~ /lilY'" ,mJ' ,,!b. &"J,r IInd ""'1l>I 'iy ,,~.! ,,,,r/;9 )., o;;u:~b F~r Ib, ...rtb "'''' ,j,f.l,J UnJ" ir.h •.,hil<mt" £«:.>1'" lhoy tr""'9't';,rJ I", ,,hi,,g~, Vi,,/a:rJ IIIQ,!"
,,,,r,
,I,
GuJ i 1"[C"fUOII;OI' To people vict im ized by the powers of evil, apocill~'ptic visionaries announced Ihat God is about to shake the evil empire to its foundations and liberate its VICtims. That is the only way that a new age of ~ ace and justice can come: God must destroy the w hole evil system. As said preViously, sociill change will come not by changing the human hean but by changing rh ~ oppressive snucrures under w hi ch
Brakt rh ~n"irnr [r.>rrl~,ti~g ] """'ffl C",,,ru,x, OBT {~linneapol is, Fortr~ss Press. t 99~) .
\\;lle ther this v ision will be realized in an "ecological backlash" because of the violent lifestyle and atmospheric pollution of human beings remains to be seen.
In
9.
Alt~ma{e
reading.
308
Co"t01'~
aJ OLl T~t.;'"et:t T"htolcgy
How /(11191 Nollc"g! Again, apocalyptic visionaries announce that the time is near when God will come with power, shaking the foundat ions of the ean h and making a new beginning, a new creation. [n answer to the cry of lament, "0 Lord. how long1" the answer is give n; Not long' (Reca[ 1 Martin LlIIher King, Jr.·s powerful preaching!) Oppressed people do not have to wait indefinitely. past the limit of endurance. for the kingdom of God is coming with powe r. it is "at hand" (cf, )I.'lark 1; 15). The "mystery" or "secre( that apocalyptic visionaries announce to th e fa ithful is the immine nce of God's triumph,- indeed some of them boldly announce God's timetable. This is the theme of the well·known story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel2 j. According to the story. Nebuc hadnezzar, king of Eabylonia, had a terrib[e dream that shook h im up_ He called his magiC ians. enchanters. and sorcen:rs an d demanded an explanation. though making their task impossible by saying that they not only had to interpret the dream but tel l him the dream too , otherwise "off with thei r heads· Da niel , however, had superior Wisdom, for he prayed to the God of heaven and Nthe mysteryr. (Aramaic mz) I~'as revea led to him in a night vision (Dan. 2: 17-23). The imerpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, announced by D aniel to the king, communicated the divine secret in symbolic language (Oan , 2,31 -35 ), T he king saw an image composed of materials in descending order 01 value (gold, sil ver, bronze, iron , day mixed with iron ), symboliz ing four oppressive empires, each qualitativel y inferior to the previous one, A stone, supernaturally quarried ("not by human hands struck the composite image , symboliZing the catas trophic power of God that des troys the old regimes_ The sto ne became a gre at mountain that filled the who le eart h, symbolizing the spread o f the dominion of God from its base in Z ion to include the I,'hole world . W
} ,
Th~ t,,(Vi/ability DJ Gods Ifi(lory
Finally, in the apoca lyptic perspective God's decisive triumph over all th e powers of evil is cenain . Sometimes this is expressed in te rms o f a sequence of kingdoms characterized by decreaSing quality (Daniel 2) or by increasing evil (Da niel 7}. So viewed, there is no ~progress,~ to use a wo rd in currency since the Enlightenment of the eightee nth century, rather, things will get worse and worse unt il the e nd time comes and God's dominion supervenes. The periodization of histo ry as a suc cession of kingdoms demonstrates the inexorable moveme nt of hist ory toward the dominion of God, which will introduce a radical new hcginning. In ,he apocalyptic view, there is an inevitability about the triumph of GOlfs kingdom. as though the outcome of the ,,,hole drama were known and determined in advance , This deterministic language should not be construed 10 mean that people need only fold the ir arms and \vai t, because everything is "CuI and dried" in advance. Apoca lyptic does not suppon a failu re of nerve, or a pessimistic view o f history, although this is hard to und ers tand for those who suppose that h istory is under the control of human plan ning, science, or wisdom. On the contrary, the apocalyptic message urges people to stand firmly in faith . even when the odds are
The Dominion of God V"J'SUS the Dominion oi Evi l
309
overv,:helmingly aga inst them and wh en they are called on to endure perseculion an d martyrdom. Apocalyptic literature calls people to "an ethic of fidelity." tO It summons the fai t hful to strive actively toward the kingdom of Cod in the confi de nce that God is in control and will soon triumph o\'er powers of evil, darkness, and death.
Tht Apocalypse o} Danid This spirit 0/ confidence is reRected in the apocalypse of Daniel, which was writ ten at the time of the M accabean revolution k a_ 168 II.C ) as a tract for revolutionari es_ The conviction that history moves inevitably. and by prearranged plan, toward the coming of God's kingdom on eart h fi re d the zea l o f a small band of the fait hful, enabling them to act in hope when, humanly speaking, e verything was against them. 'The people who are loyal to the ir God shall stand firm and take action~ (Dan. 11 :32). If God was for them , who could be against them (cf. Rom. 831·39).
A \,'isioll ill thr Nigbt The \'ision in Da ni el 7 dese rves special attention. This chapter has been a happy hunti ng ground for modem interpreters who attempt 10 calculate the end of the world by reRecting on the identity of the fourth beast. Despi te modern fantasies, the account of Da niel's vision is indeed very important . if for no other reason th an that its apocalyptic imagery had a great influence on the New Testament vision of the coming o f the Son of Man (e.g_. Mark 13 :24-27; 14-06 1-62). The chapter opens with a night vision. The fou r winds (not e the un iversallanguage} wefe stirring up the great sea. the abyss of chaos, in a manll er remini scen t of the ponrayal in the ~nesis creation story (Cen. 1;2 ), where the Spirit or "wind" of God churned up t he waters of chaos. Out of the sea arose fou r beasts, symbolizi ng the four world empires (probabl y Babylonia, /\-'ledia. Persia. G reece). Each beast was more terrible than its predecessor. showing the de terioration of history, and the last beast was horrible beyond imagi ni ng: "tcrriiying a nd dreadful and exceedingly strong" lOan_ 7:7}. T his beast was differe nt from its predecessors. It had »ten horns" and one of them had SOmething like human eyes and "a mouth speaki ng arrogamh'" (7:7-8). iA \'eiled allusion to a line of Syrian ru le rs following Alexander the Greal [332 R.e ] and culminating in Antiochus IV, who arrogantly boasted divin ity. ) Then the >cene shifts from eanh to heaven. The heaven ly council is in session, the cosmic King is presiding. The NRSV arranges t he descrip tio n in poetic fonn : As r u'a~rbd. l&ro~rs WHt l,t
j~ p!~{l',
anJ~" ,\x,;ml Ont ll I.'ok billhr-ont.
to. Sibley Town"r, D,,~,d , Inlerpn:,alion (Rich mond, John K no~, 1984). 11 . Aramaic. "Anci"m of Day,"
;
3 10
The Dominiun of God versus
(,mlaur> of Old T"ra",rt'! Tbrol"!!J ~if d"rbir.g W~;
",hil. as 5"""', ~n.:i ri", !uti, of bi, ht"j 1,'" ~~rr :1,,,,,,1, ~r'i! throu "'''' fi"Y jI",,,,,. ~nj il5 ",Ix,I, .om wrnitJ9 firrA srr'f"" 4 fir, i,!~,J ~d
flowd ~~r fro", bi! Pr'I'ltl:C'. A roo"sani rn"u\.1d, "".yJ bim. ad rrn 11>o1l"",J li,." If>! tbo..~mJ srood .,rt!7din;l hi,., TI" CO:lrl sui jc _i~J!1",(p:I. ~nJ rb, .Mok, "= ~I~",d_ - Dan.7:9·10
(me Likr "SO" Cl[ Man In th e 5eer's vision, God pronounces judgment on the evil empi res, especially Ihe
13sl , Then the seer beholds anoth~r figure, "one like a human being,"' l who approaches the heavenly throne to hear the King's decree. To him is given ~n ever· lasting kingdom, in contrast to the earthly kingdoms that rule for a time and pass away. As I watchtJ in Ibt nighl n'-s;"",.
I So:lW om Ijb: ~ hu"''''' "'iroil w""i"'l wilh lix cloud, o} b,:"t't1L Ad'" ca..,.!o !br Ar.mr.t Clnt, ~r.J lOas ~m"'lrJ btlol'1 hi"'_ To bi", """ 9;"'" Jom,n,,,,, "r.J glory ""J b"gl["P' I/",! ,,/I pro,~lt"$, ~"",!i""s. ""J km9""9'"' IMUrJ lrrvt bi",. Hi, domiNioN i, iln ""rl"'1i~9 Ja,";N'o~ lhot ,ball r.ol p,,~s "u'ay,
Ih~
The Domi"ion BcIOl1gs 10 God All o f th is means, in apocalyptic terms , that if th ~r~ is hope for th~ future, it must be grounded in th e mystery or secret of God's kingdom. Liberation must come from beyond thi~ world, from above, not from below_ In other words, the victory ov~r tyrannical ~il cannot com ~ from any sourc~ within the historical proc~s, for the world has been corrupted by vio lence. The \'ictory will not come by repen· tanc~ (change of lifestyle), by d~votion to th~ Torah, or, we may add, by ~duca tion. technology, social planning, or social revolution, The kingdom belongs to God., the cosmic King_ Here we can see a major difference bel\..cen prophecy and apocalyptic. A prophet like Jeremiah, who announced th~ immin~nt judgm~nt of God, perc~ived some continuity between the present an d the future , Eve n when the Babylonian armies were pounding at the gates of Jerusalem. and all was lost, he bought a field, ~lieving that there would ~ some continuity into the future Ueremiah 32). But in apocalyptic thinking, the present age is rotten to the core, the whole structure of 50ci~ty is inf~cted with cancerous ~viL H ence th e whol e "system" must be destroyed. There will be rad ical diKo ntinuity between '"this evil age" and "the age to come,~ !>ymboliz~d by a stone, not quarri ed by human hand, that struck the human kingdoms destructively and enlarged into Ihe worldwide dominion of God (Dan_ 2,31 -35}_ In a later chaple r we shall se~ how Ihis apocal ypt ic view influenced, and was transformed by. Christia niry,u
- Dan_7013-14
In the vision , Daniel was puzzled about all of Ihis. and turned to a court aH~ndalll standing nearby, asking for th~ m~aning _ The illl~ fllre( ive angel (7: 16 ) explained that the tyranny repres~nted by the succession of ferocious ~asts will come to an end and that Nthe holy ones of th~ h·lost High~ will be given an everlasting dominion. Seve ral things should ~ no tic~d _ First, in this vision the figurc- "one like a human being~--does not come from the abyss below, the locu~ of the pow~rs of chaos, but comes from above, Iranscend~ n dy. with the clouds of heaven. Also, this figure does not have a ~asdy visage (symbolizing fi~rce violence) bul a fri~ ndly face. None like a hum an h~ing_" Probably the meaning is no t "the human onc" (as in th ~ lnd"sivr LlICrious SicKOCSS, or saving From enemies: writes Christoph W Barth. an Old Testament theologian, '"God trul y T~i~d them from the dead . } One psalmist, lor instance , portrays a ~sickn ess untO de ath ." TIx \ ~."'s of ,lw,b ttto:
Blit GcJ ".-11 r!4mlt ...y Ii.Jc frc- lbe c1"td,," IIf Sbcol. fQ' H. will t.>i:t lilt. -Ps. ~9: 16 (NJPSv) In the judgment of Gcrhard von Rad. the verb in the second line, variously trans· latt"d as "tak~: "receive: or "snatc h away,· expresses "a life of communion with God which will outlaSI death."? The matt~r is even clearer in the magnificen t Psalm 73. Attempting to understand the perplexing injustices of th~ world, a poet goes to a worship servic~, 5 50 Gerhard ~..,n R...d, W'-.ul Jo, joy. YQ~
who J,,,rii;,, lb. lw,r l " For Y""r JIU>;5 [ih the Jr~' on Jmh !!ro'l'!),' 'l'"1 .."kr th. [,,~d of lb. ·t'r and ever. _ Dan.l101 _4
Socr/31tS a.,J Jrsus
In his cekbrated Ingersol Lecture at H arvard University, the dist i n~..u tshed New Testament scholar Oscar Cullmann presen ted an imprcssl~'e dtscussion of these cv.'o views by comparing Socrates dri nking thc hemlock. as ~t forth in Platos Phado, to Jesus struggling wi th his impending fate in the G arden 01 Cethsemane, as portrayed in the Gospels of the New Testament. l {} In the face o f death, Socratcs ts calm, for dea th is nOI a significant event. In the Greek view. the soul is essentially deathlesS. It enters t he body from a higher realm, the abode of eternal realities, and for a while suffe~ imprisonment. Death liberates the soul "om the body, which has hindered it from performing {r..-ely. and it rerurns to eternity-------bcyond the boundarics of lime and space_ A5 Cullmann putS it, "the destruc tion of the body cannot mean the destruction of the sool any mon: th an a 1I musical compo'Sition can be destroyed when the instrument is dest ro)'ed: Thus Socrates downs the poison calmly, knowing that death does not touch the soul but onlv libentes it to retum to its true home. the realm of the Real and Ihe Eternal. •By cont rast, Jesus is confident that his life ts enfolded in Cod's fai thfulness and love. but death is a rea l experience_ It mea ns to be forsaken by God ("I\-'\y God, why ha\'e you forsaken me7") and to be taken away from the covena nt community, at least tempol7lrily. T he Ilnality of death is expressed in the terse language of the Aposdes' Creed: ·crucilled, dead, and buried: [f there is a future . beyond the hor· rOT of death, it will result from Gods act of gr.l.ce. a new ac t of creation.
Here: the writer is spea king not about a genel7l1 ~surr~ t ion, but only of the "awaking" of those membe~ of tM community 01 faith w~ names are enrolled in · tM book of life" (cf. Exo d. 32:32· 33, Ps. 69:28). apparently an official register of memo bers of the comm unity of iaith. -Many- ....,iII be brollght back to life. and · wme" of these will "live forever; shining li ke the stars of heavens_ This paS!>, denied the doc· trine because it ....'as not found in the To rah , while the Pharisees, more liberal in their imerpretation, accepted it. On onc occasion, according to the Cospds (M ark 12: 18·23). some Sadducees questioned]esus on t he po int, and Jesus gave an inte r· pretation that sided \.-ith the Pharisees. In Paul's defense of the doctrine, he proved himself 10 be "a Pharisee. t he IDn of a Phari~ee~ (Acts 23:6.8). The Pharisaic resurr«:tion view is alien to many modem people too, who pre· fer to think in t... rms of th ... immortality of the soul, if they believe in furure life at all. Toda}' the word "immortality" is o ften used loosel}' to refer to hope for a fumr..life. Strictly. however. the term expresses a sharp dualism of a deathless soul and morta l body. Death is no t real; at th e end of life the deathless soul is merely freed from the corrup tible body (priwn) of tlesh. In the New Tes tament Jesus' triumph over dea th is. of cours..-, expresSt'd in terms of resurrect ion. Significantly, the earliest Christi an co nfession of fait h, the Apostles' Creed, does nOt affinn belief in the immorta lity o f the soul but !> ""ill not totSlt daliOll of the Holy Onc), not jllst as impersonal power but as personal power of concern and ethical demand, that is, the "root ex~riences~ <Emil Fackenheim ) of exodus and Sinai. This fundamental ex~rience , wh ich (omes to expression in the symbolism of language and cultic practice, is seen against the background of, and in the context of, the: rc:1igions of the: ancient Near East. lsraels experience of ~the Holy Onc in our midst" is expressed in and refracted through major p~tt erns of covenant symbolization, associated ""ith Abraham. ,,"'loses , and David. rcspc:ctivc:1y. Each attempts to bring to expression the fundamen tal con!cssion that Yahweh (the personal name of the Deily ) i5 t he Holy One ""ho has entered into the human world and is present in the midst of Israel. Each covenant symbolization is related to panicular sociological circumstanCes in which the o riginal formulation was socially meaningful (e.g., Mosaic covenant tocology in the social setting o f t he triba l confederacy. Da~'idic covenant theology in the time of the rise of the monarchy), but the power of the symbolization OUtlasted lhe: social setting and formed a major ~trajcctory· that became mean ingful in other social settings and persisted into the New Testament. These: covenil nt symbolizatio ns ("theologies" is tOO abstract a term ), however. did nOt do full justice to th e "dialcctical contlddictions· in the root experiences of the Holy God in the midst of a pcopleand in the world. These polarities (e.g .• uni\'ersalism and panicularism, dh'i ne sovereignty and human freedom , divine transcendence and immanence), treated differently in each of the covenant symbolizatio ns, exploded the various co"enant fo nnulations. especially under the impact of the gldvity and enormity of the problem of evil as ex~rienced at the fall of the 'Prncnttd Apn l2 1982 at Princcton lheoloHic~1 Stmina,)'
,. ,
3 44
CO~/O~fS of OU T"I'Y. That Que5tion has haunted me down through the years. In this essay I continue th ose reflections, speal.:ing pri marily as a biblical theologian.
Biblical Thtology alld Historicity First. it is dear to me that biblical archaeology forces upon t~ biblical theologian willy-nilly the problem of historicity. that is, the rootage of biblical tex ts in the historical expe riences of ancient Israel. From the \-ery " I'>t. Israel was inescapa bly in~'oh'ed in world politics. Sig nificantly. t~ earl iest rdeJence to this people is found outside the Bible, in a stde set up by Pharaoh Memeptah in about 1107B.c.. celebrating his victories in S)'ria and Unaan. including deleat of the PWPk Israel.' That inscription anchors the Israelite Story fi rm ly in his tory. To be sure. Israel's witness to the prese nce and activity of God in the world is written in such a manner as to appeal to our poetic sense and religious imagination; but the Isra elite Story is nOt a poetic construct or fic titiouS account_ In many down-to-earth ways, archae· ology has demonstrated that, as William Dever says in a helpful discussion. The Bible is aboUl real, flesh -and·blood people. in a particular time and pbce, whose ictual hisrorical experience kd them iTTe~"fX~blv to a ~ision of the human condition ,""nd promisc thal lr.1n'iC~ndcd anything yet conceived in antiquity.' This inescapable poi nt. howe'o·er. only raises t ~ Que5tion of the relation of the Israciite story to hislOry in th~ modern se nse. The d is ti nguished America n orientalist, \'(!i1liam F. Albright. who dominated biblical studies in the mid· twentieth century. pa rticularly in the United States, maintained that b iblical archaeology and biblical history go hand in hand. Against skep tics who maintai ned that the biblicaltradit ions are late and of liule value histori cally, he insisted tha t archaeology and the study of the ancien t I\.·ear East demonstrate "the Bible's substantial his· toricity.wHe was a conservative-not a Bible-believing fundamentalist, to be sure, but nevertheleu a conSClVative-who defended the substan tial accuracy of the biblical h istory agai nst sl.:eptical liberals (i.c.. the so-called J ulius Wel1hauscn school of higher criticism).' 'Xfhile Albrigh t emphasized the value of archaeology for biblical studies, it remained for onc of his brillia nt students, Gearge Errte'it \'(-'righ t. to work OUt the -I. 5e'C
Ccorge Ern... , Wri8hL, 5/,...;-h- Tht Ili.:l;r~rh)' cf" lliJ,lic"l Or)" ( f'~ ..... York: McG"'..... · H, 11,
1%4 ). 5. 5« ANET. 376-78. Th~ 'r~nslator obsel"\' ~ {ha! in this Q;)"plian tnl th~ word "'srael' is I~
only on~ wnl(~n with (h~ d~si~ nition for people rlther (h~n land 6. William C. o.--·~r. Rrr",r An;/),;~ic~i OiK"''''''f)""j llibll, 1998l. Ch~pler 3, 'Doc:i God Act m the PhySIcal World~' 16. Em,1 l. Fickcnheim. GoJi Pm...";,, H,s1.Jry· l",,;,h Affi,,"~ lic~s ""j Phila>Of>h.Cd! R,jkrlO"s (1'\:"". York, New York Univ. Pr6i. 1970). 5. Note that this book w3, "' rill~n in the ,h;.do,,"' of the HolocoJlJSl. the tNTibk evenl that k-.:.-m< to nq:atc God', presence a nd a~""il)' '" \ne, "·o,ld. 17 $eec, e,g" Ronald E Clement;, 'The Old Tc-sumem and the History of Religion: In OIJ T",,,,.....,t Thc!~)' A Fmit A~p'1).1('b (Atlanta. John Kno~. I 978j, Ch;.pter 7. 13.
,
349
The ~new archaeology," as it is called, is not interc:sted in con6nning the reli abi lity of biblical lexts_ Its limited task is to inves tigale the everyday life of the people; the snucture of the ir buildings, the anifacls that they made. thei r economk livelihood, the culrure they sha red. and so on. Wrinen texts may help us to understa nd how people--alleast those educated enough to write-though t about life o r ,.iev.-ed the world in mythical symbolism. But only fragments of Israelite writing havc bttn discovered in Palestinian si tes, in cont rast to Ihe wealth of material found elsewhere, especially in Babylonia and Egypt. The new archaeology de als primarily with anifacts and other tangible evidence. W ith the help of anthropology and sociology, it helps us to un derstand how the people lived and how they pracliced religion. \'('illiam Devc:r. a vigorous defender of the ne\
the final form of Scripture, evide nces of these: slruggl~ (e.g., between the worship of Yahweh and Baal, o r over the quest ion of who speaks fo r Cod) still survive. These theologic al tensions and ~ma rginal voices" mUSt be taken into account in biblical theology. It is tru e, however, that biblical theology concentrates on biblical/exts in th ei r various literary forms, on ·w hat is wri lten: tha t is, ScripWfe. In this se n~, it is ba ~d on Hna 5Cr/phmr (sc riptu re alone). Therefore, biblical theology goes "hand in hand" not wi th archaeology, to which we must turn for the reasons g i"'e n in th is essay, but with hermeneutics, the "science" o f interp retation that enables us to read and understand biblical te xts in their various litera ry forms.
Biblical Tkology and Hisfon'cal Crifici5m So ""e come finally
to the inescapable question: the role of historical Criticism in biblical theolob,}'. In the so-called po5 tmodern age in which we now find our. selves, literary Critics say, with a speCial aCCent, tha t the fu nc tion of religious lan~ guage. whether found in the Bible o r ot her great literature, is -to create worl ds" that "'e may "inhab it" existentially. Paul Ri coeUt, a major philosoph ical advocate of this hermeneutic o f language, maintai ns that the task of biblical interpretation is not to penetrate the historica l situation of authors or to grasp the ir inten tio n, but to hea r the poetic testimo ny of the text tha t projects ~a ~w world of being" dif. ferent h om "the world of o rdinary experience." Poetic imagination enab les o ne to "inhabif that new world and to tl nd "a new being" within ir. 2" Historical criticism has been the ",'hipping boy of postmodern c ri tics because, allegedly, it projects o n b iblical texts th e philosophy o f the Enlightenment, rooted in the view of Renc Descartes ( 1596-1650) that a human being is a thin ker ",ho cogitates an external world that may be rationall}, (ma thematically) measured and scientifically explained. Cartesian philosophy, which underlies our scienti fic worldview, IS said to be manifest in historical criticism th at subjects biblical texts to rat ional anal ysis and historical ~'eri!kation . There are al ready signs , however, even among those who appreciate a post · mode rn hermeneutic, that hiS torical criticisnt may be evaluated more positively. As J\'largaret OddI observes in her perceptive rev ie w essay, ~H iStory and M etaphor,~ the aim of historical Cri ticism was not to advocate a worldview. An im porlant paragraph in her essay deserve quotation:
I
11 has never been the [ask of his(orical criticism to construct uniiorm ....orldview5. If .lnything, historical critiCism is uniquely qualified to desuoy them. Ever si nce lo~nzo Va lla asscned. On the basis of methods that would come to be aSSOCi ated with historical criticism. that the Donation of Conslamine ....·as a forgery. historical
1 t. Ma rgar<et S. Oddi, ' Hiuory or Mcl11 has eXpOsed the problematic foundatio~ of the critics' own .... orldviews. 20. ~ aoo..·e, clw.pref 3, .... here I disaw; Paul R,coeur's comriootion. Thr« leading ~d-.'ocat« of ~~ understanding ate Michd FOU
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