| A Trial of Two Mothers (2 Kgs 6:24—7.20) - but not for Cannibalism! |
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
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A Trial of Two Mothers (2 Kgs 6:24—7.20)
- but not for Cannibalism!
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Victor H. Matthews (Missouri State University at Springfield)
Don C. Benjamin (Arizona State University)
Abstract: A Trial of Two Mothers in the books of Samuel-Kings (2 Kgs 6:24—7.20) indicts a woman for breach of covenant. During a siege of Samaria by the Aramaeans, two mothers agree to kill and eat their two children, first one, and then the other. They kill and eat the first child, but the mother of the second hides it to save its life. The mother of the dead child indicts the mother of the second child before the ruler of the city for breach of covenant. Curiously, neither the mothers, nor the ruler react with shame to eating children. The focus of the traditions is entirely on the failure of one mother to fulfill her covenant with the other mother. Social scientific studies of risk can clarify the issues at work in the tradition, and why it fails to show any shock and outrage at the women’s cannibalism.
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| A Story of Judah as a Persistent Widow (Gen 38:1-30) |
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
| Story of Tamar as a Persistent Widow
(Gen 38:1-30)
Don C. Benjamin
Arizona State University
Although the Teachings of Joseph are not ancestor stories, they do include at least one ancestor story: The Story of Tamar as a Persistent Widow (Gen 38:1-30). The protagonist, however, is not the man Joseph, but the woman Tamar who is celebrated for her persistence. Her antagonist is Judah who fails to provide Tamar with a legal guardian to conceive an heir for her deceased husband (Deut 25:5-10; Ruth 4:1-12; MAL 30, 33, 43, 45).[1] The Story of Tamar as a Persistent Widow expands a reference to Judah in the Teachings of Joseph (Gen 37:2--Exod 1:6). Judah saves Joseph's life by selling him as slaves instead of letting the other brothers murder him (Gen 37:25-36). In return for protecting the household of Joseph from destruction, Tamar protects the household of Judah from destruction. Stories with an eye-for-an-eye and tooth-for-a-tooth motif, called the talion (Latin: talis), are popular in the Bible.
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| The Plagues Stories (Exod 7:14—13:10) demonstrate the sterility of the old world that the pharaohs built. They are a parody or satire that ridicules Egypt and its traditions by treating them flippantly and by telling the creation stories of Egypt in an inappropriate and trivial manner. They contrast the Egypt of the pharaohs with the world of Yahweh.
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| Case Law Sentences: maximum or mandated? |
| Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary
The Sumerian Dictionary project was begun in 1974 by Åke Sjöberg and Erle Leichty. Using thousands of note cards containing a single, hand-copied Sumerian sign Sjoberg and Leichty began reconstructing its uses and meanings.
Initially the Sumerian Dictionary was to be hardcopy volumes like the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary at the University of Chicago. It took until 1998 to produce four volumes, covering only a small portion of the Sumerian signs catalogue.
Today the dictionary is primarily digital and published on-line. Steve Tinney is now the director of a seven-member team responsible for the project. This electronic dictionary is an updatable collection of signs with their definitions. Each entry is linked by a search engine to scanned images of the tablets where the sign appears.
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| Eunuchs: physical or political? |
| In ordinary speech eunuchs are castrated males. In the world of the Bible and in the Bible itself, eunuchs (Heb: saris) were trusted members of rulers’ inner circles of advisors. In exchange for this position of trust, eunuchs have waived their right to challenge the rulers they serve and take over their authority. They were a ruler’s defenders. For example, in Persia the eunuchs who defended Xerxes and other officials who wanted to overthrow him feuded. Ultimately, the eunuchs lost, and Xerxes was assassinated in 465 B.C.E.[1] Most rulers tried to maintain a balance of power between these two groups.[2]
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| Akhenaten (1353-1335 B.C.E.) Monotheist or Federalist? |
| The first stipulation in the Decalogue that introduces the covenant between Yahweh and Israel is a prohibition: you shall have no other divine patrons before me (Exod 20:3). This prohibition summarizes the argument made by the Death of the Firstborn of Egypt creation story (Exod 1:7—13:16): Yahweh, and not Pharaoh, is the divine patron of the Hebrews. Monotheism as it is taught by Jews, Christians, and Muslims today argues that only one God exists. This prohibition affirms that the Hebrews have only one God.
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| Abel: Murder or Sacrifice? |
| The Stories of Cain and Abel (Gen 4:3--5:32) celebrate the founding of a new world, where humans can create. When the land fails, Cain sacrifices Abel to bring it back to life. These stories do not indict Cain for cursing humanity with murder, but rather celebrate his household for blessing humanity with cities, tent making, herding, music, metal work, Yahweh worship and a system of justice seventy-seven times more efficient than the mark with which Yahweh tattooed Cain to protect him from his enemies.
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| The Stories of Rahab (Josh 2: 1-24+6:22-25) emphasize that the land belongs, not to the powerful like Joshua who exterminates its people, but to the powerless like Rahab who welcome them. Josiah (640-609 B.C.E.) and his political heirs claim the land by violence which led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. by Babylon and the deportation of the household of David. The people of the land like the household of Rahab remained in the land because they claim it with hospitality.
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| Jeremiah: Memoirs or Laments? |
Thursday, February 10, 2011
| The Confessions of Jeremiah (Jer 11:18-20; 12:1-6; 15:10-21, 17:14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-13) are not memoirs; they are laments (Hebrew: qinot). Jeremiah is not an individual pouring out his personal feelings; he is a mourner crying out for Jerusalem whom Yahweh allowed the Babylonians to destroy.
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