Biblical Readings: Jerusalem and the Temple
Study Questions--everyone should do at least one on the blog:
1.Describe the attitude toward monarchy as expressed in Deut. 17.14-20 and 1.Samuel 8.1-22.
2.What is the literal definition of the Hebrew term “messiah?” (1 Sam. 10.1)
3.What was the political significance of the Temple in Jerusalem?
4.Richard Horsely (rightly) describes the early Israelite institution of kingship as a subversive populist institution—very different from contemporary Near Eastern monarchies (more like the 6th c. Greek tyrants), and traces this view of kingship through later ideas of the messiah as a social reformer who opposes the ‘establishment.’ Can you explain what he means by this.
Questions on readings in the Prophets
5.Know dates (approximate) for Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
6.To what does the term “Deutero Isaiah” refer?
7.How would you define, on the basis of your readings, a Hebrew prophet?
8.Why do you think that the canonical Jewish Scripture lumped both historical and prophetic works together in the can under the section called “Prophets”?
9.What imagery do the prophets use to express the idea of the covenant: Try to find as many aimiles/metaphors as you can in your readings and list them with line references.
10. What is meant by the terms “theodicy” and “restoration theology?”
Anyone who reads Acts, sees the centrality of Jerusalem to the embryonic Jesus movement; and what made Jerusalem central was the temple.
The Centrality of both the city and the temple was product of transformation from local govt (Judges) to centralized Monarchy some 1000 years earlier, and that’s what our readings below trace..from first king, first temple –cf. Temple in time of Jesus.
1.Describe the attitude toward monarchy as expressed in Deut. 17.14-20 and 1.Samuel 8.1-22.
ReplyDeleteThe view expressed in these passages is extremely pessimistic. In Deut. the king's perks are limited and he is clearly not above the law. It is obviously a well known fact that kings often abuse their power. In Samuel God warns the people that a king will take their children and their wealth. These passages are designed to make people extremely wary of their king's power.
2. What is the literal definition of the Hebrew term “messiah?” (1 Sam. 10.1)
ReplyDeleteAccording to the passage, a "messiah" is someone set apart or anointed to rule over God's people and deliver them from enemies. Frediksen provides a deeper and more descriptive definition: "Originally denoting anyone who had been set apart for a special function through anointing, such as a priest, the term became associated particularly with David and the kings descended from him."
1. I just read an interesting observation in James Kugel, How to Read the Bible who notes that prophecy as an institution is "basically coterminus with kingship." It begins at the same time as kingship and ceases after kingship was gone, he says...Kugel suggests that this might have something today with the Israelite tribes' early and ongoing suspicion of kingship. The prophet (eg. Samuel vis a vis Saul) acts as a check or balance on the king's power.
ReplyDelete2.Never forget that the literal meaning of massiah is the annointed (with oil). This word then became a synonym for king in biblical hebrew. So Christianity takes its name from Christos which means 'annointed' in Greek.That's why in e.g., Matthew you see a geneology tracing Jesus back to David (the ideal annointed King of biblical times).
ReplyDelete7.How would you define, on the basis of your readings, a Hebrew prophet?
ReplyDeleteI would define a prophet as a spokesperson for God. God speaks directly to prophets and they simply “relay his messages” to their people. God speaks through them to his people. Most of the Prophets of God were believed to have been chosen specifically because of their holiness, or closeness and devotion to God. This can be seen in Samuel I when the Lord speaks to Samuel and tells him to listen to his people and set a king over them if that’s what they really want. The Lord also instructs Samuel to tell his people about the goodness of the Lord first, in an attempt to sway them away from wanting a king. Samuel was just one of many prophets that can be found in the bible, including Sarai, Abraham’s wife.
6.To what does the term “Deutero Isaiah” refer?
ReplyDeleteDeutero-Isaiah prophesies the deliverance of Israel from the the Babylonians and their restoration in the land promised to them by God. It affirms that the Jews are the chosen people of God and he is both their God and the God of the universe . Cyrus is named as the messiah who will overthrow Babylon and allow the return of Israel.