Kingship and ‘State’ in Torah, History, and Poetry:
Vol. 33 No. 2 (2020), Articles
Vol. 33 No. 2 (2020)

Kingship and ‘State’ in Torah, History, and Poetry: : Exploring the risk of terminological anachronism in Old Testament scholarship

Articles
Published 2020-10-12
Johannes Friedl
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3935-7993

Versions

PDF

How to Cite

Friedl, J. . (2020). Kingship and ‘State’ in Torah, History, and Poetry: : Exploring the risk of terminological anachronism in Old Testament scholarship . Old Testament Essays, 33(2), 232–249. Retrieved from https://ote-journal.otwsa-otssa.org.za/index.php/journal/article/view/347
ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver

Download Citation

Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX

Abstract

In exploring the constituent elements of our modern-day nation state, this contribution wishes to highlight those areas in which anachronism might arise in Old Testament interpretations of ‘state’. This might happen due to the influence of deeply-rooted modern-day conceptions, according to which a state consists of a people group living within a distinct territory, governed by a body holding jurisdiction over both people and territory. This contribution explores pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic biblical texts containing the elements of people, land, and king, asking whether these texts wish to convey a political or rather a theological message.

PDF

References

Angenendt, Arnold. Toleranz und Gewalt: Das Christentum zwischen Bibel und Schwert. Münster: Aschendorf, 2009.

Bergsma, John S. The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran. A History of Interpretation. VT.S 115. Leiden: Brill, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004152991.i-353.

Braulik, Georg. “Die Ausdrücke für ‘Gesetz’ im Buch Deuteronomium.†Biblica 51 (1970): 39-66.

_____. “Das Deuteronomium und die Menschenrechte.†ThQ 166 (1986): 8-24.

_____. “Das Buch Deuteronomium.†Pages 152-182 in Einleitung in das Alte Testament. Edited by Erich Zenger and Christian Frevel. 9th ed., Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2016.

_____. “Erbe.†Pages 109-112 in Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive. Edited by M. Fieger, J. Krispenz & J. Lanckau. Darmstadt: WBG, 2013.

Filmer, Sir Robert. Patriarcha and other Writings. Edited by Johann P. Sommerville. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812644.

Frevel, Christian. Geschichte Israels (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2016).

Friedl, Johanna J. “Ein brüderliches Volk. Das ‘Bruder’-Konzept im Heiligkeitsgesetz und deuteronomischem Gesetz.†Dr. Theol. thesis, University of Vienna, 2017. Online: http://othes.univie.ac.at/50804/. https://doi.org/10.25365/thesis.50804.

Groß, Walter. Richter. HThK.AT. Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 2009.

Halbe, Jörn. Das Privilegrecht Jahwes Ex 34,10-26. Gestalt und Wesen, Herkunft und Wirken in vordeuteronomischer Zeit. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975. https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666532696.

Hartenstein, Friedhelm & Jutta Krispenz. “König, Gott als König.†Pages 272-279 in Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive. Edited by M. Fieger, J. Krispenz & J. Lanckau. Darmstadt: WBG, 2013.

Hasel, Gerhard.â€œ× ×’×™×“â€. Pages 203-219 in vol. 5 of Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry. 8 vols. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1986.

Hieke, Thomas. Levitikus. Zweiter Teilband: 16-27. HThK.AT. Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 2014.

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by J.C.A. Gaskin. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar & Erich Zenger. Psalmen 101-150. HThK.AT. Freiburg/ Breisgau: Herder, 2008.

Isensee, Josef. “Staat.†Pages 741-774 in Handbuch der Katholischen Soziallehre. Edited by Anton Rauscher. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2008.

Kaiser, Otto et al., eds., Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Bd. I: Rechts- und Wirtschaftsurkunden. Historisch-chronologische Texte. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1982-85; Lizenzausgabe Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2019.

Kilchör, Benjamin. Mosetora und Jahwetora. Das Verhältnis von Deuteronomium 12-26 zu Exodus, Levitikus und Numeri. BZAR 21. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc2rmx0.

Levinson, Bernard M. “The Reconceptualization of Kingship in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History’s Transformation of Torah.†VT 51/4 (2001): 511-534.

_____. “The First Constitution. Rethinking the Origins of Rule of Law and Separation of Powers in Light of Deuteronomy.†Cardozo Law Review 27:4 (2006): 1853-1888.

Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Peter Laslett. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Lohfink, Gerhard. Im Ringen um die Vernunft: Reden über Israel, die Kirche und die Europäische Aufklärung. Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 2016.

Lohfink, Norbert. “Beobachtungen zur Geschichte des Ausdrucks יהוה ×¢×â€. Pages 275-305 in (ed.), Probleme biblischer Theologie. Gerhard von Rad zum 70. Geburtstag. Edited by H.W. Wolff. München: Kaiser, 1971; repr. pages 99-132 in Studien zur biblischen Theologie. Stuttgarter biblische Aufsatzbände AT 16. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1993.

_____. “Die Sicherung der Wirksamkeit des Gotteswortes durch das Prinzip der Schriftlichkeit der Tora und durch das Prinzip der Gewaltenteilung nach den Ämtergesetzen des Buches Deuteronomium (Dt 16,18-18,22).†Pages 143-155 in Testimonium Veritati. FS Wilhelm Kempf. Edited by H. Wolter. FTS 7. Frankfurt: Knecht, 1971; repr. pages 305-323 in Studien zum Deuteronomium und zur deuteronomistischen Literatur I. Stuttgarter biblische Aufsatzbände AT 8. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1990.

Markl, Dominik. “Deuteronomy’s ‘Anti-King’. Historicized Etiology or Political Program?†Pages 165-186 in Changing faces of Kingship in Syria-Palestine 1500-500 BCE. Edited by Agustinus Gianto and Peter Dubovský. AOAT 459. Münster: Ugarit, 2018.

Perlitt, Lothar. “Der Staatsgedanke im Deuteronomium.†Pages 182-198 in Language, Theology and the Bible. Essays in Honour of James Barr. Edited by S. Balentine and J. Barton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.

Niehr, Herbert. “Tempel.†Pages 387-391 in Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive. Edited by M. Fieger, J. Krispenz & J. Lanckau. Darmstadt: WBG, 2013.

Nihan, Christophe. From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch. FAT II/25. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-151123-3.

Oswald, Wolfgang. “Königtum und Staat.†Pages 197-210 in Die Welt der Hebräischen Bibel. Umfeld – Inhalte – Grundthemen. Edited by Walter Dietrich. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2017.

Otto, Eckart. Theologische Ethik des Alten Testaments. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1994.

_____, Deuteronomium 12,1–23,15. HThK.AT. Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 2016.

_____, Deuteronomium 23,16–34,12. HThK.AT. Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 2017.

Rüterswörden, Udo. Von der politischen Gemeinschaft zur Gemeinde: Studien zu Dt 16,18-18,22. BBB 65. Frankfurt/Main: Athenäum, 1987.

Schäfer-Lichtenberger, Christa. “Der deuteronomische Verfassungsentwurf. Theologische Vorgaben als Gestaltungsprinzipien sozialer Realität.†Pages 105-118 in Bundesdokument und Gesetz: Studien zum Deuteronomium. Edited by Georg Braulik. HBS 4. Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 1995.

Schwienhorst-Schönberger, Ludger. “Land.†Pages 299-305 in Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive. Edited by M. Fieger, J. Krispenz & J. Lanckau. Darmstadt: WBG, 2013.

Von Schlieffen, Katharina & Jenny Nolting. Rechtsphilosophie. Grundlagen für das Jurastudium. UTB 4856. Paderborn: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018.

Wilson, Peter H. The Holy Roman Empire. A Thousand Years of Europe’s History. London: Penguin Random House, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674915909.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).