The Word Among Us: Theologies of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

By Terry L. Burden

The Word Among Us: Theologies of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is a topical approach to the study of the Judeo/Christian Bible. Each topic is a survey of the many theological themes we encounter in the Biblical narrative such as the theology of Biblical History, Torah, Moses, Election, Covenant, Land, Kingship, Prophecy, and many more. Special topics include The Theology of the Fall of Israel, Theology of Messianic Expectations, and The Theology of Israel. Of particular interest is The Theology of Story which introduces the story-oriented literary discipline. At the center of Biblical theology is the tragic fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E. and the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C.E. From these periods many of the theological motifs, such as covenant, law, and prophecy, arise to address and to explain these tragedies in Israelite history. The primary purpose of the present study is a better understanding of the theological function of these motifs or themes. A theological function is the power of a Biblical narrative to constitute and to restore the Israelite people who were struggling to survive the late period of Biblical history. A special feature of my study are the several promptings from Biblical topics of the many discussions that relate to the New Testament and Christian teachings. My approach to the study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is unique among other introductions to the Hebrew Bible. This book therefore is very important to both the Jewish and the Christian reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664268401

Terry L. Burden

Terry L. Burden is assistant professor of comparative humanities at the University of Louisville.

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For Philip

and Andrew

Let me stand today

For whatever is pure and true and good:

For the advancement of science

and education and true learning.

John Baillie

CONTENTS

Topic 1 Theology of Sacred Scripture

Topic 2 Theology of the Hebrew Bible

Topic 3 Theology of the Old Testament

Topic 4 Theology of Biblical History

Topic 5 Theology of History: The Deuteronomistic History

Topic 6 Theology of History: Torah and Priestly History

Topic 7 Theology of History: The Chronicler’s History

Topic 8 Theology of Sinai

Topic 9 Theology of the Exodus Tradition

Topic 10 Theology of the Wilderness Traditions

Topic 11 Theology of God

Topic 12 Theology of Covenant

Topic 13 Theology of Election

Topic 14 Theology of Deuteronomy

Topic 15 Theology of Moses

Topic 16 Theology of Land

Topic 17 Theology of Kingship: Beginnings and Saul

Topic 18 Theology of Kingship: David and Solomon

Topic 19 Theology of Kingship: The Divided Monarchy

Topic 20 Theology of Kingship: Kingship Ideology

Topic 21 Theology of Prophecy

Topic 22 Theology of Prophecy: Eight Century Prophets

Topic 23 Theology of Prophecy: Seventh Century Prophets

Topic 24 Theology of Prophecy: Sixth Century Prophets

Topic 25 Theology of Prophecy: Prophets of the Persian Period

Topic 26 Theology of Religion: Ancestral and Mosaic

Topic 27 Theology of Religion: Official Zion Religion

Topic 28 Theology of Religion: Post-Exilic Religion and Judaism

Topic 29 Theology of the Fall of Israel

Topic 30 Theology of Mourning

Topic 31 Theology of Exile and Restoration

Topic 32 Theology of Wisdom

Topic 33 Theology of Story

Topic 34 Theology of the Temple

Topic 35 Theology of Zion

Topic 36 Theology of the Nations

Topic 37 Theology of Worship

Topic 38 Theology of Messianic Expectations

Topic 39 Theology of Apocalypticism

Topic 40 Conclusion: A Theology of Israel

Appendix

TOPIC 1

THEOLOGY OF SACRED

SCRIPTURE

The basic understanding of theology, as the term implies, is the discipline that engages in the study of the nature of the divine (from the Latin theologia) and the human experience of the divine. In Middle Eastern religious traditions, we receive a more specific notion of the divine through the common name El as the name became formally God (Elohim) in the Hebrew culture. And yet, the discipline of theology is not entirely the study of the specific God but the study of several aspects of the divine understood and encountered by the human community. Our study narrows this effort to Biblical texts as our primary source for the development of our specific topics such as history, God, Torah, election, land, kingship, prophecy, and other topics. Studies in theology generally include themes such as these. Christian scholars have attempted to discover a theology of the Hebrew Bible, an endeavor seldom pursued among their Jewish counterparts.¹ The Jewish community shows less concern with systematic approaches, opting often for a more pragmatic use of Sacred Scripture within the life of the community.²

For our present study, we shall broaden the need for a theology of the Hebrew Bible to include a range of topics under the rubric of theology. Each topic, such as kingship, contributes to the development of a dynamic theological matrix we discover in the Hebrew Bible. Instead of a theology of the Hebrew Bible, we are identifying several theologies. Some theologies stand independent of others, such as wisdom or apocalyptic, while others interrelate or overlap, such as kingship and Zion. Instead of pursuing yet another theology of the Bible, in the narrower sense, ours is a survey of the theological themes in the Hebrew Bible.

The question What is a Biblical theology? also applies specifically to religious beliefs in Sacred Scriptures. We are attempting to establish the importance of the Hebrew Bible as a constitutive or theological force in the faith community. This effort would also include insights into the value of the Hebrew Bible in the Christian faith community. The topic of Bible, then, is simply one theme within the broader discipline of theology. A theology of the Bible seeks to understand the uniqueness of writings that are viewed by a faith community as special. Further, what are the fundamental elements a faith community defines as Bible or its Sacred Scriptures? In addition to this, how do faith communities such as the Jewish and Christian, view the Bible, given the notion that both communities have their own beliefs about the same idea called Bible?

THE BIBLE: A DEFINITION

Theologies of the Hebrew Bible represent a range of events and experiences in the history of the Biblical community. The post-Biblical community participates in the evolutionary development of what or which writings come to be accepted as special, authoritative, and sacred. Certainly, the closing years of the Persian period represented a highly productive period in the collection, editing, and completion of writings that became adopted by the faith community. Furthermore, the production of Biblical books was not a simple task, for several influences and beliefs came to bear upon both the need for writings and the content they preserved. First and foremost were the companion topics of God and Israel. The need to preserve the heritage of Israel and her relationship to God certainly served as a primary catalyst. The notion of the Bible is perhaps synonymous with these two major themes. After all, though secular in its subtle implications, the Bible is a collection of religious documents. Beyond these two fundamental concerns, the notion of the Bible includes additional related themes, as our definition below will reveal.

Since our study of Sacred Scripture must be relevant to both Judaism and Christianity, the question of a definition of Sacred Scripture must include a broader view of not only the Hebrew Bible but the Christian Bible which includes the New Testament. At this point, we must clarify most certainly what appears obvious to some: the Hebrew Bible, its content and final canonical form, is identical to what the Christian faith calls the Old Testament.

Any definition of the Bible must consider the discipline and expression of faith held by the individuals who usually associate personal beliefs with a larger special group whether in the synagogue or church. In other words, a definition of Sacred Scripture must be broad enough to include this great diversity of religious beliefs. Consider the following definition as a general understanding of the Bible:

The Bible is the sacred book of Judaism and Christianity, containing the divinely inspired historical record and interpretation of God’s revelation and Israel’s and the Church’s experience of God in history, including for Judaism the books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament for the Christian) and for Christianity both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, which provide a theological guide for life in the faith community.

Our definition covers several important topics. We must consider the notion of the Bible as it applies to a faith community that accepts and embraces its writings as having special significance to the life of faith within its social structure as a faith community. To be sure, the Bible suggests its content to be an authoritative theological force that is accepted by its faith community. We look at the relationship of the Bible to the faith community, followed by the topics of sacred, divine inspiration, the Bible as a record and interpretation, and the authority of scripture

The Bible and the Faith Community

Our references to the Bible imply both Sacred Scriptures as understood and accepted in Judaism and Christianity. The Bible is also the equivalent of Sacred Scripture. The Bible is not a collection of writings in a secular sense but a canon of texts that reflect a particular view of both the sacred and the secular—the notion of canon implies the acceptance of a certain number of writings as sacred while other writings outside this canonical list are not considered Sacred Scripture. The Bible contains a range of diverse writings that reflect a distinct perspective on faith and history through the eyes of faith. The historical experiences and the message of its several books are interpretations of faith whose ultimate meaning is revealed to all who seek its meaning through faith.

In our study of the Bible, we have been reminded long ago of some very important considerations.³ The Bible is considered a canon or an accepted closed collection of writings. However, this official canon did not derive its structure and special nature from within its collection. We have no reference within the canon, whether the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament, to any notion of a Bible whose content is specifically noted. The notion of canon is a non-Biblical idea developed within the faith community. A canon was simply not on the agenda of Biblical writers, though we certainly have internal evidence of a concern for future reading and study of certain writings as in Deuteronomy 17:18–19 and 2 Timothy 3:16–17. Further, we have no internal evidence to indicate any parameters or limits to a canon of scripture, nor do we have any claims from within the Bible to divine inspiration. This notion reflects the judgment of the faith community. Our point being made is the Biblical period was a time when the Bible had not yet appeared as Bible. What did appear was a faith community grappling with understanding its history and the uncertainties of its future. The canon of scripture appeared after the events and experiences had passed. The Bible, its canon of writings, and its acceptance as holy and special are dependent upon the faith community and its developed relationship to those writings. The Bible and the faith community maintain, so to speak, a marriage or a covenant relationship throughout the life and experiences of the people of faith.

The Sacred

The sacredness of the Bible is what constitutes its content as holy scripture. The sacredness of writings suggests the events and experiences of the story people, or narrative characters contained in the many texts of the Bible, reveal the activities of God in history. The common, mundane world of the Biblical community then becomes transformed into a vision of the sacred as it interacts with the secular. The Bible represents a history of the human community’s interaction with and experiences of God. This history is understood first to relate to the Israelite community and depicts history from the times of Abraham (2000 BCE) to the Persian period (mid-sixth century to the late fourth century BCE). For the Christian view of history, the Bible includes the history of Israel plus the first century CE. In this latter view, for the church, the history of the human encounter with the divine includes primarily the human community responding to the message of the Church which includes both the Jewish people and the other people of the Roman world. The sacredness of the Bible is its story of the human response and relationship to the divine. Readers of the Bible, in other words, are witnessing the human encounter with God in history.

The sacredness of texts also represents the unveiling of God’s purposes in history, with a specific focus on Israel as the elect of God and then on the world in the greater perspective. The Bible in this broader perspective includes not only the story of Israel in the Hebrew Bible but also the revelation of God’s purposes through the establishment and the growth of the church. The Bible, then, proclaims human history is not a random series of events with no particular purpose. Instead, history moves ultimately to the divinely intended outcome. In this respect, the sacredness of the Bible instills hope in God’s plan for human life. In the darkest of human despair, the voice of Biblical texts spoke of new hope in God. From the historian to the prophet and the wise, Biblical texts attempt to unravel the uncertainties of human experience and constitute a new vision of God. Revelation is the central theological function of the Bible.

The sacredness of the Bible is established by the way the community views the Bible’s holiness and importance within its many religious functions. In the synagogue, the Hebrew Bible is incorporated within the many aspects of worship, as in the Torah service. One of the most common practices in synagogue worship is the reading from the Hebrew Bible. Likewise, in the Church, the reading of the Bible is incorporated into worship which includes both selected passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Bible fulfills many roles in the life of each religion. For example, in the Jewish Bar-Mitzvah or Bat-Mitzvah each candidate is taught to read from the Hebrew text. In a comparable function, the education of the young in the Church is supported by the study of the Bible which provides a vital resource for learning about the ancient history and teachings of Christianity. Because the Bible is believed to have originated through the divine involvement in the life of the people, its writings are considered sacred, as understood in contrast to, say, secular or non-religious writings. In this respect, the continued use of the Bible in the life of the community suggests the ongoing involvement of God in the lives of its people. Sacred Scripture is one medium by which God becomes present among the people of faith.

The Bible is revered as sacred because its content provides a record of the human encounter and experience of God. The Biblical narrative almost always includes references to God and the human community; these two are the main characters in the Biblical narrative. The New Testament follows this pattern while portraying the human encounter of God through Jesus Christ, but the subjects remain essentially the same. The Bible is revered as sacred because the activities of God in history are revealed through the divine-human interaction. The people of the Biblical narrative are portrayed as unique because of the revealed purposes of God for this community. To experience God in the Bible is to do so through the eyes and faith of the people of Israel and the Church.

Divine Inspiration

The collected writings of the Hebrew Bible are considered sacred scripture due to the belief these writings are influenced and created through a divine involvement in their production. In other words, the Hebrew Bible was written through God’s inspiration of its authors. Judaism holds that human beings wrote the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible, though they were divinely inspired. This belief in God’s involvement continues in the way Christians view the New Testament. The doctrine of divine inspiration elevates the writings of the Hebrew Bible to that of an authoritative guide that contains divine insights which could help the community and its individuals know the will of God. This view applies also to the Christian view of the Bible. The fact that certain texts are believed to have been inspired logically implies the Bible’s exceptional role and force in the establishment of a people and their faith. Because the Bible is inspired by God, Sacred Scripture is also inherently constitutive and possesses a theological power.

In Judaism, divine inspiration continued beyond the Biblical writings themselves. In the post-Biblical period, divine inspiration continued through rabbinic interpretation which expresses the belief that divine disclosure at Mount Sinai referred to a broader context than that which was revealed by God at Mount Sinai. And yet, the entirety of divine revelation was not disclosed at Mount Sinai but was revealed through oral tradition, suggesting the Bible was written over time by people who were inspired, and not all at once.

In other words, divine disclosure transcends the immediate texts of the Hebrew Bible and continues in the life of the people. Similarly, divine revelation extends beyond the Hebrew Bible and incorporates sacred writings of the Christian faith. The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament participate in the life of the Church. For the Church, the writings of the New Testament serve as the canon of the Christian faith or the primary measure of faith and practice in the Church. From these inspired accounts, the people who embrace the Bible by faith could likewise trust they could find themselves and their origins as a people of faith, and also the hope for their future.

According to the Christian view, divine inspiration refers to the belief that the divine empowers a chosen human messenger through the inbreathing of the Holy Spirit. This empowerment by the Holy Spirit enables the individual by divine guidance to reveal a message from God through three basic ways, the spoken word, through an action, or a written message. While several interpretations of divine inspiration are offered, two popular understandings include the theories of dictation and the dynamic. A dictation theory attempts to explain the origin and production of sacred writings through direct revelation from the divine to the human medium. The prophet was traditionally the chosen vessel, though other non-prophetic individuals could be a messenger. As implied by the term, the dictation view affirms the writers of sacred texts became passive instruments in the hand of God. The words of the message originate from God who dictated them to the author. An example of dictation would be the Ten Commandments or possibly the words that God spoke on various occasions such as Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19) or Job (Job 38–41). A dictation approach is often challenged, for example, by the presence of more than one writer of the same events, as in the two histories of Israel in the Hebrew Bible (Judges–2 Kings and 1 Chronicles–Nehemiah) or the four Gospels in the New Testament. The real issue here is the recording of events with different content. One primary example is the absence of any record of King David’s affair with Bathsheba in the Chronicler’s writings or the absence of Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of John. These anomalies led to the view that the work of inspiration cannot always be through dictation.

What has been called a dynamic theory attempts to explain the origin of sacred writings other than through dictation. The dynamic theory suggests writers are also divinely inspired, however, instead of God dictating every word, inspiration entails an interaction between the divine and the human. The human vessel contributes to the revelation and was not a passive instrument. This understanding is not verbal or dictation, and yet, is still fully supernatural and inspired. Dynamic interaction between God and the individual(s) results in the inspiration of the thoughts and experiences of individuals. The writers’ personalities are utilized by the divine and the human counterparts are free to express the divine message in their own words and interpretations. Messengers through inspiration are nevertheless being guided against error. The diversity of sacred writings in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament attests to the dynamic nature of revelation. As mentioned above, the record of the same events in different words is evidence of such a dynamic relationship between the divine and the human vessel.

Record and Interpretation

We begin this topic with an explanation of divine revelation. From a more inclusive approach, which includes the human and the natural world, divine revelation is understood to occur in two ways. First, the divine is made known through the natural world, in the orderliness and majesty of the phenomenal world. Human life and experiences in the world allow the individual to know the reality of the divine. In this mode of thought, any specific understanding of the divine is filtered through the human experience of the world in a more general sense. This first interpretation is called general revelation. One important example is the creation record in Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Two vital truths attest to this statement being a natural revelation. Observation of the world is filtered through the eyes of faith and the individual experience of the world. To proclaim God created the world is to say the world originated through a divinely initiated event. Now such a proclamation is reinforced through Biblical revelation, our second way of understanding divine revelation.

In addition to natural revelation, the divine is believed to be revealed in special ways. Regardless of the mode, whether natural or special revelation, the consensus is held that the revelation of the divine is always self-revelation. The Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament, follow this interpretation. Human individuals believe they experience the divine in various ways in the natural world and through other modes. All experiences of God are interpreted, and some are recorded. In this respect, divine revelation is considered special and not natural, as in the encounter and the experience of God in Sacred Scripture. The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is considered the special revelation of God, compared to general revelation through our experience of the world. In the real sense, Middle Eastern religions are revealed religions and not historical developments based on natural revelation. Returning to our example, Genesis 1:1 is also an example of special revelation. This Biblical revelation originated not only through the experience of the world but also the self-revelation of God when the source of the world’s existence is recorded and interpreted through an inspired faith.

In our definition of the Bible, any record of an event or experience always includes an interpretation, and in the context of sacred writings, its interpretation is always from within the perspectives of a particular faith. In other words, there is no such thing as an unbiased history or a neutral account of a Biblical story. The Bible is a record and an interpretation of Israel’s history and its encounter with God. The same applies to the New Testament writings which interpret the Church’s early history and the people’s encounter with God through Jesus of Nazareth. However, we do not have a consensus among Biblical writers on just how this encounter is to be understood. Internal evidence suggests several diverse interpretations of the events and experiences within the Biblical writings. One of the best examples of this inner diversity of Biblical writings, and here we are drawing from the Hebrew Bible, are the two versions of the construction of the Solomon Temple in 1 Kings Chapters 5–8 and 1 Chronicles Chapter 22 through 2 Chronicles Chapter 7. From the New Testament, we easily see the different perspectives about the life and death of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Gel of John. Each record of an event or an experience within the faith community is guided by the changing situations faced by this faith community as well as the different authors and their unique situations.

The Experience of God

Lest we too narrowly define the Bible as the record and interpretation of divine revelation, a definition of the Bible must consider the faith community’s encounter and experience of God both within the religious tradition and among non-Israelite people. The Bible is viewed by both faith communities as the record of the human experience of the God of faith as well as the experience of the faith community itself. Contained in this record are the many issues and situations that challenge faith and unity. Both Testaments provide evidence of the demands of faith, the failures, and the successes of the community in its struggles within and without. This historical experience of God is enmeshed within the faith community’s interaction with non-faith communities. These experiences establish the faith community’s relationship to the greater world communities, and in fact, both the Israelite and Christian communities had been given the task and obligation to represent divine presence and revelation to the rest of the world. Israel, in this regard, is commissioned to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6) and the Church is to preach the Gospel to the world (Matthew 28:19–20).

Authority of Scripture

The theological function of Biblical texts could imply an authoritative power. Authority is usually understood as originating from a corporate body and its leadership. The canonicity of Biblical texts perhaps best explains the authority of texts. The process of canonicity is not immediate; nor is the authority and theological force of texts. We understand the constitutive or theological force to be the ability of the Bible to create, sustain, and define a community in its faith and unity. In other words, the canonical process for the Hebrew Bible covers several centuries, but the one central event in Israelite history that started the theological process was the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE by the Babylonians, preceded by a major extraction of Judahite citizens in 598 BCE.

Biblical authority and the theological function of Biblical texts can be summarized by two basic tenets. First, the authority of sacred texts implies the power to command action or compliance with an established system of beliefs. In our present study, the authority of texts functions in theological ways based on a theological purpose. We look to the power and influence of texts as they attempt to constitute a people who experience a transition in life, whether it be a restoration of a community or its religion. Second, Sacred Scripture has the power to influence religious, social, and political beliefs. We see this authoritative force at work in the period of the Restoration following the fall of Judah in 586 BCE. In the Christian context, the New Testament served as the orthodox canon when heretical movements threatened the teachings and unity of the Church. In its most basic understanding, Biblical authority, among other authoritative influences, defines and regulates a religious belief or practice and even the broader structure of a community and its self-understanding.

Our definition of the Bible attempted to explain the key elements that must be considered for a complete understanding of the important role Sacred Scripture fulfills in a faith community. The Bible as a collection of sacred writings naturally assumes the presence of a people who accept the Bible as inspired by God and authoritative as a guide for faith and community. The Bible as such also provides one means by which a people of faith could encounter and experience God.

THE THEOLOGICAL FUNCTION

OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

Our study of Sacred Scripture seeks to understand the theological function that provides a guide for life in the faith community. In the present study, we are concerned with not only a survey of the important issues and themes of the Hebrew Bible. We are interested in the vital importance and function of the Hebrew Bible within its faith community. However, our faith community need not be the Israelite or the Jewish community alone, for here we are also surveying the way the Hebrew Bible functions in the early Christian community as reflected in the New Testament. Our definition of the Bible, then, includes the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible though our study will not survey the New Testament per se but only with respect to how the canon of the early Church utilized and interpreted the Hebrew canon.

In its most basic understanding, the Bible has had the power to constitute something, the power to create or make something, and the power to become the social-religious force that sustains the people in times of change which challenge the essence of what made a community unique. We can detect the specific purpose in Biblical texts as they attempt to offer answers to social and religious crises and prescribe ways to maintain the Hebrew heritage. We see this purpose within the context of the Christian community. The developing heritage or tradition of the Church represents a merger of Jewish tradition with the Christian.

Our concern with the theological function of Sacred Scripture is not a new discipline in the study of the canons of scripture. We inherited a wealth of scholarly debates and studies that addressed similar issues several decades ago, but the need for a better understanding of the value of Sacred Scripture continues to be a timeless challenge. The development of a theological approach to Biblical texts includes three vital elements: the need for continuity, the need for a theological or constitutive force, and the need for a canon of Sacred Scripture.

Theological and Constitutive Function

Two important concepts merge in our study of the theologies of the Hebrew Bible. We often use the terms theological and constitutive interchangeably. Both terms refer to the influence the Bible can have upon the formation and the maintenance of a body of faith in the Synagogue and the Church. Biblical texts, we believe, carry a theological force or power that can assist in the creation and guidance of a faith community. This can also be explained as a constitutive force with the ability to constitute a people within their faith theologically and their community of faith physically. In this important regard, the Hebrew Bible is said to be the constitution of the people of Israel. This role became more pronounced in the post-Biblical period when Biblical texts addressed the needs of the Biblical community to maintain its faith in God and the divine will. In the Christian faith, the New Testament became the constitution of the Church, especially in the second century CE when heretical movements grew and threatened the Church. For both Judaism and Christianity, the collection of writings that became the official canon of scripture essentially provided a theological force that intended to achieve the same purpose as any theological function.

Continuity Within and With Biblical Tradition

The issue of continuity within Biblical texts has been introduced into the formula of Biblical theology. ⁴ Continuity involves multiple layers of functional aspects of the Biblical narrative. On the one hand, the inner diversity of events and experiences, plus the numerous voices from the Biblical texts, makes it extremely difficult to establish discernable themes that allow correct interpretations of scripture. We acknowledge this internal diversity and seek to identify the many theological themes and their theological functions. On another level, we see an internal change in the Israelite community that challenges the continuity of the Israelite heritage with a contemporary setting. For example, the changes demanded at the inauguration of kingship virtually called for a new understanding of the notion of the congregation of Israel which was first established at Sinai. Continuity within tradition has been, therefore, one of the central issues addressed by Biblical writers. In a true sense, Biblical voices, such as the prophets Amos and Hosea, address this threat to the continuity of Israelite tradition and Israelite fidelity to these traditions. The changes that came with the monarchy and statehood called for faith and loyalty to the ancient traditions. One clear evidence of this neglect was the silencing of Mosaic tradition during the Kingdom Period. The northern tribes appeared to have been less willing to embrace a new tradition coming out of Jerusalem in the form of the monarchy with King David at its center. To be sure, the loss of valuable traditions made continuity even more impossible. Add to this, the fall of the nation, first in 722 BCE when Samaria fell to the Assyrians, and then in 586 BCE when Judah fell to the Babylonians, the concerns of prophecy came to full expression, leaving a tremendous void for Biblical writers who attempted to explain and to resolve the breach. The period of the Exile raised crucial questions about survival: How is there to be found continuity of faith?⁵ What are the important themes in the Israelite traditions that can help to maintain the validity and relevance of ancient traditions which seem to be slipping away? Within the Biblical record, with its diversity of texts and theological concerns, the rediscovering of unifying themes is just as valid for the faith community today as it was during the Babylonian and the Persian periods. The Church struggles to find theological threads to keep the ministry alive in the world. The Jewish community continues to pursue ways by which the great traditions may be re-presented and celebrated in each generation.

The Christian Perspective

From the Christian perspective, the struggle for continuity in the early Church was an effort to understand and formulate doctrines or ways to explain the importance of Jesus of Nazareth. The most accessible resources included the Hebrew tradition, especially Sacred Scripture. In other words, the early Church searched the Hebrew canon for important information that might shed light on Jesus as Messiah and his tragic death. Not even his followers expected Jesus’ death. Continuity with traditional Jewish beliefs was severed. The messianic role of Jesus did not quite conform to popular expectations. The actual canon accepted by the early Church as its Bible was the Septuagint which was the main Bible of the Jewish Diaspora in the Hellenistic region of the Mediterranean.⁶ However, the identity and meaning of Jesus represented only one issue for the early Church. The Jewish Bible also provided valuable instructional guidelines in matters of the Christian life. For the early Church, the basic teachings of the Torah and the Prophets remained Sacred Scripture and vital to the development of Christian ethics and morality. The search for continuity between Israel’s religious heritage and the new Christian Way was an essential ingredient for the life of the Church.

Concerning continuity, we can place the function of the Gospel of Matthew at the top of the list. Called the gospel to the Jews, this version of the life of Jesus centers upon the Jewish community to convince the Jews that Jesus was the true Messiah. To read the Gospel of Matthew is to learn almost in detail the Jewishness of Jesus and the early Church. If we correctly date the Gospel to the eighth decade of the first century CE, then the Gospel makes a grand attempt at placing the arrival of the Messiah within popular Messianic expectations. Its purpose has two purposes. On the one hand, Matthew’s Messiah can be linked to Jewish traditions, and Christians can discover this continuity. And yet, on the other hand, the Gospel of Matthew makes a bold statement to the effect that Jesus as Messiah is much more than the Jews expected. The continuity of traditions seems to be relevant to both Jews and Christians.

One of the most important passages reflecting the need to maintain a connection with the Judaic traditions comes from the second letter to Timothy. Notice the use of scripture in its vital role.

¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

The identity of all scripture is generally broader than some suggest. At the date of the letter to Timothy, the New Testament had not yet been determined in the early Church.⁷ Many interpret this reference to include the Hebrew Bible, or more precisely the Septuagint since this latter canon was popular in the Church. Paul’s letter supports the view that scripture is divinely inspired and therefore worthy for study and training in the Church. Continuity with the Jewish tradition seemed essential in the growth of the early Church.

The traditions practiced and experienced in the Church often find their roots in the early writings of the Church. In the New Testament, two significant examples of traditions can be cited. First, observance of communion or the LORD’s Supper is supported in the Gospels. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke record the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples on the eve of his arrest (Mark 14:22–25, Matthew 26:26–29, Luke 22:14–23). In its development in the Church, the actual observance of the LORD’s Supper varies among the churches. We explain these differences as the growth of traditions, and many factors influence these differences, far too many to list in our study. One underlying tradition establishes continuity with the Jewish tradition, and that is the Jewish Passover.

Our second example comes from the first letter of Timothy. The offices of bishop and deacon are discussed in Chapter 3:1–13, suggesting the development of church structure in leadership. These offices added to the vital role of the disciples of Jesus during the Apostolic Age (1st Century CE) and constitute the early evidence of post-Jesus leadership as the Church developed and grew in the Roman world.

A third example is found in the prayer of Jesus in the Gospel of John 17:20. In this verse, stress is made over the preaching of the Apostles of Jesus that later generations can hear and become Christians. Implied in this subtle remark is the importance of the New Testament which contains the message of the disciples of Jesus. Continuity within the Christian tradition is achieved in part through the New Testament.

The Theological Influence of Biblical Tradition

One of the important questions asked of the Hebrew Bible throughout the generations relates to its continued validity to the Jewish people. The same is said of the Church, especially in modern times. Does the Bible still possess the power to influence anyone? Can the Synagogue and the Church exist without the Bible? Is the Bible true? Is the Bible compatible with a scientific view of the universe? Is Biblical tradition a theological force in the post-Biblical world? In the context of the Biblical period, what were those events that contributed to the Biblical worldview?

The theological function of sacred texts suggests a distinct purpose behind the editing and completion of a canon of scriptures. The purpose was to produce a collection of writings whose presence in the community reflected their importance and use while remaining vital for the ongoing life in the post-Biblical community.⁸ In this respect, a theological function of sacred texts suggests and assumes a continued life for the Hebrew Bible because of its value and influence upon generations of Jewish communities. The same can be said of the Bible in the life of the Church. The theological function implies an ongoing challenge among the people who live in the world and who are called to their past to find meaning in a changing world. This concern is very clear in the postexilic world in ancient Israel. Biblical texts from the beginnings of the canon were relevant precisely because they were held sacred and shaped beliefs and practices.⁹ The hope is the Hebrew Bible will remain a living presence and continue to represent for each generation a collective memory.¹⁰

One central function of the Bible is that of education, the ability of Biblical texts to instruct each future generation. As a textbook of instruction, its content is assumed to be relevant and important. The assumption is the Hebrew Bible has something specifically to say which is valuable to the community. Even within its very diverse genres of texts and differences of thought and expression, the Hebrew Bible is believed to offer a uniform voice that spoke to the well-being of life in the Jewish community. The great genius of the Hebrew canon is its common concern for the health of the people who embrace its value and future importance. Implied in the theological function of sacred texts is their reliability as divinely inspired records of Israel’s experiences in the world and with her God. Our present study follows the premise that the theological or constitutive function of the Bible has a lasting impact on communal identity and faith in a community’s heritage.

The Hebrew Bible, we accept, has the power to establish or to give something a state of organized existence at any point in a religious community’s history. The success of such a powerful influence can be quite different at any specific time in that history, especially when other forces seek to supplant traditional Biblical values with other religious and secular models. History has shown the Israelite ideal evolved, and the theological function of Sacred Scripture contributes to this change. We see this evident by the fact that what we identify as Sacred Scripture in the Israelite community is much more profound in the Persian and Hellenistic periods than in any earlier period in Israelite history. For the Church, this period would be the first four centuries of Christianity’s growth in the world. In other words, the theological or constitutive power of Sacred Scripture applies to the written traditions we know to be TANAK or the Hebrew Bible. Now, this does not mean the Israelite people did not have any theological forces in their pre-canonical history. As we well know, many sacred writings in the Hebrew Bible carry a long oral history before those great traditions were written down and eventually became Sacred Scripture. The great oral traditions serve a theological function before the arrival of Sacred Scripture, though the actual force and influence of oral traditions are more difficult to identify and explain. Various Biblical disciplines have been developed, such as historical criticism and the tradition-historical method, to address the prewritten period of Israelite tradition. For our present study, our focus is the canonical shape of scripture.

The Role and Importance of the Hebrew Bible

Theological functions of Sacred Scripture are generally manifested in the final shape of texts. When we attempt to identify and understand theological forces in the Bible, we will focus on the final shaping of a text, that is, its canonical form. The force of texts, in a theological sense, depends on their final editing. What did the editing community have to say? Without employing a range of methods to determine what was said and meant in the deeper levels of a text’s evolution, the function of theology looks to the final shape of a text or book in the Bible.

The collection of texts known as the Hebrew Bible is referred to as canon, though the term is usually applied to Christian texts. As stated above, the concept of canonicity is best applied to the development of a canon of texts known as the TANAK or the Hebrew Bible. Nevertheless, the collection of texts we find in the Hebrew Bible represents a closed canon. However, the acceptance of a closed canon of sacred texts did not prevent further interpretations and additions to the canon, as we discover in the period of Jewish Midrash and the writings in the New Testament. The community of faith, which is the ancient Israelite people, who accepted these writings believed them to have been divinely inspired or, in other words, having been divinely revealed. Because of its origin as divinely inspired texts, and because of its acceptance as authoritative in matters of community identity, religious teachings, and social values, the Hebrew Bible provides a theological purpose and function for the Jewish people and, on a secondary level, for the Church.

Further implied in the concept of canon are a special picture of a time and a people who collected and closed the long history of tradition into a written account. A political and cultural crisis calls for a collection of memories, and in the situation faced by the Israelite people after the destruction of their culture and freedom in 586 BCE, those memories need to be written down to prevent the loss of tradition. The Hebrew Bible represents the effort by the Israelite community to record and maintain the epic traditions and voices from their past to reconstitute the people and their faith. The function of reconstituting the community through the Hebrew Bible continues for each generation.

In our focus on the canon of the Hebrew Bible, we ask the question of the interrelationship of Biblical texts to better understand the theological themes and their function as they speak to new experiences and changes faced by the people.¹¹ How do these theologies contribute to this whole? From these transitional periods when change comes, the community of faith looks to its Sacred Scripture for its value as a record of the past heritage to reappropriate the past into the present. The reasons for the finalization of texts in the form they took become a concern of the canonical approach.¹² For a theological function, this canonical form is believed to reveal efforts by Biblical writers and editors to create a vision of life that is relevant to the faith community. The shape of the canon was directly influenced by the community, based on how the canonical books functioned in the community. In our present theological approach, we are not necessarily concerned with individual books but Biblical themes. This shaping of the canonical books and the canon itself as a collection always intended to respond to the needs of the people.¹³ A theological function does not necessarily look to this shaping, but the constitutive force created by theological strands found throughout the canon. The process of canonization depended upon the community and the mutual interplay between tradition and community that shaped the theological function of Biblical texts.

THEOLOGICAL THEMES IN THE HEBREW BIBLE

When referring to theological themes, the main concern is the identification and understanding of certain events and experiences found in the Hebrew Bible that became vital to the development of the Biblical Israelite ideal. A theological function of Biblical texts is not necessarily about the Israel of the Bible but Israel in the post-Biblical centuries. How does the Hebrew Bible speak to the future? We immediately discover this futuristic method in the writings of the Torah, especially in the Book of Deuteronomy.

The chapters in our study represent the many theological themes we have identified. The goal is an understanding of these themes and how they function in the overall Biblical narrative. The Hebrew Bible is a record of a series of events that reflect the history of the Israelite people and their experiences as a particular people whose God is the God in the Biblical story. The editors of the many books in the Hebrew Bible worked within this basic assumption. From the beginnings of the Biblical narrative to the closing words of the latest writings, certain events and experiences were recorded insofar as they contributed to the theological function of sacred texts. The books of the Hebrew Bible represent a collection of writings with a specific movement through history with the historical climax to the Biblical narrative in the drama and tragedy of the Babylonian period. The central thread to the book of the Hebrew Bible is history. The Biblical narrative, then, depicts the Beginnings of not only creation but also the people of Israel and the end of the national entity we know as Israel. All things in that history point to the restoration of the Israelite community in the late Persian period. In a real sense, the Hebrew Bible is a record of beginnings. For example, the close of the Biblical period is not an end but the beginning of the post-Biblical history of the Israelite people.

However, the theological function of the events and experiences of the Israelite people were not all considered a positive force in that history. For example, the destruction of the Israelite nation in 586 BCE is never considered a good thing; however, from the ashes of that event, a new people along with their new religion Judaism and their Sacred Scripture evolves from this tragedy. Both the negative, even tragic, and the positive events and experiences serve in theological ways. What we do know of the Biblical narrative is the canonical books contribute to the theological function of the idea we know as the TANAK or the Hebrew Bible. In other words, the Hebrew Bible presents several moments in Israelite history that contribute to the ultimate purpose and value of Biblical texts. Within these events and experiences, the heritage of the Israelite people is developed.

To illustrate the theological function of sacred texts we will identify key events that are recorded in the Hebrew Bible. The central linking motif in each theological event is a covenant. As theological events, each period represents a major change in the Israelite community. Three important events include the Sinai experience as reflected in the Book of Deuteronomy (late thirteenth century BCE), the reform program of King Josiah in the late seventh century, and the reform of Ezra in the fifth century BCE. A common thread that links these three periods is the central role of Mosaic Law and the call to obedience.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ANCIENT CULT

At the risk of being too elementary, let us define what we mean by using the term cult. In our present study of the Hebrew traditions, we encounter the cult of the ancient Israelite community. In its most basic meaning, the cult was the organized worship of God and the expression of the notion of religion within the social and cultural context of ancient Israel. However, as our survey of the Hebrew Bible will reveal, we do not encounter any one form of the cult in ancient Israel, for there were many manifestations of the religious cult. We observe several theological themes in the Biblical narrative, and we can be assured the worship of God in Ancient Israel took on various forms. For example, the religion we discover in the Mosaic tradition is quite different from the religion of Zion in the late Kingdom Period. The role and function of the cult in the period of the ancestors became unique to that period once the Israelite cult was established at Mount Sinai. Furthermore, the act of worship in the ancient world entails several forms and means from the intimacy of the family or tribal setting to a regional tradition such as that of Bethel or Shiloh to a broader territorial center as at Shechem or Jerusalem. Cult centers could have been centers of the religious and cultural traditions from which many of the great traditions were both practiced and even recorded. Insights into the importance of the cult within the life of the community have been a central point of concern in academia. The role of the cult is difficult to explain in a narrower sense, but we do believe the cult was one medium for the transmission of the great religious traditions of ancient Israel. Its critical role placed considerable stress upon its function, for the ancient cult, in whatever form it took, stood at the center of the religious traditions.

How was it that the prophets, for whom these traditions were important, were so violent in their condemnation of a cult? … For how could one and the same cult preserve in its purity a knowledge of the covenantal ritual and of the social morality that the God of Israel had made binding on his people and also exhibit the appalling marks of degeneration that merited the denunciations of the prophets?¹⁴

One can only conclude the traditional role of the cult demanded its presence as a model by which those ancient traditions could be remembered and used in constitutive ways. Because of this important role and function within the community, voices of protest arose at times when the cult deviated from its purpose.

And yet the proverbial question is asked Which came first the chicken or the egg? Here we ask which became the first medium for the constitution of Israelite tradition the Hebrew canon or the Hebrew cult? The role of the cult cannot be denied, and this role precedes the development of a written canon of sacred texts as well as the principal interpreter of tradition in the post-canonical period, that is, the period after the acceptance of tradition in written form.

It has come to be widely held that in a society such as that of ancient Israel the secret of the survival of religious ideas must be found in cultic institutions rather than in written documents, though, of course, it could not be denied that books played a certain part too, as witnessed by the undoubted discovery in the Jerusalem temple of a book of the Law in the reign of Josiah.¹⁵

We must acknowledge the vital role the Israelite cult had played in the transmission and the development of the Hebrew tradition or heritage. However, Sacred Scripture represents the written records of a wide range of human and divine activities including the Israelite cult which seems to have been one of the primary mediums by which the sacred writings were developed and transmitted, especially during the Persian period.

THE HEBREW BIBLE AS CONSTITUTION

In its most basic understanding, the Hebrew Bible has had the power to constitute something, the power to create or make something. We can detect the specific purpose in Biblical texts as they attempt to offer answers to social and religious crises and prescribe ways to maintain the Hebrew heritage in each future generation. To achieve its purpose, the Hebrew Bible must remain compatible with the contemporary community. Sacred Scripture must mirror the identity of the believing community that in any era turns to it to ask who it is and what it is to do, even today.¹⁶

The need to maintain continuity with Israel’s past called for efforts by Biblical writers, collectors, and editors of sacred text whose purpose was the establishment and the preservation of the covenant community. From this effort, the Biblical canon functioned as a constitution.¹⁷ Future communities, it is assumed, search the traditions to find antecedents to their current experiences.¹⁸ The early Church diligently searched the Hebrew Scriptures with this same purpose. This function of the Hebrew Bible, therefore, follows two routes. On the one hand, Biblical texts are by design a doorway into Israel’s origins and past heritage. Continuity between the contemporary community and the Biblical one is one of the important functions of the Biblical canon. And yet on the other hand, and here we have perhaps the more important function of canon, the Biblical canon seeks to constitute and maintain the Biblical community beyond the immediate period of the Biblical times. Continuity and the theological force serve as inseparable functions of the Hebrew canon. Now, concerning the New Testament canon and the needs of the Church, the Hebrew canon must be included.

The search for origins must be undertaken if we are to understand the literature as it developed within Israel.¹⁹ In the study of the Bible, one might first be concerned with a method for investigating the Hebrew Bible itself, and a starting point must be determined. In this seemingly logical approach, origins, as the text quoted above implies, are viewed as pivotal for unraveling the meaning of texts. For our present study, the origins of texts, we believe, are embedded within the final shape of texts, and we must assume the writers and editors of texts were familiar with origins and, in fact, worked from within the framework of their knowledge of the events and experiences depicted in a writing. We shall look to the theological function of texts by identifying basic themes that appear in the Hebrew Bible. We are concerned with how these finished texts could be used to influence and engage a community’s dependence upon its religious heritage. In an ironic similarity between present-day melancholy and a dangerous despondency experienced by the Judahite community during the Persian period, sacred texts call for renewal and a reaffirmation of Israel’s past heritage. The same can be said of the New Testament for the Church’s past heritage.

A theological focus on the Hebrew Bible asks the question of the writers’ and the editors’ intentions, and the final shape of the texts is where this information is found.²⁰ The theological function of the Hebrew Bible is the scriptures’ ability to claim authority or the legal power to influence. In this respect, the theological and the authoritative merge to become a constitution for the faith community. This basic principle applies to both the Jewish and the Christian communities. The value of sacred texts is found in their theological power, which is the ability of sacred writings to help people in crisis survive with their historical heritage intact.

APOLOGETICS: THE HEBREW BIBLE

AND OUR RAISON D’ȆTRE

Several decades ago, Norman Porteous voiced bewilderment regarding the importance of the Bible in the public readership.

The paradoxical element in the situation is that, at a time when there are innumerable popular and readable books designed to communicate information about the Bible, there should be such widespread ignorance of the Bible and its significance, and this not only among the laymen but among theological students and even among the clergy.²¹

While his sentiments reflect a period of growth in scholarship alongside a growing disinterest in Biblical content, even skepticism of its reliability in matters of truth and science, he has offered a great challenge to each generation to come. His concerns at not just that of the Christian community but a similar ongoing struggle within the Jewish community.

The Bible, once at the center of the cultural scene in Israel, has become marginalized; its magic has faded. A new Israeli generation no longer believes that to be considered educated, one must be well-versed in the canonical national literature; to a greater or lesser degree, it rejects Bible study as a required subject. Pride in the greatness of the Bible is giving way to alienation; instead of proficiency in Scripture one finds unashamed ignorance of its content.²²

In a real sense, we have a distancing of a people’s self-understanding and those events and experiences embedded in a religious heritage that supplied the raison d’ȇtre, the reason for being who we are as we understand this through the eyes of faith and a religious tradition. The Bible is the product of a community that sought out religious reasons for its existence and the power and theological force from this knowledge. The following study, quite simply stated, is an apologetic, a defense of the Sacred Scripture for both the Jew and the Christian. The discipline called apologetics is generally understood as a Christian defense of the religion and its faith in God or respect for the Christian Bible. However, in our present study, we will focus on the Hebrew Bible of the Jewish faith and supplement this center with its implications for the New Testament and the Christian faith. We are not just attempting to extract the meaning of texts in a narrower sense. We are trying to stress their value for life in the faith community.

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TOPIC 2

THEOLOGY OF THE

HEBREW BIBLE

Any understanding of the origin or birth of the Hebrew Bible must consider the social setting of the Jewish community following the fall of Judah in 586 BCE. The Hebrew Bible arose from within a historical crisis for the ancient Israelite people. Scriptures, therefore, became a way for the people to understand their history. To this end, we can clearly explain why the books of the Hebrew Bible were included while others did not.

THE QUEST FOR UNDERSTANDING

Perhaps the single most important reason the people of the Exile were able to overcome their crisis was