Depictions of Egypt in the Book of Hosea and Their Implications for Dating the Book

Traditionally, the oracles contained in the book of Hosea, at least in their earliest forms, have been dated prior to the fall of the Northern Kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians. In a previous essay, I argued that there is evidence that would suggest that at least some of the oracles date a few decades later, to the reign of the Assyrian King Sennacherib. On the basis of Hosea’s presentation of Egypt both as a potential source of help and as a military threat, the present essay argues that Hosea’s oracles make more sense in the final decade of the eighth century, after Samaria’s fall, than before the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom, as most scholars have traditionally assumed.

Tinjauan Historis terhadap Eksistensi dan Perkembangan Efraim

This article discusses several important matters relating to Ephraim as a representation of the Northern Kingdom. This Northern Kingdom is closely related to the ministry of the prophet Hosea, as the man sent by God to call for the conversion of the king. With a historical descriptive approach, it shows how the historical conditions and position of Ephraim in Israel were, as well as showing the social, political, economic, and religious conditions. Thus the comprehensive development of Efraim was obtained.AbstrakArtikel ini membahas beberapa hal penting yang berkaitan dengan Efraim sebagai representasi Kerajaan Utara. Kerajaan Utara ini sangat terkait dengan pelayanan nabi Hosea, sebagai orang yang diutus Tuhan untuk menyerukan pertobatan raja. Dengan pendekatan deskriptif historis ditunjukkan bagaimana kondisi sejarah dan posisi Efraim di Israel, selain juga memperlihatkan keadaan sosial, politik, ekonomi, dan agama. Dengan demikian diperoleh perkembangan Efraim secara komprehensif.

Tradisi Elohis Dalam Tetrateukh

The Elohist tradition is a collection of writings which play an important role in the making of the books of Tentrateuch. This tradition was created in the northern region during the social revolution of the northern kingdom of Israel under the new government led by Jerobeam I. Based on the background, this article is written to give a whole understanding about both concept and context of Elohist tradition through qualitative research by using hermeneutics approach and literature study. This article is systematically and comprehensively explaining about the connection between Elohist tradition with the effort to succeed and legitimize the power of elites in Northern Kingdom of Israel. This article also describes the reality that Elohist tradition is a kind of product which stresses the intimate connection between religion traditions with the social-political conditions in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 930 until 722 B.C. Based on this concept, the Elohist traditon is written with the main major is related with social-religious propaganda either in the global and local diplomatic context.

Israelite and Judean Society and Economy

This article examines the economic worlds that correspond to the timeline of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible from the conquest to the return from exile. During this period, Israel and Judah transformed from small subsistence-based tribal economies to more centralized organization, at least partially due to external military threats. Both the northern kingdom and eventually the southern kingdom fell to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires respectively, and the forced migrations instigated socially disembedded economies in the exile and repatriation. Even though these ancient economic modalities are largely assumed and unstated, critical analysis of the historical books requires a thoughtful understanding of the economic world behind these texts.

The Revenge of the Man of God

Most scholars recognize literary problems in the two stories about the man of God found in 1 Kings 13. The older school of literary criticism has asked what redactional layers might be present, whether a prophetic source or redaction stands behind this story or a prophetic legend has been transformed by the Deuteronomist. Newer literary approaches show that the episodes involving the man of God play vital roles in the development of the larger plot of the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel with Jeroboam and the rise of the southern kingdom with Josiah. The unnamed man of God becomes symbolic of the obedience and disobedience of the monarchy. The story of the man of God in 1 Kings 13 has been carefully crafted into a two-sided plot. One scene is positive, the other negative. Conflict in this plot between the word of Yahweh spoken through the man of God and the altar at Bethel is not resolved until 2 Kings 23. The surface conflicts between the human characters become symbolic of the deeper conflict between Yahweh and other gods. The theme of obedience or disobedience to the divine word emerges from this deeper plot.

Duelling dynasties: A proposal concerning Ezekiel’s sign-act of the two sticks

Ezekiel’s sign-act of the two sticks is an interpretive quagmire. Interpretive issues include the association of ‘Israel’ with both sticks, the use of the name ‘Joseph’ to identify the entity associated with the second stick, the interest in a defunct northern kingdom which this is thought to reflect, the relationship between the entities represented by the two sticks, the meaning of the terms עץ‎ and שבט‎, and the use of מלך‎. The article aims to resolve a number of these issues and to suggest the cause of certain others. It argues that the sign-act concerns the competing claims of the two royal lines created by the deportation of Jehoiachin to Babylon and the appointment of Zedekiah in Jerusalem. It should therefore be understood as part of a wider corpus of texts attesting to the ideological and practical struggle between the Babylonian golah and those left behind in the land.

Playing favourites: Israel and Judah in the marriage metaphor of Jeremiah 3

The depiction of Yhwh’s marriage to Rebellious Israel and Treacherous Judah in Jeremiah 3 has resisted interpretation in terms that cohere with the text’s surroundings or our wider historical and theological understanding of the entities named by the text. Though commentators consistently identify the sisters as the northern and southern kingdoms, they are obliged to engage in interpretive gymnastics to explain the text’s preference for Israel, the northern kingdom. This article examines recent interpretations and their underlying assumptions, then reviews immediate and wider evidence for the entities called Israel and Judah, en route to a new proposal for their identification and significance in this passage. It proposes that the apparent incoherence of the allegory and its relationship with the surrounding material may be resolved by the recognition that Israel is meant to signify the community exiled to Babylonia, while Judah represents those left behind in the land.

Amos against Amaziah (Amos 7:10-17): a Case of Mutual Exclusion

Scholarly interpretation of the encounter between the prophet Amos and Amaziah, the priest of Bethel (Amos 7:10-17), has thus far focused on the issue of prophetic authority and legitimization. This paper seeks to shed light on the issues at the heart of the dispute between Amaziah and Amos—issues of boundaries and identity, insiders and outsiders; belonging to and being banished from Israel, the land and the people. Amaziah insists that Amos is an outsider who may speak freely, but only “there”, not “here”. Amos counters by predicting the priest’s own loss of social framework, in life and in death. The fact that, unlike many other reports of prophetic confrontations, this story does not indicate the consequences of the dispute—whether the expulsion of the prophet from the Northern Kingdom or the fulfillment of the curse of Amaziah—is another indication that the issue of prophetic authority is neither the only, nor the major concern of this showdown.

Converting a King: The Jesuit William Crichton and King James vi and i

From the first encounter with King James vi of Scotland, the Society of Jesus believed in the possibility of his conversion. Such a religious transformation would reverberate beyond the northern kingdom and indeed beyond the British Isles. Finances and proposals were advanced to attain this goal. With noticeable encouragement from James in the 1590s as he positioned himself to ascend the English throne as Elizabeth’s successor, many Catholics rallied to his cause. Once he had ascended the throne, he could cast caution to the proverbial wind and disclose his religious allegiance. Presented here are two memorials, both most likely written by the Scottish Jesuit William Crichton, on the possibility of James’s conversion. The first can be dated circa 1580, at the very inception of the project; the second is post-Gunpowder Plot (1605) by which time nearly everyone had abandoned any hope in its successful completion. But Crichton, naively or optimistically, still insisted there was a chance.

Hebrew Influences and Self-Identity in the Judeo-Georgian Language and in the Caucasus “Mountain of Tongues”

The Caucasus region has been called the “Mountain of Tongues”. History writers from Herodotus, 2,500 years ago, until present time have given different numbers of languages, e.g. the Greek geographer and historian Strabo (64 BCE- 21 CE) claimed more than 70 tribes speaking different languages, Pliny stated that the Romans used 130 interpreters when trading. At present more than 50 languages are spoken in the Caucasus (Catford 1977: 283). Hebrew is the ancient original language for all the twelve tribes of Israel, also after the division of the Land of Israel in 927 BCE into the Northern Kingdom, Israel, with ten of the tribes and the Southern Kingdom, Juda, with two tribes. The Israelites got exiled by the Assyrian Kings, e.g. Shalmaneser in 722 BCE. These ten tribes soon lost their language and identity. The southern tribes, Juda, got exiled by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar, between 606-586 BCE, who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem (586 BCE).