the book of all books
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The Book of all Books. Dr. Azila (Tzili) Talit Reisenberger Head of Hebrew University of Cape Town. Lecture 4: Story vs. History. Can one establish that things really happened? is it a story or history? is there His-tory vs. Her-story Did it happen as it is described?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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The Book of all BooksThe Book of all Books
Dr. Azila (Tzili) Talit ReisenbergerHead of Hebrew
University of Cape Town
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Lecture 4:Story vs. History
• Can one establish that things really happened?
• is it a story or history?• is there His-tory vs. Her-story
• Did it happen as it is described?
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This lecture distinguishes between what happened
and how it is told
The historyThe narrative
What we hold in our hands is “The Narrative”
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The hand that holds the pen rules the world
The saying “there are two sides (at least) to every story” applies also to the Bible:
Most recent research shows the 140% affect. Even when we agree on a fact as each individual sees things from his or her point of view, each is sure of their bigger "contribution" 70%.
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Ahab and Jezebel
Background details:
• 7th King in the Northern Kingdom• Ruled 871-851 BCE• Son of Omri (Dynasty of Omri)• Married Jezebel, a Sedonite princess• Their “arch-enemy” was Elijah
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Biblical portrayal of Ahab
• 1 Kings chapters 16, 18-22– Married Jezebel– Built altars to Baal and Ashera– Great famine in the land– “battle” between Elijah and Ahab and Jezebel– War with Ben-Hadad (the Aramaian)
• Idiom: אל יתהלל חוגר כמפתח
– Naboth’s vineyard• Idiom: הרצחת וגם ירשת?
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Ahab in the Bible
• Evil• Ruled by his wife• Wimp !
• The only positive detail: his repentance.
• Why? On the whole he was not a believer
Who wrote/ edited/ canonized the Bible???
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Ahab in archaeological evidence
• Powerful man• Consultative ruler• Mighty king
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Kurkh Monolith (of the battle of Qarqar)
out of 4000chariots, 2000were Ahab’s
He put aside local differencesin order to form an alliance
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Biblical portrayal of Jezebel
• Question: what would have been written if the author was a Sidonite?
• So: the hand that holds the pen, rules the world
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One does not need to lie,only to emphasize certain aspects
in order to instil prejudice
• Judges 19, as an excuse for the change of dynasty. David's scribes hold the pen
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When the Hand (i.e. the scribes)and the Head (the King, who employed them)
do not see eye to eye.
An ironic depiction of the king. (2 Samuel 11:11)
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Prose vs. poetry‘objective’ vs. ‘emotional’
Exodus 14 vs. Exodus 15
Judges 4 vs. Judges 5
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Poetry reflects emotion
• Miriam and the people mock ‘the nations’ and their fear of God’s mighty hand (Exodus 15)
• Deborah mocks Reubenites’ “discussions” if to come and help their brethren (Judges 5)
etc
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Prose: the use of subtle hints
The Bible does not use adjectives, unless it is the
cause of something which followsdoes not pass judgmentdoes not express an opinion (not directly...)
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Ways of describing without adj.
Building expectations and showing reality
See Genesis 24:
Rebecca’s kindness
Eliezer's wisdom, the first politician in the Bible: not telling the truth without an actual lie.
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The Bible does not pass judgement
Jacob disregards to “birth order”
• first, his preferential treatment of Joseph
• then his preferential blessings to Joseph’s sons: Menashe and Ephraim (he prefers Ephraim who was born after Menashe)
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If not expressing an opinion directly
How does the Bible transmit “The Message”?
By hints:This is why we have to study and keep studying it,
in order to unearth / discover “The Message”.
It is incumbent upon us to try and find these hintsby reading and re-reading carefully and attentively
(and by coming to Summer School, for example )
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Examples of how to find the “hints”
• Careful reading • Sitz im Leben (Hermann Gunkel’s suggestion)
• Intertextuality
…
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Examples of
Careful reading
1. Moses and MiriamWhat we are told What we get from "side glimpses“
2. Joseph in Pharaoh’s palace
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A modern (and important) method of reading:
Hermeneutic of suspicion:
Michal and David episode (2 Samuel 6: 20-23)
After Michal confronts David, the mighty king, and mocks him, verse 23 reads:
“…And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child until the day of her death. “
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Intertextuality
• Type scenes• Key words
unusual terms/ words such as technicolour coat
words that are "corrupt" (misspelled, mispronounced)
vayahamvayetzahek
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Acknowledgment:
We only “scratched the surface”….But time does not allow us to have more
examples
• There is so much to learn
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This course is a good start
We should have more in the future…
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Today we established that we need to read
beyond the words (beyond the narrative)
In search of The Word (the real meaning)
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So -see you tomorrow for the final lecture of the course.
Tomorrow’s lecture is about:
The Word
Thank you.
I would like to thank Jutta Schoof for editing these notes