Christian Frevel

Dieses Studienbuch stellt die "Geschichte Israels" von den Anfängen bis zum Bar-Kochba-Aufstand 132-135 n. Chr. dar. Das für Exegese und Theologiestudium unverzichtbare Wissen vermittelt der Autor verständlich und vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Forschung. Er zieht für seine Darstellung alle verfügbaren Quellen heran. Exemplarisch wird aufgezeigt, wie diese Quellen zu interpretieren sind und wo die Grenzen der Rekonstruktion von Geschichte liegen. Dazu führt er in den Stand der archäologischen und historischen Forschung ein und bezieht die Ergebnisse kritisch auf die biblische Darstellung. So entsteht ein Bild der Geschichte des antiken Israel im Kontext der südlichen Levante, das manches Mal vertraut, oft aber auch frisch und unerwartet daherkommt. Für die Neuauflage wurden zahlreiche Abschnitte überarbeitet und neueste Literatur ergänzt. Der Charakter als Studienbuch wurde noch einmal methodisch reflektiert und verstärkt.

Geschichte Israels

Classical Pentateuch research mainly dealt with the books of Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy and it is only in recent decades that the literary and theological meanings of Moses' fourth book has been rediscovered. In this volume, Christian Frevel lets the interplay between narrative and legislative material - which is often not understood - emerge into new light, examining the texts of the Book of Numbers as inner-biblical interpretations and tradition-bound innovations. Cloaked in the Israelites' 40-year long sojourn in the desert, the Book of Numbers presents a tightly-woven fabric of texts which reflect the social and cultic orders, discuss questions of leadership and explore the meaning of the Promised Land to Israel's existence. The Book of Numbers is characterized in its entirety by transformations: for example, the exodus generation becomes the desert generation and leadership is transferred from Moses to Joshua, from Aaron to Eleazar. Important innovations such as the hierarchical organization of the cult, including the role of the Levites or the hereditary law concerning daughters, are cultivated within these transformations. The people's time in the desert (re)form their social frameworks and renders them sustainable for the existence in the Promised Land. Important themes such as community and cult organization, the enduring election of the Israelites, the meaning of the Promised Land for the collective identity, questions of hierarchical leadership and democratic participation, of collective guilt and individual liability, along with many other aspects, are dealt with in the texts. Without the literary traditions of the Book of Numbers, which were mostly set down around the 5th-4th centuries BCE, the formation of the Pentateuch as Torah would not have been conceivable. The studies of this volume reveal the thematic diversity of the book against a backdrop of its literary creation within the Penta- and Hexateuch.

Studies in the Book of Numbers

Desert Transformations

Christophe Nihan

Focusing on concepts, practices and images associated with purity in the ancient Mediterranean, this volume contributes new aspects to the current discussion about the forming of religious traditions, from a comparative perspective that acknowldges individual developments, mutual exchanges, as well as transcultural processes.

Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism

Der Band versammelt Studien des Autors zu aktuellen Fragen des Deuteronomistischen Geschichtswerks, der Komposition der Klaglieder, zum Monotheismus und zum Bilderverbot. Neben methodischen und hermeneutischen Aspekten werden rezeptionsgeschichtliche und theologische Themen bearbeitet. Der Band enthält Beiträge zu Texten aus allen Kanonteilen Gen 34, Ex 18; Dtn 34; Jos 23; 2 Kön 17; Ps 8; 95; 104: Klgl 1 und Klgl 3.

Christian Frevel

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