Table Of ContentCollective and Individual Responsibility
Studia Semitica Neerlandica
Editor-in-Chief
Prof. dr. K. A. D. Smelik
Editorial Board
Prof. dr. P. C. Beentjes, Prof. dr. W. J. van Bekkum,
Dr. W. C. Delsman, Prof. dr. H. Gzella,
Prof. dr. J. Hofijzer, Prof. dr. J. Van Steenbergen,
Prof. dr. E. Talstra, Prof. dr. M. Tanret,
Prof. dr. K. R. Veenhof
VOLUME 53
Collective and Individual
Responsibility
A Description of Corporate Personality
in Ezekiel 18 and 20
By
Jurrien Mol
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
Tis book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mol, Jurrien.
Collective and individual responsibility : a description of corporate personality in
Ezekiel 18 and 20 / by Jurrien Mol.
p. cm. — (Studia Semitica Neerlandica, ISSN 0081-6914 ; v. 53)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17043-8 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Ezekiel XVIII, XX—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Responsibility.
3. Sociology, Biblical. I. Title. II. Series.
BS1545.52.M65 2009
224’.4066—dc22
2009017577
ISSN 0081-6914
ISBN 978 90 04 17043 8
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Te Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhof Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ vii
Abbreviations ..................................................................................... ix
Introduction ........................................................................................ 1
History of Scholarship .................................................................. 2
Toward a New Approach ............................................................. 6
Chapter One Ezekiel 18 and 20. Textual Criticism,
Philology and Grammar ............................................................... 13
Ezekiel 18—Translation ............................................................... 13
Notes on Ezekiel 18 ...................................................................... 17
Ezekiel 20—Translation ............................................................... 39
Notes on Ezekiel 20 ...................................................................... 45
Chapter Two Ezekiel 18 and 20. A Structural Analysis ........... 69
Te Structure of Ezekiel ............................................................... 70
Te Structure of Ezekiel 1–24 ..................................................... 72
Ezekiel 1–24 .................................................................................... 74
Ezekiel 18 and 20 within Ezekiel 1–24 ...................................... 76
Te Structure of Ezekiel 18 .......................................................... 78
Te Structure of Ezekiel 20 .......................................................... 87
Appendix I—Diagram 3: Synopsis Ezekiel 20:5–26 ................ 108
Appendix II—Diagram 4: Ezekiel 1–24 ..................................... 110
Chapter Tree Corporate Personality ......................................... 111
Henry Wheeler Robinson—Life and Work .............................. 111
Te Hebrew Conception of Corporate Personality ................. 114
Te Group and the Individual in Israel .................................... 121
Background and Sources of the Hypothesis of the Corporate
Personality .................................................................................. 124
Résumé ............................................................................................ 143
Chapter Four Application of the Corporate Personality ......... 145
Application by Wheeler Robinson ............................................. 145
Application by Other Scholars .................................................... 162
vi contents
Chapter Five Critique of the Corporate Personality ................ 187
Rogerson’s Discussion of the Corporate Personality .............. 190
Teories of Lévy-Bruhl ................................................................. 195
Weighing the Critique .................................................................. 198
Farewell to or Redefning of the Corporate Personality? ....... 203
Chapter Six Ezekiel 18 and 20. Collective and Individual
Responsibility ................................................................................. 209
Preliminary Matters ...................................................................... 209
Ezekiel 18 ........................................................................................ 218
Ezekiel 20 ........................................................................................ 228
Ezekiel 18 and Ezekiel 20 ............................................................. 235
Résumé ............................................................................................ 245
Corporate Personality ................................................................... 246
Conclusion .......................................................................................... 257
Bibliography ........................................................................................ 265
Index of Authors ................................................................................ 283
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Words of gratitude are due to the editorial board of Studia Semitica
Neerlandica for the invitation to publish in this series my reworked and
translated thesis of 2002, which was written in Dutch. I owe a special
word of gratitude to prof. dr. Klaas Smelik, chairman of the editorial
board, for his encouragement to persevere in fnding funds to realize
this endeavor.
Funds were provided by ‘Ridderlijke Duitsche Orde Balije van
Utrecht’ and ‘Fonds Christelijke Belangen’ for which I am grateful
beyond saying.
Special thanks I ofer to the translator dr. Martin Kessler for his
constructive way of working and to Liesbeth Kanis of Brill Publishers
for her support during the preparation of the manuscript.
Final words of gratitude I owe to Loes, Matthijs, and Tomas—my
wife and sons—for their patience with me while fnishing this project.
Soli Deo Gloria
Jurrien Mol
ABBREVIATIONS
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. 1992. Edited by D. N. Freedman.
6 vols. New York
ABS Archaeology and Biblical Studies
AnBib Analecta biblica
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ASA Association of Social Anthropologists of the Common-
wealth
ATA Alttestamentliche Abhandlungen
ATD Das Alte Testament Deutsch
ATSAT Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BAT Die Botschaf des Alten Testaments
BBB Bonner biblische Beiträge
BDB Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. 1951–1979. A
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniesium
BHK Biblia Hebraica. Edited by R. Kittel
BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
BKAT Biblischer Kommentar, Altes Testament
BN Biblische Notizen
BOT De Boeken van het Oude Testament
BST-OT Te Bible Speaks Today: Old Testament Series
BT Te Bible Translator
BWANT Beiträge zur Wissenschaf vom Alten und Neuen Testament
BZ Biblische Zeitschrif
BZAW Beihefe zur Zeitschrif für die alttestamentliche Wissen-
schaf
BZTS Bonner Zeitschrif für Teologie und Seelsorge
CahRB Cahiers de la Revue Biblique
CBET Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Teology
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
ConBOT Coniectanea biblica: Old Testament Series
