History, Justice, and the Agency of God: A Hermeneutical and Exegetical Investigation on Isaiah and Psalms (Biblical Interpretation Series)

255 Pages·2001·11.84 MB·English

by  Christoph Onno Schroeder

HISTORY, JUSTICE, AND THE AGENCY OF GOD
BIBLICAL
INTERPRETATION
SERIES
Editors
R. ALAN CULPEPPER
ROLF RENDTORFF
Associate Editor
DAVID E. ORTON
Editorial Advisory Board
JANICE CAPEL ANDERSON • MIEKE BAL
PHYLLIS A. BIRD • ERHARD BLUM • WERNER H. KELBER
EKKEHARD STEGEMANN • ANTHONY C. THISELTON
VINCENT L. WIMBUSH • JEAN ZUMSTEIN
VOLUME 52
HISTORYJUSTICE, AND
THE AGENCY OF GOD
A Hermeneutical and Exegetical Investigation
on Isaiah and Psalms
BY
CHRISTOPH O. SCHROEDER
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON • KOLN
2001
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Schroeder, Ghristoph O. :
History, Justice, and the Agency of God : A Hermeneutical and Exegetical
Investigation on Isaiah and Psalms / by Christoph O. Schroeder - Leiden
; Boston ; Koln : Brill, 2000
(Biblical interpretation series ; Vol. 52)
ISBN 90-04-11991-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available
ISSN 0928-0731
ISBN 90 04 119914
© Copyright 2001 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Preface xi
Abbreviations xiii
PART ONE
GOD'S AGENCY IN HISTORY:
THE HERMENEUTICAL PROBLEM AND ISAIAH'S
PROPHETIC VIEW OF HISTORY
1. JUSTICE, HARMONY, AND POWER: THREE
DIFFERENT CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
OF HISTORY 3
1.1 God's Agency in Creation and History 3
1.2 Greek Historiography and its Understanding of the
Universality of History 9
1.2.1 The Human Soul as a Microcosmos in
the Physis 10
1.2.2 Culture as a Continuation of Nature 11
1.3 The Biblical Notion of the Universality of History
and the Reality of the Divine Council 13
1.4 Justice and the Agency of God 14
1.5 Conclusion 16
1.6 History as the Sequence of Facts in the Causal
Continuum 17
1.7 Thesis: The Realistic Dimension of Biblical
Experiences of History 24
1.7.1 The Universality of History and the
Finiteness of Human Reason 24
1.7.2 Realism Versus Nominalism 28
1.8 Outline of the Investigation 29
2. THE ECLIPSE OF THE BIBLICAL EXPERIENCE
OF HISTORY 33
2.1 The Romantic View of the Biblical Notion of
History 33
VI CONTENTS
2.2 The Construers of History as Its Lone Agents 34
2.2.1 The "God Who Acts" and the Biblical
Theology Movement 34
2.2.2 Critique 37
2.3 History and Kerygma: Israel's Ongoing Actualization
of Its Foundational History 39
2.3.1 Hans-Georg Gadamer's Critique of the
Historical Method 39
2.3.2 Critical History and Kerygmatic History
(Gerhard von Rad) 42
2.3.2.1 Critique 43
2.3.3 Story and History (Hans Frei) 46
2.4 Conclusion: The Limitedness of the Modern Concept
of History 47
3. TOWARD REGAINING THE UNIVERSAL DIMENSION
OF HISTORY. ISAIAH'S PROPHETIC VIEW OF
HISTORY: THE PEOPLE'S VIOLATION OF THE
TORAH, THE COMING OF THE ASSYRIANS,
AND THE "STRANGE WORK" OF YHWH 53
3.1 Recapitulation: Toward Regaining the Universal
Dimension of History 53
3.2 The Prophetic View of History: Hermeneutical
Considerations 57
3.3 History as Trial (Isaiah 1-4) 60
3.4 The People's Violation of Justice and Righteousness
(Isaiah 5) 63
3.5 Isaiah's Vision of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 6) .... 70
3.6 Isaiah's Prophetic Commission and YHWH's
"Strange Work" 72
3.7 Outlook: Isaiah's Role in the Unfolding of History 76
3.8 Intermediate Reflection: YHWH's Acting Against
Evil 78
CONTENTS Vll
PART TWO
GOD'S AGENCY IN RESPONSE TO PRAYERS: THE
PSALMIST'S CHANGE OF MOOD IN PSALMS 3, 6, AND 7
4. DIVINE ACTING AND THE PSALMIST'S CHANGE
OF MOOD FROM LAMENT TO JOY IN PSALMS
3 AND 6 83
4.1 Introduction: How Does the Psalmist's Change of
Mood from Lament to Joy Occur? 83
4.2 Methodological Issues 85
4.3 The Cultically Mediated Oracle of Salvation 87
4.3.1 The Priestly Oracle of Salvation (Joachim
Begrich) 87
4.3.2 The Ordeal at the Temple (Walter Beyerlin) 88
4.3.3 Private Piety and the Ritual Expert's Oracle
of Salvation (Erhard Gerstenberger) 89
4.4 The Temple-Theological Dynamic of Divine Absence
and Presence 90
4.5 Critique 96
4.6 The Psalmist's Dream-Oracle in Ps 3:6 100
4.7 The Petitioner's Change of Mood from Lament to
Joy in Ps 6:9-11 105
5. PSALM 7: THE PETITIONER'S APPEAL TO YHWH,
THE JUDGE, AT DAWN 109
5.1 YHWH's Acting as Judge in the Individual
Complaint Psalms 109
5.2 Psalm 7: The Psalmist's Appeal at Dawn to YHWH,
the Universal Judge in the Heavenly Height 110
5.2.1 Text and Structure 110
5.2.2 Ps 7:13-17 and the Doctrine of Retribution 113
5.2.3 The Psalmist's Appeal to the Divine Judge at
Dawn 114
6. THE THEORY OF THE JUDICIAL ORDEAL AT
THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE 121
6.1 The Cultic-Institutional Hypothesis 121
6.1.1 The Ordeal at the Temple as Israel's Supreme
Court of Justice 121
6.1.2 The Concept of the Judicial Ordeal 123
Vlll CONTENTS
6.1.3 Beyerlin's Reconstruction of the Ordeal 125
6.1.4 Individual Complaint Psalms in the Framework
of the Ordeal 126
6.1.5 The Ordeal in Light of Individual Complaint
Psalms 128
6.2 Critique: The Hypothetical Character of the Cultic
Institution 132
6.2.1 Deut 17:8-13 and 19:16-20: Instruction from
the Deuteronomic Torah 132
6.2.2 1 Kgs 8:31-32: YHWH's Acting as Judge
Through the Activation of Curses 133
6.2.3 Summary: YHWH's Acting as Judge in
1 Kgs 8:31-32 137
6.3 YHWH's Acting as Judge in the Individual
Complaint Psalms 138
6.4 Conclusion 140
7. GOD'S ACTING AS JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF
TREATY VIOLATIONS 143
7.1 An "Alliance Background" of Psalm 7? 143
7.2 The Prayer of Tukulti-Ninurta I to Shamash,
the Judge 147
7.3 Sargon's Letter to Assur Concerning his Eighth
Campaign 153
7.4 The Oath Between the Serpent and the Eagle in the
Legend of Etana 155
7.5 Conclusion 156
8. DIVINE ACTING AS JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT
OF DIVINATION 159
8.1 Introduction: YHWH's Acting in the Judicial Assembly
in Ps 7:7-12 159
8.2 The Prayer of the Diviner to Shamash, the Judge,
at Dawn 160
8.2.1 The Diviner's Preparation for His Appeal to
the Divine Court 162
8.2.2 Shamash's Presiding Over the Divine Judicial
Assembly 163
8.2.3 Excursus: The Hermeneutical Principles of
Divination 166
8.3 Conclusion 169
CONTENTS IX
9. DIVINE ACTING AS JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF
INCANTATION-RITUALS AND INDIVIDUAL
COMPLAINT PSALMS 173
9.1 Introduction: YHWH's Reversion of Evil in
Ps 7:13-17 173
9.2 Incantations to Shamash, the Judge 174
9.2.1 Namburbi-Rituals: The Procedures of
"Dissolution" of the Evil Fate Announced
by the Omens 178
9.2.2 A Namburbi-Ritual Against the Evil Announced
by the Behaviour of Dogs 180
9.3 Structural Analogies Between Incantation-Ceremonies
and Individual Complaint Psalms 184
9.3.1 Incantation-Ceremonies 184
9.3.1.1 The Petitioner's Liberation from Evil 184
9.3.1.2 The Elimination of Evil in the
Sacramental Cult 187
9.3.1.3 "May She Gnaw at Her Own Fingers
Like Cheese:" Ea's Reversion of Evil
Against its Agent 191
9.3.1.4 Maqlu 1:1-36: "Her Word is Turned
Back in Her Mouth; She is
Tongue-Tied" 195
9.3.2 Individual Complaint Psalms 198
9.3.2.1 YHWH's Reversion of Evil 198
9.3.2.2 "God Shoots the Arrow at Them"
The "Work of God" in Psalm 64 .... 200
9.3.2.3 The Universal Dimension of YHWH's
Judicial Acting 202
9.4 Conclusion 204
9.5 'Joy Comes With the Morning" (Ps 30:6): Psalms 3-7
as a Redactional Liturgical Sequence 206
9.6 The Absalom Narrative as a "Midrash" to
Psalms 3-7 209