Table Of ContentOLD TESTAMENT
THEOLOGY
IN
OUTLINE
This page intentionally left blank
OLD TESTAMENT
THEOLOGY
IN
OUTLINE
by
Walther Zimmerli
Translated by
David E. Green
T&T CLARK
EDINBURGH
To the University of Strassburg,
with which I am now associated as a
Docteur de I'Universite de Strasbourg h. c.,
I gratefully dedicate this book.
Copyright © John Knox Press, 1978
Authorised English translation of Grundriss der altmtamentlichen Theolagie,
© Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1972
Originally published in the United States of America by
John Knox Press
100 Witherspoon St, Louisville
Kentucky 40202-1396
This edition published under licence from John Knox Press by
T&T Clark Ltd
59 George Street
Edinburgh EH2 2LQ
Scotland
www.tandtclark.co.uk
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval sysrem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of T&T Clark Ltd.
First published 1978
Latest impression 2000
ISBN 0 567 22353 1
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Page Brothers, Norwich
Abbreviations
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Edited by J. B. Prit-
chard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950.
AOT2 Altorientalische Texle. 2d ed. Edited by Hugo Gressmann. Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 1926.
ARM Archives royales de Mart, Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1950ff.
HO Handbucb der Onentalistik. Edited by Bertold Spuler. Leiden: Brill, 1948ff.
KAI Kanaanaische and aramaische Inscbriften. Edited by Herbert Donner and Wolf-
gang Rollig. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1968-71.
MT masoretic text
pi piel
TGI Textbucb zur Geschichte Israels, Edited by Kurt Galling. Tubingen: Mohr, 1950.
Contents
Preface 10
Purpose and Scope 12
Approach 13
I. Fundamentals 17
§1 The Revealed Name 17
§2 Yahweh, God of Israel since Egypt 21
§ 3 Yahweh, God of the Fathers: The Promise 27
§4 Yahweh, Creator and King 32
§5 The Election of Israel 43
§6 Yahweh, God of Sinai: Covenant and Commandment 48
II. The Gifts Bestowed by Yahweh 59
§7 War and Victory 59
§8 The Land and Its Blessings 64
§9 The Gift of God's Presence 70
§ 10 Charismata of Leadership and Instruction 81
a) Moses and Joshua 81
b) Judge and Nazirite 83
c) The King 86
d) Priest 93
e) Prophet 99
0 Wise Man 107
III. Yahweh's Commandment 109
§11 The Location, Terminology, and Nature
of the Commandments 109
§ 12 The First Commandment 115
Contents 9
§13 The Prohibition against Images (and against Misusing the
Name of God) 120
§14 Liturgical and Ritual Commandments 125
§15 Yahweh's Commandments Governing Social Relationships
and Property 133
IV. Life before God 141
§16 The Response of Obedience 141
§17 Israel's Sacrificial Worship: Praise of Yahweh
and Cry for Help 148
§18 Mastery of Everyday Life and Its Concrete Secrets (Wisdom) 155
V. Crisis and Hope 167
§19 Humanity between Judgment and Salvation (Primal History) 167
§20 The Crisis of Israel in the Historical Narratives 174
§21 Judgment and Salvation in the Preaching of the Great Literary
Prophets 183
a) Literary Prophecy of the Eighth Century 183
b) Prophecy at the Beginning of the Exile 200
c) Late Exilic and Postexilic Prophecy 215
§22 Old Testament Apocalypticism 227
§23 The Openness of the Old Testament Message 238
General Index 241
Index of Hebrew Words 244
Index of Bible Passages 246
Preface
Any "Old Testament theology in outline" must do two things. It must deal
with the most important narrative complexes of the Old Testament. At the
same time, it must lead readers to bring together in their own minds the
diverse statements the Old Testament makes about God, who wishes to be
known not as a manifold God but as the one Yahweh. The limited compass
of an "outline" imposes an unpleasant burden on both purposes. It is neces-
sary to be selective. No selection will gain universal approval. Certain things
must be emphasized when one thinks one has found a statement of essential
points. This emphasis unavoidably presupposes a certain overall understand-
ing of the Old Testament not shared by all. The present "outline," which the
author would like to see followed by a more exhaustive presentation of Old
Testament theology as a whole, presupposes that in Old Testament prophecy
the confrontation between Yahweh and his people Israel achieves its radical
depths, revealing not only the fundamental nature of the God of Israel, to
whom the Old Testament bears witness even where the explicit term "God
of Israel" recedes into the background, but also revealing the fundamental
nature of humanity's encounter with this God.
It is not the purpose of this "outline" to talk "about" the Old Testament,
but to bring to the fore what the Old Testament itself has to say. It is therefore
crucially important that those who use this book keep an open Old Testament
handy, read for themselves the texts under discussion, compare the texts
(cited very selectively) originating elsewhere in the ancient Near East, and
if possible make use of a Hebrew lexicon as well. In order to introduce the
reader unacquainted with Hebrew to the Hebrew conceptuality in its He-
brew dress, the (unvocalized) Hebrew words have also been cited in translit-
eration. As a rule, only the consonants of the Hebrew roots themselves are
given. Proper names follow the Revised Standard Version Bible.
The bibliographies presented a problem, since completeness was totally
out of the question. I decided to cite works in the following four categories:
(1) Certain classic monographs that must be taken into account by anyone
concerned to understand what the Old Testament says (such as those of
Gunkel, Mowinckel, Noth, von Rad, etc.). (2) Articles and monographs in
which more extensive bibliographies give the reader access to more complete
Preface 11
information. Among works in this category, the first volume of the Theologi-
sches Handwdrterbuch zum Allen Testament (THAT) and the first four fascicles
of the Theologisches Wiirterbuch zum Alien Testament (ThWAT, vol. 1, cols.
1-512) were available to me before completion of the manuscript. (3) More
specialized articles or monographs mentioned in the text. (4) A few articles
and monographs containing a fuller discussion of statements that often could
only be stated thetically within the limited compass of an "outline," without
a detailed analysis of other views. At the end of each section, works are cited
in the order they are mentioned in the text. Reasons of space also precluded
explicit reference at every point to the more recent presentations of the
theology of the Old Testament, as well as citations of the standard commen-
taries. The informed reader will probably realize how much the present
outline owes to them, and above all how much it is the outgrowth of constant
dialogue, in both agreement and disagreement, with Gerhard von Rad's Old
Testament Theology, from which much has been learned with gratitude.
The reader is presumed to be familiar with the problems dealt with in
introductory studies and in the history of Israel, since these disciplines are
dealt with in other volumes of the series in which this work was originally
published.
The distinction of Deuteronomy (found in the book by the same name),
the deuteronomist (found in the Deuteronomistic History), and the more
general deuteronomistic literature, representing a broader intellectual mi-
lieu, is a thorny problem. They have been distinguished according to the
author's best judgment, albeit not to his complete satisfaction.
I dedicate this summary outline in gratitude to the University of Strass-
burg, whose Old Testament scholar Edmond Jacob has given us a more
detailed presentation of the Themes essentiels d'une Theologie de I'Anden Testa-
ment. The association I have always had with Strassburg through my mother
has been vitalized by their academic recognition.
I wish to thank Dr. Christian Jeremias for his assistance in reading the
proofs and Siegmund Bohmer for preparing the index of passages.
Gottingen, end of July 1972 W. ZIMMERLI
The text of the first edition has been reviewed once more; a few changes have
been made, and some additional bibliographical references have been added.
Besides some minor additions, a passage has been added on the theology of
the Chronicler (p. 182). The chapter dealing with Old Testament apocalypti-
cism (§22) has been almost totally rewritten.
Gottingen, beginning of March 1975 W. ZIMMERLI
