Sage, Priest, Prophet: Religious and Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel (Library of Ancient Israel)

420 Pages·1995·1.08 MB·English

by  Joseph Blenkinsopp

Sage, Priest, Prophet : Religious and
title: Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel
Ary of Ancient Israel
author: Blenkinsopp, Joseph.
publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
isbn10 | asin: 0664219543
print isbn13: 9780664219543
ebook isbn13: 9780585342351
language: English
Leadership in the Bible, Priests, Jewish,
subject Prophets, Bible.--O.T.--Criticism,
interpretation, etc.
publication date: 1995
lcc: BS1199.L4B58 1995eb
ddc: 296.6/1/0933
Leadership in the Bible, Priests, Jewish,
subject: Prophets, Bible.--O.T.--Criticism,
interpretation, etc.
Page i
Sage, Priest, Prophet
Page ii
LIBRARY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
Douglas A. Knight, General Editor
Page iii
Sage, Priest, Prophet
Religious and Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel
Joseph Blenkinsopp
Page iv
© 1995 Joseph Blenkinsopp
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For
information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon
Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396.
Scripture quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible
are copyright 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A. and are used by permission.
Book design by Publishers' WorkGroup
Cover design by Kim Wohlenhaus
First edition
Published by Westminster John Knox Press
Louisville, Kentucky
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American
National Standards
Institute Z39.48 standard.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blenkinsopp, Joseph, date.
Sage, priest, prophet: intellectual and religious leadership in ancient
Israel / Joseph Blenkinsopp.
p. cm.(Library of ancient Israel)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes..
ISBN 0-664-21954-3 (alk. paper)
1. Leadership in the Bible. 2. Priests, Jewish. 3. Prophets. 4. Bible.
O.T.Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. II. Series.
BS1199.L4B58 1995
296.6'1'0933dc20 95-1792
Page v
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
Labels and Roles 1
The Problem of Sources 5
The Goal and Point of the Study 7
1. The Sage 9
The Intellectual Tradition in Israel and Its 9
Representatives
The Idea of Tradition 11
Ben Sira: Profile of a Jewish Intellectual in the 15
Hellenistic Period
Once Again, the Question of Sources 20
Beginnings: Creating a Moral Consensus 23
Writing in the Service of the State System 28
The Social and Moral World of the Sages at the Time of 32
Hezekiah
Scribes and Lawyers 37
Feminine Wisdom: The Return of the Repressed 41
The Impact of Events on the Tradition 48
The Job Debate: Protagonists, Issues, Outcome 51
Qoheleth: Undermining the Tradition from Within 57
Some Provisional Conclusions 64
2. The Priest 66
The Bad Repute of the Israelite Priesthood in the 66
Modern Period
Page vi
Sources 68
Early Stages 72
The Roles of the Priest 80
Zadok, Aaron, Levi 83
The Priesthood of the Second Temple 87
Priests and Levites 92
Professional Training for the Priesthood 99
Creation and Distinction: The Making of a Conceptual 101
Scheme
The Temporal Axis: Chronology and History in P 104
The Spatial Axis: Earth, Land, Temple 110
Some Provisional Conclusions 114
3. The Prophet 115
The Definitional Problem 115
Sources for the Study of Israelite Prophecy 119
Prophetic Role Labels 123
Prophecy in its Social Setting: The Earliest Stage 129
Individual Figures 130
Communal Prophecy 134
Prophets under the State System: Continuity and 138
Discontinuity
A New Kind of Intellectual Leadership? 141