Old Testament Theology, Volume II

A Commentary

Horst Dietrich Preuss

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 1996
• Print ISBN:
  9780664228002
• eBook ISBN:
  9781611645132
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

In this work, a part of the Old Testament Library series, Horst Preuss provides a comprehensive analysis of the theology of the Old Testament. He focuses on a detailed assessment of Israel's responses to God's acts of election and covenant with them as a people.

The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

NOTES

Chapter 6. The Narratives about the Ancestors

1. [Part Three.] For the theological significance of the land, see Vol. I, pp. 117–128. For the question of the so-called conquest, i.e., the settlement of various groups in different ways and in several infiltrations, see the descriptions of the histories of Israel (H. Donner; A. H. J. Gunneweg; and that of S. Herrmann, A History of Israel in Old Testament Times, rev. ed., Philadelphia, 1981); and the literature cited in Vol. I, p. 306 n. 570.

2. [Part Three.] For the problem of the “Canaanites,” see Vol. I, p. 342 n. 668, as well as below, pp. 8–9, and the index.

3. Above all, see K. Galling, Die Erwählungstraditionen Israels, 1928 (BZAW 48), 27–56; A. Alt, Der Gott der Väter, 1929 (= KS 1, 1ff.); V. Maag, “Der Hirte Israels,” SThU 28, 1958, 2–28 (= Kultur, Kulturkontakt und Religion, 1980, 111ff.); C. Westermann, “Arten der Erzählung in der Genesis,” TB 24, 1964, 9–91 (= Die Verheissungen an die Väter, 1976, 9ff.); H. Weidmann, Die Patriarchen und ihre Religion im Licht der Forschung seit J. Wellhausen, 1968 (FRLANT 94); H. D. Preuss, … ich will mit dir sein!” ZAW 80, 1968, 139–173; R. E. Clements,

ThWAT 1, cols. 53–62; J. Scharbert, “Patriarchentradition und Patriarchenreligion,” VuF 19/2, 1974, 2–22; C. Westermann, Genesis 12–36: A Commentary, Minneapolis, 1985 (CC); idem, Die Verheissungen an die Väter, 1976 (FRLANT 116); S. Terrien, The Elusive Presence, New York, 1978, 63ff.; R. Martin-Achard, “Abraham. I: A. T.,” TRE 1, 364–372; E. Blum, Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, 1984 (WMANT 57); H.-J. Zobel,

, ja‘ăqō(ô)b,” ThWAT 3, cols. 752–777; R. Albertz, “Isaak. I: A. T.,” TRE 16, 292–296; H.-J. Zobel, “Jakob/Jakobsegen. I. A. T.,” TRE 16, 461–466; W. Thiel, “Geschichtliche und soziale Probleme der Erzvater-Überlieferungen,” Theologische Versuche 14, 1985, 11–27; M. Kodiert, Vätergott und Väterverheissungen, 1988 (FRLANT 142); H. Cazelles, “Der persönliche Gott Abrahams und der Gott des Volkes Israel,” in R. Mosis and L. Ruppert, eds., Der Weg zum Menschen, FS A. Deissler, 1989, 46–61; M. Görg, ed., Die Väter Israels, FS J. Scharbert, 1989; P. Weimar, “Abraham,” NBL 1, cols. 14–21; K. Berge, Die Zeit des Jahwisten, 1990 (BZAW 186). Cf. also G. von Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol. 1: The Theology of Israel’s Historical Traditions, New York, 1985, 165–187; A. Deissler, Die Grundbotschaft des Alten Testaments: Ein theologischer Durchblick, 1972, 61ff.; W. Zimmerli, Old Testament Theology in Outline, Atlanta, 1978, 18–21.

4. Similarly, cf. in this regard the “court style,” psalms, the legend of the primeval flood, wisdom literature, etc.

5. Cf. Vol. I, pp. 52–53.

6. For the history of interpretation, cf. C. Westermann, Genesis 12–36; and M. Köchert, Vätergott und Väterverheissungen, 13ff.

7. For this, see W. Schatz, Genesis 14: Eine Untersuchung, 1972. Cf. also C. Westermann, Genesis 12–36, 182–208; and E. Blum Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, 462ff. n. 5.

8. For the critical scrutiny of the texts that are often called upon in this regard, see W. Thiel, “Geschichtliche und soziale Probleme, as well as J. H. Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural Context, Grand Rapids, 1989, 49–58.

9. For this, see J. Scharbert, “Patriarchentradition”; C. Westermann, Genesis 12–36, 67–70. He presents here a table that points to a latitude of dating the ancestors, ranging from 2200 B.C.E. to 1200 B.C.E.! A concisely stated view of this matter is found in E. Blum, Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, 491f.

10. However, even E. Blum (Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, 504), who is rather critical in this regard, comes to the conclusion: “It appears to me for several reasons … to be most probable that a historical recollection of the origins of Israel in the nonsettlement groups has made an impact on this stream of the tradition.” Cf. also the still more critical position of M. Köchert, Vätergott und Väterverheissungen.

11. Cf. C. Westermann, Genesis 12–36, 84–86.

12. See below, pp. 5–9.

13. The personal names of the Abram genealogy in Gen. 11:27ff. (also vv. 22ff.), e.g., are found also as place-names in this area (cf. ThWAT 1, col. 365; and S. Herrmann, Geschichte Israels, 2d ed., 1980, 66ff.).

14. Cf. W. Thiel, Die soziale Entwicklung Israels in vorstaatlicher Zeit, 2d ed., 1985, 31ff.

15. Cf. M. Köchert, Vätergott und Väterverheissungen, 115ff.

16. In this passage, how is Jacob’s living in tents related to his being a “wholesome man” (

= ’îš tām)?

17. Forty-five times in Genesis 12–25 the root

= hlk (“go, walk”) occurs. Cf. H. Gross, “hālak in den Abraham-Geschichten,” in FS J. Scharbert, 73–82.

18. The various listings of possessions “presuppose not nomadic but rather settled associations” (W. Thiel, Die soziale Entwicklung Israels in vorstaatlicher Zeit, 32).

19. Cf. Vol. I, p. 122; and below, pp. 14–15.

20. A critique of the theses of a pre-Israelite traditions history of the ancestral traditions is found in E. Blum, Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, 491ff.

21. Thus, e.g., M. Noth and G. von Rad.

22. Cf. the certainly critical examination of this thesis by M. Köchert, Vätergott und Väterverheissungen, passim. A counter critique has been offered by L. Schmidt, “Ein radikale Kritik an der Hypothese von Vätergott und Väterverheissungen,” ThR 54, 1989, 415–421.

23. A. Alt, Der Gott der Väter (=KS 1, 66).

24. Cf., however, the reflections of H...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Part Three. The Consequences of and Further Thinking About Primal Election: Additional Objects of the Historical, Electing Acts of YHWH
• Part Four. The Results and Consequences of Election Experienced in History
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• English Translations of Selected German and French Books
• Index of Hebrew Words
• Select Index of Biblical Citations
• Index of Subjects