Understanding Texts in Early Judaism

Studies on Biblical, Qumranic, Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature in Memory of Géza Xeravits

József Zsengellér

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9783110768565
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Ancient Religion

This volume remembers Géza Xeravits, a well known scholar of deuterocanonical and Qumran literature.

The volume is divided into four sections according to his scholarly work and interest. Contributions in the first part deal with Old Testament and related issues (Thomas Hiecke, Stefan Beyerle, and Matthew Goff). The second section is about the Dead Sea Scrolls (John J, Collins, John Kampen, Peter Porzig, Eibert Tigchelaar, Balázs Tamási and Réka Esztári). The largest part is the forth on deuterocanonica (Beate Ego, Lucas Brum Teixeira, Fancis Macatangay, Tobias Nicklas, Maria Brutti, Calduch-Benages Nuria, Pancratius Beentjes, Benjamin Wright, Otto Mulder, Angelo Passaro, Friedrich Reiterer, Severino Bussino, Jeremy Corley and JiSeong Kwong). The third section deals with cognate literature (József Zsengellér and Karin Schöpflin). The last section about the Ancient Synagogue has the paper of Anders Kloostergaard Petersen.

Some hot topics are discussed, for example the Two spirits in Qumran, the cathegorization of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the authorship and antropology of Ben Sira, and the angelology of Vitae Prophetarum.

Part 1: Old Testament and Early Judaism

“From the Heavens, From the Earth”

Structure and Messages of Psalm 148

Thomas Hieke

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the poetic beauty of Psalm 148 becomes an ethical challenge when confronted with our contemporary problems. It uses a reader-oriented and text-centered methodology in order to describe the structure and content of this biblical text, its individual features and its typical traits shared with other texts, its context within the Psalter as well as within the Hebrew and the Greek Bible, and the messages that emerge from the process of this analytical reading. The imperative calls for praise in Psalm 148 thus become in the present time calls for respect for creation, for the entire cosmos and the ecological balance, which human beings are threatening to an unprecedented extent.

Keywords: Psalm 148, psalms, Hallel, praise of God, today’s reading,

1 Introduction

This contribution on Psalm 148¹ was composed during the global Coronavirus pandemic, which brings about so much death, suffering, and restrictions of social contacts, as well as during the ongoing climate crisis that threatens life all over the planet; it is dedicated to a friend and colleague who passed away all too early, dear Géza Xeravits, due to a horrible disease. At first sight, there seems to be no reason for praise. Weeping and lament might be more adequate instead of an exegesis of a haləlû yāh psalm of praise. Why then, for heaven’s sake, another study on Psalm 148? Why meditate on a psalm that calls the whole of creation to praise in a uniquely dense manner? The answer is simple: Because Psalm 148 changes our viewpoint, lifts our hope, challenges our way of living, and calls us to a new future. Read under today’s conditions, Psalm 148 becomes much more than a simple yet beautiful song of praise: It becomes an ethical challenge.

From a personal perspective, I have come to know Géza as a person who abounded with joy over the gifts of creation: The love for his family, good food, flavorful wine, feasting with friends after hard work examining God’s living word. Surely there were days in which praise of God was natural and appropriate. Let us remember those days when meditating on Psalm 148. But let us also remember that all the hardships are not yet all finished. As believers, we share our common hope that God granted us the creation as a cosmos for a good life, and that God will lead all creation and all of us to completion in the days to come. As scholars, we scrutinize God’s word and uncover reasons why our hope is not in vain. At the same time, however, we also discover new perspectives as well as fresh aspects and messages in God’s word that speak today. Let me share with you my thoughts about praising YHWH with Psalm 148 in the face of the crises of our days, especially the climate crisis.²

In this paper, I intend to demonstrate the poetic beauty of Psalm 148, which in turn becomes an ethical challenge when confronted with our contemporary problems. I will use a reader-oriented and text-centered methodology³ in order to describe the structure and content of this biblical text, its individual features and its typical traits shared with other texts, its context within the Psalter as well as within the Hebrew and the Greek Bible, and the messages that emerge from the process of this analytical reading. Psalm 148 contains several references to other texts, thus creating an intertextual network. “References,” in this contribution, however, denote text-text-relations that can be observed on the level of the reader; these relations are not necessarily intended by an author or editor. Likewise, the messages that Psalm 148 conveys from this analysis are certainly not entirely intended by the historical (human) author(s) of this text. If we limit a text’s message to the mere content its author packed in it, we could dismiss a biblical text like Psalm 148 as a poem of the past, a pleasant artefact within a glass showcase, but without relevance for the complexities of the current day. This is not the way believers received the biblical texts; they rather have seen and still see in them the word of the living God. Christian theologians and exegetes must reflect this process of reading in a scholarly manner in order to find valuable impulses for the problems of our time. The following analysis of Psalm 148 intends to demonstrate how the beauty of an old text (roughly two and a half millennia) challenges the contemporary way of living.

2 The Text (Hebrew, Transcription, Translation, Coherence)

2.1 Text and Versions

2.1.1 The Masoretic Text and Its Transcription

הַ֥לְלוּ יָ֨הּ׀ הַֽלְל֣וּ אֶת־יְ֭הוָה מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֑יִם הַֽ֝לְל֗וּהוּ בַּמְּרוֹמִֽים׃ הַֽלְל֥וּהוּ כָל־מַלְאָכָ֑יו הַֽ֝לְל֗וּהוּ כָּל־צְבָאוֹ׃ הַֽ֭לְלוּהוּ שֶׁ֣מֶשׁ וְיָרֵ֑חַ הַ֝לְל֗וּהוּ כָּל־כּ֥וֹכְבֵי אֽוֹר׃ הַֽ֭לְלוּהוּ שְׁמֵ֣י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְ֝הַמַּ֗יִם אֲשֶׁ֤ר׀ מֵעַ֬ל הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ יְֽ֭הַֽלְלוּ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם יְהוָ֑ה כִּ֤י ה֭וּא צִוָּ֣ה וְנִבְרָֽאוּ׃ וַיַּעֲמִידֵ֣ם לָעַ֣ד לְעוֹלָ֑ם חָק־נָ֝תַ֗ן וְלֹ֣א יַעֲבֽוֹר׃ הַֽלְל֣וּ אֶת־יְ֭הוָה מִן־הָאָ֑רֶץ תַּ֝נִּינִ֗ים וְכָל־תְּהֹמֽוֹת׃ אֵ֣שׁ וּ֭בָרָד שֶׁ֣לֶג וְקִיט֑וֹר ר֥וּחַ סְ֝עָרָ֗ה עֹשָׂ֥ה דְבָרֽוֹ׃ הֶהָרִ֥ים וְכָל־גְּבָע֑וֹת עֵ֥ץ פְּ֝רִ֗י וְכָל־אֲרָזִֽים׃ הַֽחַיָּ֥ה וְכָל־בְּהֵמָ֑ה רֶ֝֗מֶשׂ וְצִפּ֥וֹר כָּנָֽף׃ מַלְכֵי־אֶ֭רֶץ וְכָל־לְאֻמִּ֑ים שָׂ֝רִ֗ים וְכָל־שֹׁ֥פְטֵי אָֽרֶץ׃ בַּחוּרִ֥ים וְגַם־בְּתוּל֑וֹת זְ֝קֵנִ֗ים עִם־נְעָרִֽים׃ יְהַלְל֤וּ׀ אֶת־שֵׁ֬ם יְהוָ֗ה כִּֽי־נִשְׂגָּ֣ב שְׁמ֣וֹֹ עַל־אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃ לְבַדּ֑וֹ ה֝וֹד֗ו וַיָּ֤רֶם קֶ֨רֶן׀ לְעַמּ֡וֹ תְּהִלָּ֤ה לְֽכָל־חֲסִידָ֗יו לִבְנֵ֣י יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל עַֽם־קְרֹב֗וֹ הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1 haləlû yāh haləlû ʾet-YHWH min-haššāmayim haləlûhû bammərômîm 2 haləlûhû kol-malʾākāyw haləlûhû kāl-ṣəbāʾô 3 haləlûhû šemeš wəyārēaḥ hallûhû kol-kôkəbê ʾôr 4 haləlûhû šəmê haššāmāyim wəhammayim ʾăšer mēʿal haššāmāyim 5 yəhaləlû ʾet-šēm YHWH kî hûʾ ṣiwwâ wənibrāʾû 6 wayyaʿămîdēm lāʿad ləʿôlām ḥoq-nātan wəlōʾ yaʿăbôr 7 haləlû ʾet-YHWH min-hāʾāreṣ tannînîm wəkol-təhōmôt 8 ʾēš ûbārod šeleg wəqîṭôr rûaḥ səʿārâ ʿōśâ dəbārô 9 hehārîm wəkol-gəbāʿôt ʿēṣ pərî wəkol-ʾărāzîm 10 haḥayyâ wəkol-bəhēmâ remeś wəṣippôr kānāp 11 malkê-ʾereṣ wəkol-ləʾummîm śārîm wəkol-šōpəṭê ʾāreṣ 12 baḥûrîm wəgam-bətûlôt zəqēnîm ʿim-nəʿārîm 13 yəhaləlû ʾet-šēm YHWH kî-niśgāb šəmô ləbaddô hôdô ʿal-ʾereṣ wəšāmāyim 14 wayyārem qeren ləʿammô təhillâ ləkol-ḥăsîdāyw libnê yiśrāʾēl ʿam-qərōbô haləlû-yāh

2.1.2 Notes on the Hebrew Text and an English Translation

Ps 148:1, 14: The framing haləlû-yāh in v. 1 and v. 14 is not a necessary part of the psalm and perhaps arises from editorial activity. The initial haləlû-yāh is missing in the manuscript 11QPs^a (11Q5), and there is no final haləlû-yāh in the Septuagint and the Peshitta.⁴ However, due to the general character of...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface: In memoriam Géza G. Xeravits (1971–2019)
• Part 1: Old Testament and Early Judaism
• Part 2: Qumran
• Part 3: Deuterocanonica
• Part 4: Cognate Literature
• Part 5: Antique Synagogue
• Index of Modern Authors
• Index of Sources
• Index of Subjects