Chapter 1

Jewish Bible -- Tanak or (Tanakh)

the Jewish bible can be divided into three large parts

cannonized in this order

1st Torah -- Laws -- people of Jewish faith would give preference to this book

sometimes called the Pentateuch. this includes the first five books of the bible:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

2nd Nav� im -- Prophets -- Christians would put more emphasis on these books

3rd Ketuvim-- Writings --

New testament, gospels, epistles, Mathew mark Luke John..

100-110 ce Gospels 200 ce epistles

C.E. Common Era

B.C.E. Before Common Era

ORAL TORAH was passed on by Rabi�s

200ce mishnah compilations of writing about rubinic judisim

500ce talmudim

Cannon normative books in the old testament offically recognized by the Jewish community to have authority above all other writings

three important tests: date of authorship, language, and usage of Jewish

the rabbis officialy recognized and set, a group of scriptures that was popularly accepted and already in use. protestants followed the jewish tradition when choosing their books

Masoretes families of Jewish scholars who collected and catalogued errors found in the Hebrew bible and added vowels and accents to the text. They produced the standard form of the Hebrew text known as the Masorite tradition

Sopherim - scribes later became known as masorites

unpointed hebrew-- w/ out vowels

Ruach spirit, wind

Historical Criticism attempts to fully realize the context of the situation in which biblical events were composed and occurred. source , form and redaction criticism are all tools of historical criticism

Source Criticism attempts to discover written sources from behind the text in the form in which it suggest how these sources became part of larger units.

Form Criitcism focuses on the smaller units that make up larger texts, especially in the oral or preliterary stage of the text.

Gener brach or type of literature

Redaction Criticism focuses on the final stage in the formation of a biblical unit or book. is concerned with the theological intentions of the editor as demonstrated in the way the different sources are grouped and expanded upon.

Creation ex nihilo: god created everything

exegesis reading to find meaning

eisegesis reading with predetermined meaning and attempting to apply to the text

Mesopotaqmiea: geographic reigon

Palestine linked two great areas became center for communication, trade, and conquest

Chapter 2

Be ABLE TO IDENTIFY:

The Fertile Cresent fertile areas of palestine with mesapotamiaea and egypt

know map

Tigris and Euphrataes Rivers

Mesopotamia

Babylonia

Palestine

Sinai

Egypt and the Nile river

Bet �av/ em �father�s house / mother�s house� = family household, lineage

Mispacha lineage or miximal lineage

Sevet tribe

the hermaneutical circle process of considering alternative readings of the text and applying them to a larger understanding of the text. repaeted questioning and searching

Chapter 4/5

Yahweh=YHWH=Lord in the NRSV translation (used in J sections)

Elohim=God (can also be �god� or �gods�) used in P sections---priestly version does not begin use of the name of god until anfter it is formally revealed

Preistly god-- transcendant, untouchable

J god-- humanistic, touchable

Supplementary hypothesis j main editor, others supplemental

Traditional Hypothesis material of different types was collected according to theme and arranged be editor, D ?

Authorship work of one genusis

Literary Criticism literature evolved over time

Documentary Hypothesis know that this view developed in 18-19c. CE, believes the pentateuch to be composed of four indepentent documents, or sources. now the letter designating each source, what letter represented, and the order in which the four sources were believed to have been composed.

know 1. J, the Yawist

this 2. E the Elohist many do not believe in at all

order 3. D the deuteronomist

4. P the priestly source

Primevil History--- before recorded history (Gen 1-11)

Ancestral History (12-50)

Myth: a specalized kind of metaphor, a story about the past that embodies and expresses truths about a people�s traditional culture

Atrahasis myth ---a bablyonian text that tells of the beginnings of humanity, problems arising after the creation, the near destruction of humanity by flood, and its recreation after the flood. corresponds partially to the story of Noah and the flood

Historie Vs. Geschichte

etiolology--- the science or cause of origins

adam--human/humankind

adamah--ground soil

Sabbath-- day of rest, holy day on which the Lord rested after creating the earth

cosmology an orderlt discription of the structure of created order three tiered model with water ia the sky and below the land

Enuma Elish best known creation myth outside the bible. recited every year as part of a festival in Babylon. tells of the birth of gods and the creation of humankind

Marduk babylon�s chief male diety

Man/ ish ,

Woman/ ishah

Pages 138-148

�the brother problem� a repeated theme in the bible of conflict between siblings

Cain, qanah --- create, acquire (note anti-urban bias of cain as city builder)

Abel, hevel vapor, nothingnes

Epic of Gilgamesh, babylonian flood story similar to genesis

Gilgamesh the hero of the story (out to achieve immortality)

Utnapishtim equivalent to Noah in the story

Chiasm in a chiasm the first item matches the last, the 2nd the next to last and soon. the flood story in genesis is considered to be a chiasm

Know the names of Noah and his three sons.

Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Note the Anti urban bias of the Tower of Babel Story

man was united and building great towers and a city, so god looked down and confused their language and they scatteded like the wind.

Chapter 6

(153-174)

Ancestral Traditions (Gen 12-50)

three themes gen

conflict personal/social

Faith/doubt

Promise

wife/is my sister stories

General Date for the ancestral period--- 2000- 1700 BCE

Nuzi Archives 15th BCE

Mari Archives 18th BCE

Dimorphic Society--- abraham and jacob moved their flocks not as nomads, but as herders who relocated with the change of seasons. they also associated with towns.

Saga dramatic and traditional story of heroic adventures ecpecially of a prominent family. : often serve as expressions of the curtral identity of a people. genesis was originally composed of many unrelated sagas.

Haran translates into two different words: the name of abraham�s brother and Haran the town. the town is unusual in it�s self because there is confusion about why they passed through there on their way to Cannan from Ur. (that would have been out of the way)

Abraham and Sarah Cycle (Gen 11-25)

Abraham father of multitudes /Abram exalted father

Sarah both mean princess/Sarai god changed their names to symbolize his covenant

covenants renewed--- circumcision/name change

Lot abraham�s brother, must split land too many cattle

Hagar slave to sarah, forced to have abraham�s child--Ishmael, runs away, and is eventually thrown out. god comes to her twice in the wilderness. her son fathers an entire people

Womanist interp is from the prespective of people of color

Feminist more general

Ishmael �God Hears� son of abraham and maid, god heard his cries in the wilderness promised he would be the father of a nation

Isaac �laughter� legitimate son of abraham given to him at a very old age. almost sacrificed by his father. father of iasrael

Aqeda

Midrash name for specific jewish commentary comments on the Torah(Law)

Tamuld commentaries on the Midrash�s commentary

Laben-- father of rachel and Laeh

(174-183)

Jacob �heel� �he takes by the heel� �he supplants� Israel

later his name is changed to Iasrael, he is a trickster; takes his brothers inheritance by trickery. moraly failures of God�s chosen people.

Esau older brother of jacob whom jacob steals the blessing from

Rebekah non passive wife of Issaic and mother of Jacob and Essau

Trickster figure in mythology, see class notes.

Jacob Cycle, Gen 25-36

Rachel and Leah jacob wanted rachel, worked 7 years, got leah, 7 more... their father was a trickster also

Abraham Cycle/vertical viewpoint/God�s promis vs. Jacob cycle /horizontal viewpoint/ blessing

abraham wants to father a great people

Jacob wants a blessing for himself

Chiasm pattern used in the Jacobean narrative that unfolds to a pivotal point and then unfolds again in a symmecteical pattern.

Type scene (know def and ex.) common scenes that are reused by the narrator as stock elements Ex.. (birth of a hero to a childless mother, encounter with future wife at a well. hero pretends his wife is his sister.

theophany a moving direct encounter with God

Know the locations and general plots of the two theophonies in the Jacob cycle

1 jacob running from Essau, alone in a �certain place� dreams of ladder or stair case to heaven. god renews promise. jacob names place bethel.

2 preparing to meet Essau and 400 men, alone by river, wrestles, demands blesssing struck at hip, maybe god. renamed Israel

Bethel/ �House of God� jacob names place of second theophony after this

Jabbok River=Peniel/ �face of God� (not in frick)

(abraham and sarah)--(Issaic and rebecca)--(Jacob Rachel, Leah)--(Joseph)--

(moses and zippora)--(aaron

Rape of Dinah

(183-191)

Joseph novella, Gen 37-50:

narrative in novel form, mostly by J gives continuous narrative

Joseph, son of jacob, sold into slavery by brothers, rules egypt

Potiphar and his wife makes joseph estate manager, his wife falesly acccuses him of rape

Judah, son of jaccob, his son marries tamar

Tamar her husband dies, given others through levite marge, finally tricks Judah into sleeping with her

Levirate marriage tradition of letting other son marry widdow of brother who has not had children, the children were to be the deceased so as to carry on the line

Know general plot movements of the Joseph story

Joesph and his brothers conflict

joseph gains favor in egypt

joseph reconciles with brothers

CHAPTER 7

(195-222)

Know the 3 options for Exodus as a historical event:

Thirteenth century BCE most support

Fifteenth century BCE

the data doesn�t support a particular date

ola (h) an offering that is reduced entirely to ashes

Mernepath Stele used to support 15th BCE, egyptian inscription: first mention of Israel out side of the bible

Know the two interrelated themes of exodous and the chapters corresponding to each: liberationfrom the opression of Egypt what god has done (1-15)

covenent at Sinai how people should respond (16-40)

�the Asian mode of production�

Moses/ moshe= Heb. mashah/ �extracted� or �drawn from� or Egyptian mesul/ �to beget a child�

Midian desert area where moses lived as a foreigner after killing

Gershom= ger+sham �stranger there�

Know the six parts of the call scene

1 theophany

2 introductory word

3 god calls the prophet to preform a task

4 prophet objects and resists

5 god responds, repeats call, and reassures prophet

6 a confirming sign is fore told

Yaweh, from hyh, �to be/become� , so ehyeh asher ehyeh, �I am who I am�, �I am [the one] who is � or �I will be who I will be�

Zipporah moses wife saves him from god, assertive daughter of a priest

Aaron son of moses

Passover/ pesach, fro Heb. �protect� 7-8 day festival, no yeast

first born of every ine in egypt was to be killed jews marked doors to pervent death in thier familys

yam suf/ Sea of Reeds parted by god so that moses could cross, KJV translates incorrectly as red

Song of Moses (ex 15:1-18)

Miriam moses�s sister, who helped emphasize the role of women

(242-246)

know parts of �exodous paradigm�

god is aware of the struggle

god takes sides

sides with the powerless

gor brings liberation

note difference between �the Genesis path and �the exodous revloution�

Gen family conflict-- first born/ brothers resolution opposite of natural flow of history peace eventually is restored between sides

Exo they had to leave, couldn�t resolve conflict.. revolution/ liberation

Two themes of Exodous liberation (1-15)

covenant at siani (16-44)

Chapter 8

Joshua

Jerico: first city to be conquered in Joshua account

Know the books that make up the deuterominic history

Joshua

Judges

1 and 2 Samuel

1 and 2 Kings

The three models for israel�s entry into land

Conquest model: Joshua defeats entire land, leaves almost no one tribes work together

Immigration Model: Land alotted then conquered, tribes work seperately and unsucessfully

Social revolution model

Polytheism belief system that worships several gods

Monolatry emphasizes dominant allegiance to one god with out denying the existence of others

Syncertism incorporation of practices of other religions to fit your beliefs

Segmented society term describing a society in which there is on central authority, instead there are many groups of equal political standing that ork together

Acephalous not organized around a center