Opening Lecture Notes on the Old Testament

(Text: Norton)

1.  Location of Hebrews and their migrations.
    Middle Eastern map p. 2
    
2.  Note on terminology:

"Hebrews" = The descendents of Jacob / Israel up to and somewhat beyond 
        the Egyptian bondage.

"Children of Israel" or "Israel" = name for the descendants of Jacob 
        Israel throughout the time during and after the Egyptian 
        bondage. 

"Israelites" = designation for the same people after the founding of 
        the Kingdom of Israel.

"Jews" = designation of the people of Judah (later Romanized to Judea), 
        the southern Israelite kingdom which survived the Babylonian 
        Captivity. 

"Semites" =  People traditionally regarded as descendants of Shem:  the 
        Jews and Arabs.

3.  Note on early Hebrew religious practices:  Circumcision (the 
    essential mark of the Covenant), the Sabbath day, burnt animal 
    offerings (universal among ancient Near Eastern religions), dietary 
    laws.  
      
4.  Introduction to Old Testament

-- Old Testament is national epic, like Homer's or Virgil's epics. 

-- Bible is a document of faith, not a book of science or history.  
   Hebrew history is history seen through faith.  The Bible's contents
   have been selected and shaped in order to promote certain religious
   and ethical ends.

-- Consists of myth, folk tale, poetry, history, legal documents.

-- Original specificity of these texts to a particular audience.  See 
   remarks about about place names.  The authors/editors were presenting 
   old texts (or old oral tales) to a new audience. 

-- Constant tension between original folk tale material and the 
   ethical, testamentary frame that has been imposed. 

-- Purely mythic aspects:  Creation myth, explanatory myths.  E.g., 
   stories to answer questions like "Why is their suffering in the 
   world?", "Why are women subordinate to men?", "Why is childbirth 
   painful?", "Why do snakes crawl on their bellies?", and "Why are 
   there rainbows?"  Compare some of these to Kipling's "Just So" 
   stories. 

-- Theme:  Relationship of God and the Hebrew people.  (By contrast, 
   Homer's epics show no complex or extensive contact between gods and 
   humans.)  The shaping of that people.  Frye's pattern of rising and 
   falling cycles.  

-- Important characteristic:  Emphasis on the fallibility and weakness 
   of the Hebrews.  (Cf. the cleaned-up picture Americans or Soviets 
   get of their founding fathers in school history texts.)  People are 
   presented as flawed, needing discipline and guidance from God. 

-- Central Idea:  The Covenant(s) between god and Man.  Covenant = 
   Testament = Contract. 

-- Relation of God to Man:  Unambiguous communication takes and has 
   taken place.  Human beings have free will.  The main (and difficult) 
   task of humanity is to learn to be obedient to God's law.  
   Monotheistic, largely non-anthropomorphic.  Cf. Greek view:  only 
   enigmatic, indirect communication possible, hence no clear-cut 
   divine law; idea of free will complicated by more deterministic idea 
   of fate; polytheistic and highly anthropomorphic. 

5.  Consciousness of the Old Testament centers on the Exodus as the 
    representative act of Providence.  The importance of remebering 
    this event and ones like it leads to an obsession with history and 
    with historical chronicling.   Historical conciousness means both 
    an awareness of origins and a sense of destiny, with both rooted in 
    an ongoing dialogue/dialectic between Man and God.  This is the 
    distinctive aspect of Judaism, and even more so, of Christianity; 
    other religions lack such an emphasis on historic time.   

6.  The Documentary Hypothesis:

    The Pentateuch is a compilation of four identifiable documents: 

        J -- the Jahwist (Yahwist) document (ca. 10th cent. BCE)        
        E -- the Elohist document (ca. 10th cent. BCE)        
        D -- the Deuteronomist document (ca. 8th cent. BCE)
        P -- the Priestly document (ca. 5th cent. BCE)

J:   -- Usually refers to God as "YHWH" ("Yahweh," translated in the 
        King James version of the Bible as "The Lord" or occasionally 
        "Jehovah"). 
     -- God a human-like figure who speaks to humans directly.
     -- Master of story-telling.
     -- Moral questions less important than a good story.
     -- Not given to theological speculation.
     -- Intent on demonstrating Israel's right to occupy the Promised 
        Land. 
     -- Retains polytheistic elements from the folk tale sources (as in 
        the Eden story)  

E:   -- Usually refers to God as "Elohim" ("God" or "gods" in Hebrew) 
     -- Also a colorful story-teller.
     -- Tends to mitigate the ethical problems posed by the source 
        folktales.  
     -- Presents God as a more remote, less human figure.
                       
(J and E are sometimes refered to jointly as JE).


P:   -- Possibly the editor of J and E into one narrative.
     -- Relatively dry, flat narrative style.
     -- Provides genealogical lists and compilations of ritual law.
     -- Like E, treats God as non-anthropomorphic.

D:   -- Author of Deutoronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.
     -- Distinctive hortatory style and vocabulary.

The oldest elements in the Old Testament are thought to be the poetry 
and the legal codes. 

7.  Outline of the Torah / Pentateuch

     A.  Primeval history.
     B.  Patriarchal narratives.
     C.  Egyptian bondage and exodus.
     D.  Revelation and Covenant at Mt. Sinai.
     E.  Wandering in the Wilderness.
     F.  Various legal codes scattered throughout the narrative.


8.  Main Themes of the Pentateuch selections:

    -- In Genesis:  
           1.  Reconciliation of enemies.  
           2.  Faith.

    --  In the Exodus story:  
           1.  Providence vs. Faithlessness.  God provides for his 
               people in exchange for their self-discipline and 
               obedience to his law.  These are the terms of the 
               Covenant.  If the terms are observed, the people will be 
               blessed; if they are broken, the people will be cursed.  
               God directly reward good behavior and punishes evil 
               behavior.  
           2.  Process of Transformation.  The Children of Israel must 
               undergo a long, arduous learning process before they are 
               ready to live by God's law and enter the Promised Land.  
               Moses' own growth in stature and consciousness follows 
               the same patter.  People must struggle and learn in 
               order to be different from the other peoples of the 
               earth. 

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MISCELLANEOUS:

Jacob a "trickster hero" comparable to Br'er Rabbit or Odysseus.

Ordering elements in Hebrew lyric poetry:  Parallelism of thought and 
imagery, along with a loose rhythm consisting of equal numbers of 
stresses for the two halves of each parallel structure. 

"Job" is a direct assualt on the traditional Hebrew view of the 
relationship of God and Man.  Hebrew "musar" = belief that God rewards 
the good on earth and punishes the wicked.  This is the theme of all
the historical narratives in the Old Testament, and of the prophets.  
"Job" attacks this notion as simplistic wishful thinking.