Vol 95 (2014)

This article challenges the widespread belief that the miracle at the Sea is a cornerstone of the Exodus tradition and an essential part of the pre-priestly Exodus narrative. An analysis of the prose account in Exodus 14 suggests that its non-priestly portions are actually post-priestly and belong to a late Dtr reworking of the text. The Dtr editor stresses that YHWH takes an active part in the defeat of the Egyptians during Israel's crossing of the sea, and thus establishes the thematic focus which characterizes the reception history of this tradition throughout the Hebrew Bible.

In partial agreement with C. Berner's thesis, we grant that some essential parts of the non-priestly story of Exod 13,17–14,21 (the frame 13,17-19; 14,11-12.31; the pillar of cloud sections 13,21-22; 14,19b.20.24a?, and the songs of Moses and of Miriam 15,1-21) go back to a post-priestly late Deutero nomistic redaction. This redaction (1) combines a priestly with a pre-priestly version of the story, and (2) tries to unite the Pentateuch with the Deuteronomistic history in an 'Enneateuch'. We differ from Berner by stating that a pre-priestly core of Exod 14,5-30 does not show any Deuteronomistic features, but is dependent on pre-exilic cultic and prophetic traditions.

In Antiquities Josephus says that Herod was only fifteen-years-old when appointed strategos of Galilee in 47 BCE. This is often dismissed as scribal error and corrected to twenty-five, because it contradicts other Herodian biographical information. However, this unattested emendation does not fit the immediate context, whereas 'fifteen' does. This paper suggests that rather than a scribal error, this is a literary motif, presenting Herod as a particularly young military hero. The specific age of fifteen may have had a deeper intention, fictively linking Herod's birth to the year 63, the year of Augustus' birth and Pompey's conquest of the Temple.

The Greek terms rendered 'hold together' in Col 1,17 (sunistemi), Wis 1,7 (suneko), and Sir 43,26 (sugkeimai) do not derive from Septuagint renderings of the Hebrew Bible; instead they are terms that Second Temple Jewish and Greek Christian apologists co-opted from Hellenistic philosophy to commend 'biblical' concepts to the Graeco-Roman world. From these texts we can infer the semantic relationships of these verbs. The 'liturgical composition' in Col 1,15-20 displays a combination of biblical wisdom and co-opted philosophy.

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The main goal of this essay is to demonstrate that the author of the Letter of James knows how to reason according to the rules of arrangement then in place in the schools and elsewhere, rules that he uses with originality. His rhetoric is not Semitic: for him, Greek is not only a language or a style but also what structures the development of his thought. The choice of a chreia as the pattern of arrangement allowed him to repeat an opinion that had become common in some Christian communities and criticize it, showing that it was erroneous. By presenting this common opinion as a maxim (gnoee), he did not need to cite Paul and thereby avoided attributing to him what was only an erroneous recapitulation of his doctrine of justification.

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Among the numerous questions raised by the Book of Numbers, this article treats three of them: (1) The unique complexity of the Book of Numbers; (2) The four main types of solutions proposed by scholars, namely different versions of the documentary hypothesis; two main and three secondary redactional layers (R. Achenbach); a series of Fortschreibungen; a mere synchronic reading of Numbers; (3) The presence or absence of the Priestly Writer in Numbers.

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This article proposes that Zech 6,5 mhtxb al-adin cl-harez indicates that the heavenly chariots are sent forth in response to rebellion against the Lord. It argues that mn plus the infinitive has a causal force and that htxb al means 'to take a stand (in opposition or rebellion)' (cf. Ps 2,2) rather than 'to present oneself'. This rebellion is the antecedent of the pronominal suffix in v. 6's asr-bt, indicating the object against which the chariotry is going forth. Rather than being the narrative of a peaceful patrol, the vision indicates that God's emissaries are engaged in warfare.

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