Seek and Read

The Torah and Its Themes

James M. Kennedy — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:40:51 +0000

Who knows where this blog will lead? I’m going to start it by asking the basic question: “What is the Torah all about?” It seems to me that there is no simple answer. On the one hand, the reader could say, “It’s about God–the Creator–and about God’s relationship with Israel,” which would be true but that leaves aside the question of the rest of humankind. After all, the Torah does not begin with a story about how God created Israel; that doesn’t arise until Exodus 14 and after; it begins with a narrative about God creating the entire cosmos and then assigning humankind to be its caretakers. So, we might then say that the Torah is about God, creation, and humankind, which would be true–but then that way of putting the issue doesn’t say much about Israel. So, I’ll try putting it this way: The Torah is about God–the Creator–and God’s relationship with humankind and Israel.
The Judahites of 587 BCE feared that God had either lost control of the cosmos or that God had abandoned them, and by extension, the cosmos they lived in. Either way, the Judahites faced the possibility that the universe was about to return to primeval chaos. If the Torah began to emerge and develop into what we now have, in part, as a response to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, then the Torah must have some thematic purpose that relates primarily to a theology of creation. That the Torah, therefore, begins with creation accounts is not because that seems the most likely place to begin, but because the creation accounts provide the initial thematic key to interpreting the Torah, namely, that God is Creator. That is why I framed my initial question above by including the qualifier “—the Creator—“ after referring to God. The “primacy effect” has the task of keeping this one single theological datum on the reader’s mind throughout the Torah.
Given all this, the Torah is nevertheless a complicated narrative—and a long one. Its length and complexity seems to belie the simplicity of the general comment that The Torah is about God–the Creator–and God’s relationship with humankind and Israel. However, I’m going to go with this as a guide, not as an iron-clad template to force on the narrative, but as a way of shaping or toning my thinking about more specific themes. The Torah is, thus, bubbling with a variety of what one might call secondary themes such as fertility (Sarah and Rachel cannot bear children), sibling rivalry (Abel and Cain, Jacob and Esau), Israel’s/Jacob’s relationship with the Canaanites (the enigmatic story of Dinah and the Shechemites). The theme of blessing is sewn into the narrative beginning in Gen. 1:28 and running through Gen.12:1-3; 26:4; 28:14; 30:29, 30 et. al. Readers might also think of the narratives that portray Israel as complaining (Exodus 16:2; Numbers 20:3, 4) as relating to the theme of human intransigency in the face of divine provision. The diffusion of sub-themes testifies to the Torah’s concern to be relevant in every human situation.
There is a glaring omission of a theme in the above comments and that is the theme of covenant. The Sinai Covenant takes up more space in the Torah than do the stories of creation. The material in Exodus 20-Numbers 10 is a huge chunk of text that sets forth the stipulations of the covenant. By virtue of the sheer amount of space the Torah gives to the Sinai Covenant, would not it be more to the point to say that the Torah is about the Covenant God—Yahweh–and Israel as opposed to saying that the Torah is about God–the Creator–and God’s relationship with humankind and Israel? Does the Sinai Covenant subordinate creation as the over-arching theme of the Torah? Or could it be the other way around? Which is more important for determining theme: the amount of space a narrative gives to a certain component or the sequence in which the components are arranged? You can guess how I would answer that question.

The Author

James M. Kennedy — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:42:45 +0000

Education
•Drew University 1984-1986 Ph. D. Biblical Studies
•Drew University 1981-1984 M. Phil. Biblical Studies
•Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 1974-1977 M. Div.
•Palm Beach Atlantic College 1970-1974 B. A. Religion

Current Employment
Associate Professor of Religion, Department of Religion, Baylor University, 1986-present.

Publications
“The Root G‘R in the Light of Semantic Analysis,” Journal of Biblical Literature 106 (1987): 47-64.

“The Social Background of Early Israel’s Rejection of Cultic Images: A Proposal,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 17 (1987): 138-144.

“Peasants in Revolt: Political Allegory in Genesis 2-3,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 47 (1990): 3-14.

“Hebrew pithon peh in the Book of Ezekiel,” Vetus Testamentum 41/2 (1991): 233-235.

“Anub, Azel, Berechiah, Besodeiah,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 1, A-C. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

“Izrahiah,” “Joiaim,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 3, H-J. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

“Meshullam,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 4, K-N. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

“Obadiah,” “Raddai,” “Ram,” “Resheph,” “Rinnah,” “Shaphan,” “Shimeathites,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 5, O-Sh. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

“Telah,” “Zaham,” “Zetham,” “Zimmah,” Vol. 6, Si-Z. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

“Yahweh’s Strongman? The Characterization of Hezekiah in the Book of Isaiah,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 31 (2004): 383-397.

“Psalm 29 as Semiotic System: A Linguistic Reading,” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9/12 (2009) http://www.jhsonline.org

“Consider the Source: A Reading of the Servant’s Identity and Task in Isaiah 42,” in The Desert Will Bloom: Poetic Visions in Isaiah. SBL Ancient Israel and Its Literature. Edited by A. Joseph Everson and Hyun Chun Paul Kim. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009. Pages 181-196.

Some Propositions Concerning the Purpose and Background of the Book of Isaiah (BI)

James M. Kennedy — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:29:17 +0000

• A composite scroll, BI contains prophetic literature that was written at various times between the 8th century BCE and approximately 520-515 BCE, perhaps even later.
• One compiler edited the book from a variety of sources, the oldest of which derives from Isaiah who lived in Jerusalem in the 8th century BCE.
• The compiler was a prophet and poet who lived in the early 6th century BCE in Judah.
• BI is passionate about social justice.
• BI encourages the practice of social justice but teaches that it cannot become an ontological reality until God acts to make it so.
• BI laments the alienation between humans and teaches that a time when God will break down all factors that make for such alienation. In the meantime, human beings should seek to live in unity, peace, and mutual concern for social justice.
• BI laments the fact that those who seek to live in unity, peace, and mutual concern for social justice will experience repression, persecution, and death.
• BI laments the alienation between humans and other creatures and teaches that a time will come when God will restore a world in which humans and other creatures will no longer kill each other any reason, including for food.
• The Persian Empire was in control of Judah when BI was compiled.
• The Persian Empire encouraged the rebuilding of ruined shrines and temples for the purpose of taxing their income; thus, for the Persians temples were politically and economically motivated.
• Temples were a component in the vast network of structures that sustained the Persian Empire.
• The Persians subsidized the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem around 520-515 BCE.
• The temple in Jerusalem was part of the vast network of structures that sustained the Persian Empire.
• For the Judahite social elite the temple served the traditional liturgical needs of cosmic order; sacrifice was central.
• For whatever other reasons temples existed, they were places of ritual slaughter.
• The temple was a place for the collection of precious metals such as gold and silver, which would be transferred into Persian ownership.
• To oppose the temple was to oppose sacrifice, the priestly hierarchy, and the Persian Empire.
• The compiler of BI presents YHWH as opposed to the temple and the social system that supported it, which included the strategic aim of sustaining the Persian Empire.
• The Persian king claimed complete power and supreme privilege; all that lay within the empire’s boundaries he considered as belonging to him.
• BI claims that only YHWH can claim complete power and supreme privilege; all the cosmos belongs to YHWH.
• The Persian king was concerned only with his own privileges and with sustaining and strengthening the empire.
• YHWH acted out of passionate love for Israel, humankind, and the entire cosmos; Israel being his specially chosen servant to wait on God and do God’s bidding.
• YHWH will finally displace the current cosmos with a new one in which the highest ideals of love, social justice, righteousness, and peace will prevail in all matters large and small.
• In the meantime, YHWH’s servant must announce the epistemological falsehoods on which rebellious Israel and the rest of humankind have built their grand schemes of power and privilege.