Bob Becking - Böcker

A new translation and commentary on the biblical book of Micah that proposes a convincing new theory of its composition history  While the biblical book of Micah is most famous for its images of peace—swords forged into to plowshares, spears turned into pruning hooks—and its passages of prophetic hope, the book is largely composed of prophecies of ruin. The historical Micah, who likely lived in the late eighth century BCE, is the first recorded prophet to predict the fateful fall of Jerusalem, and he also foretells the destruction of the regions of Samaria and Judah, in addition to the more well-known promises of Judah’s eventual restoration.  Bob Becking translates the Hebrew text anew and illuminates the book’s most important elements, including its literary features, political context, and composition history. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern comparative evidence, archaeological notes, and inscriptions, Becking surveys the debates surrounding the book’s interpretation and argues that it be regarded as three separate source texts: the early first chapter; a large middle section containing a proto-apocalyptic, alternating prophetic futurology collected and molded by a later redactor; and an added section advocating for legal reform under Josiah.

In this book, Bob Becking provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the origins, lives, and eventual fate of the Yehudites, or Judeans, at Elephantine, framed within the greater history of the rise and fall of the Persian Empire. The Yehudites were among those mercenaries recruited by the Persians to defend the southwestern border of the empire in the fifth century BCE. Becking argues that this group, whom some label as the first “Jews,” lived on the island of Elephantine in relative peace with other ethnic groups under the aegis of the pax persica. Drawing on Aramaic and Demotic texts discovered during excavations on the island and at Syene on the adjacent shore of the Nile, Becking finds evidence of intermarriage, trade cooperation, and even a limited acceptance of one another’s gods between the various ethnic groups at Elephantine. His analysis of the Elephantine Yehudites’ unorthodox form of Yahwism provides valuable insight into the group’s religious beliefs and practices. An important contribution to the study of Yehudite life in the diaspora, this accessibly written and sweeping history enhances our understanding of the varieties of early Jewish life and how these contributed to the construction of Judaism.

In this book, Bob Becking provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the origins, lives, and eventual fate of the Yehudites, or Judeans, at Elephantine, framed within the greater history of the rise and fall of the Persian Empire. The Yehudites were among those mercenaries recruited by the Persians to defend the southwestern border of the empire in the fifth century BCE. Becking argues that this group, whom some label as the first “Jews,” lived on the island of Elephantine in relative peace with other ethnic groups under the aegis of the pax persica. Drawing on Aramaic and Demotic texts discovered during excavations on the island and at Syene on the adjacent shore of the Nile, Becking finds evidence of intermarriage, trade cooperation, and even a limited acceptance of one another’s gods between the various ethnic groups at Elephantine. His analysis of the Elephantine Yehudites’ unorthodox form of Yahwism provides valuable insight into the group’s religious beliefs and practices. An important contribution to the study of Yehudite life in the diaspora, this accessibly written and sweeping history enhances our understanding of the varieties of early Jewish life and how these contributed to the construction of Judaism.

The view of ancient Israelite religion as monotheistic has long been traditional in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, religions that have elaborated in their own way the biblical image of a single male deity. But recent archaeological findings of texts and images from the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their neighbourhood offer a quite different impression. Two issues in particular raised by these are the existence of a female consort, Asherah, and the implication for monotheism; and the proliferation of pictorial representations that may contradict the biblical ban on images. Was the religion of ancient Israel really as the Bible would have us believe? This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to these issues, presenting the relevant inscriptions and discussing their possible impact for Israelite monotheism, the role of women in the cult, and biblical theology.

This book takes the reader in wider circles from Babylon to Eternity and deals with the appropriation of the exilic motif in Jewish texts. It examines the way the exilic tradition–interpreting the Exile as a religious experience – was created by the writers of the Hebrew Bible.

This book takes the reader in wider circles from Babylon to Eternity and deals with the appropriation of the exilic motif in Jewish texts. It examines the way the exilic tradition–interpreting the Exile as a religious experience – was created by the writers of the Hebrew Bible.

How should one write a history of Ancient Israel? In the last few decades, a lively discussion has taken place on the historiography of ancient Israel. Minimalists such as Philip Davies, Thomas Thompson, and Niels Peter Lemche challenged the usefulness of the Hebrew Bible as a source for constructing Israel's past. Maximalists like Baruch Halpern and William Dever argued instead that the data from the Hebrew Bible should be trusted until otherwise proven. Others – among whom we can name Hans Barstad, Rainer Albertz, and Lester Grabbe – took a third road. The essays in this volume follow that third road by applying insights from the field of philosophy of history. A dozen case studies from David to the earliest Samaritans demonstrate how difficult it is to write a history of ancient Israel without falling in the abyss of an ideology in one direction or another. The matrix designed by Manfred Weippert to look at the past through five windows (landscape, climate, archaeology, epigraphy and only at the end the Hebrew Bible) turned out to be more helpful. The conclusion of this research is that there are some stable pillars in the swamp of the past, but it comes with the warning that the space between these pillars is large and cannot easily be filled.

The final text of the Book of Micah provokes a series of questions:- Can the Book be read as a coherent composition or is it the result of a complex redaction history?- Was Micah a prophet of doom whose literary heritage was later softened by the inclusion of oracles of salvation?The essays in this book center around these questions. Some of them are of a more general character, while others analyze specific passages. Some articles discuss the Book of Micah by looking at specific themes (prophecy; religious polemics; metaphors). The others are concerned with the proclamation of a peaceful future (Micah 4:1-5); the famous moral incentive in Micah 6:8 and the question of prophetic and divine gender in Micah 7:8-13. They have two features in common:- A thorough reading of the Hebrew text informed by grammar and syntax.- A comparative approach: the Book of Micah is seen as part of the ancient Near Eastern culture.All in all, the author defends the view that the Book of Micah contains three independent literary elements: Micah 1: a prophecy of doom; Micah 2-5 a two-sided futurology, and 6-8 a later appropriation of Micah’s message.

The final text of the Book of Micah provokes a series of questions:- Can the Book be read as a coherent composition or is it the result of a complex redaction history?- Was Micah a prophet of doom whose literary heritage was later softened by the inclusion of oracles of salvation?The essays in this book center around these questions. Some of them are of a more general character, while others analyze specific passages. Some articles discuss the Book of Micah by looking at specific themes (prophecy; religious polemics; metaphors). The others are concerned with the proclamation of a peaceful future (Micah 4:1-5); the famous moral incentive in Micah 6:8 and the question of prophetic and divine gender in Micah 7:8-13. They have two features in common:- A thorough reading of the Hebrew text informed by grammar and syntax.- A comparative approach: the Book of Micah is seen as part of the ancient Near Eastern culture.All in all, the author defends the view that the Book of Micah contains three independent literary elements: Micah 1: a prophecy of doom; Micah 2-5 a two-sided futurology, and 6-8 a later appropriation of Micah’s message.