Risto Nurmela – författare

The late Karl-Johan Illman was a professor of Biblical and Judaic studies at Abo Akademi University in Åbo/Turku, Finland. A beloved and respected figure in the Judeo-Christian dialogue and an accomplished scholar of Judaism, he is remembered in this memorial volume by leading scholars of Biblical and Judaic studies in Europe and North America.

In recent years, the phenomenon of allusion has attracted increasing attention in scholarly study of the Hebrew Bible. The Mouth of the Lord Has Spoken is a detailed and comprehensive analysis of allusions in Isaiah 40-66. Author Risto Nurmela explores how allusions are identified through verbal similarities in biblical passages and how this information is used to prove that the similarities are the result of literary dependence. This work independently scrutinizes the verbal similarities between Isaiah 40-55 and the rest of the Hebrew Bible and Isaiah 56-66 and the rest of the Hebrew Bible. The Mouth of the Lord Has Spoken is an important contribution to the ongoing discussion of allusions in the Hebrew Bible.

Nurmela investigates the development of the priesthood in ancient Israel as reflected in the Old Testament. The emergence of the Levites as a second-class priesthood is studied, particularly Ezekial 44 which describes the Levites' subordination to the Zadokite priests, because of their participation in an illegitimate worship. These Levites were descendants of the priests of Bethel, the national sanctuary of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which no longer existed. King Josiah's reform resulted in their being incorporated into the priesthood of Jerusalem, but as a clerus minor.