Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

psalms emphasized themes of lament and the ideal of Torah as wisdom.

New works, such as Chronicles and Ezra, Haggai and Zechariah, also de-

picted the efforts at restoring the Temple, the religion, and the people.

Recognition of the Literature as Scripture

Many if not all of these works originated as, and were generally viewed as,

humanly produced literature; indeed, Sir. 44:1-15 could be seen as an an-

cient witness to this view. There is a spectrum of theological views con-

cerning the divine origin of the Scriptures, but here the focus must be on

how the human community came to recognize these books as divinely

authored. They served a variety of purposes: the early narrative strands of

the Pentateuch and the Deuteronomistic History served as a national epic

and national history; Leviticus, Psalms, and Esther were used for the lit-

urgy;Jubilees,the Deuteronomistic History, Proverbs, Job, Qohelet, and

Ben Sira contributed to religious, moral, and practical education; the Song

of Songs, Tobit, and Ruth were models for human love and loyalty; and

Daniel provided a model for courage in perilous times. The literature grew

as community literature, and countless tradents and copyists contributed

to its dynamic development from its earliest origins as sayings, reports,

songs, and other materials into books sufficiently well known and trea-

sured to assure that they would be transmitted as important for successive

generations. Just as the community formed the literature, so too the litera-

ture formed the community as it moved through history.

Of the many works produced, some came to be regarded as sacred

Scripture; that is, they were regarded as in some sense having God as au-

thor. There is little evidence for reconstructing this important transition,

but certain contributing factors can be proposed.

First, God was increasingly understood to be speaking through the

texts to the people. For the Greeks theIliadand theOdysseyheld essential

religious importance, but they were principally seen as national epics. Sim-

ilarly, the early hexateuchal narratives originally would likely have been

perceived more as a national epic than as “Scripture.” Just as the gods

spoke in the Homeric poems, so too did God speak in Israel’s texts. But

once the priestly portions were incorporated, especially the legal materials

listed as divinely spoken on Sinai, and insofar as the divine source was re-

inforced by the preaching of the Torah as articulating God’s will, it is quite

easy to understand how God came to be viewed as the author. Already by

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eugene ulrich

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:57 PM