Transcript The Bible

The Bible – Its Interpretation
What about the ‘Land?’
Monthly Meeting December 2016
Sources
• Chosen? Reading the Bible Amid the IsraelPalestinian Conflict; Walter Brueggemann;
Westminster John Knox Press; 2015
What the Bible is
and
is not…
The–Bible
is not…
The Bible is . . .
______ a Greek word “biblia”
meaning “books”
______ a collection of ancient
writings about peoples’
reflections of God
______ scripture or “sacred
writings”
______ descriptive stories of
people in relationship with
God
______ a written norm of life and
faith
______ a revelation of God
______ a history book
______ a science book
______ a book of rules
______ the exact and inerrant
word of God
______ prescriptive for
prosperity or success
______ a map or formula of
the future
______ a “summary” of God’s
activity
Bible Interpretation
• What are one’s hermeneutical principles?
• Hermeneutics is “the study of the
methodological principles of interpretation (as
of the Bible).” The process and concluding
results of Bible study are totally dependent
upon the hermeneutical principles used.
Although what one believes is important, it is
equally important to examine how one arrived
at these beliefs – what principles were
employed.
Example of Basic Questions in the Process/Principles
of Biblical Interpretation (Hermeneutics)
• What is the relationship between divine revelation and the
culture in which the revelation is given and perceived?
• Does Scripture mandate or regulate or challenge practices?
• Does the Bible say only one thing on a given subject or does it
sometimes show differing, even contradictory points of view?
…different messages in different books?
• What does it mean to take the Bible literally? Is that a vice or a
virtue? Does “literal” signify the intended meaning of the
author or a meaning that seems natural to us? How is “literal”
related to the translation of languages?
• To what extent do other fields of study influence interpretation?
• How does the interpreter’s ideologies affect their task?
• Is the authority of Jesus related to all of Scripture or only some?
About the Biblical Land Promise
• Genesis tradition promises the land to Abraham
unconditionally
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To Abram (Genesis 12:1, 15:18-21)
To Isaac – Abraham’s son (Genesis 26:3-4)
To Jacob - Isaac’s son (Genesis 28:13)
Tradition of Moses (Exodus 3:8)
• Deuteronomy tradition promises land conditionally
–
–
–
–
Depends on obedience to the Torah
Sets commandments for LAND – practice justice/holiness
Warns to do right (Deuteronomy 6:18, 8:17-19, 11:22-25)
Obedience to Torah = holding the LAND (Deuteronomy 28)
• Prophetic tradition asserts land is losable & reality
agrees (Babylon 586 BC, Rome 70 AD, etc.)
From Chapter Three in Chosen?
The Torah only “anticipates” LAND
• At the end of the five authoritative books Israel is not
in the LAND (Deuteronomy 34:4)
– Earliest tradition not “having” LAND but anticipating
– Torah formulated in 5th C BCE during Persian period among
the elite community of Jews in exile
– Read two lens – became ground of hope
• Ancient account of promise and wilderness wandering
• Displaced Jews longing for lost land of Judah
• When Joshua crosses the river (Joshua 3 & 4)
–
–
–
–
Isn’t “given” the land but “takes” the land
31 kings defeated (Joshua 12:7-24)
But texts written to say “war” victories were God’s work
But the LAND is losable (Joshua 23:16)
From Chapter Three in Chosen?
What happens after land loss, displacement, grief
• After prophets urge about the conditions of behavior
& after defeat - Assyria (722 BCE), Babylon (586 BCE)
– There is a bold reassertion of land promise (Isaiah 54:7-8)
– There is expectation for restoration – reformulating the
“old tradition” – a new script
• Jeremiah 30:18, 31:38-40
• Ezekiel 47:13-48:35 (compare Joshua 13-19)
• Isaiah 52:11-12; 55:12-13
– There is exilic hope for restoration highlighted in historical
narrative with its final verses of the Hebrew Bible
• 2 Chronicles 36:22-23
From Chapter Three in Chosen?
The LAND Vision Then (Abraham to King Cyrus of Persia)
• Many Jews in exile not compelled by faith to
return
• Judaism known as a “religion of the book”
– Obedience to Torah can be done anywhere
– Requirements of justice and holiness
• Judaism also knows as “a culture of
interpretation” that refuses absolutizing any
conclusions from the text (rabbis study in pairs)
From Chapter Three in Chosen?
The LAND Vision Now
• Zionist movement equates Judaism with LAND
– Support for state of Israel support for LAND
• Reinforced by memory of the Shoah
(Holocaust)
– Jews left without a safe place
• Equating state of Israel with faith of Israel
– By relying on (using) biblical tradition discussion
– But what about Deuteronomic “if” (conditional)?
• LAND theology would call for obedience to Torah
• LAND theology would call for faith and justice
Use of Bible in the Current Political Discussion
• Have the actions of Israel been religious?
– Ezra’s returned in the 5th C BCE
– Rebuilt the temple; expelled the “foreign” wives
– But the Ezra tradition was about religious identity
• Has the use of the Bible pointed persons to faith
(a spirituality)?
• What really determines how we read the Bible?
– Our vested interests
– Our hopes
– Our fears
From Chapter Three in Chosen?
From Chapter Three in Chosen?
Not Credible to make Direct Appeal from Ancient
Texts for State of Israel (for two reasons > )
• Much has happened between text and
contemporary political practice
• State of Israel has opted to be a military power
engaged in power politics along with other
nation-states of the world
– Cannot at the same time appeal to old faith tradition
in persuasive way
– For outsiders to the narrative (other nations), it is of
little importance
The case for the State of Israel can be made but it
must be made in terms of contemporary
sociopolitical, military and economic realities
(not biblical)
The “Chosen” People
• Core textual declarations for Israel as God’s
chosen people
– Ancestral tradition of Abraham: Genesis 17:7
– Exodus tradition: Exodus 4:22
– Sinai tradition: Exodus 19:5
• The Bible suggests that the chosen status may
be conditional
– Exodus 19:6
– Isaiah 54:7-8
– Amos 9:7 compared to Amos 3:2
• The Bible suggests more may be chosen than
just Israel
– Isaiah 19:24-25
Who are the Chosen People?
{reference to Who Chosen? Chapter 2 by Brueggemann}
• What do we do when the Bible seems to give
more than one answer/when texts are
competing?
• New Testament “chosen” language
– 1 Peter 2:9-10
• Uses language of Sinai
– Galatians 6:16
• Actually used in a discussion of circumcision
• Christian church hymnody denotes ‘chosen’
Who are the Chosen People?
{reference to Who Chosen? Chapter 2 by Brueggemann}
• Consider the use of “chosen-ness” in the
language of the United States
– Often attributing it to the “providence of God”
– Public rhetoric naming it “the promised land”
• First governor of the Puritans used the biblical
language of “a city set on a hill”
– Early notion of finally a “utopian” country
– First arrivals in the way of Moses – leading to an
emancipated people of God
– Idea continues for immigrants
– US president “leader of the free world”
• Interesting to compare Joshua “taking” the land
to US land being “taken”
Christian Supersessionism
• The belief that Christianity has superseded or
replaced Judaism as God’s chosen religion
• View Judaism as a preparation for
Christianity
• Some would carry it to the absurd deduction
that Judaism no longer functioned
• Adds to the impact of Christian Zionists
– Supporting the Jewish re-building of the temple
will hasten the seconding coming of Christ
The “Outsiders” in Jewish Tradition
or “What about the Unchosen?”
• Some biblical tradition – foreigners are enemies
– Ezra expels foreign wives
– Zionist policies exclude the other
• Other biblical tradition – foreigners are neighbors
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To be treated to shalom
Jonah to Nineveh with God’s gracious word for them
Ruth a Moabite included in the line of David
Isaiah 56 welcomes foreigners & eunuchs
The Ten Commandments – about love of God and love
of neighbor
– Abraham blessed to be a blessing to all nations
Who are the Chosen People?
{reference to Who Chosen? by Brueggemann}
• Who does have the right to claim a “chosen”
status before God (or in any way)?
• What, if any, are the dangers of identifying
self-group (or another group) as chosen?
• How do you understand the idea that the
chosen must choose beyond their
chosenness?
– What might this mean in today’s conflict
between Israel and Palestine?