Treasures Old and New: Essays on the Theology of the Pentateuch

The Pentateuch is a book that ties people together. Much of the world can trace the foundation of their moral fabric it. According to the essays in Joseph Blenkinsopp's book Treasures of the Old and New: Essays in the Theology of the Pentateuch, the five books are an embodiment of the collective memory of the tribes of Israel. It was originally assembled to give solid form to the Jew's cultural identity and shared past as they returned from the Babylonian exile. The tribes chose to humbly accept it as the authority by which they lived. The cultural success they experienced led to the Pentateuch becoming a moral blueprint for running a just society.

In his first essay, "Memory, Tradition, and the Construction of the Past in Ancient Israel", Blenkinsopp explains that the Pentateuch was assembled during the Babylonian exile that started after the destruction of the first temple in 586 BCE. The Jews had a collective history before that, but it was transmitted orally or scattered among other writings (Blenkinsopp, 4). The purpose of setting down the traditions, stories, and rules of living into the Pentateuch was to give the people a unifying cultural and political identity. "It fell to the traditional Jewish leaders - and to the charismatic prophets who spoke for God- to preserve the religion and identity of the Jews in Exile" (Wylen, 19).

"It is a truism that in antiquity religion cannot be separated from politics" (175). Thus we should not be surprised that the J

Related Essays

Biblical Perspective on the Life Span .... as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt .... which forms a continuity between the .... and .... law of .... in a story of the 12-year-.... Jesus. .... (3937 16 )

Source .... the Church denouncing priests and Carnegie "treasures within him .... is people who wanted change from their .... ways of living, and firmly grasped the .... way of .... (8927 36 )

This was a monumental event. Rather than waiting for God to save them, the Jews took matters into their own hands. It is a fundamental change in philosophy. Perhaps the one difference between the pacifist and warist at this point is the difference in believing that something is worth dying for (pacifists and warists may often agree on this) and believing that something is worth killing for (pacifists and warists may often disagree on this). (Blenkinsopp,105) It is critical to point out that the "warists" in this case are not Levites, the tribe entrusted with performing religious duties and teaching about the Torah. The Maccabees decided to reinterpret the Torah of their own accord. The adoption of the process by the religious leaders came later. The Maccabees started a trend. From that point on society began to make moral decisions and look for the Pentateuch to confirm or refute them, rather than looking to the Pentateuch for direction in the first place. Those who took an Orthodox view of religion believed that they were bound by the answers. Everyone else took this as license to "do what was necessary for the greater good". The Legacy of Duplicity During the middle

Category: Philosophy - T