Old Testament Theology: Volume I (Old Testament Library)

385 Pages·1995·5.61 MB·English

by  Horst Dietrich Preuss

OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY
THE OLD TESTAMENT LIBRARY
Editorial Advisory Board
JAMES L. MAYS
CAROL A. NEWSOM
DAVID L. PETERSEN
Horst Dietrich Preuss
OLD TESTAMENT
THEOLOGY
Volume I
Westminster John Knox Press
Louisville, Kentucky
Translated by Leo G. Perdue from Theologie des Alten Testaments, Band 1: JHWHs er-
wtihlendes und verpftichtendes Handeln, published 1991 by W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart
© 1991 W. Kohlhammer GmbH
English translation © 1995 Westminster John Knox Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon
Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396.
Book design by Drew Stevens
First published 1995
by Westminster John Knox Press
Louisville, Kentucky
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards In­
stitute Z39.48 standard. ©
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Preuss, Horst Dietrich, 1927-
ITheologie des Alten Testaments. English]
Old Testament Theology / Horst Dietrich Preuss.
p. cm. — (Old Testament library)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-664-21844-X (v. 1 : alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T.— Theology. I. Title. II. Series.
BS1192.5.P6913 1995
230-dc20 95-19162
CONTENTS
Translator's Preface ix
Preface xi
Chapter 1. Setting the Stage: The History, Methodology,
and Structure of a "Theology of the Old Testament" 1
1.1 The Posing of the Question 1
1.2 The History of Scholarship 1
a. From Gabler to de Wette 1
b. From Vatke to KSnig 3
c. The Change since 1920 5
d. From Sellin to Vriezen 6
e. G. vonRad 12
f. AfterG. vonRad 15
1.3 Setting the Boundaries for Methodology 19
1.4 Concerning the Center of the Old Testament 21
1.5 The Present Inquiry 23
PART ONE. LAYING THE FOUNDATION
Chapter 2. An Overview of the Old
Testament's Statements about Election 27
2.1 Yahweh's Acts of Election 27
2.2 The Verb "to Elect" 27
2.3 Election of the Individual 28
2.4 Election of the People 30
2.5 The Semantic Field 31
2.6 Historical Emphases 33
2.7 Election and History 35
2.8 The Theology of Election 37
2.9 Further Questions 38
Contents
VI
Chapter 3. The Election and Obligation of the People 40
3.1 The Exodus Event as the Primal Election 40
3.2 Israel as an Exodus Community 46
3.3 Israel as a People and as a Community of Faith 50
a. us = 'am ("people") and 'ij = gdy ("people") 50
b. "Israel" 52
c. ^np = qahal ("assembly") and mv = 'edd ("congregation") 54
d. Differentiations within Israel 55
e. "Amphictyony"? 57
f. Toward the Self-Understanding of Israel 59
3.4 Community and Individual 60
3.5 Sinai Tradition and Sinai Covenant 64
a. Sinai Tradition 64
b. Sinai Covenant 70
c. The So-called Covenant Formula 76
d. Exodus 32-34 77
e. The Murmuring People during the Wilderness Wandering 79
3.6 Duty and Law: The Theological Basis of the Law of God 80
a. Law and Legal Sentences 81
b. Law and Covenant 84
c. Differentiations 88
3.7 Moses: His Place and the Problem of the Founding
and Revealing of a Religion 95
3.8. Yahweh's Will Requires Responsibility 100
a. The Decalogue 100
b. Yahweh's Demand for Exclusivity (the First Commandment) 104
c. The Prohibition of Idols (the Second Commandment) 107
d. The Formation of Monotheism 111
3.9 Israel's Land 117
a. The Promises of Land 118
b. The Land in Israel's History 120
c. Terminology 123
d. The Israelite Law of Landownership 125
e. Land as a Historical Gift 127
3.10Yahwehas Warrior and Yahweh War 128
a. YHWH as Warrior 129
b. YHWH War 130
c. The Situation of Scholarship 132
d. The "Ban" 136
e. YHWH War against Israel 137
f. War and Peace 137
Contents vii
PART TWO. YAHWEH AS THE SUBJECT
OF THE HISTORICAL ACTS OF ELECTION
Chapter 4. The God Who Elects: His Names and Titles.
His Acts and His Powers of Activity. Statements about His "Nature" 139
4.1 The Names of God 139
a. Yahweh 139
b. Yahweh Sebaoth 144
4.2 The Appellations of God 146
a. D'rf7K = 'elohtm ("God") 147
b. •» = 'el ("God") 149
c. prfw = 'Sldah ("God") 151
d. Yahweh's Accessibility through His Names 151
4.3 Yahweh as King 152
4.4 Yahweh's Poweis of Activity 159
a. Yahweh's Spirit 160
b. Yahweh's Countenance 163
c. The Angel of Yahweh 165
d. The Glory of Yahweh 167
e. The "Name" of Yahweh 170
f. Yahweh's Justice 171
g. Yahweh's Blessing 179
h. The Connection between Deed and Consequence 184
i. Yahweh's Wisdom 194
j. Yahweh's Word 195
4.5 Yahweh Reveals Himself 200
a. Terms 200
b. "Revelation" in Israel's Cultural Environment 204
c. The Self-Introduction and Knowledge of Yahweh 204
d. Fundamental Structures of the Old Testament Language of
Revelation 207
e. Yahweh's Acts in History 208
f. "Time" according to the Witness of the Old Testament 219
4.6 Yahweh as Creator 226
a. Concerning Worldview 226
b. Hymnic-sapiential Language about Creation 227
c. The Yahwist, Priestly Source, Deutero-Isaiah, Postexilic
Psalms 231
d. Creation, History, and Salvation 235
4.7 Old Testament Statements about the "Nature" of Yahweh 239
a. Yahweh as an Eternal God without Origin 239
iii Contents
v
b. The Holy One and the Holy One of Israel 240
c. Yahweh's Jealousy 241
d. Exodus 34:6f. 241
e. Yahweh as a Living God 243
f. Anthropomorphisms and Anthropopathisms 244
g. Fundamental Structures of the Old Testament Witness
to God 246
Chapter 5. The World of God and the World Distant from God 250
5.1 Yahweh's Places of Dwelling 250
5.2 The Ark 253
5.3 The Tent (of Meeting) 254
5.4 Yahweh's Court: The Cherubim, Seraphim, and Angels 256
5.5 Demons 258
5.6 Satan 259
5.7 The Kingdom of the Dead 261
Abbreviations 264
Notes 269
Select Index of Biblical Citations 355
Index of Subjects 366
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
When I first agreed to translate the Old Testament theology by Horst Dietrich
Preuss, I was looking forward to the opportunity to work with him on this pro­
ject. I had read many previous works that he had written, and I had long ad­
mired the clarity of presentation, extensive research, and careful arguments
that characterized his scholarship. I was deeply saddened to receive the news
of his death in 1993, just before I began the translation of Volume I.
This two-volume theology by Professor Preuss is a splendid example of
classical German Old Testament scholarship and theological reflection that
follows in the tradition of Walther Eichrodt and Gerhard von Rad. It has been
a pleasure to become intimately acquainted with this last important work of
Professor Preuss and to make it more widely available to an English-speaking
audience.
In presenting this translation, several remarks may be helpful to the reader.
Professor Preuss translated his biblical passages direcdy from the Hebrew, and
the English translation has adhered as closely to the German as possible. He
also often left the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words, phrases, clauses, and sen­
tences untranslated and without transliteration. These have been translated into
English, and the Hebrew and Greek have been transliterated.
A list of abbreviations has been added by Westminster John Knox Press, al­
lowing the reader to follow bibliographical references. To assist the reader, the
Press has also provided a correlation between the important German biblio­
graphical references cited and quoted by Professor Preuss and the English
translations of those works.
I am especially indebted to the following people who have been of great as­
sistance in bringing this translation to its completion. Dr. Jon Berquist, editor
at Westminster John Knox Press, has been most helpful throughout the stages
of this project. The work of Marian Noecker and Carl Helmich as copyeditors
has been invaluable. Jean Burnham, Linda Hillin, and Sharlie Tomlinson, three
administrative assistants of the Brite Divinity School staff, and Jennie Huff, a
graduate assistant at Brite, have carefully prepared the indexes. I am greatly in­
debted to these individuals for their assistance, patience, and graciousness in
bringing this translation to completion.