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Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament: The Ordering of Life in Israel and Early Judaism » (2nd Edition)

Book cover image of Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament: The Ordering of Life in Israel and Early Judaism by Joseph Blenkinsopp

Authors: Joseph Blenkinsopp
ISBN-13: 9780198755043, ISBN-10: 019875504X
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: September 1995
Edition: 2nd Edition

Author Biography: Joseph Blenkinsopp

University of Notre Dame, Indiana

Book Synopsis

This is a completely revised and expanded edition of a classic text. Drawing on recent work on legal and didactic material and including more literary interpretation, Blenkinsopp traces the course of two related key traditions—law and wisdom—throughout the history of Israel in the biblical period. He demonstrates their essential lines of continuity with classical Jewish thought and early Christian theology.

1	Sages, Scribes, and Counsellors	1
	The Writings: the third section of the Hebrew Bible	1
	The many faces of wisdom	5
	The professional sage	9
	Education in Israel	12
2	Education for Life	18
	Proverbs: the book	18
	The proverb	20
	The religious dimension	24
	The ethic of the sages	29
	The instruction	31
	Acrostics, numerical sayings, riddles	35
	Sapiential narrative	39
3	God and the Moral Order	46
	The link between act and consequence	46
	Political disaster and religious crisis	51
	Job	57
	Qoheleth	68
	The problem remains	79
4	The Growth of Israel's Legal Tradition	84
	Ordering life by law	84
	Law in early Israel	90
	The Covenant Code: Exodus 20:23-23:19	94
	The Decalogue	102
	The Second Law: Deuteronomy, religious programme and civil constitution	107
5	Law in Early Judaism: Temple Community and Sect	120
	The Priestly History	120
	Cultic and ritual laws	126
	Wisdom and law in the Chronicler's work	133
	Law and legal exposition in Jewish sectarianism	140
6	Theological Wisdom	151
	The confluence of wisdom and law	151
	Job 28: inaccessible wisdom	153
	Proverbs 8:22-31: Wisdom, first-born of creation	157
	Ecclesiasticus 24:1-29: Torah assimilated to Wisdom	162
	The Wisdom of Solomon: towards a new synthesis	167
	Apocalyptic wisdom	173
	Wisdom in transition: some further developments	179
	Select Bibliography	183
	Index of Passages Cited	187
	General Index	193