Hebrew Bible: history, texts, and interpretation

Hebrew Bible Viewed Through the Lens of Cultural Anthropology

The objective of this work is to examine the Hebrew Bible as viewed through the lens of cultural anthropology in various areas of study of the Hebrew Bible, its' symbolism and the meanings applied in the Hebrew Bible both literal and symbolic in its interpretation.

The Hebrew Bible, referred to as the Old Testament by Christians "developed over roughly a millennium" with the texts that are the oldest appearing to "come from the eleventh or tenth centuries BCE." (Hamilton, 2008) There is much in the way of symbolism in the Old Testament, and it is precisely this symbolism as applied by the Hebrew culture that this work will examine. McNeeley holds that "Israel was not afraid of iconographic representations" and states further that "the corruption of the allowable iconographic representations may be a reflection of the leadership's prevailing understanding and association of Yahweh to the Canaanite god El." (nd) McNeeley examines the 'Tannach' stand which is held by Taylor (1994) to stand as a portrayal of "the invisible Yahweh with the visible symbols available for the asherah: the nude female and the tree of life." (nd) McNeeley states that the Taanch stand "definitely represents a means of focusing attention towards some deistic collection and a product of the prevailing religious cult social system. Because the third tier seems to depict a deity whose characteristics are impossible for representation, Taylor (1994: 60) suggests that the tier represents Yahweh and the Asherah." (McNeeley, nd) it is clear that the Hebrews made it clear through their many varied and diverse use of alternative descriptions and symbolic representations of God that the Hebrews went to great and explicit lengths to attempt to describe God while conveying that God is altogether indescribable and as well in their understanding, which admittedly that would leave intermittently throughout the Old Testament to worship Baal, whom they could see, that God should not be iconically represented according to the instructions given of God. God understood however, that the Hebrew people were very visually oriented individuals as were likely all humanity at this age of the earth's modern history and many of the miracles and wonders were visual ones in nature as God attempted to connect to and know the group that are named as the chosen people of God. In fact, God used an expansive amount of visual stimulation to gain the attention of the Hebrews. Furthermore, symbolism was greatly utilized by God in teaching the Hebrew people, who were still very primitive in terms of the stage of advance learning in their civilization. In order to truly understand how very critically important symbolism is in the Bible it is necessary that an anthropological view be integrated into study of scripture and most specifically in undertaking the study of the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible.

I. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY in UNDERSTANDING the HEBREW BIBLE

The work of Donald C. McNeeley, entitled: "Processing Ethno-historic Understanding and Archaeological Artifacts for Biblical Truths" relates the work of Strange (1992) who proposed a model for understanding the Hebrew Bible. The model posited in the work of strange is shown in the following illustration labeled Figure 1. The figure illustrates the process posited by Strange and uses the word 'star' in the example of how words are examined within this framework for understanding.

Model as Proposed by Strange for Understanding Hebrew Bible

Source: McNeeley (nd)

The three primary components of Strange's Model are those of:

1) the literary remains;

2) the archaeological remains; and 3) social reality or the theological construct. (McNeeley, nd)

McNeeley states that the user of this model must necessarily possession at least "...some, literary competence." (nd) it is stated to be posited in the work of Long (1997) that one should "read as much of the literature under consideration as possible...immersing oneself fir and foremost in the OT, but then also in such cognate literatures as are available from ancient Israel's neighbors." (McNeeley, nd)

The reason given is that "...users of the model must have an awareness of, working of, and be able to discern what the literary texts are attempting to describe, present, or argue for in their use of the different genres." (McNeeley, nd) the second reason stated by McNeeley for the need in understanding the material remains unearthed by the archaeologist is that "ethnographic studies, experimental, archaeology and a host of other activities should be invested by the model user in order to come to an understanding of how to extract a social reality from the archaeological remains." (nd)

McNeeley states that for the biblical archaeologist, and this holds true for the biblical historical theologist as well that it is important to consider that "the ethnohistorical accounts contained in the biblical records are as vital as understanding the archaeology for constructing the social reality." (nd) Furthermore, McNeeley states that it is:

imperative for the model developer sift through the evidence through the intellectual maze that that comprises his theoretical stance, in order to reconcile discordant information. This is not something that can be learned through the reading of scripture, history, archaeology, culture or others various writing; rather it is accomplished through the active participation of the researcher in every arena." (nd) McNeeley holds that one must become "immersed in the synthesis of all the disciplines that are associated with the study of biblical cultures." (nd)

METHODOLOGY of the PRESENT STUDY

The methodology employed in this present research study is one of a qualitative nature which is interpretive in nature. The study will be conducted through means of a review of relevant literature in this area of study. Further, this study will not be limited by religiously oriented reporting but will be in the form of a non-biased review of literature relating to symbolic representation vested in the Old Testament or the Hebrew portion of the Bible. This review of literature will be one of the nature that opens the door of many varied and diverse views in this area of study in an attempt to disseminate the meaning behind many of the symbolic representations that are used in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. This is necessary because as reported in the work of Strange and according to the model posited by Strange it is critically necessary to consider the matters of:

material remains;

social systems literary remains dialogue; and social systems in combination in the attempt to reconstruct a 'social reality' and disseminate the true meanings vested in symbolic representation in the Old Testament of the Bible.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The first symbolic representation examined in this study is the work of McNeeley in relation to Hosea's prophecy in the northern kingdom and how it: "...continued its economic, political, social and religious death spiral." (nd) the voice of Hosea was a voice in prophecy that spoke "...against the leadership that is attempting to protect their own narrow interests by utilizing every opportunity to better or at least maintain their level of sufficiency at the expense of others." (nd) the view of these leaders was that Yahweh was in the practice of "awarding and granting personal advantages based on some magical formula." (McNeeley, nd) it was however, stressed by Hosea that this had occurred due a prevailing belief that Yahweh could be influenced "through ritual and sacrifice, an idea which had come from the Baal worship that seems to have permeated Israelite society. (Gottwald, 1985:360 as cited in McNeeley, nd) Sacrifice in the Hebrew tradition is also examined in the work of David Janzen entitled: "The Social Meanings of Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible: A Study of Four Writings" states that it is demonstrated in anthropological field studies the "importance of understanding concept in the interpretation of the social meaning of ritual." (2004) Janzen relates that while anthropological studies have, in the past, relegated sacrifice to hold universal meaning that this method of understanding is not workable because of the diversity of meaning found within cultural studies for reason associated with sacrifice and its associated rituals. Janzen's references in this arena appears repeatedly in his work and relates to:

1) Social meaning of rituals;

2) Social significance or the worldview of a particular group; and 3) the moral system of the group. (2004)

Janzen states that sacrifice:

like other rituals, communicates social meaning to its participants, and like other rituals the meaning it expresses is a communication of the way one social group understands the world to be and, therefore, the moral actions that its members should adopt." (2004)

The individuals who are participants in this particular sacrifice are thereby publicly assenting "...to these truths and communicate this assent to their social group simply by virtue of their participation." (2004) Janzen states that in the endeavor to understand these things: "...we cannot offer any a priori meanings of sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible or anywhere else, and to understand its social message we will have to study its context." (2004)

The sermon of Martin Luther entitled: "Christ Our Great High Priest," relates that the Old Testament practice relating to separation of water and the use of the ashes of the red heifer were "...formal and temporal purification" and were "under the old law, which provided...for formal, or ritualistic pardon, and restored to human fellowship, sin and transgressions remained, burdening the conscience." (Luther 1483-1546) Therefore, the old law "did not benefit the soul at all, inasmuch as God did not institute it to purify and safeguard the conscience, nor to bestow the Spirit." (Luther 1483-1546) the old law's existence was "merely for the purpose of outward discipline, restraint and correction." (Luther 1483-1546)

Gottwald (1985) notes that use of a marriage metaphor by Hosea in chapter 1-3 and a metaphor relating to a father and son in 11:1-7 and states that these are only:

two of the prominent specimens of a rich stock of metaphors and similes drawn from agriculture, animal life, and family relations. Yahweh is also described as a physician, a fowler, a lion, a leopard, a bereaved she-bear, dew, a luxuriant tree, pus (or moth?), and rottenness. Israel is seen as a sick person, a herd, a flighty dove, a trained but balky heifer, a wandering wild ass, a grapevine and grapes, wine of Lebanon, an early fig, a lily, a woman in labor, an unborn son, an overbaked cake, a slack bow, early morning mist and dew, and blown chaff (Gottwald 1985:359; as cited in McNeeley, nd)

The use of these two metaphors appears to indicate the understanding held by Hosea that God desires to be "...a deity who is attempting to 'win the people by a love that will not forego justice' (Gottwald, 1985:362; in McNeeley, nd) McNeeley holds that the meaning of this statement is that "the theological social reality for Hosea was that while God is just, He desires to have a continuing relationship with His people." (McNeeley, nd) it is from this, that Hosea establishes a theological norm in which he "sets the justice of God as an offended struggling love that is both poignant and terrible." (Gottwald, 1985:361)

The work of John J. Pilch entitled: "The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible" relates that it is reported in several Hebrew Scriptures "instances where God perceived personal dishonor and in true Mediterranean fashion sought vengeance for this disrespect." (1999) Such instances are found in Leviticus 25: 14-39; Deuteronomy 32:39-42; Psalms 94:1-7; Ezekiel 35:12-15, and Micah 5:10-15; as well as others. Pilch states that this is referred to in modern reading as: "...'lese-majests' meaning "a violation of personal honor and a crime of high treason in honor-based culture." (1999)

Anger is evidently connected to Hebrew conceptions of shame vs. honor and this is illustrated in the tendency for Hebrew words which are related to anger many times to be connected to the nostrils and as related in the work of Pilch (1999) "The key word is 'nose' or 'nostrils' in the plural. Of course the nose is the organ of respiration and anger affects both the nose and breathing." Therefore, "a person described literally in Hebrew as 'short of nose' (Prov 14:17) or 'short of breath (Mic 2:7; Exod 6:9) is impatient or angry.' (Pilch, 1999)

Alternatively, an individual described in Hebrew text as 'long of nose' or 'long of breath' "is patient and slow to anger." (Pilch, 1999) for example, Exodus 34:6 reads "the Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious, long of nose' which translates to the Lord being one 'slow to anger'. In contrast however, "in anger the nostrils become distended and breathing is hard...often the Hebrew literally speaks of a burning nose...." (Pilch, 1999) Also connected with shame in the area of honor is the word 'outpouring' which stands many times for "unrestrained stream of words" used in the expression of anger in the Hebrew cultural tradition.

The work of Vernon C. Grounds entitled: "God's Perspective on Man" published in the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation in December 1976 states that the Bible "assets that man is God's creature." (1976) Noted by Grounds (1976) is the statement in Genesis 2:1 as follows: "The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." (1976) Not only did man become a living soul, it is related in the Bible that God created man in how own 'image' and 'likeness' thereby vesting the finite human with infinite qualities such as those of God. At the same time, the work of Grounds states that there is a:

miraculous correspondence between the fabrications of a man's mind and the inner design of nature, as evidenced by the applicability of abstract mathematical system to the laws of nature in physics. Both of these quite new perspectives strongly support the contention that man is after all made in the image of God. What we have come to realize is that there is no scientific reason why God cannot create an element of nature from other elements of nature by working within the chances and accidents which provide nature with her indeterminism and her freedom. We also see in a new way that the fact that man is indeed an integral part of nature in no way precludes his bearing the image of the designer of nature." (1976)

The Old Testament, and specifically the Book of Genesis relates that God fashioned man from the dry earth and gave life and animation to the creation of man. The Book of Genesis 1: 1-5 states: "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a might wind swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Light is presented as being 'good' in the Old Testament. The response of God to the darkness that was covering the face of the deep was to speak and this brought light into being. Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology states:

Darkness and light are evocative words in Hebrew. Darkness evokes everything that is anti-God: the wicked (Prov 2:13); judgment (Exod 10:21); death (Psalm 88:12). Light is the first of the Creator's works, manifesting the divine operation in a world that is darkness and chaos without it. While light is not itself divine, it is often used metaphorically for life (Psalm 56:13), salvation (Isa 9:2), the commandments (Prov 6:23), and the divine presence of God (Exod 10:23). In the first creative act, "God saw that the light was good" (Gen 1:3)."

Darkness in the Old Testament is represented by the Hebrew word 'hasak' and denotes "everything that is anti-God, the wicked (Prov 2:13-14, I Thess 5:4-7) in Chapter 34 of Job, verse 22 revealed is that God knows the darkness and where darkness is and furthermore what is contained within darkness. Isaiah 45:7 relates that God created and rules over the darkness and that God uses the darkness and hides himself from the sight of men within the darkness (Psalm 19:11 and I Kings 8:12). God uses the darkness to bring judgment upon those who do evil (Deuteronomy 29:28-29)

When one is tempted to view their personal view as the only one that might be applicable, it is extremely efficient to research deeply into geological studies as well and this is noted in the work of Strange. Therefore, toward this end the theories of Autochony and Allocthony are examined. Autochon is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology to be "one sprung from the soil" or "original inhabitants" of the earth. Therefore Autochthony is an individual which sprung from the soil of the earth and originally. If something is 'autochtonous' then it has been "formed in situ, or on the spot" (the Virtual Pond Dictionary, 2008) however, if something is allochthonous then it is something that has "been formed elsewhere and transported to the site in question." (the Virtual Pond Dictionary, 2008)

These two perspectives in relation to whether the Great Flood actually occurred or not are examined in the work of Joachim Scheven in the work entitled: "Forest - an Extinct Pre-Flood Ecosystem" who relates as follows:

Autochthonists reject the idea that the coal vegetation was rapidly buried on the grounds that to accomplish this the secular subsiding movements of the present are several hundred thousand times too slow. They ignore the revealed mechanism that would allow for a subsidence in the order of kilometers within weeks or months." (1996)

Scheven (1996) goes on to relate that the account of the flood in the Old Testament Book of Genesis has provided the information that the:

greater part of the waters erupted from the fountains of the great deep. A collapse of the crustal vaults concealing these fountains would have preceded the eruption. This in turn would have resulted in downward movements of the Earth's surface on a tremendous scale. The deep synclinal troughs filled with Paleozoic sediments could have originated this way." (Scheven, 1996)

Scheven states that a verse in Genesis 8:2 "potentially sheds light on this geological phenomenon. The record suggests that after about five months of unabated torrents the depressions caused by the collapse over the subterranean conduits were gradually concealed from above - the fountains of the deep were stopped!" (1996) the forest mats that were in place before the flood and that had not been affected while the water continued to rise could very well be "drawn into the depressions that were in the process of being 'stopped'." (Scheven, 1996) Due to the movements during the flood's subsiding, "torn-off parts of this floating ecosystem would settle where the current stopped, so that they came to rest on top of each other." (Schevenm 1996) This solves one of the biggest questions concerning coal measures in sedimentary layers.

One cannot ignore the products of the earth when attempting to understand the writing of the Old Testament and this is because of the common sense measures provided by God to the Hebrew people that are necessary for successful survival. Consider for instance that which is written in the book of Ezekiel concerning plants related to healing and those which man can consume without being poisoned or becoming sick. Indeed the book of Ezekiel 47:12 states:

On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food...Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing." The primary sources for healing and remedies were plants. Many of the practices utilized in healing among the Hebrews were learned from the Egyptians prior to the exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt. The Talmud makes identification of approximately seventy different herbs and plants as having healing properties both in terms of cures and prevention which includes "olives, dates, pomegranates, garlic, hyssop, cumin and other plants" and as well the Talmud relates remedies for ailments of the intestines and "blood pressure, skin and liver ailments, hemorrhage, eye problems and scurvy." (Krymow, 2008)

The Old Testament of the Bible relates that "balm, figs and oil" may be used for healing. For example in Jeremiah stated is:

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? (8:22) in the book of Isaiah prescribed is "a lump of figs" to; heal the boil of King Hezekiah (38:21) it is noted that the majority of miracles related to healing in the Old Testament resulted from the reversal of some type of punishment or plague by God. For example in Numbers 16: 46-48, following Aaron's having made atonement for the people in the land, a plague ended and healing resulted for a disease of natural origins which was conducted by the prophets. (Krymow, 2008; paraphrased)

There are deep meanings for peoples of both the Jewish and Christian religion in the Old Testaments instructions given to Moses by God relating to construction and erection of the Tabernacle for the people to worship. The work entitled: "Tabernacle of Moses - What Is it?" relates that the tabernacle is a 'visual dwelling'. (the Tabernacle Place, 2008) in fact, the word Tabernacle means 'tent' or 'place of dwelling' and 'sanctuary'. The tabernacle was a place that was sacred and a place in which God chose as a meeting place for himself and his people during their forty years of wandering in the desert while being led by Moses. The one-year anniversary of the Passover when Moses led the people out of Egypt witnessed the first erection of the tabernacle, which was a "mobile tent with portable furniture that people traveled with and set up wherever they pitched camp." (the Tabernacle Place, 2008)

Moses received instructions on building the tabernacle in the wilderness. Exodus 25:8 states: "...make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them." The tabernacle was God's visual evidence to his people of his presence among them. The Tabernacle was composed of a structure that was like a tent and included an external courtyard all of which was enclosed inside a fence that was approximately seven feet tall. The fence was made from linen and held in place by pillars. The reason for this specific setup of the Tabernacle was to make it known to the Israelites that they must come before God in the manner that God desired and not in the manner that they desired to come before God.

The work of Klitsenko entitled: "Tabernacle and the Rite of Church Consecration" relates that there has been a connection found by modern scholars of the Bible between "the text of the first chapter of Genesis, the description of the making of the tabernacle (Exodus 25-31 and 40) and the symbols of the Divine Services in the Temple in chapter 24 and 50 in the Book of Joshua the Son of Sirach." (2003) Klitsenko states that the Conformity of the sequence of the making of the tabernacle with sevens days of the creation of the world is apparent. In Genesis each of the seven commands begins with the words: 'And God Said'." (Klintsenko, 2003) According to Klitsenko, the sacred following sacred rite performed by the bishop curing church consecration correspond to the seven stages of the world creation. Those sacred rites are as follows: