March 2019 – Not From Around Here

The Ideal Eschatological Community

Richter provides one of the most beautiful summaries of the community in the book of Ruth as the “ideal eschatological community.” She cites Kathernine Doob Sakenfeld’s essay “Ruth 4, An Image of Eschatalogical Hope: Journeying with a Text.” This essay appears in Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty M. Russell.

the book of Ruth presents a picture of the ideal eschatological community and functions as “an extended metaphor for God’s New Creation.” With its picture of a community in which old and young alike are cared for, where there is physical sustenance for all, where ethnic identities cease to divide, and people participate in the divine חסד [kindness or love between people, of piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity], Ruth shows an “eschatological vision of future hope.” Sakenfeld notes that the hopefulness of the text stands out especially since the story of Ruth is set in the days of the judges, a time marked by Israelite warfare against enemy nations as well as internecine carnage in which women especially suffer (see, for example, Judg 19-21). So, into the midst of a time of warfare and struggle comes a picture of peace, righteousness, and plenty. God gives blessing and God’s name is blessed, and human fruitfulness is shown not only in the birth of Obed, but also in an entire genealogy of descendants.
The Enochic Watchers’ Template and the Gospel of Matthew. Richter, Amy Elizabeth, 126.

Is the community context of Ruth in the timeframe of the Judges in the minds of first century Christians as they read the Matthean genealogy? Richter references it in her dissertation which, by definition, should engage all the relevant scholarship on the topic, so one could say possibly. In any case, it’s a beautiful picture of the providence of God to fashion the wonderful out of a most difficult circumstance.

Wordplay in Hebrews 10:5-7

According to Quintilian, the art of the first- century orator influenced the written style of language
The Institutio Oratoria 10.3.5

Karen H. Jobes argues “that what is typically perceived in Heb 10:5–7 as a ‘misquote’ of the psalm from which the writer of Hebrews must somehow be absolved, is instead his deliberate use of a phonetically based rhetorical technique called paronomasia which was highly valued in the first century.”

Basically, Jobes says that oral and written transmission of information means the perceived misquotes of the Hebrews source material aren’t simply misquotes based on textual criticism. They are deliberate choices made by the author to serve an audience who may hear the work being read to them.

Hebrews 10:5-7

Masoretic Text, Psalm 40:7-8

Septuagint, Psalm 39:7-8

Jobes again:

This “misquote” of Psalm 40 in Hebrews 10 should caution modern readers not to impose twentieth-century standards of precision and accuracy on first-century quotations of the OT. First-century authors apparently were not motivated by the precision and accuracy demanded in quoting sources today but were conforming to different standards which may seem strange to the modern reader.
The Function of Paronomasia in Hebrews 10:5-7, Karen H. Jobes

This has implications on the view of inspiration. If God were directly transmitting the words to the author, so to speak, while the author wrote them down, God would certainly not have misquoted the intended passage. If God’s providence prepared the Hebrews writer with his life experience, understanding of language, education, cultural context, etc., the writer can then use his or her own rhetorical expertise to pen the work. God’s providence ensured the author would get it right.

Jewish Second Temple Data on the Identification of the Second YHWH figure

In the second century CE Jews declared the two powers doctrine heresy. This seems to be because the Christians proposed and adopted Jesus as the identity of the second YHWH figure in the OT. Some scholars will argue that the idea that Jesus is God in the flesh is a late idea intended to prop up Christianity.

Charles Gieschen’s Angelomorphic Christology is said to contain all the data on the subject. The implication is clear that the Jews were working out this idea proposing a number of candidates themselves as early as the second century BCE. These candidates included (probably among others):

Adam
Enoch
Noah
Jacob
Moses
Michael
Ya’el
the Logos (Philo)
Memra
Angel / Spirit
Spirit / Wisdom

Cutting Through the Content Fray

Michael Heiser spoke in Dayton and Columbus Ohio yesterday. He shared a few tips on research and sources.

Use tools that help you do research more quickly. Cut down the time you need to get to an answer. Dissertations by definition cover all the ground to-date on a specific topic. You get a good summary in the first chapter and all the source information for further research on a topic. This speeds you along without having to lay all the ground yourself.
Read peer-reviewed journals that scholars use. You can trust the hard work has been done here and you won’t be dealing with internet and Google “truth.”
The best content is not online for free, i.e. Google. It will be behind a paywall that can be no-cost, but you have to do a little work. Get credentials at a research university library to access their journal database. Depending on their licensing agreement you may be able to access these remotely. Or you may need to use a terminal in the library itself.

Heiser specified the following resources

American Theological Library Association (ATLA): The ATLA Religion Database® (ATLA RDB®) is the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion, with coverage from 1949 and retrospective indexing for several journal issues as far back as the nineteenth century. Journals are selected for inclusion according to their scholarly merit and scope. The fact that many publishers solicit the inclusion of their journals in ATLA RDB is indicative of the stature it has achieved in the community of religion scholars.
JSTOR: a highly selective digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include top peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports from trusted institutes, and primary sources.
Dr. Heiser’s recommended reading.

That Head-Covering Thing? Um, Yeah.

Hippocratic authors hold that hair is hollow and grows primarily from either male or female reproductive fluid or semen flowing into it and congealing (Hippocrates, Nat. puer. 20). Since hollow body parts create a vacuum and attract fluid, hair attracts semen.
PAUL’S ARGUMENT FROM NATURE FOR THE VEIL IN 1 CORINTHIANS 11:13–15: A TESTICLE INSTEAD OF A HEAD COVERING, Troy W. Martin

Martin makes the case that, in my words, a woman without a head covering is the first century equivalent of a woman walking around without any pants on. Modern medicine believed that long hair drew semen into the woman and aided what we know as conception. Similarly, short hair on men allowed the semen to more effectively be transferred to the woman. Just read the paper.

The implications are a handful:

Paul isn’t a misogynist wanting to put women in their place. Instead he’s aware of the culture’s understanding of immodesty.
In addition to the rest of his education, Paul is up to speed on contemporary medical understandings.
A case can be made that what might be interpreted as commands in the New Testament should not be blindly accepted without some thought as to why the statement was originally made. There may be reasons to disregard, or probably better, adapt those statements so that personal behavior may be more effective at spreading the gospel vis-a-vis the culture.

Powers and Authorities that rule the Present Evil Age

Timothy Combs provides a lucent footnote on page 319 of A Radically New Humanity: The Function of Haustafel in Ephesians in which he describes the Psalm 82 understanding of the powers and authorities that rule this world.

The powers ruling the present evil age fulfill a God-given role in creation. They were created to be the mediators of God’s rule over this world. According to Jewish thought, the nation of Israel was deemed to be the special inheritance of the God of Israel, but he appointed gods to rule over the nations (Deut 32:8–9; Sir 17:17) (Bruce W. Longenecker, The Triumph of Abraham’s God: The Transformation of Identity in Galatians [Louisville: Abingdon, 1998] 51). They were given a stewardship to rule the nations and order their corporate life in such a way that the nations would fear the Most High God. However, these gods have rebelled against their God-given stewardship so that their rule is characterized by a perversion of their original commission. Instead of being faithful stewards of God’s rule, they have corrupted their cultures and have ordered their nations in such a way that those in positions of authority now exploit the weak and powerless, grasping after power and seeking to take any advantage they can in order to satisfy their own lusts for more power, prestige, possessions, and sensual gratification (Ps 82:1–8; Jub. 15:31). What is important in this tradition is that the cultures and nations under the rule of these powers have come to resemble the powers themselves, along with their selfish and self-destructive behavior. Ephesians reflects this tradition in that the character of the Old Humanity is oriented according to that of its rulers. Just as the powers have incurred the judgment of God because they have become graspers after the cosmos (Eph 6:12) instead of faithful stewards of the rule of God (Longenecker, Triumph 54), so the Old Humanity is characterized by the sins mentioned in the two triads in Eph 4:19 and 5:3. Those in the Old Humanity have been led astray into idolatry (Eph 5:5), having their lives ordered by the evil powers and reflecting their own selfish and self-destructive character.

And then with respect to the effect of the gods who have been given authority over nations, Combs goes on to say,

This vision of the New Humanity is elaborated against the chaotic, destructive, and divisive social patterns created and fostered by the evil powers, who have perverted the created order in such a way that has affected every aspect and level of society. Those in positions of power manipulate, dominate, and exploit those who are weaker in order to increase in social status and honor. Those who have less social leverage are tempted to rebel against such oppressive authority structures, or to develop (self-)destructive strategies for survival. The condition of the Old Humanity is a product and reflection of the character of the evil powers who left their appointed stewardship of creation and plunged the cosmos into disarray, disorder and chaos. (p322-323)

These ideas are what the first century Christians, Jews, and other near east nations had floating around in their heads when they read Psalm 82, although the other ANE understanding of the details could be different. 1 Enoch and other second temple writings fill in details of what a “reflection of the character of the evil powers who left their appointed stewardship of creation and plunged the cosmos into disarray” means.