Masters Degrees (Old and New Testament)

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The abolition of intermarriage in Ezra 10 and the ethnic identity of the postexilic Judean community : a hermeneutic study
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Paulo, Bonifacio; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present study seeks to examine the abolition of intermarriage according to Ezra 10 by asking the question as to what were the compelling reasons for such a social crisis, and to demonstrate its possible implications to ethnic identity in the postexilic Judean community. In order to accomplish this purpose, the researcher has chosen to use an integrated method which allows him to bring different exegetical approaches into dialogue, bearing in mind that the canonical narratives are an outcome of a long process of redaction of both oral and written traditions done by different editors from different socio-historical contexts. It is through this method that this research highlights the following outcomes: first, from a canonical point of view, the final editors understood the exilic experience as an objective outcome of the intermarriage phenomenon which led the Israelites into a complete loss of their group identity, namely – being a Yahwistic community, and it was, therefore, the responsibility of the returnees to avoid, at any cost, letting history repeat itself. Second, the phenomenon of intermarriage in the Hebrew Bible has to be approached from a diachronic perspective. Unlike the patriarchal and deuteronomistic traditions in which intermarriage was about morality and apostasy respectively, in the context of the postexilic community this topic was all about purity – a strong zeal for temple and worship, as particularly witnessed in the priestly tradition. Third, from the fact that these canonical narratives took shape in socio-historical settings where, in addition to the religious factor, there were also other reasons such as political and socio-economic, which contributed significantly not only to the dismissal of those intermarriages, but also to the negotiation of a group identity of the Second Temple addressee. In other words, in response to those socio-historical circumstances, the returnees were compelled to divorce and dismiss their foreign wives and, at the same time, they were shaping their group identity, which came to be known as Judaism.
Armoede en rykdom na aanleiding van ’n Ou-Testamentiese perspektief : ’n analogiese en etiese interpretasie van die Josefverhaal
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Naude, Stephanus Johannes; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: “Ethical conduct is about doing the right things the right way; not that the ends justify the means, but also simply doing the right thing, it did not matter what the outcomes were.” (Khoza, 2016) Die konteks van Suid‐Afrika verwag dat verskillende vrae oor etiek en etiese gedrag gevra word. In 2016 is Suid‐Afrikaaners deur studente gevra oor die verhoging van studentegelde en die beperking van die geleentheid vir hoër onderwys. Die konteks van Suid‐Afrikaners is oorweldig deur armoede en die kwessie van armoede kan nie meer net beantwoord word deur na die grondwet van Suid‐Afrika te verwys nie, maar het ’n etiese antwoord nodig. Hierdie studie wil die etiese vrae aanspreek deur die Bybel as 'n riglyn vir etiese deugde te gebruik. Die geskiedenis van Suid‐Afrika het egter getoon dat etiese gedrag wat in die Bybel gereflekteer word, onverantwoordelik gebruik kan word. Hierdie studie gebruik 'n anologiese perspektief om te argumenteer dat deur die wêreld van die teks en kontemporêre konteks so duidelik as moontlik te definieer, 'n verantwoordelike hermeneutiek ontwikkel kan word om vanuit die teks in die kontemporêre konteks van Suid‐Afrika te reageer. ’n Hermeneutiek wat beide die literêre en historiese dimensies van die Ou Testament gebruik, kan moontlik 'n meer verantwoordelike etiek verseker. Teen hierdie agtergrond sal die huidige studie die etiese deugde, versoening en voorsiening, met betrekking tot armoede en rykdom vanuit die Josef‐verhaal in Genesis 37‐50 ontwikkel.
A community as a testamentary executor : the journey of Joseph’s bones from Egypt to the Promised Land
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Ko, In-Kook; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research is a synchronic reading of Exodus that investigates the “traces of Joseph’s bones” in the Exodus narratives. The Exodus is depicted in this narrative as Joseph’s funeral procession. Moses carries Joseph’s bones up from the land of Egypt when the Exodus begins (Exod. 13:19) and the sons of Israel bury the bones in the land of Canaan at the end of Exodus (Jos. 24:32). That is, the texts portray the Exodus as the journey of Joseph’s bones from Egypt to the Promised Land. However, the texts offer only a trace of the bones at the beginning and at the end of the narrative. In this study an inter-textual approach to the biblical texts is used to interpret the Ark of the Covenant as the coffin containing Joseph’s bones in the desert. A faithful testator who strongly believed God’s promise intended the narrative of the solemn journey as a way of handing over his faith to his audience as a form of testament. The audience keeps and performs the testament as testamentary executors. Joseph’s funeral narrative is interpreted in this study by focusing on the text itself. The end of the narrative is reached with the burial of the bones as recorded in the book of Joshua. This construction suggests that the burial is a fulfillment of Joseph’s testament, but not the ultimate fulfillment thereof. The testament also has a bearing on further texts beyond the sixth book of Hebrew Bible. This narrative construction also has potential for interpretation in contemporary Christianity. The construction of the narrative reveals to the reader that God was the real executor behind the testamentary executors. The study therefore suggests that the church is a community which stands in continuation with the testamentary executors of the Old Testament. Joseph’s funeral narrative finds renewed fulfillment in the Christian church when expecting the real Executor again. This study concludes with some suggestions for the Church of how the fulfillment of Joseph's testament can be facilitated in contemporary contexts.
Deuteronomy 21:1-9 a programmatic anomaly? : a thematic and programmatic analysis of Deuteronomy 21:1-9 within the context of the Deuteronomist’s agenda
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-02-18) Robinson, A. G.; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Deuteronomy 21:1-9 falls within the Deuteronomic legal corpus and, more broadly, within the Deuteronomistic History. Its final form, as recognized by several scholars, betrays an origin of earlier antiquity than the immediate context of Deuteronomy suggests. Further to this, the nature of the ritual, frequently called the “’egla ritual”, appears at first reading, to disobey some of the basic tenets of the laws of Deuteronomy and this bears some investigation. At the heart of the book of Deuteronomy is “the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there” (The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, 2001, Deut 12:5). This centralized place of worship is the place where all cultic activity is to occur. The importance of this “place” is highlighted by the fact that the notion is unique to the Deuteronomistic History (Deut to 2 Kings) and is presented to the exclusion of any local sanctuary for worship. The allowing of secular slaughter of animals for food in Deuteronomy 12:15 further highlights this cultic centralization motif, by making the local slaughter of animals non-cultic. The appearance of the “’egla ritual”, in which there is the killing of an animal in a local context for what appear to be cultic purposes, seems to disobey this fundamental prescription of the Deuteronomistic work reinforced throughout the Deuteronomistic History in the evaluation of the kings. Further to this oddity, there is the matter of the clumsiness of the inclusion of the priests in verse 5, which seem to serve no cultic purpose; the need for both judges and elders in the act of measurement in verse 2; and the hand-washing accompanied by what appears to be an oath formula. This local rite, then, seems to stick out from the centralizing YHWHistic landscape of Deuteronomy as somewhat anomalous and begs the question, “does it belong?” To answer this question, more clearly formulated in the title of this study, the specific aims or agendas of the Deuteronomist are ascertained and defined in order to discover how these agendas agree with the ritual. These are defined as, firstly, the divesting of the monarchy of sovereign power; secondly, the centralization of the Cult; and thirdly, the reassignment of the jurisdiction of the judiciary from the monarch to the cult. A detailed exegesis follows, after which the “’egla ritual” is specifically examined with regard to the agendas of the Deuteronomist. It is concluded that the “’egla ritual”, having undergone a lengthy process of development, appears as thoroughly Deuteronomistic in its final form. Its chief impact however, since it is neither cultic, nor entirely judicial, since it fails to deal with the guilt of the unknown perpetrator of the killing, is of a socially formative nature. This too would appear to be congruent with the apparent purpose of the Deuteronomist in presenting legislation for a new social, political and geographical context. The “’egla ritual” is thus not a programmatic anomaly since it accords with the chief agendas of the Deuteronomist.
From time-bound to timeless : the rhetoric of lamentations and its appropriation
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03) Giffone, Benjamin D.; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study postulates a unifying rhetorical function for the book of Lamentations during the Persian period. After the destruction of the temple in 587 BCE, the people of Judah were geographically scattered and religiously and culturally fragmented. Lamentations, with its ahistorical, timeless character, its acrostic form, its posture of protest, and its totalizing references to all the different classes and groups of Judahites, became a rallying point for Jews seeking restoration after the exile, as well as a perpetual reflection on YHWH’s role in human suffering for oppressed Jews in many places and at many times through history. The historical component of this study seeks to establish the fragmentation of Judah and the goals of the various Judahite groups during the Persian period. The literary component attempts to demonstrate Lamentations’ suitability as a portable, timeless expression of suffering before YHWH, and as a source of imagery and motivation for Jewish restoration hopes. This study contributes to the understanding of the formation of Jewish identity, which since the destruction of the first temple has been shaped by minority status in nearly every cultural context, and by the evolution of a portable, textual religion. This study concludes that the preservation of the book of Lamentations was both a reflection of and a contribution to these two aspects of Jewish identity. This study also contributes to the interpretation of Lamentations—and the genre of communal lament—as literature and liturgy. It also explores the possibility of literary connections between Lamentations, Isaiah 40-55, and the genre of penitential prayers.
Give us a king to govern us : an ideological reading of 1 Samuel 8-12
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-12) Lee, Hung-En; Jonker, Louis C.; University Stellenbosch. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to explore "who is saying what to whom for what purpose" in the text of 1 Samuel 8-12 through an analysis of the manifestations of ideology in this text. The emphasis of this thesis lies in the application of multiple methodologies in biblical interpretation with a view to (a) reconstructing the material and ideological conditions under which the biblical text was produced in order to determine which group produced the text and whose socioeconomic interests it served; and (b) investigating how these conditions are encoded in reproducing a particular ideology in order to determine how the texts incorporated the particular ideologies or interests of the time. The present research, for this reason, combines an extrinsic and an intrinsic analysis to read the world of 1 Samuel. The extrinsic analysis makes use of a social-historical and a social scientific approach to explore the particular circumstances. It indicates that the biblical writing should be regarded as conscious writing which aims to interpret historical incidents and construct specific ideologies. 1 Samuel 8-12 might therefore have been constructed by exilic groups to provide reasons for their difficult past. The intrinsic analysis makes use of narrative criticism, especially the theory of conflict plot, to do an in-depth investigation of the rhetoric of 1 Samuel 8-12. This analysis indicates that these chapters highlight the ambivalence of the monarchy, although the surface structure might tell a different story. The findings of the research have led to the conclusion that 1 Samuel 8-12 appears to present no clear position with regard to the future of the monarchy.
God the suffering Father and Israel the abandoned child : Hosea 11 and Psalm 80 in intertextual conversation
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Treurnicht, Schalk; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the Bible many metaphors are used to describe God and the relationship God had with Israel. These metaphors developed through the history of Israel and gained new meanings to suite new contexts. During troubled times the metaphors were also adapted to serve their purpose in these troubled contexts. This often led to metaphors that seem to contradict one another. Psalm 80 and Hosea 11 contain metaphors that seem to contradict one another, the metaphors of a suffering Father and an abandoned son. This study wants to examine these texts to understand better why these contradicting metaphors were both part of Israel’s thoughts on God and on the relationship between God and Israel. Studies on this topic and on these texts have already been done, but this study wants to add to the discussion by bringing these two texts into discussion with each other. Thus, the study presents an intertextual discussion between two texts, which contain metaphors that seem to contradict one another. The study is an exegetical study of Psalm 80 and Hosea 11 with the intent to bring these texts into discussion with one another in order to gain a deeper understanding of the God-human relationship as given expression in the Bible. Another aim is to see how the conversation between these two metaphors can be understood in present-day contexts.
The scope of the Old Testament and the nature of its theology : determining the object and subject of Old Testament theology by means of the Septuagint
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2006-12) Kotze, Gideon Rudolph; Jonker, Louis C.; Cook, Johann; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present study focuses on the difficulties surrounding the identification of an object and subject for the discipline of Old Testament theology. The goal thereof is to address these difficulties by establishing the legitimacy of an interdisciplinary engagement therewith. In order to achieve this goal the significance of the Greek translations of the Jewish scriptures, the Septuagint, for determining the object and subject of Old Testament theology is pursued. The problems surrounding the object of study in Old Testament theology are identified and discussed in terms of both canon and text. The advent of Canon criticism, with its focus on the nature, function and history of the biblical canon, as well as the study of the recent textual discoveries in the area surrounding the Dead Sea, have rendered previous consensus regarding the formation of the biblical canon(s) and the history of the biblical texts problematic. This necessitates a thorough reconsidering of the scope of the term “Old Testament”, and consequently, the basis on which the discipline of Old Testament theology is practiced. The rise to prominence of a so-called new or postmodern epistemological situation and the resulting influence of developments and shifts in literary studies on Biblical criticism, coupled with new challenges within the historical study of the biblical texts and a rediscovery of the importance of Wisdom literature forces upon the Old Testament theologian the responsibility to indicate and clarify the relationship between the Old Testament and divine revelation. Consequently, the nature of the Old Testament’s theology, and therefore, the subject of study in the discipline of Old Testament theology come under scrutiny. The focus of the study subsequently shifts to topics treated in the study of the Septuagint in order to indicate how these relate to the problems plaguing the discipline of Old Testament theology. Issues relating to the proper use of terminology in Septuagint-studies, theories of the origin of the Septuagint, and the techniques that were employed in translating the Semitic source texts of the Jewish scriptures into Greek, occupy the student in this regard. As a result, the legitimacy of employing insights from Septuagint-studies in delineating the object and subject of study in Old Testament theology is demonstrated. The final chapter identifies several overtures for furthering the study of the significance of the Septuagint for Old Testament theology in general. A number of methodological problems in the latter can be subsumed under the twin heading of the scope of the “Old Testament” and the nature of its theology. Chapter 36 of the Greek translation of the book of Job acts as a brief case study in order to demonstrate the suggestions that are made in this concluding chapter of the study.
The theological significance of light (אור) in the Old Testament : an applied cognitive linguistic study
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Ruark, Joel D.; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Even a casual reading of the Old Testament demonstrates that the ancient Israelite writers clearly conceived of some kind of conceptual relationship between light and YHWH. Theologians disagree concerning its precise nature, however, advocating anything from a simple metaphorical relationship with no metaphysical meaning to a full ontological equivalency of YHWH (primitively, as a sun-god) and the sun. The thesis applies the principles of cognitive semantics to the lexeme אור (light) in Biblical Hebrew and develops a working hypothesis of the conceptual relationship between light and YHWH in the ancient Israelite cognitive environment. After constructing a cognitive model of the lexeme אור in Biblical Hebrew, the thesis then tests this model and its derived conclusions against theological writings concerning light in the interpretive history of the Old Testament, with special focus on contributions made in the last fifty years. This comparative investigation seeks to determine how the recent developments of cognitive linguistic theory either confirm or correct previous understandings of the theological significance of light in Old Testament literature. On the basis of testing this cognitive model of light, the thesis proposes a working hypothesis concerning the relationship between light and YHWH in the ancient Israelite conceptual world and delineates a set of methodological principles for a future study to develop a more precise and fully articulated theology of light in the Old Testament. The concluding chapter explores the implications of both the cognitive model of light and the academic discipline of cognitive linguistics within Old Testament studies and the broader theological landscape.
Understanding the literary structures of Acrostic Psalms : an analysis of selected poems
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Choi, Junho; Jonker, Louis C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: By means of literary, linguistic and comparative literary approaches, this study examines the literary structure of the alphabetical acrostic poems in the Psalms. First, a literary approach is used to analyze the form and content of each alphabetical acrostic poem to show that the literary structure of the poems is varied. Selected Psalms 9-10, 111 and 112 are translated from the Hebrew and compared to ancient Near Eastern languages especially Akkadian and Ugaritic. Second, by means of linguistic approaches, the literary structure of each poem is determined on both micro and macro levels using the researcher’s own translations of these psalms. Furthermore, a comparative literary approach is employed to compare the forms of ancient Near Eastern acrostics, in particular Akkadian, Egyptian and Ugaritic poems, to Hebrew acrostics. The analysis reveals both similarities with other ancient Near Eastern forms as well as the uniqueness of the Hebrew alphabetical acrostic poems. Both linguistic and literary insights are used to determine the relationship between the different forms. The findings suggest that the alphabetical acrostic poems were probably written around or after 1000 B.C.E. since the ancient Near Eastern poems were written before 1000 B.C.E. The unique 22-line form of the Hebrew alphabetical acrostics also indicates that Hebrew thought was distinct from what can be observed in other ancient Near Eastern texts. On the basis of this research, a conclusion is reached and suggestions for future research are made.

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Old and New Testament) by browse.metadata.advisor "Jonker, Louis C."

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