Throughout the Hebrew Bible YHWH’s chosen people, more popularly known as Jews continually find themselves being driven out of their homeland by a foreign power only to return again. Furthermore, these chosen people struggle to find ways to maintain their identity in a foreign land. As the cycle of being driven out and returning repeats itself, YHWH’s people eventually come to identify themselves as living in diaspora—maintaining their identity and more importantly, their religious identity in foreign lands among foreign powers. Joseph, Esther, and Daniel are figures whose books in the Hebrew Bible are considered Jewish novella—short works of fiction that have a historical setting, but contain inaccurate details—figures. These three chosen people find themselves part of the aforementioned cycle, however, each has a different story to tell. Although these three figures share fundamental similarities in plot reversals and instruction on faithfulness in diaspora, there are more essential dissimilarities in the role that God plays and how each individual identifies himself/herself. Joseph, Esther, and Daniel all find themselves in inordinately influential royal positions that later on save YHWH’s chosen people. Joseph acts as the Pharaoh’s highest official or vizier, Esther undoubtedly saves her Jewish people with her courage to approach her husband, King Ahasuerus, and Daniel is crucial to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, for whom he interprets dreams. Therefore, not only do these three find themselves having exceedingly powerful royal connections, they do so in a foreign land. Both Daniel and Joseph are models for how to faithfully follow God in a foreign land and are also “example[s] of how God will protect his faithful foll... ... middle of paper ... ...cle of diaspora and faithfulness in a foreign land work together to show God’s all-powerfulness and love for His people. Although He plays a different role in each Jewish novella, in the end the reader sees His faithfulness to those who love Him and follow Him among foreigners. These dissimilarities are imperative to interpreting the underlying meaning of the story: it is possible to remain faithful in diaspora in a way that maintains a person’s Jewish identity, and more importantly their religious identity. Works Cited Coogan, Michael David., and Michael David. Coogan. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print. Meeks, Wayne A., and Jouette M. Bassler. The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1993. Print.
Carson, D. A. New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
To begin with, the dual narratives of the text here present a unique mixture of chronology and perspective. Moreover, noteworthy is also McBride’s usage of the rhetorical strategy of alternate chapters and parallelism. This can be seen when McBride remarkably places related chapters together to juxtapose the life of his mother and that of himself. This allows one to observe the parallelism in the two lives; and perhaps more importantly, understand the significance Ruth’s life has had on McBride. For example, McBride places the chapters “Shul” and “School” next to each other. Here, both Ruth and James are struggling and are trying to fit in but are rejected due to racial and social conflicts. Another example is, “The New Testament” and “The Old Testament.” Both of these chapters revolve around the embarrassment Ruth and James feel for their circumstances. In “The Ne...
To begin with, the dual narratives of the text here present a unique mixture of chronology and perspective. Moreover, noteworthy is also McBride’s usage of the rhetorical strategy of alternate chapters and parallelism. This can be seen when McBride remarkably places related chapters together to juxtapose the life of his mother and that of himself. This allows one to observe the parallelism in the two lives and to understand the significance Rachel's life had on McBride. For example, McBride places the chapter titled “Shul” and “School” next to each other with each giving a view of the problems they faced in school. Here both Ruth and James are struggling and are trying to fit in but are rejected due to racial and social conflicts. Another example is “The New Testament” and “The Old Testament.” Both of these chapters revolve around the embarrassm...
...sterton, G. K.. "Introduction to The Book of Job." The Hebrew Bible In Literary Criticism. Ed. and Comp. Alex Preminger and Edward L. Greenstein. New York: Ungar, 1986. 449-50.
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
1996. “Sacrifices and Offerings in Ancient Israel” in Community, Identity, and Ideology: Social Science approach to the Hebrew Bible., ed. Charles E. Carter.
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Bible. Eds. Dom Bernand Orchard, Rev. R. V. Fuller. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1966. Print.
There are many themes running through the Old Testament myth of Exodus – slavery, rescue and redemption, guidance, commandments on how to live, the creation of a nation, and God’s power over other gods. In this paper I will explore what appears to be the chief reasoning behind the creation of the Exodus myth – the explanation of the creation of a monotheistic religion and the similarities of the Exodus myth to the ancient myths, as well as how one should approach the reading of the myth.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1989. Print. The. Russell, Eddie.
The book of Esther tells the faithfulness of one woman and her uncle. It is only one of two books that contain the heroism and bravery of a woman heroine. The story of Esther accomplishes two profound things, the first: “To demonstrate God’s providential care of his people, even those outside the land of Israel, and 2) to commend the observance of the feast of Purim by relating how it originated” (Breneman 289).Unlike the rest of the Bible the story of Esther does not directly state or talk about God, but instead shows God’s plans for all of our lives and how in all frightening moments of life, He remains faithful to those who trust and have faith in Him. “In spite of the omission of any name for deity, there is no other book in all the bible where God is more evident, working behind the scenes, than in this book” (Willmington 200). In order to understand who Esther was as a woman and her significance in the history of the Jews, we must first examine the circumstances and other individuals that impacted the events leading up to and after Esther became queen.
The New Interpreter's Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Nashville: Abingdon Press, ©2003.
Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. (BS195 .C66 1995)
Kohlenberger, III, John R. and Barker, Kenneth L., eds. Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary: An Abridgement of the Expositors Bible Commentary. Chicago: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.