The present volume closes an important research gap in the current discussion about post-exilic Israel. The contributions ask about the influence of the processes of differentiation within Israel on the formation of the Old Testament and its textual traditions.
The underlying perspective of the present volume contributes to the recent historical debate on Yahwistic diversity in the Persian and the Hellenistic periods. A broad variety of different Yahwistic (and not necessarily Jewish) groups existed inside and outside Judah during the sixth to first century BCE, for example in Egypt (Elephantine/Jeb and Alexandria), Babylonia (al-Yahudu), Samaria, and Idumea.
The main objective of the volume lies in the literary-historical implications of this diversity: How did these groups or their interactions with one another influence the formation of the Hebrew Bible as well as its complex textual transmission? This perspective has not been sufficiently pursued in the more religious and historically oriented research before.
The volume comprises thirteen articles by renowned international specialists in the field, which aim at closing this gap in the scholarly discussion.
Survey of contents
Benedikt Hensel: Yahwistic Diversity and the Hebrew Bible: State of the Field, Desiderata, and Research Perspectives in a Necessary Debate on the Formative Period of Judaism(s)
Part I: Perspectives for and from Judah, Samaria, and Diaspora? The Debate within the Pentateuch and Hexateuch
Reinhard Achenbach: Die Integration der heiligen Orte der Provinz Samaria in das Narrativ des Hexateuch –
Konrad Schmid: The Diaspora as a Blessing for the Nations: The Case of Gen 28:14 –
Dany Nocquet: The Question of Israel's Kinship with the Arameans: Rachel and Laban in Gen 31:1 – 32:1: A Samaritan Contribution? –
Julia Rhyder: Unity and Hierarchy: North and South in the Priestly Traditions –
Raik Heckl: The Temple within the Book and Its Function: Considerations on the Cultic Conception of the Composition of the Torah
Part II: Ongoing Debates – Historical Developments – Intensifying Polemics: Literary-Historical, Text-Historical, Theological, and Historical Aspects of the Formation Processes
Jean Louis Ska: Why is the Chosen People Called Israel and Not Judah? –
Hervé Gonzalez/Marc Mendoza: 'What Have the Macedonians Ever Done for Us?' A Reassessment of the Changes in Samaria by the Start of the Hellenistic Period –
Stefan Schorch: Where is the Altar? Scribal Intervention in the Book of Joshua and Beyond –
Detlef Jericke: Shiloh between Shechem and Jerusalem –
Magnar Kartveit: The Tension between the Law and the Prophets as a Background to the Formation of the Samaritan Pentateuch –
Veit Dinkelaker: Gen 2:2 Reconsidered: Marginal Notes on a Peculiar Variant in Samaritan, Greek, and other Manuscripts –
Jonathan Miles Robker: Die Texttraditionen von 2. Könige 17 als Spiegel der Entwicklung des Verhältnisses von Juden und Samaritanern
