HISTORY, JUSTICE, AND THE AGENCY OF GOD BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION SERIES Editors R. ALAN CULPEPPER ROLF RENDTORFF Associate Editor DAVID E. ORTON Editorial Advisory Board JANICE CAPEL ANDERSON • MIEKE BAL PHYLLIS A. BIRD • ERHARD BLUM • WERNER H. KELBER EKKEHARD STEGEMANN • ANTHONY C. THISELTON VINCENT L. WIMBUSH • JEAN ZUMSTEIN VOLUME 52 HISTORYJUSTICE, AND THE AGENCY OF GOD A Hermeneutical and Exegetical Investigation on Isaiah and Psalms BY CHRISTOPH O. SCHROEDER BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON • KOLN 2001 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Die Deutsche Bibliothek — CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Schroeder, Ghristoph O. : History, Justice, and the Agency of God : A Hermeneutical and Exegetical Investigation on Isaiah and Psalms / by Christoph O. Schroeder - Leiden ; Boston ; Koln : Brill, 2000 (Biblical interpretation series ; Vol. 52) ISBN 90-04-11991-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available ISSN 0928-0731 ISBN 90 04 119914 © Copyright 2001 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS CONTENTS Preface xi Abbreviations xiii PART ONE GOD'S AGENCY IN HISTORY: THE HERMENEUTICAL PROBLEM AND ISAIAH'S PROPHETIC VIEW OF HISTORY 1. JUSTICE, HARMONY, AND POWER: THREE DIFFERENT CULTURAL EXPERIENCES OF HISTORY 3 1.1 God's Agency in Creation and History 3 1.2 Greek Historiography and its Understanding of the Universality of History 9 1.2.1 The Human Soul as a Microcosmos in the Physis 10 1.2.2 Culture as a Continuation of Nature 11 1.3 The Biblical Notion of the Universality of History and the Reality of the Divine Council 13 1.4 Justice and the Agency of God 14 1.5 Conclusion 16 1.6 History as the Sequence of Facts in the Causal Continuum 17 1.7 Thesis: The Realistic Dimension of Biblical Experiences of History 24 1.7.1 The Universality of History and the Finiteness of Human Reason 24 1.7.2 Realism Versus Nominalism 28 1.8 Outline of the Investigation 29 2. THE ECLIPSE OF THE BIBLICAL EXPERIENCE OF HISTORY 33 2.1 The Romantic View of the Biblical Notion of History 33 VI CONTENTS 2.2 The Construers of History as Its Lone Agents 34 2.2.1 The "God Who Acts" and the Biblical Theology Movement 34 2.2.2 Critique 37 2.3 History and Kerygma: Israel's Ongoing Actualization of Its Foundational History 39 2.3.1 Hans-Georg Gadamer's Critique of the Historical Method 39 2.3.2 Critical History and Kerygmatic History (Gerhard von Rad) 42 2.3.2.1 Critique 43 2.3.3 Story and History (Hans Frei) 46 2.4 Conclusion: The Limitedness of the Modern Concept of History 47 3. TOWARD REGAINING THE UNIVERSAL DIMENSION OF HISTORY. ISAIAH'S PROPHETIC VIEW OF HISTORY: THE PEOPLE'S VIOLATION OF THE TORAH, THE COMING OF THE ASSYRIANS, AND THE "STRANGE WORK" OF YHWH 53 3.1 Recapitulation: Toward Regaining the Universal Dimension of History 53 3.2 The Prophetic View of History: Hermeneutical Considerations 57 3.3 History as Trial (Isaiah 1-4) 60 3.4 The People's Violation of Justice and Righteousness (Isaiah 5) 63 3.5 Isaiah's Vision of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 6) .... 70 3.6 Isaiah's Prophetic Commission and YHWH's "Strange Work" 72 3.7 Outlook: Isaiah's Role in the Unfolding of History 76 3.8 Intermediate Reflection: YHWH's Acting Against Evil 78 CONTENTS Vll PART TWO GOD'S AGENCY IN RESPONSE TO PRAYERS: THE PSALMIST'S CHANGE OF MOOD IN PSALMS 3, 6, AND 7 4. DIVINE ACTING AND THE PSALMIST'S CHANGE OF MOOD FROM LAMENT TO JOY IN PSALMS 3 AND 6 83 4.1 Introduction: How Does the Psalmist's Change of Mood from Lament to Joy Occur? 83 4.2 Methodological Issues 85 4.3 The Cultically Mediated Oracle of Salvation 87 4.3.1 The Priestly Oracle of Salvation (Joachim Begrich) 87 4.3.2 The Ordeal at the Temple (Walter Beyerlin) 88 4.3.3 Private Piety and the Ritual Expert's Oracle of Salvation (Erhard Gerstenberger) 89 4.4 The Temple-Theological Dynamic of Divine Absence and Presence 90 4.5 Critique 96 4.6 The Psalmist's Dream-Oracle in Ps 3:6 100 4.7 The Petitioner's Change of Mood from Lament to Joy in Ps 6:9-11 105 5. PSALM 7: THE PETITIONER'S APPEAL TO YHWH, THE JUDGE, AT DAWN 109 5.1 YHWH's Acting as Judge in the Individual Complaint Psalms 109 5.2 Psalm 7: The Psalmist's Appeal at Dawn to YHWH, the Universal Judge in the Heavenly Height 110 5.2.1 Text and Structure 110 5.2.2 Ps 7:13-17 and the Doctrine of Retribution 113 5.2.3 The Psalmist's Appeal to the Divine Judge at Dawn 114 6. THE THEORY OF THE JUDICIAL ORDEAL AT THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE 121 6.1 The Cultic-Institutional Hypothesis 121 6.1.1 The Ordeal at the Temple as Israel's Supreme Court of Justice 121 6.1.2 The Concept of the Judicial Ordeal 123 Vlll CONTENTS 6.1.3 Beyerlin's Reconstruction of the Ordeal 125 6.1.4 Individual Complaint Psalms in the Framework of the Ordeal 126 6.1.5 The Ordeal in Light of Individual Complaint Psalms 128 6.2 Critique: The Hypothetical Character of the Cultic Institution 132 6.2.1 Deut 17:8-13 and 19:16-20: Instruction from the Deuteronomic Torah 132 6.2.2 1 Kgs 8:31-32: YHWH's Acting as Judge Through the Activation of Curses 133 6.2.3 Summary: YHWH's Acting as Judge in 1 Kgs 8:31-32 137 6.3 YHWH's Acting as Judge in the Individual Complaint Psalms 138 6.4 Conclusion 140 7. GOD'S ACTING AS JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF TREATY VIOLATIONS 143 7.1 An "Alliance Background" of Psalm 7? 143 7.2 The Prayer of Tukulti-Ninurta I to Shamash, the Judge 147 7.3 Sargon's Letter to Assur Concerning his Eighth Campaign 153 7.4 The Oath Between the Serpent and the Eagle in the Legend of Etana 155 7.5 Conclusion 156 8. DIVINE ACTING AS JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF DIVINATION 159 8.1 Introduction: YHWH's Acting in the Judicial Assembly in Ps 7:7-12 159 8.2 The Prayer of the Diviner to Shamash, the Judge, at Dawn 160 8.2.1 The Diviner's Preparation for His Appeal to the Divine Court 162 8.2.2 Shamash's Presiding Over the Divine Judicial Assembly 163 8.2.3 Excursus: The Hermeneutical Principles of Divination 166 8.3 Conclusion 169 CONTENTS IX 9. DIVINE ACTING AS JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF INCANTATION-RITUALS AND INDIVIDUAL COMPLAINT PSALMS 173 9.1 Introduction: YHWH's Reversion of Evil in Ps 7:13-17 173 9.2 Incantations to Shamash, the Judge 174 9.2.1 Namburbi-Rituals: The Procedures of "Dissolution" of the Evil Fate Announced by the Omens 178 9.2.2 A Namburbi-Ritual Against the Evil Announced by the Behaviour of Dogs 180 9.3 Structural Analogies Between Incantation-Ceremonies and Individual Complaint Psalms 184 9.3.1 Incantation-Ceremonies 184 9.3.1.1 The Petitioner's Liberation from Evil 184 9.3.1.2 The Elimination of Evil in the Sacramental Cult 187 9.3.1.3 "May She Gnaw at Her Own Fingers Like Cheese:" Ea's Reversion of Evil Against its Agent 191 9.3.1.4 Maqlu 1:1-36: "Her Word is Turned Back in Her Mouth; She is Tongue-Tied" 195 9.3.2 Individual Complaint Psalms 198 9.3.2.1 YHWH's Reversion of Evil 198 9.3.2.2 "God Shoots the Arrow at Them" The "Work of God" in Psalm 64 .... 200 9.3.2.3 The Universal Dimension of YHWH's Judicial Acting 202 9.4 Conclusion 204 9.5 'Joy Comes With the Morning" (Ps 30:6): Psalms 3-7 as a Redactional Liturgical Sequence 206 9.6 The Absalom Narrative as a "Midrash" to Psalms 3-7 209