Hebrew Scripture

I. Some terminology: Hebrew, Israelite, Jew, Judaism, Hebrew Scripture / Hebrew Bible, Torah

II. Hebrew Scripture conceives of God as both transcendent and personal

A. Hindu thought: Brahman is transcendent, but not personal

B. Greek thought: the gods are personal, but not transcendent

C. God’s Transcendence

1. There is no other

2. Creator of what other nations worship as if gods: Genesis 1, Psalm 19:1-6

3. “Inconceivable”: Job 38-40

4. Writers avoid pictorial language about God

D. God’s Personalness

1. “Saw that it was good” in Genesis 1

2. Takes a “personal” interest in men and women

a. Created in his image (Genesis 1), violence deplored (the Noah story)

b. Genesis 2 (“not good” man should be alone), Ps. 8 (what is man?), testing of Job and of Adam&Eve

c. Ready with advice: laws (Ps. 19:7-11), to Cain in Gen. 4, to Jacob, through prophets and Joseph

d. Covenants: Noah, Abraham, Moses

3. Has a plan

a. Selects the Hebrew people (p. 70) to represent him to other nations (e.g. Joseph to Pharaoh)

b. Suffering is part of his plan

c. (Christian view of the plan: we’ll study later.)

III. Special features of Hebrew poetry and narrative art

A. Repetition with variation: Ps. 8:3-4, 19:1-2, 137:5-6

B. Juxtaposition of “inconsistent” elements

1. Origins stories: Genesis 1, 2-3, 4, 5

2. Tamar’s story, Genesis 38

3. The three “movements” of Psalm 19

C. “Vertical” ordering of narrative

1. Absence of transitional material – e.g. in the Abraham-and-Isaac story.

2. God is “above” the narrative, rarely stands on the human characters’ level.

3. Contrast Greek literature, where each episode is tied into the ongoing flow (e.g. Eurykleia and the scar) and the gods often stand on our level.