Genesis and the Moses Story
Israel's Dual Origins in the Hebrew Bible
Konrad Schmid
Konrad Schmid is a Swiss biblical scholar who belongs to a larger group of Continental researchers proposing new directions in the study of the Pentateuch. In this volume, a translation of his Erzväter und Exodus, Schmid argues that the ancestor tradition in Genesis and the Moses story in Exodus were two competing traditions of Israel’s origins and were not combined until the time of the Priestly Code—that is, the early Persian period. Schmid interacts with the long tradition of European scholarship on the Hebrew Bible but departs from some of the main tenets of the Documentary Hypothesis: he argues that the pre-Priestly material in both text blocks is literarily and theologically so divergent that their present linkage is more appropriately interpreted as the result of a secondary redaction than as thematic variation stemming from J’s oral prehistory. He dates Genesis–2 Kings to the Persian period and considers it a redactional work that, in its present shape, is a historical introduction to the message of future hope presented in the prophetic corpus of Isaiah-Malachi.
- Description
- Table of Contents
Scholars and students alike will be pleased that this translation makes Schmid’s important work readily available in English, both for the contributions made by Schmid and the summary of continental interpretation that he presents. In this edition, some passages have been expanded or modified in order to clarify issues or to engage with more-recent scholarship. The notes and bibliography have also been updated.
Dr. Schmid is Professor of Old Testament and Early Judaism at the University of Zürich.
Preface
1. Introduction: Ancestors and Exodus in the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible
1.1. The Temporal Sequence in the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible
1.2. The Sequence of the Ancestors and the Exodus
1.3. Preliminary Considerations
2. Analytical Investigation: Markers of the Original Independence of the Ancestor Story and the Moses/Exodus Story within Genesis–2 Kings
2.1. Literary Indicators in Genesis–2 Kings for Dividing Genesis from Exodus
2.2. Additional Indicators for the Division of the Ancestor Story and the Exodus Story
2.3. The Ancestor Story as an Independent Text Complex
2.4. The Moses/Exodus Story as an Independent Text Complex
2.5. The Problem of the Primeval Story
3. Synthetic Reconstructions: The Merger of the Ancestor Story with the Moses/Exodus Story and the Development of the Image of History in Genesis–2 Kings
3.1. The Ancestor Story as Preface to the Moses/Exodus Story
3.2. The God of the Ancestors as the God of the Exodus
3.3. The Fulfillment of the Promises to the Fathers
3.4. The Death of Joseph and the Oppression of Israel in Egypt as a Theological Link between Genesis and Exodus
3.5. Redaction-Historical Contours of the Literary Connection of the Ancestor Story and the Moses/Exodus Story
3.6. Theological Aspects of the Unified Ancestor and Moses/Exodus Story
4. Repercussions: The Sequence of Ancestors and Exodus in Intertestamental and New Testament Reception.
4.1. Reception within the Hebrew Bible
4.2. Later Receptions
4.3. Summary
5. Conclusion: Position in the History of Research
5.1. Summary
5.2. Models for the History of the Literary Development of Genesis–2 Kings
5.3. Continuity and Discontinuity with Other Models
Bibliography
Indexes
Index of Authors
Index of Scripture
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