Building an Altar Despite Animosity: A Literary Defense of the Concessive Reading of Ezra 3:3a
A common scholarly understanding is that the first group of returnees in Ezra 3:3a built an altar "because they were in dread of the neighboring peoples." I find such a reading to be unlikely for three reasons. First, a study of Ezra 3:3a reveals that accepting the common understanding gen...
1. VerfasserIn: | |
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Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Veröffentlicht: |
2020
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In: |
The catholic biblical quarterly
Jahr: 2020, Band: 82, Heft: 1, Seiten: 38-47 |
normierte Schlagwort(-folgen): | B
Bibel. Esra 3,3
/ Altar
B Bibel. Nehemia / Heimkehrer |
IxTheo Notationen: | HB Altes Testament |
weitere Schlagwörter: | B
returnees
B Altars in the Bible B BIBLE; History of Biblical events B Bible. Nehemiah B Bible. Ezra B Ezra-Nehemiah B altar building B BIBLE. Old Testament; Criticism, interpretation, etc |
Online-Zugang: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Zusammenfassung: | A common scholarly understanding is that the first group of returnees in Ezra 3:3a built an altar "because they were in dread of the neighboring peoples." I find such a reading to be unlikely for three reasons. First, a study of Ezra 3:3a reveals that accepting the common understanding generates an awkward reading. Second, the returnees are never characterized as a group building in response to external threats. Third, the motive behind altar building elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible is strictly for sacrifices. I suggest that a more compelling reading of Ezra 3:3a is, "They set up the altar on its foundation, although they were in dread of the neighboring peoples." |
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ISSN: | 2163-2529 |
Enthält: | Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/cbq.2020.0002 |