Abstract The paper discusses the widespread controversies regarding the authorship of Deutoronomy. It is the belief of some that Deutoronomy was once part of the Former Prophets, comprising Joshua through Kings. It shows that according to these scholars Deuteronomy 1:1-4:40 and chapters 29-34 were added by the writer who compiled the history in the Former Prophets, and so the book is used as the preface to what became known as the Deuteronomistic History. The paper explores the themes, history and accuracy of Deuteronomy as well as touches on another controversy, the question of who wrote the Bible.
From the Paper "It is clear from the above that, while the Hebrew Bible in general and the Deuteronomistic History specifically do use historical sources in their compilation, they are ideological rather than historical. In fact, it has been mentioned that the DH was written in the first place to inspire and entice towards worship. The DH is a collection of books concerning the reasons and the manner of worship, as well as the nature of the one God, the one People and the one Faith. Thus, the events of history are also colored by the spirit pervading the particular time of its creation. For this reason many view the DH as literature rather than an accurate depiction of history. This is a strong if controversial tendency in modern studies."
Abstract This paper summarizes and describes the focus of the three Old Testament books, Deuteronomy, Samuel and Kings, and explains how these books are about why a monarchy was considered unacceptable to the people of Israel and how this negative association had a lot to do with the concept of obedience and disobedience to God.
From the Paper "The obedience and disobedience of the nation is expressed by means of the nation as a single entity in the book of Deuteronomy. This book is also the link between the history related in Genesis and Exodus, and the events in the Promised Land related in later books. This is where the nation of Israel receives the laws ordained for the nation as a whole. The emphasis is also on communal life and worship, and there is no barrier between God and his people, except the sin committed by the nation as a whole."
Abstract This paper details David's historical success in gaining power and unifying the people of Israel. This paper also discusses David's complex character that learns from each experience and recognizes the value of keeping promises and honoring alliances. The author of this paper examines Deuteronomy's theory that David's rise to power and unifying the Israelites was simply because he was appointed by God to do so. This narrative offers a steady path of intellectual growth and self-awareness that would contradict a strict Deuteronimistic interpretation.
From the Paper "However, David also takes his men into battle against other tribes, and does not shrink from wiping out entire populations because he does not want survivors to spread the word that he has restricted his attacks to Canaanite peoples. He has also been building his own wealth with booty from his conquests. In addition, he takes two wives, Abibail, the wife of Nabal and Ahinoam of Jezreel."
Abstract The paper examines the God of the Old Testament who displays many human images and emotions. The paper reminds us that that Bible was written by man who wrote of God in the only manner he could ? in human terms. The paper defines several of Gods characteristics (for example, creativity, protectiveness, vengefulness, and grieving) and shows how they relate to instances in the Bible.
From the Paper "The Lord is a vengeful Lord. He removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. He destroyed man and beast because of their evil ways (Genesis 6:13). When the Pharaoh would not let the Israelites free, Moses spoke with him, pleaded. Moses warned him that God would take vengeance on the Egyptian. First the river turned to blood (Exodus 7:17). Then the frogs came (Exodus 8:5). When the Pharaoh still did not let the Israelites go, God turned the dust and smite into lice (Exodus 8:16), After the lice, came the flies that swarmed amongst the houses of the Egyptians (Exodus 8:21). The Pharaoh still would not let God's people go. Ths angered God even more and he sent down a disease that killed the cattle of the Egyptians. The cattle of the Israelites were saved. Then the Lord commanded Moses to take the ashes from the furnace and sprinkling it towards the heavens, it was changed into a boil that only affected the Egyptians. These boils affected both man and beast (Exodus 9:10)."
Tags: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Israel
From the Paper "Introduction
Jesus Christ had some definite views on marriage and divorce. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church believes that Holy Matrimony is one of the Seven Sacraments. Consequently, divorce is not taken lightly because it would be a sin to destroy a sacrament. In the words of Jesus: "At the beginning God made them male and female; for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become as one. They are no longer two but one in flesh. Therefore let no man separate what God has joined" (Mark 10:6-9).
The position taken by Jesus with regard to divorce is quite strong and unequivocal. It is no wonder that the Roman Catholic Church regards marriage as a sacrament.
Jesus does not agree with Deut. 24, which permits a husband..."
Abstract This paper examines the Book of Joshua as it appears in the Old Testament. It first examines the book's canonical context and the confusion often connected to the book, since it contains the end of the history depicted in Deuteronomy, while the beginning of another era is contained about halfway through the book. The paper then examines the contribution of the Book of Joshua in ancient and contemporary times. Finally, the paper looks at this text can be used in a religious educational setting to preach about faith and responsibilities.
From the Paper "Other critics however justify the placement of Joshua in the Hebrew text by citing various probable reasons for this (Malick, 1996). Joshua for example acted as a prophet, while the book also depicts the truths given to the people by the prophets. Furthermore the label of "prophet" emphasizes the theological rather than concretely historical nature of the book. It appears that the book is indeed intended to teach religious truths rather than historical truths, as historical research suggests various inaccuracies in the events depicted in Joshua (Gray, 1986, p. 9)."
Abstract This dissertation examines the literary and sociological, (and to an extent political) connections between the slave narrative and contemporary black prison literature. The writer shows a connection primarily between the style and content of slave narratives and prison literature. This includes an investigation into how blacks have created their own literary hero, (stories that are also popular with white children) through the Bre?r rabbit or trickster negro stories. It also shows the adoption of Christianity by slaves both as a religion and reaction to living in the New World, as well as the customising of Christianity. Using the prison literature, the later chapters regard the ratios of black and white prisoners and the connection between race and length of sentence. And an underlying theme both the slave narratives and the prison literature is the problem of education provided by the State for
black children.
Introduction
I. Bearing Witness
II. Numbers and Deuteronomy III. So This is Prison
IV. Educating Dem Niggaz
V. Looking to Allah
VI. Plantation to Penitentiary
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
From the Paper "Oral histories were and still are the traditional format of story telling in Africa. The slave narrative genre began in the early nineteenth Century to be used as propaganda by abolitionists, (a small number of texts were written before this date, but they tended to argue in favour of slavery.) The education of blacks was extremely limited in antebellum America and to a lesser extent, leaves a lot to desire even today. Before the early Twentieth Century it was very difficult to study the institution of slavery from a black perspective. A lot of the knowledge we have about slavery had come from the testimony of others, white abolitionists, travellers and planters. To write a narrative or autobiography takes a certain dedication; if a person has been denied literacy and education to a basic standard it makes the task even more difficult. Black writers struggled and we now have a number of slave narratives, mostly due to over two thousand interviews conducted between 1936 and 1938 by the Federal Writers Project. The abundance of literature written by whites about slavery, gives us a clear idea of whites various feelings about slaves. But Kenneth M. Stampp notes in The Daily Life of a Southern Slave, that not only did slaves write less, but they seemed determined that no white man should ever know his thoughts.2 This is reiterated by John W. Blassingame in his article, Using the Testimonies of Ex-Slaves Approaches and Problems, when he writes, "Many of the secular songs are lullabies or hunting songs; the white-hating trickster slave Jack almost never appears in the tales. The blacks were carefully editing what they told whites." "
Abstract This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the topic of the "Sons of God". Specifically, it explores and argues that the "Sons of God" in Genesis 6 are human by using the following verses as background on the subject: Deuteronomy 9:18; Joshua 7:6; Psalm 112; Genesis 4:26; Numbers 13:33; and Job 1:6, 2:1.
From the Paper "They were the Sons of God in that they had some of the mighty traits of their Father, but in the end, they still fell like any other human. In fact, earlier in Genesis, in 4:26, the writer notes that "men began to call upon the name of the Lord" ("Holy Bible" 3), thus, even before the Sons of God make an appearance, men have begun calling upon him, and calling him their Father. Numbers 13:33 refers again to this race of giants who later disappeared. "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Amak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" ("Holy Bible" 123). This reference comes after the reference to the "Sons of God" in Genesis, but seems to refer to the same race of "larger than life" men that God sent to the world, then found to be weak and full of sin."
Abstract This essay offers a nuanced historical account and explanation of why the Jewish dietary rule came to insist on the prohibition of the consumption of certain animals, while others were tolerated, with particular reference to the time when the rule came to be fleshed out. More specifically, the paper looks into the case of pigs or pork as an animal whose inclusion in the list of those unclean might strike as particularly odd to the modern reader. Given the similarities they had with oxen, sheep and goats as domesticated and herbivorous livestock, swine, it seems fair to say, had little reason to be excluded. But this short piece argues that their labelling as unclean had as much to do with the peculiar circumstances in which Leviticus and Deuteronomy were written as with the consistency of the religious doctrine based on an adherence to the tenet of separate spheres which pigs and other animals fell foul of.
Outline;
Introduction
Reasons for the Exclusion of Pig: Hygiene and Habit
Criticism of Hygiene and Habit Interpretation
Contextualising Dietary Law: Babylonic Exile and Anti-desert Mentality
Distinctive Categories and Aberrations
Conclusions
From the Paper "That pork was unhygienic does not stand up to much scrutiny either. Criticising the hygienic rationale, Jean Soler for example, correctly makes the obvious point that the nomadic Hebrew tribes, who lived at the time when these rules were drawn up, did not possess sufficient medical knowledge to be able to pronounce the pig unclean based on the infectious dangers it posed to man. Even though it would be tempting to suppose that the kind of hot and arid climate in which the ancient Israelites lived was particularly hazardous for the transmission of diseases, the lack of even physicians to prepare for this possibility at that time points to the extent to which medical reasons could not plausibly be carted out to account for why pigs were expressly forbidden."
Abstract This paper explains that the biography of Moses starts with the Holy Bible, where his life story is played out throughout Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The paper then relates the story of Moses beginning with when he was cast into the river as a baby to his possible one final glimpse of the "Promised Land" on Mount Nebo.
From the Paper "The Holy Bible does not relate much about what happened to Moses after being saved from the river and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. However, a single line from the New Testament offers the suggestion that he was initiated into the arcane and exotic mysteries of ancient Egypt, for he was taught "all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds" (Act, 7:22). Thus, Moses appears to have been a gifted student, but his heart and mind obviously rejected all of the tenets of Egyptian religion, based on a pantheon of gods
and goddesses instead of monotheism, being the belief in one all powerful God or creator."
