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book: The Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and its Historical Contexts
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The Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and its Historical Contexts

  • Edited by: Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2010

About this book

In ancient Israelite literature Exile is seen as a central turning point within the course of the history of Israel. In these texts “the Exile” is a central ideological concept. It serves to explain the destruction of the monarchic polities and the social and economic disasters associated with them in terms that YHWH punished Israel/Judah for having abandoned his ways. As it develops an image of an unjust Israel, it creates one of a just deity. But YHWH is not only imagined as just, but also as loving and forgiving, for the exile is presented as a transitory state: Exile is deeply intertwined with its discursive counterpart, the certain “Return”. As the Exile comes to be understood as a necessary purification or preparation for a renewal of YHWH’s proper relationship with Israel, the seemingly unpleasant Exilic conditions begin, discursively, to shape an image of YHWH as loving Israel and teaching it. Exile is dystopia, but one that carries in itself all the seeds of utopia. The concept of Exile continued to exercise an important influence in the discourses of Israel in the Second Temple period, and was eventually influential in the production of eschatological visions.

Author / Editor information

Ehud Ben Zvi, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Christoph Levin, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.

Reviews

"Der Vf. hat eine interessante Textsammlung vorgelgt, die er methodisch reflektiert auswertet."
M. Bauks in: Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 123, 1/ 2011


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Christoph Levin
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Jan Christian Gertz
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Martti Nissinen
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Kirsi Valkama
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Christoph Levin
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Juha Pakkala
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Hermann-Josef Stipp
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Ehud Ben Zvi
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Ehud Ben Zvi
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Jakob Wöhrle
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Reinhard Müller
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Reinhard Müller
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James R. Linville
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John Kessler
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 19, 2010
eBook ISBN:
9783110221787
Hardcover published on:
September 17, 2010
Hardcover ISBN:
9783110221770
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
12
Main content:
388
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