Browsing by Author "Ristau, Kenneth A."
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Item The Achaemenid Persian empire in the west and Persian-period Yehud(2018) Ristau, Kenneth A.The disruption and caesura caused by the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE are not easily overstated. In addition to precipitating severe ideological tremors that undermined the traditional political and religious claims of Jerusalem's inviolability and Yahweh's perpetual support for the house of David, the architectonic and demographic evisceration of the city and its environs as well as the concomitant collapse of the kingdom of Judah were undeniably dramatic. In the wake of destruction and collapse, Judean society splintered. On the one hand, the Babylonian campaigns in 597 and 587 produced exiles and refugees, which created or added to Diaspora communities throughout the greater Near East that had been growing and developing since the Neo-Assyrian period (ca. 732-604 BCE). On the other hand, the remnants left in the land coalesced into two distinct enclaves: one in Benjamin, centered on Mizpah, and a second in the highlands south of Jerusalem. These enclaves consisted of a few landholding families, an impoverished populace, and disenfranchised refugees with tribal sheikhs, clan chiefs, and family heads as the local leadership.Item Breaking down unity: an analysis of 1 Chronicles 21.1–22.1(2005) Ristau, Kenneth A.This study is a structural and thematic analysis of 1 Chron. 21.1–22.1, and conveys some general observations about its likely communicative intent for the post-exilic community that wrote and received the book of Chronicles. The central argument is that the disunity and conflicts in the core relationships between Yahweh–king, Yahweh–Israel, king–Israel, and king–army in the opening verses of the census narrative, while in tension with the Chronicler’s general tendency to idealize the Urzeit, are actually a key part of the message and purpose of this narrative in Chronicles and for the community of the text. It is argued that the narrative highlights the centrality of Jerusalem, the temple, the cult, and the absolute sovereignty of Yahweh; it circumscribes and nuances the role of David and the monarchy in the ‘history’ of the cult; and it advances particular relational principles for the post-exilic leaders and their community.Item "In the house of Judah, my father’s house": the character of Joab in the book of Chronicles(2015) Ristau, Kenneth A.An inadequately explored area of biblical scholarship in the book of Chronicles is the character of Joab. One of the primary reasons for this scholarly oversight may be that in omitting a sizeable portion of the Davidic narratives in which Joab figures prominently, the Chronicler (hereafter, “Chr”) has left a somewhat exiguous witness to Joab. Aside from his inclusion in the Davidide genealogy in 1 Chr 2:16 and other passing references (1 Chr 11:20, 26, 39; 18:15; 26:28; 27:7, 24, 34), there are only three pericopes in Chronicles in which Joab figures prominently: 1 Chr 11:4–9; 19:1–20:3; and 21:1–22:1. Interestingly, all three pericopes are reconstructions of parallel texts in 2 Samuel, and a closer examination of each pericope reveals that the Chr’s compositional activity directly concerns the characterization of Joab. This present study will investigate and elucidate the Chr’s portrait of Joab, focusing primarily on these pericopes, and then briefly consider the implications that this portrait might have for evaluating the Chr’s ideology.Item Reading and re-reading Josiah: the chronicler’s representation of Josiah for the post-exilic community(2009) Ristau, Kenneth A.In historical-, source-, and redaction-critical studies of the Hebrew Bible, Josiah king of Judah often occupies a pivotal place. Any student or scholar of biblical studies will know something of the enormous body of literature that exists on Josiah, as the key figure in theories of the historical development of the Israelite religion and the sources and development of the biblical text. These studies, in large part, have their roots in work on the Deuteronomistic History and, more specifically, in the account of Josiah’s reign in 2 Kgs 22–23. This account, particularly the reports of the finding of the book of the law (2 Kgs 22:8–9) and the extensive reforms (2 Kgs 23:1–25) that this find inaugurates, has captured the imagination of many scholars, who have since expanded their studies to look for Josiah in the prophetic writings and in other books of the Hebrew Bible.Item Rebuilding Jerusalem: Zechariah’s vision within visions(2009) Ristau, Kenneth A.While the temple in Jerusalem and the administration of the new community forming around it are at the centre of Zechariah 1–8, references to the physical city of Jerusalem are concentrated as book ends in the sections 1.8–3.10 and 7.1–8.23. Jerusalem or Zion is explicitly mentioned 23 times in these sections: in the first vision (1.8-17), the second vision (2.1-4), the third vision (2.5-9), the first set off exhortation (2.10-17), the fourth vision (3.1-10), and the prophet’s reply to a question sent to Jerusalem (7.1–8.23). These visions and exhortations contain motifs or literary–ideological tropes of restoration and reconstruction, election and holiness, and the city as an axis mundi, which develop and bring to expression a vision or idea of Jerusalem as well as point to a reality behind the text in tension with that vision.Item Reconstructing Jerusalem : Persian period prophetic perspectives(2016) Ristau, Kenneth A.Jerusalem--one of the most contested sites in the world. Reconstructing Jerusalem takes readers back to a pivotal moment in its history when it lay ruined and abandoned and the glory of its ancient kings, David and Solomon, had faded. Why did this city not share the same fate as so many other conquered cities, destroyed and forever abandoned, never to be rebuilt? Why did Jerusalem, disgraced and humiliated, not suffer the fate of Babylon, Nineveh, or Persepolis? Reconstructing Jerusalem explores the interrelationship of the physical and intellectual processes leading to Jerusalem's restoration after its destruction in 587 B.C.E., stressing its symbolic importance and the power of the prophetic perspective in the preservation of the Judean nation and the critical transition from Yahwism to Judaism. Through texts and artifacts, including a unique, comprehensive investigation of the archaeological evidence, a startling story emerges: the visions of a small group of prophets not only inspired the rebuilding of a desolate city but also of a dispersed people. Archaeological, historical, and literary analysis converge to reveal the powerful elements of the story, a story of dispersion and destruction but also of re-creation and revitalization, a story about how compelling visions can change the fate of a people and the course of human history, a story of a community reborn to a barren city.Item Recreating Jerusalem: Trito-Isaiah’s vision for the reconstruction of the city(2017) Ristau, Kenneth A.Judean literature indicates that Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, and its slow recovery, triggered a theological crisis (with potentially existential implications). The earliest tremors of this crisis are reflected in laments, especially Lamentations and Psalms 44, 69, 74, 79, 89, 102, and 137. The theology of these texts is generally consistent, conveying grief-suffused confessions of corporate guilt, anguish over severed relations with Yahweh, and horror at the ruination and disgrace of Jerusalem and her inhabitants. To be sure, this literature frames these concerns within a worldview and liturgical practices in which Jerusalem’s preeminence and Yahweh’s sovereignty remain important and a diversity of belief and dissent – e.g., any radical impiety – is muted. Yet in late prophetic literature and historiography, counter-narratives that go even further are preserved. Opposition and reluctance to rebuilding and settling in the city are noted (Hag 1:1-11; Zech 8:4-8; Ezra 4; Neh 4:1-12; 11:1-2) and many texts appear to reflect the challenges of restoring the temple and maintaining enthusiasm for tithes and offerings (Hag 2:3; Mal 1:6-14; 3:8-12; Ezra 3:12-13; Neh 13:10-13). This apathy or disregard may have come especially from those who, in addition to worshipping Yahweh, also venerated other deities (Isa 57:3-13; 65:3-4; 66:3, 17; Jer 44) and/or worshipped at other cult sites (Isa 19:18-19; Jer 41:4-5; Zech 7:2-3).