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  • From: "John Brand" <jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant
  • Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 12:58:12 -0500

From:             "meta" <meta AT rraz.net>
To:                 "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date sent:                  Sat, 14 Aug 2004 14:08:51 -0700
Subject:         [Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant

> John:  This is my response to the first part of your message, which
> was rejected apparently because I forgot to take off the tail.  So
> I'll try again and apologize to moderator.
>
> YOU:   which implies also the partial non-fulfillment
>
> ME:  Would you explain this--within the Tanakh please, without
> imputing the NT to explain it?

John:
This is part of my quote from David Clines, [The Theme of the Pentateuch in the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament supplement series, volume 10 (Sheffield:  JSOT Press, 1986), 29]. The covenant with Abraham forms the basis for the theme of Genesis. This covenant/promise (Genesis 12:2-3 and 17:3ff) has three aspects (1) posterity (17:5); (2) land (17:8); and (3) relationship ‘an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you’ (17:7). Genesis finds a tension in the posterity aspect of the promise: Will there be a seed? Exodus finds tension in the relationship: Will God continue to put up with the descendants of Abraham. And Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are primarily setting the nation up to take over Canaan. However, the blessing also includes Abraham’s being a blessing to all families of the earth who will ‘bless themselves’ (Niphal Stem) in him. Thus, the promise is partially fulfilled and partially unfulfilled.

Richard:
[SNIP] I think, contrary to your statement, the old covenant
> did not work (Torah), so now there is a new covenant in Paul's
> theology which does replace the old covenant.  Does this make me a
> supercessonist?  In a sense yes, but it appears that God is a
> pragmatist, and a very persevering one at that (but not that Jewism is
> replaced).  And he did it before, as I interpret your very good
> analysis of the flood time, when God established (without human
> approval this time, "make": both initiated and confirmed) a new
> covenant after experiencing the failure of the old one to work, and
> then that one was dumped for another new covenant provided by the
> messiah Cyrus, and that one didn't work either.  Paul says in effect
> neither of these three covenants worked, so God now is instituting one
> guaranteed to work BECAUSE it doesn't depend on human beings.  IMO the
> history of the covenant is not "renewing" but trying anew in a
> different way, but always through Torah (so renewing in the Torah
> sense), until Paul, when Torah is dumped--but only in the covenant
> sense.

John:
I understand the covenant to work with the ancient tribal justice concept which is called cedaqah in the Tanakh. An example of how cedaqah works can be found in the book of Judges according to the following pattern:
     
1. Isreal becomes guilty (Judges 2:11-13)
2. Yahweh responds by delivering them into the hands of the enemy (2:14-15)
3. Israel becomes greatly distressed and cries out (2:15c, 18b)
4. Yahweh responds by bringing zedakah:  he forgives their sins and raises up a judge to deliver them from their oppression (2:16-18)
5. Israel enjoys a period of shaloam (3:11, 30c and 5:31c)
     
This concept is found in the book of Genesis and is worked into the structure of the narrative which builds toward the story of Abraham where the covenant is elucidated. The structure of the early chapters of Genesis works along as follows:

      Five stories are separated by reference to a genealogy:
     
1. The fall of mankind gives rise to the new condition between the creator and the creation which is far below the previous goodness but which retains the basic components of a relationship with Yahweh and his commitment to his creation (3:1-24);
2. The story of Cain and his descendants up to the time of Lamech (4:1-24);
3. The story of Noah and the flood (6:1-9:17);
4. The curse of Canaan (9:18-27);
5. The story of Babel and the dividing of the nations (11:1-9)

And these stories are separated by reference to toledoth:

1. The toledoth of  “the heavens and the earth when they were created” (Genesis 2:4).  This is the umbrella toledoth encompassing the common history of mankind.
2. The toledoth of Adam and his children (5:1), the line through Seth to Noah’s sons Shem, Ham and Japheth.  Cain’s line is mentioned in passing but the focus is on the line of Seth.
3. The toledoth of Shem, Ham and Japheth (10:1).  At 10:32 we are told that “from these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.”
4. The toledoth of Shem (11:10); and
5. The toledoth of Terah (11:27).

I see a gradual focusing in the narrative toward the story of Abraham.

Also, there is a spread of sin, spread of grace theme in these early chapters:

Vignette         I. Sin   II. Speech      III. Punishment

Fall     3:6      3:14-19          3:22-24
Cain    4:8b    4:11-12          4:16b
Flood  6:5-7   6:5-7   7:6-24
Canaan          9:22    9:24-25          10:8-12
Babel  11:4    11:6-711:8-9

The cedaqah in the book of Judges is associated with the deliverance of the nation from the punishment they had been consigned to (i.e. ‘the cedaqoth of YHWH’ Judges 5:11). However, cedaqah is also used to refer to preservation so that we see throughout the first section of Genesis the preserving of the ‘seed of the woman’ while the ‘seed of the serpent’ is handed over punishment. Because cedaqah indicates within the tribal justice concept that the punished are sent out so that they can be welcomed back in again, the covenant with Abraham is both a reaffirmation of the divine commitment to the creation and a renewed attempt to deal with a remnant. The ‘in you shall all families of the earth acquire a blessing’ is the anticipated fulfillment of the cedaqah.

Thus, I would agree that ‘the covenant is not a ‘renewing’ but trying again in a different way’ and would see the ‘when Torah is dumped’ as a trying again to accomplish the original purpose in Abraham through the Gentiles. The prophets talk about the spirit being poured out on all flesh so that the axial age appears to be a fulfillment of this throughout the east. There are five great seers that arise during this time Deutero Isaiah, Zoroaster, Confucius, Buddha, and Pythagoras (although all of the pre-Socratics work together to produce what we see at the time of Paul). The pre-Socratics appear to be working through the same issues that we see in Deutero Isaiah and in the early writings of Zoroaster of which you pointed out the strong contrast between good and evil.

I’ll continue to think this matter through over my holidays as it is pertinent to our discussion of covenant and election in Paul.








John Brand
B.A. Bib Stu (Providence College, Otterburne, MB, Canada, 1980)
M.Min. (Providence Seminary, 1991)
jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca



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