Volume 16, Issue 2, 2024
Articles published in the latest issue of Studia Biblica Slovaca
Divine Names. Different Approaches and Writing Procedures in the Qumran Scrolls
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 133-158
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAOZJ1124
Abstract
Traditionally, the ancient Israelites approached the name of God with reverence as is visible in the third commandment (Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). In the written documents, a special approach towards the Tetragrammaton is already visible in the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42– 89 [83]) in which that name was usually replaced with םיהלא in all textual witnesses. A similar avoidance of the Tetragrammaton is evidenced in many Qumran scrolls. Reflecting a similar approach to the avoidance of the use of divine names, scribal solutions were invented in order to avoid the regular writing of these names in the text; they are the focus of our analysis: (i) The writing of the Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew characters; (ii) Four dots (named Tetrapuncta) (….); rarely: (iii) A dicolon ( : ) in 4QRPb (4Q364); (iv) כיהלאל written in red in 11QpaleoUnid. Text (11Q22). The picture that emerges is a clear tendency to present these names with various graphical solutions in the Qumran Hebrew scrolls, but not in the other Judean Desert scrolls. This tendency is not felt across the board in the Qumran scrolls, but it is mainly limited to the scrolls that are closely connected to the Qumran scribal practice. The writing of the Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew characters is also evidenced in Greek manuscripts and the connection between the Hebrew and Greek evidence is scrutinized.
Gen 9:18-29 and the Drunkenness of a Main Parental or Divine Figure Entailing the Future of Their Filial Entities
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 159-194
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAPBE9427
Abstract
Some authors such as Corinne Bonnet and Sofia Cavalletti already noted analogies between the drunkenness of Noah in Gen 9:18-29 or of Adonai in Ps 78 with some uses of it in the extra-biblical literature. Following this line of thought, I intend to investigate what appears to be a literary motif of drunkenness of a main parental or divine figure, by highlighting its elements and its purpose in general, as well as the specific orientation chosen by Gen 9:1829 within the framework of the section Gen 9:18–10:32. That is, to guide in the early phase of Gen 1–11 the favor of the Abrahamic branch on Canaan, regarding the land of the Canaanites’ original dispersion in Gen 10:19.
“King Sihon, Who Dwells in Heshbon”. A Textual Problem in Num 21:34 and Parallels
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 195-200
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAPWY9294
Abstract
The participle בשֵׁ וֹי “dwelling” in Num 21:34 and parallels raises grammatical and exegetical problems: when God promises to deliver Og into the hand of the Israelites, Sihon is no longer “dwelling” in Heshbon. The consonantal text and the reading tradition of the Samaritan Pentateuch read the form as a perfect. The article argues that the Samaritan reading is to be preferred and tries to account for the Masoretic text.
The Structure and Poetic Elements of Jotham’s Speech (Judg 9:7g-20)
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 201-229
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAQAW7778
Abstract
Not only Jotham’s fable (Judg 9:8-15), but his entire speech (9:7g-20) has poetic features. The main aim of the article is to establish the structural and rhetorical poetry characteristics in this text. The structural characteristics include the following: chiasmus (antithetic, structural, split-member), gender pattern, metrical pattern, refrain-like structure, and threeand-four pattern. The following poetic constructions and rhetorical figures give Jotham’s oration a poetic character: anaphora, assonance, hendiadys, homophone, merismus, metonymy, oxymoron, parallelisms (syntactic and antithetical) play on words, and polar word pairs.
Ἄγνοια in Wis 14:22
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 230-247
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsARFH6396
Abstract
In Wis 14:22 ignorance (ἄγνοια) is said to generate a great war, but what type of ignorance does ἄγνοια mean particularly in this verse? Rather than a mere lack of knowledge or information, or a capacity thereof, there is sufficient contextual evidence to show that ἄγνοια in 14:22 has a different meaning. A comparison with ἀµαθία from ancient Greek philosophy shows that both it and ἄγνοια are used interchangeably; with ἄγνοια assuming the meaning of ἀµαθία. The paper proposes that ἄγνοια in Wis 14:22 should be understood as ἀµαθία.
The Apostle Paul before the Members of the Sanhedrin in Acts 23:1-5. Interpretation of the Biblical Text: A Rhetorical-Intonational Aspect
Pavol FARKAŠ
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 248-255
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsARJC1717
Abstract
This article intends to highlight the various ways of interpreting the words of the Apostle Paul in the context of the pericope Acts 23:1-5. Depending on the intonation, a rich variety of planes of meaning of Acts 23:5 is offered. We have offered six directions of understanding that are not mutually exclusive: (1) apology, (2) simple statement, (3) irony, (4) irony to sarcasm, (5) disinterest, (6) criticism. These options emphasize the importance of the manner of oral presentation of biblical texts, on which their interpretation, overall understanding, and perception depend.
The Life-giving “Wind over the Waters”. The Semantics of the Verbs ζωογονέω and ζωοποιέω from Greek Mythico-Philosophical Conceptions to the “Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life” and the Patristic Discussion of Gen 1:2c
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 256-274
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAROF2087
Abstract
In the Greek literature, the verbs ζωογονέω and ζωοποιέω were used in the context of mythicphilosophical ideas about the origin of life on earth: “give life, produce life”. In biblical Greek, their meanings are shifted: “keep alive” and “revive, bring (back) to life”. Later Christian authors build on the biblical tradition, but they reuse the cosmogonic meaning of these verbs, namely in the debate about the creation of the world and the part the Holy Spirit played in it (Gen 1:2c: πνεῦµα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος). The verbal adjective ζωοποιός in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, used as one of the new titles of the Holy Spirit, pointed to this.
BRAULIK, Georg – LOHFINK, Norbert: The Rhetoric of the Moses Speech in Deuteronomy 1–4 (Österreichische biblische Studien 55), Berlin et al.: Peter Lang, 2022. 212 pp. ISBN 978-3-631-87348-9.
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 275-279
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAROV7020
Nowak, M. Wojciech, EC: Desert. A Biblical Place of Encounter with God, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Benedyktýnów Tyniec, 2019. 399 pp. ISBN 978-83-8205-306-7.
Anton SOLČIANSKY
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 279-281
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsATNF9436
Štrba, Blažej: Joshua in the Book of Exodus. An Exegetical Study of the Literary Character (StBiSlSup 7), Bratislava: Comenius University in Bratislava, 2023. 194 pp. ISBN 978-80-223-5683-1.
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 282-285
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAUCB9090
86th Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association of America. 3–6 August 2024, Washington
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 286-288
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAURY3093
Word and Places. 24–27 September 2024, Jerusalem
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 288-289
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAUWX2025
The Strength of the Weak and the Weakness of the Strong in the Bible. 22–24 November 2024, Badín
Zuzana OČKAJÁKOVÁ
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 289-290
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAVQM3327
Causes and Consequences of Wars and Armed Conflicts, Introductory Workshop. 5 December 2024, Bratislava
volume 16, issue 2, 2024, pages 290-291
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsAYHH9655