REL 199 Notes Week 6

Leviticus 11

Land Animals

Any animal that has a split hoof that is completely divided AND that chews the cud are allowed for consumption.

The following animals are NOT allowed for consumption:

• Camels
  
  • Chews cud, but does not have a split hoof
    
  • Ceremonially unclean
    
• Coneys (rock badger)
  
  • Chews cud, but does not have a split hoof
    
  • Unclean
    
• Rabbits
  
  • Chews cud, but does not have a split hoof
    
  • Unclean
    
• Pigs
  
  • Has split hoof completely divided, but does not chew cud
    
  • Do not eat the meat
    
  • Do not touch the carcass
    
  • Unclean
    

Birds and Flying Creatures

The following are deemed ‘detestable’ and should not be eaten

• Eagles
  
• Vultures
  
• Black Vultures
  
• Red Kites
  
• Any kind of Black Kite
  
• Any kind of Raven
  
• Horned Owls
  
• Screech Owls
  
• Gulls
  
• Any kind of Hawk
  
• Little Owls
  
• Cormorants
  
• Great Owls
  
• White Owls
  
• Desert Owls
  
• Ospreys
  
• Storks
  
• Herons
  
• Hoopoes
  
• Bats

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REL 199 Notes Week 5

Exodus 19

Give a brief description of events from Exodus 19

• Chapter takes place three months after Israelites left Egypt
• Entered Desert of Sinai
• YHWH says that if the covenant is kept, then a land will be promised to them
• Moses tells the people this, and YHWH then tells him that the people should “wash their clothes and be ready on the third day because the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people” (Exodus 19:11) and that limits should be put on the people so that they cannot enter the mountain or else they will die.  They will be permitted when they hear that the Ram’s horn is blown
• Moses tells people to abstain from sexual acts
• On the third day, a storm was brewing and there was smoke on the mountain because YHWH had descended onto the mountain; the people stood at the foot of the mountain and trembled at the sound of the trumpet.
• YHWH told Moses to tell his people not to force their way up the mountain or they will perish.  Moses then told YHWH to “put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy” (Exodus 19:23)
• YHWH instructs Moses to bring Aaron up with him and that no priests or people should try to force their way up, for they will perish

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REL 303 Midterm Study Guide Revisted

Great discussion last night! Seeing that the midterm has now been taken by all of you, I can now publish these notes online with ease.  If there are any edits that need to be made to the content, please let me know ASAP so we can have an accurate set of content.

All questions written and prepared by Alice Keefe.

Be ready to describe any of the methodological approaches we have discussed, and be able to give an example of the application of that approach to a specific text in the Hebrew bible.

What is the Tanakh? In what way is the Tanakh the same as the Old Testament? In What way are they different?

The Tanakh is the name of the Hebrew Bible.  It contains three sections and the name is derived from them.

• The Torah (law)
• The Nevi’im (prophets)
• The Kethuvim (writings/scriptures)

The Tanakh and the Old Testament are very similar, except that both versions place emphasis on different criteria, so the books in each have an alternative order.  The Old Testament is used more as an historical reference for the New Testament.

What is the Septuagint? Why is the Septuagint valuable to biblical scholars?

The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.  The word Septuagint means “seventy”. The work is significant to biblical scholars because it helped shaped the formation of The Christian Bible, but also was one of the first translations of the Hebrew Bible in another language rather than Hebrew.  Another crucial fact about the Septuagint is that it differs greatly in age than the Masoretic Text, which some scholars claim that the Greek translation was more accurate than the Masoretic, but soon became very similar as editions were re-written over time.

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REL 199 Notes Weeks 2 and 3: Gen 1-11

Genesis

What does the word Genesis mean?  Are there any alternatives to this title in Judaism?

• Genesis – Greek for “birth” or “origin”
• The word genesis itself was used for the first book of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament when the Septuagint (Gk. meaning “seventy”) was compiled by the Greeks.  The name continued to be used in the Latin Vulgate (latin meaning “common”) Bible and English translations.
• Jewish tradition refers to Genesis as Bereshith (Heb. literally means “in the beginning”)
  • Bereshith is the first phrase from Genesis

Gen. 1-11: The Primeval History and Origins

Is the number 7 in the creation myth just a random number?  What about the order things were created?

• The number 7 appears numerous times throughout the Bible as it is the divine number of completion.  Numerology and numeric patterns are found in abundance in the Bible.  See also Gen. 7:2-4 and Leviticus 23:1-44, 16:14, 8:31-36
• The number 7 also has more subtle appearances from a Hebrew standpoint, such that Gen. 1:1 contains 7 Hebrew words and Gen. 1:2 contains 14.  Verses about the 7^th day contain 35.
• This may sound farfetched, but compare scientific creation to the creation in Gen. 1.  Subtract the god variable from Genesis and throw in a little bit of physics and science into Gen. 1.  You might be surprised… see Coogan pg. 6.

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REL 199 Notes Week 1

Great discussion this week everyone!

I was very pleased with everyone’s participation and overall interest in the topics discussed.  I was also very pleased with how all of you are retaining and understanding the concepts covered in your 303 course.  Below are my notes, as promised, from our first week.  They’re cleaned up and may have some additional information that we didn’t discuss during class.

If you find any errors or would like to see additions made to the notes, please leave a comment at the bottom of the post.  By doing this, we can create a better collective of notes and references.  This is GREAT for upcoming quizzes or midterms

Judges 4-5

Who was Deborah?

• Prophetess
• 4^th and only female Judge during pre-monarchial Israel
• Name means to bee (feminine noun)
• Husband to Lappidoth (meaning torches) – speculation arises on her husband’s name as it doesn’t appear outside of Judges, could be used to describe a “fiery” personality

Who was Jael and what was her role in Judges 4?

• Heroine that killed Sisera by running a tent pin through his temple
• Name is a given name (no formal translation)
• Wife of Heber the Kenite

Who was Sisera?

• Leader of the Canaanite military under Jabin’s rule
• Lost battle to Barak’s army
• Fled to Jael’s tent and was killed by Jael;
• Name is said to be philistine, Hittite, or Hurrian… sometimes Egyptian (Ses-ra = Servant of Ra)

Who was Barak and what was his demand?

• Military general who defeated Sisera’s army
• Demand was that Deborah join him or else he wouldn’t fight Sisera’s army

What is the title synonymous with Judges 5?

• The Song of Deborah

What does the Song of Deborah depict and what makes this chapter interesting?

• The Song of Deborah depicts the events in Judges 4 in the form of a poem or psalm.  What’s particularly interesting is the fact that it is one of the oldest portions of the Hebrew Bible.  Coogan dates the text all the way back to the 12^th century BCE (Coogan 216).

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