The immorality of god: Reflections on some passages in genesis, job, exodus and numbers

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Volumn 21, Issue 72, 1996, Pages 89-120

  Whybray, R N ^a  

^a NONE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 63849166606     PISSN: 03090892     EISSN: 14766728     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/030908929602107206     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. 3), p. 24
2. 2), pp. 87-88, somewhat similarly spoke of 'the characteristic feeling of the envy of the gods' in that verse
3. 9)
4. ET Genesis (OTL; London: SCM, 1972)
5. and C. Westermann, Genesis, I (BKAT, 1.1; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1974)
6. ET Genesis 1-11 (London: SPCK, 1984) (see p. 92 below), admitted that 2.17 presents an unsolvable problem
7. Skinner, Genesis, p. 88
8. Westermann, Genesis 1-11, p. 267
9. E.A. Speiser, Genesis (AB, 1; New York: Doubleday, 1964), p. 27
10. Von Rad, Genesis, p. 81
11. Gunkel, Genesis, p. 10
12. S.R. Driver, The Book of Genesis (Westminster Commentaries; London: Methuen, 1905), p. 41
13. G.J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15 (WBC, 1; Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), p. 74
14. Cf. also G.J. Wenham, 'Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden', in R.S. Hess and D.T. Tsumura (eds.), I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994), p. 404
15. R.W.L. Moberly, 'Did the Serpent Get it Right?', JTS NS 39 (1988), pp. 1-27
16. Moberly, 'Did the Serpent Get it Right?', p. 16
17. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, p. 74
18. D.R.G. Beattie, 'What is Genesis 2-3 about?', ExpTim 92 (1980-81), pp. 8-10
19. CM. Carmichael, 'The Paradise Myth: Interpreting without Jewish and Christian Spectacles', in P. Morris and D. Sawyer (eds.), A Walk in the Garden: Biblical, Iconographical and Literary Images of Eden (JSOTSup, 136; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992), pp. 47-63
20. Carmichael, 'Paradise Myth', p. 47
21. GKC, 152w
22. von Rad, Genesis, pp. 81, 97
23. A.H.J. Gunneweg, 'Urgeschichte und Proevangelium', in P. Höffken (ed.), Sola Scriptum. Beiträge zu Exegese und Hermeneutik des Alten Testaments zum 60 Geburtstag (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983), pp. 83-95
24. H. Holzinger, Genesis (KHC; Freiburg i. B.: Mohr, 1898), p. 37
25. Cf. ThWAT, VIII, col. 171
26. THAT, II, cols. 947-48
27. The verb bsr III niphal occurs only in these two passages
28. E.g. Gunneweg, 'Urgeschichte', and especially von Rad, Genesis, pp. 152-53
29. Apart from commentaries and articles discussed in this article, reference may be made to W.L. Knox, 'Abraham and the Quest for God', HTR 28 (1935), pp. 55-60
30. Speiser, Genesis, p. 135
31. J. Blenkinsopp, 'Abraham and the Righteous of Sodom', JJS 33 (1982), pp. 119-32
32. J.L. Crenshaw, 'Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel', ZAW 82(1970), pp. 380-95
33. So, e.g. Skinner, Genesis, p. 305
34. cf. also Crenshaw, 'Popular Questioning', p. 385
35. C.S. Rodd, 'Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What is Just?', Exp Tim 83 (1971-72), pp. 137-39
36. B. Uffenheimer, 'Genesis 18-19, A New Approach', Mélanges André Néher (Paris: Librarie d'Amérique et d'Orient Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1975), pp. 151-52
37. Von Rad, Genesis, pp. 212-13
38. G. von Rad, Theologie des Alten Testaments, I (Munich: Kaiser Verlag, 1957), p. 393 (ET Old Testament Theology, I [OTL, 1; London: SCM, 1962], p. 395)
39. Rodd, 'Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What is Just?', p. 138
40. Driver, Genesis, p. 196
41. C. Westermann, Genesis 12-36 (BKAT, 1.2; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1981), p. 356 (ET Genesis 12-36 [London: SPCK, 1986], p. 292)
42. Von Rad, Genesis, p. 394: 'The dialogue is from beginning to end collective in its thinking.'
43. Rodd, 'Should Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What is Just?', p. 138
44. See E. Ben Zvi, 'The Dialogue between Abraham and YHWH in Gen. 18.23-32: A Historical-Critical Analysis', JSOT 53 (1992), pp. 27-46
45. See, e.g., L.K. Handy, 'The Authorization of Divine Power and the Guilt of God in the Book of Job: Useful Ugaritic Parallels', JSOT 60 (1993), pp. 107-18
46. Cf. S.R. Driver and G.B. Gray, The Book of Job (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1921), p. 12
47. So N.C. Habel, The Book of Job (OTL; London: SCM, 1985), pp. 79-80
48. Cf. the analysis by CG. Jung, Answer to Job (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954)
49. I am not persuaded by the contention of W. Vogels ('Job's Empty Pious Slogans (Job 1.20-22, 2.8-10)', in W.A.M. Beuken [ed.], The Book of Job [BETL, 114; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1994], pp. 369-76) that Job's words in 1.21 and 2.10 show him to have been other than accepting of his fate
50. CTA XV.2.11
51. CTA XVIII.4.33-37
52. CTA XVIII. 1.6-12 (cf. CTA III.E.30-33)
53. Seen. 48
54. A. Brenner, 'God's Answer to Job', VT 31 ( 1981 ), pp. 129-37
55. Habel, The Book of Job, p. 27
56. Cf. also G. Fohrer, Das Buch Hiob (KAT, 16; Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1963), p. 86
57. D.J. A. Clines, 'Deconstructing the Book of Job', in idem. What Does Eve Do to Help? And Other Readerly Questions to the Old Testament (JSOTSup, 94; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990), pp. 110, 117-18, offers yet another explanation of Yahweh's motives
58. Even those commentators who (briefly) discuss the role of Moses in these passages (G.B. Gray, Numbers [ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1903], pp. xlix-1
59. B.S. Childs, Exodus [OTL; London: SCM, 1974], p. 581
60. B.A. Levine, Numbers 1-20 [AB, 4; New York: Doubleday, 1993], p. 380
61. H. Seebass, Numeri [BKAT, 4.1; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1993], pp. 49-51) fail to consider critically the role of Yahweh in them
62. Especially G.W. Coats, 'The King's Loyal Opposition: Obedience and Authority in Exodus 32-34', in G.W. Coats and B.O. Long (eds.), Canon and Authority (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), pp. 91-109
63. Moses: Heroic Man, Man of God (JSOTSup, 57; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988)
64. H. Gressmann, Mose und seine Zeit: Ein Kommentar zu den Mose Sagen (FRLANT, 18; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1918), pp. 360, 378
65. Coats, Moses: Heroic Man, p. 155
66. Coats, Moses: Heroic Man, pp. 235-36 n. 10