Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament The Ordering of Life in Israel and Early Judaism

includes index and biblioraphy

1. Sages, Scribes, and Counsellors .................1 The Writings: The Third section of the Hebrew bible ............1 The many faces of Wisdom .........5 The professional Sage.........9 Education in Israel .....12 2. Education for life .........18 Proverbs: the book ........18 The proverb......20 The religious dimension ...........24 The ethic of the Sages ......29 The instruction ......31 Acrostics, Numerical Sayings, Riddles..........35 Sapiential Narrative .......39 3. God and the Moral Order ...............46 The link between act and consequence ...........46 Political Disaster and Religious crisis .......51 Job ...........57 Qoheleth ...68 The problem remains .........79 4. The growth of Israel`s Legal Tradition ....84 Ordering life by law..........84 The covenant Code: Exodus 20: 23-23: 19..........94 The Decalogue ......102 The Second Law: Deuteronomy, Religious proramme, and civil Constitution ........107 5. Law in early judaism : Temple Community and sect ......120 The priestly history ..........120 Cultic and Ritual Laws ................126 Wisdom and law in the chronicler`s work .........133 Law and legal Exposition in Jewish sectarianism ..........140 6. Theological Wisdom ......151 The confluence of Wisdom and law .........151 Job 28: inaccessible wisdom .............153 Proverbs 8: 22-31: Wisdom, first -born of creation ..........157 Ecclesiasticus 24: 1-29: Torah assimilated to wisdom ..........162 The wisdom of Solomon: towards a new synthesis .....167 Apocalyptic Wisdom .....173 wisdom in transition : some further developments ........179