CONSTRUCTING A LIVING DEITY – FRAMING THE GOD OF ISRAEL IN THE STORIES OF DANIEL AND BEL AND THE DRAGON
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1013-8471/3439Abstract
This article is the concluding part in a series of articles on “Bel and the dragonâ€. These articles are an investigation into the Greek editor’s/author’s use of body, space, narrative and genre in creating a new reality regarding the Jewish deity. A spatial analysis is used. It suggests that the episodes of “Bel and the dragonâ€, as well as each of the chapters of Greek Daniel, should be read in a reciprocal relationship with each other. First, such an analysis indicates that the smaller episodes and chapters are part of a larger clash of deities. Second, it shows that the editor/author utilises the different events in the chapters of Greek Daniel to create a new worldview. In this new worldview the God of Israel is an almighty deity while other deities that are revered are false, and not real, living gods. In his own way the editor/author contributes to the way in which Jews regarded their God within the reality of the diaspora.
References
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Ogden, D 2013. Drakon: Dragon myth & serpent cult in the Greek & Roman worlds. Oxford: Oxford University.
Redditt, P L 1999. Daniel. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
_______ 2013. Metaphor. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Smith-Christopher, D L 1996. The Book of Daniel. in Keck 1996:17–152.
Van der Bergh, R H 2009. Reading “Bel and the Dragon†as narrative: a comparison between the Old Greek and Theodotion, Acta Patristica et Byzantina 20:310–323.
Van der Toorn, K, Becking, B & van der Horst, P W (eds) 1995. Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible. Leiden: Brill.
Venter, P M 2004. Constitualised space in Daniel 9, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies HTS 60/1&2:607–624. 2006. Space in Daniel 1, Old Testament Essays 19/3:993–1004.
Walton, J.H. 2006. Ancient Near Eastern thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the conceptual world of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
Zlatev, J 2007. Spatial semantics, in Geeraets & Cuyckens 2007:318–335.
Becker, U 2005. Exegese des Alten Testaments. Stuttgart: Mohr Siebeck.
Bergmann, C 2004. The ability/inability to eat: determining life and death in Bel et Draco, Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 35/3:262–283.
Charles, R H (1913) 2004. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, volume one: Apocrypha. Berkeley, CA: The Apocryphal Press.
Clifford, S J 2003. The roots of apocalypticism in Near Eastern myth, in Collins, McGinn and Stein 2003:3–29.
Collins, J J 1993. Daniel. (Hermeneia). Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2000. From prophecy to apocalypticism: the expectation of the end, in Collins (ed.) 2000:129–161.
Collins, J J (ed.) 2000. The encyclopedia of apocalypticism. Volume 1. The origins of apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity. New York: Continuum.
Collins, J J & Flint, P W (eds.) 2001. The Book of Daniel. Composition & reception. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill.
Collins, J J, McGinn, B J and Stein, S J (eds.) 2003. The Continuum history of apocalypticism. New York: Continuum.
Croft, W & Cruse, D 2004. Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
De Bruyn, J J 2012. Creating God’s own right-hand man – a cognitive linguistic approach to Psalm 110, Ekklesiastikos Pharos 94/23:456–470. 2014a. A clash of gods – conceptualising space in Daniel 1, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70/3:1–6. 2014b. Constructing a deceitful deity – The disempowerment of Bel – Bel and the dragon, verses 1–22 (OG/Th), Journal for Semitics 23/2i:382–403. 2015a. Daniel dragonslayer – Bel and the dragon, verses 23–27 (OG/Th), In Luce Verbi/In die Skriflig 49/1:1–8. 2015b. Dining in the lions’ den – Bel and the dragon, verses 28–42 (OG/Th), Verbum et Ecclesia 36:1–9.
De Bruyn, J J & Jordaan, P J 2014. Constructing realities – Bel and the dragon – Identifying some research lacunae, Old Testament Essays 27/3:839–859.
deSilva, D A 2002. Introducing the Apocrypha. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.
Di Lella, A A 2001. The textual history of Septuagint-Daniel and Theodotion-Daniel, in Collins & Flint 2001:586–607.
Evans, V C & Green, M 2006. Cognitive linguistics. An introduction. London: LEA.
Evans, V, Bergen, B & Zinken, J 2007. The cognitive linguistics reader. London-Oakville: Equinox.
Foucault, M 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings (Ed. Gordon, C.). New York: Pantheon. 1984a. The history of sexuality. Great Britain: Peregrine Books. 1984b. The Foucault reader: An introduction to Foucault’s thought, with major new unpublished material (Ed. Rabinow, P.). London, UK: Penguin.
Gärtner-Brereton, L 2008. The ontology of space in Biblical Hebrew narrative. London: Equinox.
Geeraets, D & Cuyckens, H 2007. The Oxford handbook of cognitive linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gruen, E S 1998. Heritage and Hellenism: the reinvention of Jewish tradition. Berkeley: University of California.
Haspelmath, M 1997. From space to time: temporal adverbials in the world’s languages. Mϋnichen: Lincom Europa.
Hossfeld, F L & Zenger, E 2005. Psalms 3: A commentary on Psalms 101–150. (Hermeneia). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress,
Jack, A 2012. The Bible and literature. London: SCM.
Jones, I H 2003. The Apocrypha. Warrington: Epworth.
Jordaan, P J 2008. Daniel as weapon for attack and defence through the ages, Ekklesiastikos Pharos 90/19:45–53.
Jordaan P J & Nolte, S P 2010. Susanna: a story of dangerous spaces, Journal for Semitics 19/2:527–547.
Keck, L E (ed.) 1996. The new interpreter’s Bible, Volume VII. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Lakoff, G 2008. The political mind. New York: Viking.
Lakoff, G & Johnson, M 1999. Philosophy in the flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books. Low, S M & Lawrence-Zúñiga, D 2003. The anthropology of space and place: locating culture. Carlton, Victoria: Blackwell.
McLay, R T 2003. The use of the Septuagint in New Testament research. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans.
Moore, C A 1977. Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah: the additions. (Anchor Bible, vol. 44). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Murphy, F J 2002. Early Judaism. The exile to the time of Jesus. Peabody: Hendrickson.
Nel, M 2014. Function of space in Daniel 1, In Luce Verbi/In die Skriflig 48/2:1–7.
Nickelsburg, G W E 2005. Jewish literature between the Bible and the Mishnah. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Ogden, D 2013. Drakon: Dragon myth & serpent cult in the Greek & Roman worlds. Oxford: Oxford University.
Redditt, P L 1999. Daniel. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
_______ 2013. Metaphor. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Smith-Christopher, D L 1996. The Book of Daniel. in Keck 1996:17–152.
Van der Bergh, R H 2009. Reading “Bel and the Dragon†as narrative: a comparison between the Old Greek and Theodotion, Acta Patristica et Byzantina 20:310–323.
Van der Toorn, K, Becking, B & van der Horst, P W (eds) 1995. Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible. Leiden: Brill.
Venter, P M 2004. Constitualised space in Daniel 9, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies HTS 60/1&2:607–624. 2006. Space in Daniel 1, Old Testament Essays 19/3:993–1004.
Walton, J.H. 2006. Ancient Near Eastern thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the conceptual world of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
Zlatev, J 2007. Spatial semantics, in Geeraets & Cuyckens 2007:318–335.
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Published
2017-11-15
How to Cite
de Bruyn, Joseph Jacobus. 2017. “CONSTRUCTING A LIVING DEITY – FRAMING THE GOD OF ISRAEL IN THE STORIES OF DANIEL AND BEL AND THE DRAGON”. Journal for Semitics 24 (1):65-92. https://doi.org/10.25159/1013-8471/3439.
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