Hays, Christopher B.
Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah

Indem er den Kontext der auf den Tod bezogenen Bilder, Vorstellungen und Bräuche im Alten Orient umfassend einbezieht und sowohl archäologische als auch textliche Zeugnisse berücksichtigt, analysiert Hays, wie die 'Rhetorik des Todes' bei Jesaja in ihrem historischen Kontext funktionierte. Er zeigt, wie Jesaja die im kulturellen Kontext präsente Bildsprache nutzt, und inwiefern der Prophet über diese Grundlage hinausgeht und zu neuen Aussagen gelangt. On the basis of an up-to-date assessment of ancient Near Eastern beliefs about death during the Iron Age II, Christopher B. Hays analyzes the ways in which death functioned rhetorically in the Hebrew Bible. He identifies death and deliverance from death as major themes in the early strata of the book of Isaiah, offering fresh interpretations of more than a dozen passages in Isa 5-38, and showing how they illumine and are illumined by their contexts. Incorporating both textual and archeological data, Christopher B. Hays surveys and analyzes existing scholarly literature on these topics from multiple fields. Focusing on the text's meaning for its producers and its initial audiences, he describes the ways in which the 'rhetoric of death' functioned in its historical context and offers fresh interpretations of more than a dozen passages in Isa 5-38. He shows how they employ the imagery of death that was part of their cultural contexts, and also identifies ways in which they break new creative ground. This holistic approach to questions that have attracted much scholarly attention in recent decades produces new insights not only for the interpretation of specific biblical passages, but also for the formation of the book of Isaiah and for the history of ancient Near Eastern religions. XVIII,445 Seiten mit 13 Abb., Leinen (Forschungen zum Alten Testament; Vol. 79/Mohr Siebeck 2011)