Name: First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods
Price: 20.8 GBP
Availability: InStock
Author: Matthew J. Lynch
ISBN: 9781575068398

Isaiah 1-39 uses the unique term אלילים--usually translated as "idols"-- more than anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Using this linguistic phenomenon as a point of departure, Matthew J. Lynch reexamines the rhetorical strategies of First Isaiah, revealing a stronger monotheizing rhetoric than previously recognized.

Standard accounts of Israelite religion frequently insist that monotheism reached its apex during the exile, and especially in Deutero-Isaiah. By contrast, Lynch's study brings to light an equally potent mode of monotheizing in First Isaiah. Lynch identifies three related rhetorical tendencies that emphasize yhwh's supreme uniqueness: a rhetoric of avoidance, referring to other deities as idols (אלילים) to avoid conferring on them the status of gods (אלוהים); a rhetoric of exaltation, emphasizing yhwh's truly exalted status in opposition to all that which exalted itself; and a rhetoric of abasement, fully subjugating all other claimants to absolute power--whether human or divine--before the divine king.

Succinctly and persuasively argued, Lynch's book will change how biblical scholars understand the nature and development of Israelite monotheism.

First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods and Flood and Fury

First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods

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