"From Lawgiver to Prophet: The Transformation of the Image of Moses in Late Antiquity" (original) (raw)

Moses in the Qur’an and Islamic Exegesis.pdf

This work draws upon a host of late antique and medieval sources to examine selected Muslim exegeses of Moses in the Quran. The Muslim exegetical image o f Moses in the Quran is linked with ancient Sumerian stories o f Gilgamesh, var- ious versions of the Alexander Romance (Ethiopic, Syriac, Persian), Aramaic translations of the Abraham story in Genesis, and rabbinic accounts of the Ten Lost Tribes in the Talmud and the Midrash. Muslim exegetes associate Moses with the Jacob story in Genesis, Dhu al-Qarnayn 's visit to the cities at the ends of the Earth, and the Prophet Muhammad as caretaker in the garden of Eden. In doing so, the Muslim exegetes do not confuse and mistake earlier sources, but they intentionally use non-Quranic elements thick in Biblical allusions to delineate a particular image of Moses, the Torah, and the Israelites. It is an image of Moses, drawn in contrast to the Biblical and Jewish image o f Moses, which the Muslim exegetes use to identify and authorize themselves as linked to the different image of the Prophet Muhammad. Using approaches from Biblical Studies, History of Religions, Folklore Studies, and Judeo-Arabic Studies, this book suggests how Muslim exegesis ofthe Quran is purposeful in its appropriation and adapta- tion ofelements consonant with Jewish and Christian interpretation and theology of the Bible.

A Woman Called Moses. A Prophet for Our Times (Table of Contents, Preface)

Verso, 2020

What if there was another Moses, very different from the one we know? According to tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Depicted there in suprising and contradicting ways, and both for and against his people, bringer of the tablets of law which he then breaks. By way of a series of possible portraits—including one of a female Moses—Jean-Christophe Attias follows the metamorphoses of the Hebrew liberator through ages and cultures. Drawing on rabbinical sources as well as the Bible itself, he examines the words of the texts and especially their silences. He discovers here a fragile prophet, teacher of a Judaism of the spirit, of wandering, and of incompleteness. The Judaism of Moses speaks to believers and others—to Jews, of course, but also far beyond them, inviting its hearers to have done with tribal pride, the violence of weapons, and the tyranny of a special place.

"From Moses to Moses": Late Medieval Jewish and Christian Interpretation of Moses's Prophecy

Religions, 2020

The paper examines how the figure of the biblical Moses was philosophically interpreted in medieval Jewish and Christian writings. It highlights a turning point in a new concept of prophecy and scriptural authority and suggests that this transformation was made complicated for both Jewish and Christian intellectuals by the appearance of Moses Maimonides, who was most influential in promoting the Muslim model of philosophic interpretation of prophecy, and at the same time confusingly emerged as a living manifestation of semi-biblical authority. Against Jewish exclusivist interpretation of Mosaic law as the leading polemical argument to encounter competing revelations, the first part of my paper points out a mechanism of "Jewish successionism", i.e., the re-interpretation of the biblical Moses as an instrument for rationalizing normative paradigmatic shift. The second, main part of the paper turns to the Latin translation of Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed, placing it in the midst of a crucial western Latin turn into a new phase of engagement with Old Testament concept of prophecy. A short comparison between some prominent twelfth century figures and later Scholastic thought demonstrates the central role of the new Arab Aristotelianism in general, and that of Maimonides in particular. Maimonides reception among the schoolman will culminate in the writings of Meister Eckhart, exposing the full potentiality of the double appearance of the Egyptian (Rabbi) Moses.

Moses

BRILL eBooks, 2014

Moses is a figure who looms large in the Christian new testament. other than Jesus himself and his immediate circle plus Paul, there is probably no other figure that is as significant in early Christian literature as Moses is. this is in stark contrast to the hebrew Bible. outside of the torah, Moses is mentioned in Joshua and Judges as a figure from the past, twice in i samuel 12, briefly in i Kings 2, 8, 14, 18, 21, and 23, and twice in relation to the account of the finding of the scroll of the law in ii Kings 21-23.1 Jeremiah mentions him once. surprisingly, those are all the references from the literature that could be called pre-exilic, the period before the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE. with their emphasis on social justice and obedience to the covenant, the rest of the prophets are largely silent on Moses as well: Micah mentions him once, Malachi once, and isaiah 63 once. if one were not specifically looking for Moses in the Prophets of the hebrew Bible, one would probably not place him as a major figure in that section of the scripture. turning to the writings, most of which are post-exilic, Moses is mentioned more often. the Chronicler gives his sons and descendants names and ties his hero ezra to Moses, a scribe skilled in Moses' law (ezra 7:1). Post-exilic psalms also mention Moses, chiefly in association with the torah. Adding it all up, however, it would seem that the impact of the figure of Moses was not great in ancient israel, and of course the Deuteronomistic history wishes to make that very point: the Babylonian exile was the result of Moses not having a significant impact in ancient israel. Certainly the importance of Moses, and the law, increases in the post-exilic period as Judaism is born and becomes a religion of the book that becomes portable in the form of the torah. But it is in the texts produced after the fifth century BCE that Moses has increased significance as a figure quite apart from his role as recipient of

A Prophet Like Moses? Who or Why?

The Asbury Journal, 2017

This paper examines the Hebrew understanding of Moses’ statement about a “a prophet like me” that YHWH would raise up in Deuteronomy 18:15. Here it is examined within its larger context of verses 9-22, with a comparison of the prophetic role of Moses held up against the role of diviners and fortunetellers in other regional religious traditions. The role of this scripture for a Jewish understanding of future prophets is highlighted as opposed to any messianic interpretation of the text.

Moses and a Prophet Like Moses in Deuteronomy

The Oxford Handbook of Deuteronomy

This chapter critically examines the literary figure of Moses in Deuteronomy, particularly the book’s directive that Mosaic prophecy have an ongoing place in Israel (18:15–22). It begins by examining Moses as Deuteronomy’s distinctive persona, YHWH’s covenant mediator able to present a veritable divine voice to the reader. It then turns to Deuteronomy’s vision of leadership in an ideal Israel, including official prophetic leadership. Deuteronomy promises a Mosaic prophet for each new generation, a prophet who will stand among YHWH’s heavenly confidants and directly hear YWHW’s will for communication to Israel. It surveys the employment of the Mosaic paradigm in the Tetrateuch (Gen, Exod, Lev, Num), in the Former Prophets (Josh, Judg, 1-2 Sam, 1-2 Kgs) or Deuteronomistic History (Deut, Josh, Judg, 1-2 Sam, 1-2 Kgs), and in the Latter Prophets (Isa, Jer, Ezek, Hos, Joel, Amos, Obad, Jonah, Mic, Nah, Hab, Zeph, Hag, Zech, and Mal). Biblical figures of special interest include Deborah, ...