A HERMENEUTIC OF VULNERABILITY. EDOM IN MALACHI 1:2–5
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1013-8471/2538Abstract
The current interpretation of Edom in Mal 1: 2-5 does not allow for any redemption of Edom. This article looks into the possibility of reading these verses differently so as to allow for the rehabilitation of Edom. At issue here is to whom the deity is referring to in Mal 1:4: the Edomites or the audience of Malachi’s prophecy, the priests? In nearly all the translations and commentaries it seems to be the Edomites, but Gerda Hoekveld-Meijer (1996) made the bold claim that the text refers to the priests, or the Levites, turning Edom into a blessing. Something similar happened with the figure of Cain in Genesis 4. In order to answer the question of the validity of this interpretation of Edom, this essay will look at what happened to Cain in Gen 4 and Edom in Obadiah (in which the anti-Edomite sentiments are the clearest) before it takes up the case of Edom in Malachi.References
Albertz, R (ed.) 2012. Perspectives on the formation of the Book of the Twelve: methodological foundations–redactional processes–historical insights. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Anderson, B A 2011. Brotherhood and inheritance. A canonical reading of the Esau and Edom traditions. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 556. London: T & T Clark.
Assis, E 2014. Structure, redaction and significance in the prophecy of Obadiah, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 39:209–221.
_______ 2006. Why Edom? On the hostility towards Jacob’s brother in prophetic sources,
Vetus Testamentum 56:1–20.
Augustine, n.d. Contra Faustum, in Schaff and Knight 1887.
Bartlett, J R 1995. Edom in the nonprophetical corpus, in Edelman 1995:13–22.
_______ 1989. Edom and the Edomites. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
_______ 1977. The brotherhood of Edom, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 4:2–27.
Ben Zvi, E 1996. A historical-critical study of the book of Obadiah, BZAW 242. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Bremmer, J N 2003. Brothers and fratricide in the ancient Mediterranean Israel, Greece and Rome, in Luttikhuizen 2003:77–92.
Byron, J 2011. Cain and Abel in text and tradition: Jewish and Christian interpretations of the first sibling rivalry. Themes in Biblical Narrative, Jewish and Christian Traditions. Leiden: Brill.
Cresson, B C 1964. Israel and Edom: a study of the anti-Edom bias in Old Testament religion. Durham: Duke University.
Crowell, B L 2007. Nabonidus, as-Silaʿ, and the beginning of the end of Edom. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 348:75–88.
Edelman, D V (ed.) 1995. You shall not abhor an Edomite-Edom and Seir in history and tradition. Archaeology and Biblical Studies. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
Furlong, A 2016. Rhodes Must Fall protesters burn UCT art. Groundup. Available: http://www.groundup.org.za/article/rhodes-must-fall-protesters-destroy-uct-artworks/ [Accessed 2016/02/19].
Gemser, B 1975. Hebreeuse spraakkuns: vormleer, sinsleer en oefeninge. Pretoria: Van Schaik.
Glazier-McDonald, B 1995. Edom in the prophetical corpus, in Edelman 1995:23–32.
Glueck, N 1936. The boundaries of Edom, Hebrew Union College Annual 11:141–157.
Gryepou, E and Spurling, H (eds) 2009. The exegetical encounter between Jews and Christians in late antiquity. Leiden: Brill.
Halpern, B L (ed.) 2012. The books of Kings: sources, composition, historiography, and reception. Leiden: Brill.
Hayward, R 2009. What did Cain do wrong? Jewish and Christian exegesis of Genesis 4:3–6, in Gryepou and Spurling 2009:101–123.
Hill, A E 1998. Malachi. A new translation with introduction and commentary. The Anchor Bible. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hoekveld-Meijer, G 1996. Esau. Salvation in disguise. Genesis 36. A hidden polemic between our teacher and the prophets about Edom’s role in post-exilic Israel through leitwort names. Kampen: Kok Pharos.
Jeremias, J 2007. Die Propheten Joel, Obadja, Jona, Micha übersetzt und erklärt. Das alte Testament Deutsch. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht.
Kessler, R 2012. The unity of Malachi and its relation to the Book of the Twelve, in Albertz 2012:223 236.
Krause, J J 2008. Tradition, history, and our story: some observations on Jacob and Esau in the books of Obadiah and Malachi, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32:475–486.
Kruse, H 1954. Die ‚dialektische Negation‘ als semitisches Idiom, VT 4:385–400.
LaCocque, A 2008. Onslaught against innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co.
Leibowitz, N 1972. Studies in the book of Genesis in the context of ancient and modern Jewish Bible commentary. Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization, Department for Torah Education and Culture.
Lemaire, A 2010. Edom and the Edomites, in Halpern 2010:225–243.
Lescow, T 1993. Das Buch Maleachi: Texttheorie, Auslegung, Kanontheorie; mit einem Exkurs über Jeremia 8, 8–9. Arbeiten zur Theologie. Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag.
Lohr, J N 2009. “So Yahweh established a sign for Cainâ€: Rethinking Genesis 4:1, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 121:101–103.
Luttikhuizen, G F (ed.) 2003. Eve’s children. The biblical stories retold and interpreted in Jewish and Christian traditions. Leiden: Brill.
Msimang, S 2016. The burning. Available: http://africasacountry.com/2016/02/the-burning/. [Accessed 2016/02/19.]
Najman, H 2003. Cain and Abel as character traits: a study in the allegorical typology of Philo of Alexandria, in Luttikhuizen 2003:107–118.
Noort, E 2003. Genesis 4:1–16. From paradise to reality: the myth of brotherhood, in Luttikhuizen (2003):93–106.
Pfeiffer, E 1959. Die Disputationsworte im Buche Maleachi, Evangelische Theologie 19:546– 568. DOI:10.14315/evth-1959-1202.
Philo, 1993. Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat. The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged. Grand Rapids: Hendrickson.
Renkema, J 2003. Obadiah. HCOT. Leuven: Peeters.
Rose, M 1977. Yahweh in Israel – Qaus in Edom? Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 4:28–34.
Schaff, P and Knight, K (eds) 1887. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. First Series. Trans. R.
Stothert. Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Scoralick, R 2012. The case of Edom in the Book of the Twelve: methodological reflections on synchronic and diachronic analysis, in Albertz 2012:35–52.
Sicker, M 2002. Reading Genesis politically. an introduction to Mosaic political philosophy. Wesport: Praeger Publishers.
Snyman, S D (Fanie) 1985. Antiteses in die Boek Maleagi. Pretoria: Universiteit van Pretoria.
_______ 2014. Malachi. HCOT. Leuven: Peeters.
Snyman, G F 2011. Empire and a hermeneutics of vulnerability, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae XXXVII – Supplement, December 2011:1–20.
_______ 2014. Esther and African biblical hermeneutics: a decolonial inquiry. Old Testament Essays 27:1035–1061.
_______ 2015a. Responding to the decolonial turn: epistemic vulnerability, Missionalia 43:266–291. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.7832/43-3-77.
_______ 2015b. A hermeneutic of vulnerability: redeeming Cain? Stellenbosch Theological Journal 1:633–665. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.17570/stj.2015.v1n2.a30.
Sweeney, M A 2000. The twelve prophets. Berit Olam. Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.
Tebes, J M 2009. “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brotherâ€: the tradition of Esau and the Edomite genealogies from an anthropological perspective, The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 6:1–30.
Tham, J 2014. Lessons learned, in Tham (ed.) 2014:215–224.
_______ (ed.) 2014. Religious perspectives on human vulnerability in bioethics. Advancing global ethics. Dordrecht: Springer.
Van Wolde, E 1991. The story of Cain and Abel: a narrative study, JSOT 52:25–41.
Verhoef, P A 1972. Maleachi. Commentaar op het Oude Testament. Kampen: J.H. Kok.
Von Kellenbach, K 2013. The mark of Cain: guilt and denial in the post-war lives of Nazi perpetrators. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Westermann, C 1984. Genesis 1–11. A commentary. Translated by John J Scullion SJ. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Weyde, K W 2000. Prophecy and teaching : prophetic authority, form problems, and the use of traditions in the book of Malachi. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Wolff, H W 1986. Obadiah and Jonah. A commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Woudstra, H M 1968. Edom and Israel in Ezekiel, Calvin Theological Journal 3:21–35.
Wynter, S 2003. Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation – an argument, The New Centennial Review 3:257–337.
Anderson, B A 2011. Brotherhood and inheritance. A canonical reading of the Esau and Edom traditions. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 556. London: T & T Clark.
Assis, E 2014. Structure, redaction and significance in the prophecy of Obadiah, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 39:209–221.
_______ 2006. Why Edom? On the hostility towards Jacob’s brother in prophetic sources,
Vetus Testamentum 56:1–20.
Augustine, n.d. Contra Faustum, in Schaff and Knight 1887.
Bartlett, J R 1995. Edom in the nonprophetical corpus, in Edelman 1995:13–22.
_______ 1989. Edom and the Edomites. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
_______ 1977. The brotherhood of Edom, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 4:2–27.
Ben Zvi, E 1996. A historical-critical study of the book of Obadiah, BZAW 242. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Bremmer, J N 2003. Brothers and fratricide in the ancient Mediterranean Israel, Greece and Rome, in Luttikhuizen 2003:77–92.
Byron, J 2011. Cain and Abel in text and tradition: Jewish and Christian interpretations of the first sibling rivalry. Themes in Biblical Narrative, Jewish and Christian Traditions. Leiden: Brill.
Cresson, B C 1964. Israel and Edom: a study of the anti-Edom bias in Old Testament religion. Durham: Duke University.
Crowell, B L 2007. Nabonidus, as-Silaʿ, and the beginning of the end of Edom. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 348:75–88.
Edelman, D V (ed.) 1995. You shall not abhor an Edomite-Edom and Seir in history and tradition. Archaeology and Biblical Studies. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
Furlong, A 2016. Rhodes Must Fall protesters burn UCT art. Groundup. Available: http://www.groundup.org.za/article/rhodes-must-fall-protesters-destroy-uct-artworks/ [Accessed 2016/02/19].
Gemser, B 1975. Hebreeuse spraakkuns: vormleer, sinsleer en oefeninge. Pretoria: Van Schaik.
Glazier-McDonald, B 1995. Edom in the prophetical corpus, in Edelman 1995:23–32.
Glueck, N 1936. The boundaries of Edom, Hebrew Union College Annual 11:141–157.
Gryepou, E and Spurling, H (eds) 2009. The exegetical encounter between Jews and Christians in late antiquity. Leiden: Brill.
Halpern, B L (ed.) 2012. The books of Kings: sources, composition, historiography, and reception. Leiden: Brill.
Hayward, R 2009. What did Cain do wrong? Jewish and Christian exegesis of Genesis 4:3–6, in Gryepou and Spurling 2009:101–123.
Hill, A E 1998. Malachi. A new translation with introduction and commentary. The Anchor Bible. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hoekveld-Meijer, G 1996. Esau. Salvation in disguise. Genesis 36. A hidden polemic between our teacher and the prophets about Edom’s role in post-exilic Israel through leitwort names. Kampen: Kok Pharos.
Jeremias, J 2007. Die Propheten Joel, Obadja, Jona, Micha übersetzt und erklärt. Das alte Testament Deutsch. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht.
Kessler, R 2012. The unity of Malachi and its relation to the Book of the Twelve, in Albertz 2012:223 236.
Krause, J J 2008. Tradition, history, and our story: some observations on Jacob and Esau in the books of Obadiah and Malachi, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32:475–486.
Kruse, H 1954. Die ‚dialektische Negation‘ als semitisches Idiom, VT 4:385–400.
LaCocque, A 2008. Onslaught against innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co.
Leibowitz, N 1972. Studies in the book of Genesis in the context of ancient and modern Jewish Bible commentary. Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization, Department for Torah Education and Culture.
Lemaire, A 2010. Edom and the Edomites, in Halpern 2010:225–243.
Lescow, T 1993. Das Buch Maleachi: Texttheorie, Auslegung, Kanontheorie; mit einem Exkurs über Jeremia 8, 8–9. Arbeiten zur Theologie. Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag.
Lohr, J N 2009. “So Yahweh established a sign for Cainâ€: Rethinking Genesis 4:1, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 121:101–103.
Luttikhuizen, G F (ed.) 2003. Eve’s children. The biblical stories retold and interpreted in Jewish and Christian traditions. Leiden: Brill.
Msimang, S 2016. The burning. Available: http://africasacountry.com/2016/02/the-burning/. [Accessed 2016/02/19.]
Najman, H 2003. Cain and Abel as character traits: a study in the allegorical typology of Philo of Alexandria, in Luttikhuizen 2003:107–118.
Noort, E 2003. Genesis 4:1–16. From paradise to reality: the myth of brotherhood, in Luttikhuizen (2003):93–106.
Pfeiffer, E 1959. Die Disputationsworte im Buche Maleachi, Evangelische Theologie 19:546– 568. DOI:10.14315/evth-1959-1202.
Philo, 1993. Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat. The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged. Grand Rapids: Hendrickson.
Renkema, J 2003. Obadiah. HCOT. Leuven: Peeters.
Rose, M 1977. Yahweh in Israel – Qaus in Edom? Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 4:28–34.
Schaff, P and Knight, K (eds) 1887. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. First Series. Trans. R.
Stothert. Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Scoralick, R 2012. The case of Edom in the Book of the Twelve: methodological reflections on synchronic and diachronic analysis, in Albertz 2012:35–52.
Sicker, M 2002. Reading Genesis politically. an introduction to Mosaic political philosophy. Wesport: Praeger Publishers.
Snyman, S D (Fanie) 1985. Antiteses in die Boek Maleagi. Pretoria: Universiteit van Pretoria.
_______ 2014. Malachi. HCOT. Leuven: Peeters.
Snyman, G F 2011. Empire and a hermeneutics of vulnerability, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae XXXVII – Supplement, December 2011:1–20.
_______ 2014. Esther and African biblical hermeneutics: a decolonial inquiry. Old Testament Essays 27:1035–1061.
_______ 2015a. Responding to the decolonial turn: epistemic vulnerability, Missionalia 43:266–291. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.7832/43-3-77.
_______ 2015b. A hermeneutic of vulnerability: redeeming Cain? Stellenbosch Theological Journal 1:633–665. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.17570/stj.2015.v1n2.a30.
Sweeney, M A 2000. The twelve prophets. Berit Olam. Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.
Tebes, J M 2009. “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brotherâ€: the tradition of Esau and the Edomite genealogies from an anthropological perspective, The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 6:1–30.
Tham, J 2014. Lessons learned, in Tham (ed.) 2014:215–224.
_______ (ed.) 2014. Religious perspectives on human vulnerability in bioethics. Advancing global ethics. Dordrecht: Springer.
Van Wolde, E 1991. The story of Cain and Abel: a narrative study, JSOT 52:25–41.
Verhoef, P A 1972. Maleachi. Commentaar op het Oude Testament. Kampen: J.H. Kok.
Von Kellenbach, K 2013. The mark of Cain: guilt and denial in the post-war lives of Nazi perpetrators. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Westermann, C 1984. Genesis 1–11. A commentary. Translated by John J Scullion SJ. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Weyde, K W 2000. Prophecy and teaching : prophetic authority, form problems, and the use of traditions in the book of Malachi. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Wolff, H W 1986. Obadiah and Jonah. A commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Woudstra, H M 1968. Edom and Israel in Ezekiel, Calvin Theological Journal 3:21–35.
Wynter, S 2003. Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation – an argument, The New Centennial Review 3:257–337.
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2017-05-09
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Snyman, Gerrie F. 2017. “A HERMENEUTIC OF VULNERABILITY. EDOM IN MALACHI 1:2–5”. Journal for Semitics 25 (2):595-629. https://doi.org/10.25159/1013-8471/2538.
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