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.
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