商品詳細

Lida Leonie Panov examines the origins and development of the concept of divine law during the Neo-Assyrian period and highlights the significance of this concept for the relationship between law and religion in the history of ancient Israel and Judah. In doing so, she draws attention to the political and theological issues surrounding the role of the king. A second question concerns the scribal groups responsible for the literary processes by which the law was theologized. Another focus lies on identifying the religious elements in legal practice, which are evident in biblical procedural law, ordeal proceedings, or legal rituals. Panov insists on a crucial distinction: the literary theologization of law on the one hand, and the religious elements embedded in actual legal practice on the other. Against the backdrop of the ancient Near Eastern legal tradition, this study reconstructs the transformation - unique to the Hebrew Bible - of secular law into a law given by God. In this context, it is striking that the biblical legal texts say remarkably little about the institution of kingship - an observation that is apparently closely linked to the concept of divine legislation: Once God is the lawgiver, the content of the legal texts requires no legitimation by a king. In addition, the study examines the role of priestly scribal groups and discusses the intersections between legal development and the sphere of religion in legal practice. The author thus makes a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the interplay between law and religion in ancient Israel and Judah and opens up new perspectives for research into biblical legal history.