Although primogeniture is commonly assumed to have prevailed throughout the world and firstborns are regarded as most likely to achieve success, many of the most prominent figures in biblical literature are younger offspring, including Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, and Solomon. Adducing evidence from a wide range of disciplines, this study demonstrates that ancient Israelite fathers were free to choose their primary heirs. Rather than being either legally mandated or a protest against the prevailing norm, the Bible's propensity for younger offspring conforms to a widespread folk motif, evoking innocence, vulnerability, and destiny. Within the biblical context, this theme heightens God's role in supporting ostensibly unlikely heroes. Drawing on the resources of law, anthropology, folklore, and linguistics, Greenspahn shows how these tales serve as complex parables of God's relationship to his chosen people, also reflecting Israel's own discomfort with the contradiction between its theology of election and the reality of political weakness.

When Brothers Dwell Together: The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible

Religion & Spirituality

Greenspahn, Frederick E.

Christian Books & Bibles

Oxford University Press

Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East (Essential Papers on Jewish Studies)

Archaeological discovery of documents from the Near East has fuelled the debate as to the Hebrew Bible's relationship with the world. The biblical view that Israel dwells apart is belied by the Israelites' vulnerability to worldly attractions and cultural similarities with their neighbours.

History

Asia

NYU Press

Judaism and Its Bible explores the profoundly deep and complex relationship between Jews, Judaism, and the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible has been ubiquitous in Jewish life and thought: Jews read it, interpret it, and debate it. They translate the Bible even as they deem those translations inadequate, and they cite the Bible as the basis for observances that are not even mentioned in it. Jews quote the Bible as authority for their tradition's preservation and innovation, as both the word of God and the language of humans, and as justification for both pro- and anti-rabbinic movements. Fascinating and comprehensive, Judaism and Its Bible describes the extraordinary two-and-a-half-millennia journey of a people and its book that has changed the world.

Judaism and Its Bible: A People and Their Book

The Jewish Publication Society

these statements were framed by the various exegetes

Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew: A Study of the Phenomenon and Its Treatment Since Antiquity With Special Reference to Verbal Forms (DISSERTATION SERIES (SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE))

UNKNO

Nourished With Peace: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism in Memory of Samuel Sandmel (Scholars Press Homage Series)

Hilgert, Earle

Frederick E. Greenspahn is Gimelstob Eminent Scholar of Judaic Studies at Florida Atlantic University. His publications include An Introduction to Aramaic (2nd ed., 2007) and When Brothers Dwell Together: The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible (1994). He has also edited several books on interfaith relations as well as the NYU Press series Jewish Studies in the Twenty-First Century.

Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew: A Study of the Phenomenon and Its Treatment since Antiquity with Special Reference to Verbal Forms (Society of Biblical Literature: Dissertation)

Wipf and Stock

"An Introduction to Aramaic" is a straightforward introduction to biblical Aramaic for beginning students who are already familiar with Hebrew. All Aramaic passages in the Old Testament are included, along with an introduction to other Aramaic texts, such as ancient inscriptions, Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic literature, and quotations in the New Testament. There are also paradigms, a complete glossary, and a list of resources for further study as well as practice exercises for each chapter. This revised edition clarifies certain points in the first edition, updates the contents and provides an answer key. Paperback edition available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org).

An Introduction to Aramaic (Resources for Biblical Study) (English and Arabic Edition)

Reference

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Brill Academic Pub

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Greenspahn, Frederick E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Greenspahn, Frederick E.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Greenspahn, Frederick E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

When Brothers Dwell Together: The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible

Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East (Essential Papers on Jewish Studies)

Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East (Essential Papers on Jewish Studies)

Judaism and Its Bible: A People and Their Book

Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew: A Study of the Phenomenon and Its Treatment Since Antiquity With Special Reference to Verbal Forms (DISSERTATION SERIES (SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE))

Nourished With Peace: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism in Memory of Samuel Sandmel (Scholars Press Homage Series)

Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew: A Study of the Phenomenon and Its Treatment since Antiquity with Special Reference to Verbal Forms (Society of Biblical Literature: Dissertation)

An Introduction to Aramaic (Resources for Biblical Study) (English and Arabic Edition)