[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: 4Q318
Ita Sheres has already given one response to this query, I will make
another.
Deuteronomy, Deut. Isaiah and other documents do outlaw or deride
various divination practices. However, by interpreting these as outlawing
reliance upon any other source of knowledge/power than _the God of
Israel_ it would be possible to continue the practice. Whereas it was
believed that YHWH created and "administered" the stars, the people of
Israel could conclude that there was special information for THEM
from THEIR God contained in the movements of the stars and their
interpretation would therefore be legitimate; all others'
interpretations would derive from the wrong gods.
> The question that this and other astrological texts
> (such as 4Q186, 4Q561, and 4QMess ar) from Qumran raises is:
> how could the "Scroll writers" participate in something that is clearly
> forbidden in the text of the Hebrew Bible (in Is 47:13-14)?
Glenn Wooden
Acadia Divinity College
Wolfville N.S.
Canada
wooden@acadiau.ca