Bibliography
| Title: Josephus as Exeget Secondary Title: JAOS Volume: 107 Pages: 21-30 Type: Journal Article Year: 1987 Abstract: "L'étude de l'interprétation que Josèphe offre de l'histoire du jardin de l'Eden montrerait que toutes les déviations du texte biblique se fondent sur l'exégèse du texte, interprété à la lumière des traditions aggadiques palestiniennes. - F. García Martínez // Josephus interpreted the garden of Eden story through Palestinian aggadic techniques to illustrate the theodicy he presumed to be behind the biblical narrative. His manipulation of his source and handling of textual oddities tell us much about his conceptions of a proper reading of the biblical text and about the standards of public exegesis with which he associated himself. // This analysis of Josephus' method of relating the Eden story (Gen. 2:8-3:24) shows that Josephus organized related but scattered biblical passages into coherent units resulting in the concise presentation of a dramatic tragedy illustrating his stated theme: Righteousness leads to prosperity while wickedness leads to doom. He adds nothing significant to the text that cannot be justified by an exegesis of some passage or other and omits those materials that he has used at another point in his narrative or that he believes contain an esoteric reference. His presentation only rarely reflects a simple translation of the Hebrew or Greek version so that the major part of Josephus' narrative is based upon a complicated exegesis of the biblical text that shows how finely he studied this text. His exegetical ploys expose some of the roots of rabbinic exegetical method and ist later development. - C. R. M." Keywords: Relation of Josephus to Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Rabbinic Literature |