REVIEW SHEET FOR THE BIBLE MIDTERM: GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, I SAMUEL and II Samuel

General terms/concepts: Bible as anthology—range of genres: historiography, fictional narratives, lists of laws, genealogies, songs, oracles, hymns, prayers, sermons, cultic and devotional poems, folk tale, etiology, blessings and curses, ritual, directions for building;

the concept of reading the text as subject not object; the range of voices in the text—“J” “E” “D” “JE” “P”/compilers and redactors;

differences in legislative/formative texts and historical texts or between normative and narrative texts

notion of boundaries and coming too close to the God;

syncretism and the demands of covenant with a monotheistic God;

assimilation--when do you "blend" with the culture who has conquered you?

“law wrapped around history”;

I. GENESIS—creation stories; the Garden, the Fall and the curses; Cain and Abel and the curse of Cain; the Nephilim and the generations of Noah’s time; the sons of Noah; the Tower of Babel; call and covenant with Abraham and circumcision; Sarah/Hagar and Isaac/Ishmael; Sodom/Gomorrah/Zoar; death/burial and the cave of Macpelah; Isaac/Rebecca, Jacob/Esau; Rachel/Leah; and Jacob; the 12 sons—Joseph and his story; the blessings of Jacob; “gathered to his people,” and other such literary conventions

II. EXODUS—also known as “the Book of the Covenant”; Call of Moses and the burning bush; “I Am Who I Am; Aaron; the Plagues, especially the Passover; consecration of the firstborn; song of Moses; cloud by day/fire by night; manna; Meribah and Massah; Holy War; theophany; lex talionis; cities of refuge; ephod/Urim and Thummim; the Golden calf; Ark of the Covenant; Levites; narrative and normative texts—the place of these in the book

III. LEVITICUS—book of worship/ manual for priests; types of offerings: sin offering, atonement, burnt offerings, well-being offerings; Holiness Code—chs. 17-26; Key chapter and verse:19:18 reference to love of neighbor; care of alien and stranger; year of jubilee;

IV. NUMBERS—“in the Wilderness” is another title of this book. Nazirite vow; consecration of the Levites; complaints in Ch 11—“the cucumbers, melons, leeks … of Egypt”; Ch. 20 the “failure of Moses, striking the rock twice; Balak and Balaam and the oracles;

V. DEUTERONOMY—means “second law”; given in style to be a series of sermons/farewell addresses of Moses; reviews the exodus and the journey through the Wilderness—defeat of King Sihon (Amorites) and Og of Bashan;

Moses only able to see the land via Mount Pisgah/Mount Nebo; repetition of “Hear, O Israel,” “Remember” “Do not forget” “Write it on your heart”—similar phrases; Cities of refuge; Ch. 6:4-ff the Shema; Ch. 7: 1-5 note of Holy War, Ch. 20 more details on Holy War; Ch. 10:16 first reference to “circumcise your heart”; “If/then” repetition; Ch. 25 Levirate marriage; Ch. 30:15-30 “choose life” passage; songs in Ch. 32 and 33.

VI. JOSHUA—taking of the land; Israelites reaffirming they will obey; sending of spies to Jericho—role of Rahab, a prostitute; stone memorials—at Gilgal commemorating crossing the Jordan; siege of Jericho; Achan and those disobedient to the total destruction demanded by Holy War; role of Joshua as ruler succeeding Moses; the trickery of the Gibeonites; defeating of the five kings; the city concept—Ch. 10; Ch. 23—Joshua’s farewell address/admonition of the people—key line “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”;

VII. JUDGES—“stories of stabbings, cuttings, killings”; Othniel, Shamgar, Ehud, Deborah/Jael and Sisera; Gideon; Jephthah and the vow; Samson and the Nazirite vow; the horrendous story of Judges l9: hospitality or “Sodom revisited”; repetition: “so the land had rest…” “Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” “to this day”; the pattern: Israel does what is evil, God gives the people into hands of oppressors, Israel cries to God, God raises up a deliverer, the deliverer defeats opponents, the land has rest; Ch. 5—Song of Deborah;

VIII. I SAMUEL –Hannah, barren wife, and the “special” birth of Samuel; Samuel as Nazirite; Song of Hannah (parallel to Magnificat, attributed to Mary, Lk. 1: 46ff); Hophni and Phineas—the evil sons of Eli; Ichabod—“the glory has departed from Israel”; the Ark of the Covenant and its presence among the Philistines; Ch. 8—the request for a king and what the king might do to the people; Saul—his experience as first king; Ch. 15:22—the message about “obedience as better than sacrifice”; Saul’s failures; selection of David; David and Jonathan.

IX. II SAMUEL –David learning of the death of Saul and Jonathan: key line: “How the mighty have fallen”; the strife between Abner and those of Saul’s kingdom and Joab, David’s commander and the followers of David; Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan and his role in David’s kingdom; the prophet Nathan and his challenges to David, especially after David arranges for the death of Uriah, husband of Bathsheba; key line “You are the man” II Sam. 12:7; Amnon, David’s oldest son, raping his half-sister, Tamar; Absalom’s pursuit of Amnon; Absalom’s jockeying for the kingdom; Ahithophel, counselor to Absalom; Shimei cursing David for the “blood of the Household of Saul”;