Chapter 2 The Torah in the Book of the Twelve Prophets
In: The Challenge of the Mosaic Torah in Judaism, Christianity, and IslamSearch for other papers by Jacques van Ruiten in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
In this paper, I investigate the concept of Torah in relation to the coming into being of the Book of the Twelve. First, I study the fourteen occurrences of the substantive torah. Secondly, I study in more detail some of the passages in which the noun occurs: the book of Hosea (4:4–6; 8:1–3; 8:11–13); the book of Haggai (2:10–14) and Zechariah (7:7–14); the book of Malachi (2:4–9; 3:22–24). The tentative conclusion is that with regard to the theme of the Torah, the Book of the Twelve does not show a very coherent picture. Coherent lines can be drawn in the first place with works outside the Book of the Twelve. Within the Book of the Twelve, the word torah contains different meanings and connotations. As such, it does not contribute to the understanding of the book as an authorial unity. Although the possible redactors at several stages of the transmission process did not seem to feel it necessary to unify the conception of the Torah as a coherent conception, the different meanings and connotations might reveal something of the coming into being of the book.