Abstract

FRIEDL, Johanna. Kingship and 'State' in Torah, History, and Poetry: Exploring the risk of terminological anachronism in Old Testament scholarship. Old testam. essays [online]. 2020, vol.33, n.2, pp.232-249. ISSN 2312-3621.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2020/v33n2a5.

In exploring the constituent elements of our modern-day nation state, this contribution wishes to highlight those areas in which anachronism might arise in Old Testament interpretations of 'state'. This might happen due to the influence of deeply-rooted modern-day conceptions, according to which a state consists of a people group living within a distinct territory, governed by a body holding jurisdiction over both people and territory. This contribution explores pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic biblical texts containing the elements of people, land, and king, asking whether these texts wish to convey a political or rather a theological message.

Keywords : State theory; people (057); land; kingship; Deuteronomic Law of the King.

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