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In this volume Michael D. Matlock analyses five lengthy biblical prose prayers from the exilic and post-exilic period: Solomon''s prayer (1 Kings 8.14-61), Ezra''s prayer (Ezra 9.5-15), Nehemiah''s prayer (Nehemiah 1.4-11), the Levites'' prayer (Nehemiah 9.4-37), and the prayer of Daniel (Daniel 9:3-19). He also examines prayers from Second Temple literature including texts from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the writings of Philo and Josephus and texts from Qumran, and discusses the Septuagintal versions of the five biblical prayers and Targum Jonathan''s treatment of Solomon''s prayer. He offers a new English translation of each prayer, examines the prayers'' rhetorical characteristics, and demonstrates how each prayer draws upon and reinterprets traditional images and materials. Matlock describes how each prayer relates to its larger narrative context and examines its functions within that context. Finally, he appraises the various similarities and differences in these prayers in terms of their different contexts in the Second Commonwealth period noting particular theologies and ideologies.>
List of contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Tables
1. Introduction
2. Extended Narrative Prayers in the Hebrew Bible
3. Extended Narrative Prayers in the Septuagint
4. Extended Narrative Prayers in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
5. Extended Narrative Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls
6. Extended Narrative Prayers in Philo and Josephus
7. An Extended Narrative Prayer in the Targums
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index of Ancient Sources
Index of Modern Authors
About the author
Michael D. Matlock is Associate Professor of Inductive
Biblical Studies and Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore,
Kentucky, USA. He received his Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion in the area of the history of biblical interpretation.
Summary
In this volume Michael D. Matlock analyses five lengthy biblical prose prayers from the exilic and post-exilic period: Solomon's prayer (1 Kings 8.14-61), Ezra's prayer (Ezra 9.5-15), Nehemiah's prayer (Nehemiah 1.4-11), the Levites' prayer (Nehemiah 9.4-37), and the prayer of Daniel (Daniel 9:3-19). He also examines prayers from Second Temple literature including texts from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the writings of Philo and Josephus and texts from Qumran, and discusses the Septuagintal versions of the five biblical prayers and Targum Jonathan's treatment of Solomon's prayer.
He offers a new English translation of each prayer, examines the prayers' rhetorical characteristics, and demonstrates how each prayer draws upon and reinterprets traditional images and materials. Matlock describes how each prayer relates to its larger narrative context and examines its functions within that context. Finally, he appraises the various similarities and differences in these prayers in terms of their different contexts in the Second Commonwealth period noting particular theologies and ideologies.
