Richard S. Hess - Family in the Bible: Exploring Customs, Culture, and Context

2003 by Richard S. Hess and M. Daniel Carroll R.

Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Book House Company
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2012

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eISBN 978-1-4412-0669-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Family in the Pentateuch
Gordon J. Wenham

2. Family in the Non-narrative Sections of the Pentateuch
Edesio Snchez

3. Family in the Historical Books
David T. Tsumura

4. Family in the Wisdom Literature
Tremper Longman III

5. Family in the Prophetic Literature
M. Daniel Carroll R.

6. Family in the Gospels and Acts
Cynthia Long Westfall

7. Family in the Epistles
Stanley E. Porter

Contributors

M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas), Ph.D.

Professor of Old Testament
Denver Seminary, Denver, Colorado
Adjunct Professor
El Seminario Teolgico Centroamericano, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Tremper Longman III, Ph.D.

Professor of Old Testament
Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California

Stanley E. Porter, Ph.D.

Principal, Dean, and Professor of New Testament
McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Edesio Snchez, Ph.D.

Translation Consultant for United Bible Societies
San Jos, Costa Rica

David T. Tsumura, Ph.D.

Professor of Old Testament
Japan Bible Seminary, Tokyo, Japan

Gordon J. Wenham, Ph.D.

Professor of Old Testament
University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, England

Cynthia Long Westfall, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor in Biblical Studies
Colorado Christian University, Denver, Colorado

Editors Preface

We are delighted to see this volume completed and made available. It contains papers presented at the third annual biblical studies conference of the Denver Institute for Contextualized Biblical Studies of Denver Seminary, held February 12, 2002, as well as several that were commissioned especially for this publication.

Family in the Bible provides one of the few studies of the family that surveys its appearance throughout the entire Bible. Although all of the contributors represent an evangelical view of the Bible and its value for addressing the Christian faith in practical ways, this book is not a collection of biblical commands that unthinkingly or simplistically applies ancient models of behavior to modern lifestyles. Far from that, it represents an attempt to appreciate the role of the family as the central element of society in the biblical worldview. As such, the customs and life of the family are evaluated in light of the surrounding cultures and in their overall context in the pages of the Old and New Testaments. The result is a picture of family life that extends well beyond preconceived ideas and looks at the diversity of lives contained within the Bible.

The choice of contributors includes the leading scholars in their specialties of biblical studies in order to obtain a view that is conversant with the latest developments in scholarship. From the beginning, this collection also was designed to reflect a high degree of balance and continuity through the various major sections of the literature of the Bible. Finally, as has been the practice in every conference of the Institute, the contributors were selected to represent evangelical scholarship from a breadth of theological persuasions, institutions, and nationalities in order to foster serious research and constructive dialogue among those who are committed to making the Bible come alive for todays world.

Professor Wenham, a British scholar known for his important work in Genesis, sets the stage for the rest of the volume with a sweep of the foundational narratives of that first book of the Bible and beyond. He places these accounts within the very different cultural context of the patriarchs before suggesting constructive insights for modern family life. Dr. Snchez, a Latin American who works in Costa Rica, reviews the legal material in the Pentateuch, in particular the Book of Deuteronomy, with the goal of establishing the centrality of the home for nurturing faith in God. Japanese scholar Professor Tsumura contributes a chapter of both erudition and clarity in his study of the family in the historical books. He surveys a number of challenges faced by families in ancient Israel and offers a wealth of examples gleaned from this material to illustrate his presentation. Professor Longman brings his expertise to the study of the Wisdom and poetic literature. His focus is primarily on the Book of Proverbs, in which he finds multiple lessons for the husband-wife relationship and the raising of children who would fear God. Professor Carroll R. completes this discussion of the family in the Old Testament with an examination of prophetic texts. Controversy surrounds this vast collection of literature, both for its original audience and for the modern interpreter, yet these books have much to teach us about divine expectations for the family in worship and ethical practice and are a rich source of familial metaphors for Yahweh and his relationship with his people.

The final two essays address the New Testament. Professor Westfall makes an important contribution that demonstrates how Jesus both strengthened and challenged family life in firstcentury Palestine. Her work is also a very creative piece that examines Jesus own family experience, which resulted from the circumstances of his birth and the realities of his unique person and calling. From Canada, Professor Porter concludes our collection with a careful analysis of the various kinds of lexical data for the family in the Epistles. His work demonstrates how, despite the virtual absence of the specific term family, concepts grounded in several dimensions of family life of that time played a critical role in defining the Christians position in the family of God and enabled so many alienated persons of the first century to find hope and salvation in that family.

As editors, our commitment has been to give the contributors maximum freedom, without demanding agreement on every issue. We believe that this has resulted in a useful and timely discussion of the family in the Bible that can be of much profit to every scholar, pastor, and teacher in both the academic and the pastoral arenas.

Richard S. Hess
M. Daniel Carroll R.
All Saints Day
November 1, 2002

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