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The article "Embarking on the Path to Utopia" deals with the pilgrimage texts of the books of Isaiah and Micah and their strategies for peace. These texts describe a vision of a reconciled world in which conflicts between peoples and nations can be peacefully resolved. The vision includes an accepted international law and a common adherence to God's instructions. The goal is a world in which God's word serves as international law and conflicts can be peacefully resolved. The article emphasizes the importance of justice, righteousness, and mediation for peace and mentions Israel as a threatened land that would benefit from such peace. It also highlights Israel's role in achieving universal peace among nations and emphasizes the fascination of international law, which becomes even more fascinating and attractive through God's word. [Extracted from the article]

In Deuteronomy 16:18-20, Moses instructs the people of Israel to appoint judges and officials in their various towns upon entering the Promised Land. Strikingly, not much is said about the qualifications of these judges and officials, or the method of their appointment. Rather, the passage is devoted to what these judges and officials were, and were not to do, and also what the community's share in justice was to be. Despite the emphasis in the passage on the principles the community and its judges and officials were to embody, no comprehensive study has been published that relates what exactly was expected of both parties when it comes to justice. The primary objective of the current article was to investigate what principles these judges and officials were to embody, and what was expected of the community when it came to justice. The secondary objective was to give some suggestions on how these principles can be applied to modern citizens and judiciaries. This article investigates the possible literary, historical and canonical context of the passage by means of a detailed literature study and an independent exegetical study. Making use of these findings, the principles underlying justice in the passage were deduced. This article revealed that the appointment of judges and officials was the task of the whole community; that judges and officials were to judge fairly; that the community had to appoint judges and officials who were wise; that the appointment of judges and officials was for the whole community; that the pursuit of justice were to be the aim of everyone and that the blessing of the Lord would ensue where justice prevails. In conclusion some suggestions were given on how these principles can be applied to modern citizens and judiciaries, briefly reflecting on judicial progress and challenges in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metaphor of God as the Rock, with its nascent imagery of stability, strength, and protection, is a popular refrain in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the book of Psalms, and with some interesting additions in the book of Deuteronomy. The analysis here focuses on the Song of Moses (Deut 32:1-43), where its associated text and imagery portrays God, who is represented as the Rock, as a source of faithfulness and righteousness, who gives birth to Israel, judges her, and saves her. Such attributes belong to God and not to the metaphorical rock. Using the cognitive approach to metaphors, this article offers an understanding of God our Rock and of the poet's intended reorientation associated with the use of the metaphor. The article finds the origins of the metaphor of the rock, as in Deuteronomy 32, in the Pentateuchal context of the desert leitmotif and the events at Horeb/Sinai. This conclusion challenges the view that the metaphor and its associated attributes was borrowed from Canaanite mythology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social justice advocates promote a different justice than biblical justice. Biblical justice is defined by righteousness which is connected to the character of God; whereas, social justice is defined by equality qualified through postmodern philosophy. This equality, they claim, should permeate all social institutions (competitive markets, family, etc.). Some even claim social justice concerns not only equal opportunity, but equal outcome. While there is ontological equality in the kingdom of God, there is not economic equality. Social justice promotes equal opportunity and the distribution of wealth, but the kingdom of God, however, will favor the nation of Israel and wealth will be consolidated in Jerusalem. Social justice feeds off sinful man's covetousne ss; whereas, biblical justice promotes righteousness and contentment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amos is often considered one of the most important prophets, mainly for his uncompromising message about social justice and God's righteousness. This article examines the theology and social ethics of the prophet Amos, who ministered to Israel during the reigns of King Jeroboam II of Israel and King Uzziah of Judah. In Amos's time, materialism was prevalent, hedonism and selfishness increased, and social disparity intensified. This condition necessitated his theology of social justice and true worship of Yahweh. This paper, through a critical analysis of data extracted from textbooks, theses/dissertations, and scholarly articles, compares the context in which the prophet prophesied with the Ghanaian context-- intimately associated with poor governance, fraud and corruption, abuse of power, social injustice, religious hypocrisy, misallocation of resources and self-centredness. While admitting that Ghana's current socio-religious climate is not wholly similar to that of ancient Israel, the paper identifies similarities between the present Ghanaian context and that of Israel of Amos's time, and points out how Amos addressed the challenges. This then becomes a basis for drawing lessons for church and political leaders in addressing socioeconomic challenges in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is suggested that in the book of Wisdom, as often elsewhere in Greek, Roman and Jewish literature, cosmos and earthly empire are interconnected; cosmic order, represented in Wisdom as government by a world-soul identified with divine wisdom or spirit, forms the pattern of imperial order, represented by righteous Israel and her kings. Links in Wisdom between cosmos and empire are reviewed with reference to the presentation of Solomon and the kings of the earth and with comparison of Ecclesiasticus and Aeneid book Six, among other writings. In Wis 1:1-11:1, it emerges, the cosmos is treated within the framework of the manifestation of divine rule in the empire of David and Solomon. The extent of resemblance between Wisdom and Virgil on this theme is noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is on the cult-critical statement(s) in Amos (5:21–24) and Isaiah (1.10–20). The title of this article inevitably leads us to the question of the relationship between the practice of the cult on the one hand and ethics on the other hand, namely the 'either–or' dilemma which exegetes face in the interpretation of these texts. This article should therefore be seen as part of the on-going debate of the significance of the prophetic understanding of the role of the cult versus Israel's ethical considerations. Furthermore, an overview of important insights from trauma studies, which are applied to the cult-critical statements in the books of Amos and Isaiah, is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daniel 9 relates how Daniel studies the Hebrew Holy Scriptures and finds the prophecy of Jeremiah that Jerusalem will lie desolate for seventy years. He reacts by devoting himself to prayer and fasting in order to remind God of this promise of restoring his people. The better part of the chapter is dedicated to the contents of his prayer. During the prayer, the man, Gabriel, appears with the intent to give Daniel an understanding of the meaning of the seventy years, which is the measure of the punishment of Israel's transgression and sin and which will end with eternal righteousness, when the Holy of Holies will be anointed. The Book of Daniel consists of two sections: the tales of the first six chapters and the visions of the last six chapters. This article asked the question: what role does Daniel 9 play as a part of the apocalyptic section of the book? Is Daniel's prayer and Gabriel's revelation apocalyptically conditioned? Why did the author or compiler include it in the book and, especially, in the second, apocalyptic section of the book? The conclusion of this article was that Daniel 9 was placed intentionally by the compiler in the latter half of the book because of the revelation about the seventy weeks, which is in line with the last three chapters' indication of the end times and Israel's elevation to become the ruler of the earth. Several arguments were formulated to support this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon analysis of Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles conjoined theoretically in the reading event, the basis of Israel's mandate became pellucid in Lukan terms. This kind of analysis required the viable assumption of conceptual unity behind the gospel and Acts, and the application of the appropriate methodological approach of structural criticism. Morphosyntactical analysis yielded positive results that suggested text-based evidence concerning Israel's calling. It was observed that the covenant concept presented in its operative aspect of service to God was the basis of Israel's mandate. Luke and Acts appeared to agree that Israel was called to live in obedient righteousness following the call to Abraham to walk blamelessly. The covenant-based calling was affirmed by Isaianic allusions to Israel's mandate to be a light to the nations in her righteousness. The mandate's disruption had disabled Israel, requiring the resolution of God's deliverance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sonderweg reading of Paul posits two distinct categories within Paul's sociology of salvation. In Lloyd Gaston's words: 'Had all Israel followed Paul's example, we could have had an Israel loyal to the righteousness of God expressed in the Torah alongside agentile church loyal to the righteousness of God expressed in Jesus Christ and his fulfillment of the promises to Abraham' (Gaston 1979: 66). In this bifurcated construction of covenantal reality, Jewish Christianity appears to be an anomaly. What to make of Israelites who are also 'loyal to the righteousness of God expressed in Jesus Christ'? Are they doubly blessed or only misguided? Is such dual loyalty even possible or is it categorically excluded? The purpose of this article is to study the place of Jewish Christianity in the Sonderweg reading of Paul (Gaston, Gager, Stowers), the epistle to the Romans in particular. The conclusion is that, while Paul does not envisage a Sonderweg for Israel, he nevertheless assigns his own people a Sonderplatz within God's single program of salvation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient Israel's wisdom literature dealt explicitly with moral education. Applying this literature to modern challenges of business ethics requires reading the texts in the light of existential structures that bond the ancient with the modern world. Such structures could include the temporal categories of present and future along with the challenging angst of managing the future. By providing conflicting positions the ancient wisdom literature provides an attitude of heart for the modern person, especially the modern business person, whose all-absorbing attention to the future may well be based on an underlying existential situation behind much unethical behavior in modern business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, prophetic preaching will be described from biblical perspectives. To this end, basic questions about the prophets' preaching in Israel will be discussed. This work ill suggest some standards for the evaluation of prophetic sermons. What is prophetic preaching? There are general questions and confusion about the true meaning, purpose, nature, form, and way of prophetic preaching. To meet the questions and to dispel some of that confusion we need to answer the following preliminary questions related to prophetic preaching: 1) Why is prophetic preaching appropriate for today? 2) Who were the biblical prophets? 3) How did the prophets preach? 4) What did the prophets preach? The present work is designed to provide some perspectives to anyone who wishes to respond to such questions. In this sense, this work is an attempt to define prophetic preaching from biblical perspectives, especially in relation to the prophet's role or performance in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]