"Witness" And "Bearing Witness" In The Legal Settings Of The Pentateuch And The Gospel Of John: An Intertextual Study
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation studies the words “witness” and “to bear witness” in the Pentateuch and in the Gospel of John, and at the same time presents an intertextual connection between these books. The study begins with an introduction in which I present the background and statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the delimitations and the methodology. Following the introduction chapter 1 deals with the review of the literature from ANE documents to ancient Jewish interpretation. I conclude that even though the Code of Hammurabi and the Hittite treaties are documents with different purposes, they reflect a similar feature: gods are called to be witnesses and judges between the Great King and his vassals. These gods are summoned to bring blessings or inflict curses, depending on the obedience or disobedience of the vassal. In relation to ancient Jewish literature, the members of the Qumran community believe that they are the faithful remnant of Israel with whom God has established his covenant and those who are living under his blessings while all Jews living outside the community are living under curses (Deut 28). Philo, on his part, is well acquainted with the topic of more than one witness for a just judgment (Deut 17:6; 19:15). Josephus debates the reliability of women’s testimonies in court, and the Talmud establishes the punishment that has to be inflicted on false witnesses. Chapter 2 shows modern scholars’ arguments about the witness motif in the Old Testament from Hermann Gunkel to Paul J. N. Lawrence, and in the Gospel of John from Théo Preiss to Andrew T. Lincoln. This chapter verifies that most scholars agree to the relation of the witness motif in the Old Testament with treaties of second millennium BC, and that the witness motif in the Gospel of John is connected to the Old Testament through judicial language. Chapter 3 examines exegetically the Pentateuchal passages in which the word עֵד and its cognates appear, and tests their connection with the C…
abstract: This dissertation studies the words “witness” and “to bear witness” in the Pentateuch and in the Gospel of John, and at the same time presents an intertextual connection between these books. The study begins with an introduction in which I present the background and statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the delimitations and the methodology. Following the introduction chapter 1 deals with the review of the literature from ANE documents to ancient Jewish interpretation. I conclude that even though the Code of Hammurabi and the Hittite treaties are documents with different purposes, they reflect a similar feature: gods are called to be witnesses and judges between the Great King and his vassals. These gods are summoned to bring blessings or inflict curses, depending on the obedience or disobedience of the vassal. In relation to ancient Jewish literature, the members of the Qumran community believe that they are the faithful remnant of Israel with whom God has established his covenant and those who are living under his blessings while all Jews living outside the community are living under curses (Deut 28). Philo, on his part, is well acquainted with the topic of more than one witness for a just judgment (Deut 17:6; 19:15). Josephus debates the reliability of women’s testimonies in court, and the Talmud establishes the punishment that has to be inflicted on false witnesses. Chapter 2 shows modern scholars’ arguments about the witness motif in the Old Testament from Hermann Gunkel to Paul J. N. Lawrence, and in the Gospel of John from Théo Preiss to Andrew T. Lincoln. This chapter verifies that most scholars agree to the relation of the witness motif in the Old Testament with treaties of second millennium BC, and that the witness motif in the Gospel of John is connected to the Old Testament through judicial language. Chapter 3 examines exegetically the Pentateuchal passages in which the word עֵד and its cognates appear, and tests their connection with the C…
author: Marti, Franklin A
keywords: Witness, Bearing Witness, Pentateuch, Legal, Gospel of John, Biblical Studies, Religion
date published: 2017-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:53:14Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University