Biblica - Vol 97 (2016) Middlemas, Jill, The Prophets, the Priesthood, and the Image of God (Gen 1,26-27) (2016)

This analysis considers aniconic rhetoric in Hosea, Second Isaiah, and Ezekiel, in order to assess commonality and difference with respect to prophetic and priestly perspectives of the divine image because interpreters draw on the prophetic literature in discussions of the thought of Gen 1,26-27. There is greater similarity in thought between Second Isaiah and Gen 1,26-27 as well as greater tension between Ezekiel and the first imago Dei passage than accounted for previously, and almost no commonality with Hosea. Furthermore, the prophets diversify the number and type of divine images as a means to resist idolatry.

Biblica - Vol 97 (2016) Blumenthal, Christian, Der höchste Gott und König Ptolemaios IV. Philopator: Beobachtungen zur erzählerischen Entfaltung des Gottesbildes in 3Makk (2016)

Very few scholars have analyzed the image of God in 3Macc, and studies of the narrative unfolding of this picture are nearly completely missing. This article examines the structure of the plot and the main characters in order to show that in the four "Erzählbögen" present in the narrative the central opposition is not that of King Ptolemy versus the Jewish people, but that of King Ptolemy versus the God of the Jewish people. At the end of the account -- and this is the event with the highest degree of "Ereignishaftigkeit" -- King Ptolemy acknowledges the power of Israel's God.