is a remarkable book on Jewish biblical criticism examining the theophanic revelations at Sinai and Zion and comparing how the Mosaic covenant from Sinai/Horeb was brought via the Tabernacle into the Jerusalem Temple on Mount Zion.
The book is organized into three major parts, The first section concerns the theology of Mount Sinai and the torahcentric ideology it produces in its teachings of covenant, The second section outlines the importance of Mount Zion and the role the temple played in later Israelite faith, Finally, the third section addresses the relationship between these two locations and theologies and how they affect an understanding of Jewish faith as a whole, The various types of covenants Mosaic, Noahatic, Davdic, Adamic, Abrahamic are examined, but not the New Testament concept of New Covenant as that would be supersessionalism for which Levenson will not stand.
The book ends with a polemic by Levenson against Protestant biblical scholarship, taking umbrage at how he feels those scholars take from Jewish scholarship almost like a vampire sucking blood from a victim.
Most of his criticism is for a tradition apart from my own, so I saw no challenge from him, but your mileage may vary, It is an extremely interesting book that influenced the next step of this process in Morales' 'The Tabernacle Prefigured' and yet further in Bucur's 'Scripture Reenvisioned', Another one!
Levenson does a helpful job of understanding the HB on its own terms,
Weaves in ANE paralllels for the mountain motif
Looks at the pluriform/multifaceted relationship between Sinai and Zion
Helpfully explores relationship btw Mountain, Covenant, Temple, and Creation
Also helpfully observes rabbinic, midrashic, and Talmudic interpretation of both Mountain traditions.
So many great insights were found in this particular part! I first read this classic, I believe, while I was taking Jon Levensons course on Genesis at Harvard Div School.
Reading it, and teaching it again this season in my “Intro Bible” course Im appreciating its difficulty and brilliance, I had forgotten how much this book is slalom run of polemics against Protestant scholars who had been reading the O, T. through a Christian theological lens, There are long stretches of confusing disquisition on Hebrew words, toggling between familiar stories Genesis, Exodus and unfamiliar Israelite politics, Yet his hardwon conclusions are worth the slog, On this reading, Ive noticed that Levensons ingenious readingphilological, literary, theologicalis shaped by another polemic: the centrality of mitzvot, By framing O. T. as a tension between two 'mountain' traditions: the law from Sinai audial and the kingship at Zion visual, Levenson has laid out a stimulating view, Has some contemporary Jewish thinker integrated his conclusions into a theology Levenson presents an excellent introduction to the Jewish faith as it is represented in scripture, In Sinai amp Zion
he takes a clear look at the two mountains and the traditions which arose from Jewish experience of them and details their symbolism, meaning, and theological trends which arose: Sinai, the mountain of the conditional covenant, Moses, and the twelve tribes and the complex relationship it has to Zion, the mountain of David, the unconditional covenant, and the southern monarchy.
He offers a detailed analysis of their relationship, the subtleties of their interactions, and a needed corrective to a predominant view of biblical Judaism by contemporary christian scholars, theologians and many lay people.
I greatly appreciate Levensons orienteering of the Jewish landscape between both of its central localities, the literal, symbolic and historical mountains of Sinai and Zion, As with Levenson's other books I've read, he writes on this topic with one foot in higher criticism, and one foot in a synchronic reading of the Hebrew Bible, discussing in its final literary form.
When he writes from the latter perspective which is probably the majority of time in this book his insights are compelling and significant,
In particular, he does a great job tracing the covenant theme throughout the Hebrew Bible, beautifully noting how the Mosaic law and God's love are not at odds.
Christians need to hear this,
Unfortunately and this was only a minor treatment of his it seems he suffers from reading the Apostle Paul's attitude toward the Mosaic law through the lens of Luther which is understandable, since the average Christian today has inherited this mistaken view of Paul and the law, and widely disseminates this wrong view, rather than through the lens of Paul.
Simply point, Paul doesn't actually have any hostility toward the law, anymore than the Hebrew Bible with which he was intimately acquainted and committed to did,
But, again, Levenson only touches on this briefly and we can't blame him, as a Jew, for putting his finger on a prevailing though wrong caricature of Paul and the Christianity he helped spawn.
This was not quite as accessible as I would have liked, but it covers some profound material,
Its three main sections deal withSinai, the origin of the covenant identity of Israel,Zion, the prototypical society capable of communion with God, centered around the Jerusalem temple, andthe interplay between the two, they being complementary poles on a single axis.
It is perhaps no wonder that two of the most prominent old testament figures, namely Moses and David, each have their own covenant, each grounded on these opposite poles.
Navigating the space from, to, and in between Sinai and Zion seems to be the foundation of the Jewish experience, and is notably also the groundwork for contextualizing Christ and the new covenant, as well as a major portion of latterday saint theology.
Made good points about Sinai the desert of the Theophany and Zion Jerusalem and beyondas the essential coordinates that explain and elucidate the Hebrew Bible, but very drily written.
Writer struck reader as somewhat of a prig, Rich theology of OT Judaism that demonstrates the complex nuances that distinguish and yet conjoin the theology of Sinai and the theology of Zion, Highly recommended for those interested in a significantly deeper understanding of the theological overtones of the First Testament, For the wildly underinitiated, this book short though it is is no gentle introduction, The first twothirds, which focuses on the pentateuch, I mostly managed to follow, and found quite interesting, The last third focused on various other Biblical texts Prophets, etc, and presupposed a deep familiarity with them that I, alas, don't have, So the trees were mostly lost on me and, with them, large swaths of the forest, Even so, I did find it rewarding to read this book and get as much from it as I managed to, And I appreciate the praise it has received from scholars in the field, It is a very skillful piece of exegesis, .