About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period - Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies - Benedikt Hensel
11. Have There Been Prophets in Edom? An Ostracon from Ḥorvat ‘Uza Once More
About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period - Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies - Benedikt Hensel
Bob Becking [+]
Utrecht University
Bob Becking is a retired Senior Research Professor. He studied theology and semitics at Utrecht University. He has been a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church for ten years before he started teaching at Utrecht University in 1987. His most recent book is Ezra - Nehemiah (Peeters, 2018), among his many other contributions are Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Construction of Early Jewish Identity (Mohr Siebeck, 2011) and From David to Gedaliah: The Book of Kings as Story and History (Vandenhoeck Ruprecht, 2007).
Description
Bob Becking’s essay “Have There Been Prophets in Edom? An Ostracon from Ḥorvat ‘Uza Once More” re-examines and provides a new reading of an Edomite inscription from Ḥorvat ‘Uza. This inscription has usually been understood as a sapiential text. Becking argues that the inscription is full of prophetic elements. Either case, scribal culture in the Edom attested west of the Arabah was at an advanced level already by the end of the Iron Age. This essay contributes to the research of traces of prophecy that can be found in ancient Edom.