In view of the suppression of the concept of divine judgment in modern Christian theology and the widespread idea of the "Old Testament God of vengeance", the essay analyzes the function of the metaphor "God is judge". Originating in the ancient Near Eastern concept of justice as world order the metaphor is always related to God's saving acts. In individual laments like Psalm 7 and 94, God is invoked as judge of a person who is persecuted by enemies, isolated, and marginalized. In prophetic texts, exemplified by passages from the book of Jeremiah, the metaphor is used retrospectively to interpret the experience of war, ruin, and deportation as God's righteous judgment of the people's transgression - in the sense of the sapiential idea that acts yield consequences. In the few cases where the metaphor is used prospectively, it does not symbolize God's will to retaliate, but the hope to be delivered from oppression and hardship.
Enthalten in:
Evangelische Theologie; 2023/4 Zweimonatsschrift
(2023)
Serie / Reihe: Evangelische Theologie
Personen: Maier, Christl M.
Maier, Christl M.:
"Erhebe dich, Richter der Erde!" (Ps 94,2) : von der Kraft einer biblischen Metapher / Christl M. Maier, 2023 - (Evangelische Theologie) Ein Gott, der richtet? Die Rede vom Gericht Gottes einst und jetzt * 1
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