Old Testament Exegetical Psalm 74 Essays - David, Ketuvim, Psalms

Old Testament Exegetical: Psalm 74 Old Testament Exegetical Paper: Psalm 74 For my Old Testament exegetical paper I have chosen Psalm 74. This passage was hard for me to read because it rebukes God for letting temples and other holy places be destroyed. In this paper I hope to gain a better understanding of this chapter. I will define two terms that I find to be key to understanding this passage. Reading two commentaries on Psalm 74 I will discuss the authorship, date and place of writing, audience and purpose of this passage. The term congregation is defined by The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary as a gathering of various types. More specifically congregation is defined as the popular assembly or the Israelite religious community (Meyers 232). The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible says that congregation expresses the assembly of the people of Israel (Carey 939). Congregation is used 138 times in the Old Testament (Kohlenberger 265). I examined five other passages outside of Psalms to try to gain a better understanding of the term. All the passages I Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5, 7, 24, and Ezra 10 use the term congregation to describe a specific group of people. Ezra 10 is the only passage that does not use congregation to describe the people of Israel. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible defines deliver as the saving, rescuing, redeeming, or setting free of material and temporal things, but also of spiritual and eternal things (Barker 89). W. R. F. Browning uses deliverance to describe the saving of Gods people, as well as the giving over of traditions (96). In the Old Testament the word deliver or one of its derivatives is used 107 times, predominantly in Psalms (Kohlenberger 319). I read Genesis 32, Exodus 3, Deuteronomy 32, Amos 6, and Micah 5 to find out how the term is used in other passages throughout the Bible. In Genesis 32 Jacob uses deliver as a plea. He says, Deliver me, please, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him. God uses deliver to describe his preserving of the Israelites from Egypt in Exodus 3. However in Deuteronomy 32 God uses deliver to say that no one can be saved from his judgment. Micah 5 uses a metaphor with a young lion amongst the sheep with no one to deliver or save the sheep. God refuses to protect the inhabitants of earth from evil in Zechariah 11. Derek Kidner breaks Psalm 74 down into 5 parts. Verses 1 3 deal with the cast-off heritage, 4 8 speak of the pillaged temple, verses 9 11 convey the impenetrable silence. In verses 12 17 the ancient exploits are reviewed and 18 23 concentrate on the continuing ordeal (264). 1 O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago, which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell. 3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. The psalm takes as its starting-point the protest of the people against their God, a protest based on their belief in their election (Weiser 518). It is faith, more than doubt, that precipitates the shower of questions which begins and ends this half of the psalm, since the real perplexity is not over the bare fact of punishment but over its apparent finality. Is it for ever?yet how can it be when this is thy pasturethy congregationthy heritage (Kidner 265)? With the sanctuaries in ruin, the enemy laying siege to the land of the Israelites they question their faith in Gods promises in verses 1 3. Verses 4 8 show the destruction and violation of the sanctuaries of God. 4 Your foes have roared within your holy place; they set up their emblems there. 5 At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes. 6 And then, with hatchets and hammer, they smashed all its carved work. 7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing

China and Economic and Political Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Coursework

China and Economic and Political Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Coursework China and Economic and Political Development in Sub ï » ¿ 1. Describe China’s interests in Africa and the impact of Sino-African relations on economic and political development in Sub-Saharan Africa. China has emerged as an influential economic power and has expanded its role in Africa. There has been historic political and economic links with China but the recent increase in links with Africa has risen up questions regarding the protection of interests of all stakeholders. Historically, China has supported the independence movement in Africa along with continuous investments in developmental projects. China has been showing such an interest to reach out and gain advantage from African resources and trade opportunities. There has been increasing benefits as a result of increasing African markets for Chinese products as well as arms. Sea routes and Air routes have opened up as a result of a growth in economic deals between the countries. Another reason for such interest is to challenge the economic and other such security interests of US in the region. Such a relationship has resulted in mutual benefits for both countries as Africa has gained huge investments resulting in growth i n various sectors. There has been huge impact on economic as well as political development in sub-saharan Africa. China has engaged economically with Africa in three different forms including investment, aid and trade. China is now the second largest trading partner of Africa with total trade rising to around $2.2 Trillion in the year 2009. In the area of investment, around 3% of direct investment flows from China to Africa. Major Chinese companies including Samsung electronics, Phillips and Sony electronics have been investing in Africa. However, there has been less Chinese investment in the manufacturing sector along with heavy reliance on labor imported from china with the African labor receiving fewer benefits. China has also given huge amounts of aid mostly in the form of concession loans as well as subsidized loans. It has also become an active member of the African Development Bank. 2. Critically assess the impact of China’s relations with sub-Saharan African countries. As a result of a growth in the relationship between China and Africa, there have been gains as well as losses for Sub-Saharan African countries. However, there are increasing concerns regarding the longer term impacts on Africa. There have been researches and some of them suggest that the negative effects of these relations may outweigh the positive ones. Some parts of the sub-Saharan Africa have been experiencing trade surpluses including Sudan, Angola, Congo etc while others have recorded continuous trade deficits. Due to China`s increasing interest for energy, minerals and bio-fuels, the manufacturing sectors have witnessed considerable decline. Along with this, local producers have been facing increasing difficulties regarding in competing with the imported Chinese products especially clothing goods. Cheaper products from China have further resulted in huge loss of jobs for workers in African countries. According to the video, the trade between china and Africa has grown by ten folds and risen to around hundred billion dollars. The video further shows the huge investments made by China for growth in Africa including the supply of hard working Chinese labor. However, it should be noted that in return China has also been receiving hundreds of oil gallons in return for their trade and other investment projects. : 1. "Original Article."Â  The European Journal of Development Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. .

Joseph Beuys - Into Fat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Joseph Beuys - Into Fat - Essay Example The paper "Joseph Beuys: Into Fat" analyses Joseph Beuys and his art. â€Å"That’s how the Tartars found me days later. I remember voices saying ‘Voda’ (water), then the felt of their tents, and the dense pungent smell of cheese, fat and milk. They covered my body in fat to help it regenerate warmth, and wrapped it in felt as an insulator to keep warmth in.† It was written in Wikipedia that this story has served as a powerful myth of origins for Beuys’ artistic identity, as well as providing an initial interpretative key to his use of unconventional materials. However, this myth was not mentioned, even if to be shrouded in fiction, in an idiosyncratic CV that Beuys produced in a 1964 festival, title Life Course/Work Course. This CV was a self-consciously fictionalized account of the artist’s life, in which historical events mingle with metaphorical and mythical speech, marking a blurring of fact and fiction that was to be characteristic of Beu ys’ self-created persona. Thus, it was a debate on the grounds of the plane crash myth, for had it been a real occurrence, it would have had a place it Beuys’ CV. Had it been made-believe, it would still secure a place in the controversial CV being that the myth provided the inspiration for his life’s work. And yet it was never to be documented this plane crash which happened in Cremia and his eventual meeting with the Tartars who taught Beuys the healing properties of fat and felt. Beuys staged performances or what he call â€Å"actions† which had the magic of rituals.