Midterm Exam

RLST 145 -- Introduction to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
Midterm Exam
Sections 1 and 2 are to be completed in section.
Complete both sections of the exam in 20 minutes. Answer all questions in blue book.
SECTION I (10%) -- Identify the speaker of any five of the following (5 minutes):
1. "Hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were binding sheaves in the field, when
suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and
bowed low to my sheaf."
2. "Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty? What if there should be fifty
innocent within the city; will You then wipe out the place and not forgive it for the sake of the
innocent fifty who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the
innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall
not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"
3. "It would not be right to do this, for what we sacrifice to the Lord our God is untouchable to
the Egyptians. If we sacrifice that which is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very
eyes, will they not stone us! So we must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and
sacrifice to the Lord our God as He may command us."
4. "Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?"
5. "I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold; and when the Egyptians see you, they
will say, 'This is his wife,' then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister,
that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account."
6. "Let not my Lord be enraged. You know that this people is bent on evil. They said to me,
'Make us a god to lead us; for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt -- we
do not know what has happened to him.' So I said to them, 'Whoever has gold, take it off!'
They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!"
7. “Please, O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You
have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
SECTION II (30%) -- In two or three sentences identify and explain the importance of any
five of the following (15 minutes): NOTE: These should not be paragraph answers -- just 2-3
concise sentences or sentence fragments of relevant information.
1. Baal 6. Hyksos
2. Covenant 6. Passover
3. Documentary hypothesis 7. Decalogue
4. Tiamat 8. Sinai
NOTE: STUDENTS IN THE WRITING REQUIREMENT SECTION DO NOT NEED TO

COMPLETE THE ESSAY PORTION OF THE EXAM
ESSAY (60% OF TOTAL MIDTERM GRADE) -- Answer ONE of the following essay questions
as fully as possible in 35 minutes. Replicate the class exam situation as fully as possible.
Find a quiet place to read the questions, plan and write your essay without the use of notes,
books or Bible. E-mail your essay to your Teaching Assistant by 6 pm on Tuesday, October
17.
1. (a) Describe the evolutionary account of the emergence of Israelite religion and Kaufman's
critique of that account, paying particular attention to his contrasting depiction of Israelite and
“pagan” conceptions of the divine, mythology, human-divine interaction, magic and cult, and
the nature of evil.
(b) Evaluate the usefulness of these two approaches in understanding the emergence of
Israelite religion from Canaanite culture generally.
NOTE: Answer both parts (a) and (b) of this question.
2. Using specific examples where appropriate, discuss the importance of non-biblical sources
for our understanding of ONE of the following:
(a) Genesis 1-9 (creation stories, flood story)
(b) Israelite Law and covenant
NOTE: Answer either part (a) or part (b) of this question.
3. Read the following passages and answer BOTH questions

Ex 6:2-3 "And God said to Moses, 'I am YHWH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac
and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name YHWH, I did not make myself known to them.'"
(a) What does this verse suggest about the history and/or development of ancient
Israelite religion?
Gen 15:7 "And he said to him [Abraham], "I am YHWH who brought you from Ur of
the Chaldees to give you this land to possess."
(b) There is a basic contradiction between Ex 6:2-3 and Gen 15:7. How does modern
(i.e., post 17th c) biblical scholarship account for contradictions of the type illustrated here?
Detail the major hypotheses of modern critical scholars regarding the nature, sources and
composition of the Pentateuch.
NOTE: Answer both parts (a) and (b) of this question.
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RLST 145 -- Introduction to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

NOTE: STUDENTS IN THE WRITING REQUIREMENT SECTION DO NOT NEED TO

3. Read the following passages and answer BOTH questions

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