Language:
English
Year of publication:
2024
Titel der Quelle:
Novum Testamentum
Angaben zur Quelle:
66,1 (2024) 112-125
Keywords:
Esau Christian interpretations
;
New Testament. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Sex in the New Testament
Abstract:
The author of Hebrews accuses Esau of sexual immorality in Heb 12:16. This essay argues Esau’s sexual immorality is his marriage to foreign women, which sowed seeds of discord in the family and led ultimately to his unredeemable exclusion from the community. Esau’s exogamous marriage, as such, is not the concern in Hebrews, but rather how his mixed marriage introduced bitterness into the family and led ultimately to him abandoning the group. Like the wilderness generation in Num 13–14, Esau lost his inheritance by failing to persevere with the community. Tested against recent studies of conversion and deconversion, we see how Esau becomes a paradigmatic community-abandoning apostate and a warning against similar abandonment.
DOI:
10.1163/15685365-bja10055
URL:
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