A Table in the Presence of My Enemies: Banqueting and Battling in Ancient Israel

Psalm 23, the most beloved of the Psalms, contains a perplexing riddle. What can it possibly mean that God prepares a table in the presence of the psalmist's enemies? Matthew Umbarger proposes that Psalm 23:5 makes the most sense when read according to its cultural context of prebattle covenant banquets. Beginning with ancient Mesopotamian mythology, Umbarger traces a conceptual trajectory of the prebattle banquet motif that reaches its zenith in the apocalyptic banquets of Second Temple Period literature and the eucharistic theology of the early church.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Cascade Books
Published: 06/25/2024
ISBN: 9781666761597
Pages: 210
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.48d