A Holistic Reading of Chronicles with a Samoan Hermeneutic by Moleli Alama, Samasoni;

Reading Jabez in Context

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series; 234;

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Product details:

Publisher BRILL
Date of Publication 2 October 2025

ISBN 9789004744653
Binding Hardback
No. of pages176 pages
Size 235x155 mm
Weight 442 g
Language English

Short description:

This book makes a significant contribution towards contextual hermeneutical strategies and to the postcolonial appropriation of biblical materials.

Long description:

This volume presents the most extensive and scientific study to date on the Jabez prayer in 1 Chron 4:9-10, re-reading Jabez’s story from the perspective of Chronicles as a whole, in conversation with similar realities in Samoa. The volume first examines the text of Chronicles as evidence of conflicts in the postexilic period, as various people renegotiated their connections with the land after the Babylonian exile. Then, it explores how biblical material can be illuminated by a Samoan hermeneutic, especially given the significance of the Bible in Samoan society. With this book, Samasoni Moleli Alama makes a significant contribution to Chronicles scholarship by investigating its major themes – particularly those that appear in the Jabez narrative – such as land tenure, political sovereignty, genres of prayer and the nuances of divine names. This strikingly original work is a model of scholarly integration, engaging with the best international scholarship while remaining firmly grounded in the Pacific context.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 The Overview of Chapters

Part 1 First Reading: Jabez in Context

1 The Literary Context

1 Ancient Sources

2 Analysis

3 Landholding Terminologies

4 Crucial Connections to Genesis Theology

5 Conclusion

2 Divine Names

1 Introduction

2 Divine Names in Chronicles

3 Conclusion

3 Cultic and Non-cultic Prayers

1 Chronistic Scholarship on Prayer

2 Petitions for Land

3 Generalizations

4 Conclusion

4 Land Tenure

1 Land Terminologies in 1 Chron 4:9–10

2 Word-Play Pasture Land (Megarasha) in Chronicles

3 Borders of Yehud in Historical Research

4 Theology of Land Terminology in Deuteronomistic and Priestly

5 Theology of Land in Chronicles

6 How Might Foreigners Acquire Land?

7 The Place for Gerim in Chronicles

8 Land of Gerim in Ezek 47:22

9 Expansive Borders in Chronicles

10 Expansive Borders in Ezra 1–6

11 Conclusion

5 The Representation of Sovereignty in Chronicles

1 Introduction

2 Chronicles and Persian Imperial Ideology

3 Chronistic Community: Yehud in the Persian Period

4 Persian Empire

5 Persian Ideology Reflected in Chronicles

6 Kingship in Chronicles

7 Treatment of Kingship in Chronicles

8 David-Solomon Kingships in Relation to God’s Kingdom

9 The Derivative Sovereignty of Foreign Kings

10 Conclusion

Part 2 Second Reading: Jabez in Samoa

6 The Concept of Honour and Shame

1 The System of “Honour and Shame” in Contemporary Scholarship

2 The Concept of Service in Chronicles

3 Groups Appointed to Temple Services (ʿabodat) in Chronicles

4 Status of Levites and Priests in Chronistic Scholarship

5 Individuals Appointed to Other Services

6 Inter-textual Reading: Isaiah 56:3–8

7 Concluding Remarks

7 The Concept of Tautua in Samoa

1 Jabez Narrative Interpreted from the Samoan Context

2 Matai and the Matai System

3 The Meaning of Tautua

4 Motivation behind Tautua

5 Tautua as a Collective Identity

6 Tautua Analogies

7 Tautua – a Way to Authority/Matai and Landownership

8 Tautua – a Cultural Remodification

9 Jabez as a Samoanized Matai

10 Conclusion

8 Hermeneutical Relevance in Samoa

1 Saluting Universal ʾelohim as Atua o Samoa

2 A Redefined Matai

3 The Emergence of Faifeau: a Reformulated Matai

4 Faifeau as Fa’afeagaiga and Tagata Ese

5 Faifeau and Tofi Identity

6 Viewing Jabez as Faifeau

7 Conclusion

Glossary

References

General Index