{"title":"Nothing to sniff at: Odorless Reah Nihoah in early biblical interpretation","authors":"Shlomo Zuckier","doi":"10.1177/09518207211032881","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Within the Hebrew Bible, the phrase reah nihoah (ריח ניחוח), “a pleasing smell,” appears frequently throughout accounts of sacrifice, referring in a most literal sense to the smell of an offering burnt on the altar and offered up “to the Lord.” Throughout multiple Second Temple Jewish texts, both the incidence and meaning of this term shift considerably. Some texts essentially erase the term from sacrificial discourse; others “spiritualize” it, employing reah nihoah in contexts other than physical sacrifices; yet others conflate the “pleasing smell” language with other sacrificial technical terms such as “acceptability” and “atonement.” This article examines the manifold shifts in meaning of reah nihoah in Ancient Jewish texts, considering various biblical translations, Hellenistic works, materials from Qumran, and New Testament texts. After considering how these texts interpret the biblical reah nihoah, it considers possible impetuses for this shift as well as its ramifications.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211032881","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Within the Hebrew Bible, the phrase reah nihoah (ריח ניחוח), “a pleasing smell,” appears frequently throughout accounts of sacrifice, referring in a most literal sense to the smell of an offering burnt on the altar and offered up “to the Lord.” Throughout multiple Second Temple Jewish texts, both the incidence and meaning of this term shift considerably. Some texts essentially erase the term from sacrificial discourse; others “spiritualize” it, employing reah nihoah in contexts other than physical sacrifices; yet others conflate the “pleasing smell” language with other sacrificial technical terms such as “acceptability” and “atonement.” This article examines the manifold shifts in meaning of reah nihoah in Ancient Jewish texts, considering various biblical translations, Hellenistic works, materials from Qumran, and New Testament texts. After considering how these texts interpret the biblical reah nihoah, it considers possible impetuses for this shift as well as its ramifications.
期刊介绍:
The last twenty years have witnessed some remarkable achievements in the study of early Jewish literature. Given the ever-increasing number and availability of primary sources for these writings, specialists have been producing text-critical, historical, social scientific, and theological studies which, in turn, have fuelled a growing interest among scholars, students, religious leaders, and the wider public. The only English journal of its kind, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha was founded in 1987 to provide a much-needed forum for scholars to discuss and review most recent developments in this burgeoning field in the academy.