Prof. Dr. Markus Saur

Markus Saur
© Markus Saur

Academic Profile

עבדות – cabdūt. Dependency in Ancient Israel and Judah

Forms of slavery and dependency are expressed in the Hebrew Bible by several words, most of them deriving from the verb cābad ("to serve"). The noun cabdūt for "slavery" or "dependency" can be found three times in the Hebrew Bible: While Ezra 9:8–9 reflects upon the dependency of the Judeans in the Achaemenid Empire, the use of cabdūt in Nehemiah 9:17 refers to the slavery of Israel's ancestors in Egypt. Both texts refer to the history of Israel and Judah as to a history of dependency.

An exemplary exposition of these dependencies can be found in the portrayal of King Solomon and the Solomon tradition. Solomon is introduced in 1 Kings 1–11 as successor of King David. The text highlights in particular Solomon's international relationships. In 1 Kings 5, the Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre is named as Solomon's trading partner; the report summarizes the complex dependency of Jerusalem, Judah and Israel on the economically and culturally superior Phoenician cities in the first millennium BCE.

Thus, the text points out in an exemplary way to what extent Israel and Judah are related to the cultures of the Ancient Near East. This can be seen beyond the depiction of Solomon also in the Solomon tradition: The Book of Proverbs, attributed to Solomon, delivers a form of wisdom, which corresponds to parts of wisdom traditions from the Ancient Near East. The Book of Qohelet, which contains implicit references to Solomon, is also part of a larger tradition of wisdom literature that can be compared, for example, to passages of the Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh. And the Song of Songs is associated with Solomon by its title and is part of a broad tradition of ancient oriental love poetry.

In the cluster project, the cultural dependencies between Israel and Judah and the Ancient Near East will be examined by the example of Solomon and the Solomon tradition with a special focus on the Book of Proverbs, Qohelet and the Song of Songs.

2007                        
Venia Docendi/Habilitation for Old Testament, University of Basel, Switzerland

2003                        
Dr. theol., University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

2000–2002            
Doctoral studies, University of Heidelberg, Germany

1993–1999            
Undergraduate and graduate studies in Theology, Ancient History and Philosophy at the Universities of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Montpellier and Kiel, Germany and France

since 2017       
Professor for Exegesis and Theology of the Old Testament, University of Bonn, Germany

2009–2017            
Professor for Old Testament and Biblical-Oriental Languages, University of Kiel, Germany

2007–2009             
Lecturer for Biblical Hebrew, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

2002–2007            
Assistant/Lecturer for Old Testament, University of Basel, Switzerland

2018                        
Senior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald

2000–2002            
Scholarship Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

1993–1999            
Scholarship Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

  • Psalms and Psalter – Literary and Theological Dimensions
  • Prophetic Books and Their Context with a Main Focus on the Book of Ezekiel
  • Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible in the Context of the Ancient Near East
  • History of Israel, Juda and Phoenicia in the First Millennium BCE 
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (doctoral scholarship)
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (research project "Sources on the history of the Phoenicians“)
  • Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald (senior fellowship)
  • 2020. "The Chronological Development of Wisdom Literature." In Oxford Handbook of Wisdom Literature, edited by W. Kynes. Oxford.
  •  2020. "Der bessere Mensch. Überlegungen zum Bildungsanspruch des Proverbienbuches." In Perfektion und Perfektibilität in den Literaturen des Alten Testaments. Ein Blick auf Konzepte und Gegenkonzepte in den alttestamentlichen Literaturen, edited by Jürgen van Oorschot and Andreas Wagner, 139–151. Veröffentlichungen der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft für Theologie 63. Leipzig. 
  • 2020. "Dynamische Ordnung. Natur und Schöpfung zwischen physis und ṣædæq." In Natur und Schöpfung, 65–90. Jahrbuch für Biblische Theologie 34. Göttingen. 
  • 2020. "Der gerechte König. Überlegungen zum Zusammenhang von Königspsalmen und JHWH-König-Psalmen." In Intertextualität und die Entstehung des Psalters, 119–135. FAT 2. Reihe 114. Tübingen. 
  • 2020. "'Ein Spötter ist der Wein ...' (Spr 20,1). Vom Wein im Alten Testament." In Rausch. Ekstase zwischen Bacchanal und Cognitive Enhancement, 29–47. Studien des Bonner Zentrums für Religion und Gesellschaft 15. Baden-Baden. 
  • 2020. "Vom Maß der Zeit. Erleben, Deuten und Gestalten von Zeit im Buch Kohelet." In Gott und Zeit. Religiöse und philosophische Zeitvorstellungen von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 42–58. Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift 37. Berlin and Boston.  
  • 2020. "Vom Untergang Ägyptens – Ez 29-32 im Kontext des Ezechielbuches." In Das Buch Ezechiel. Komposition, Redaktion und Rezeption, 151–174. BZAW 516. Berlin and Boston.
  • 2019. "Qohelet as a Reader of Proverbs." In Reading Proverbs Intertextually, edited by K. Dell and W. Kynes, 129–138. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 629. London and New York.
  • 2015. "Where Can Wisdom Be Found? New Perspectives on the Wisdom Psalms." In Was There a Wisdom Tradition? New Prospects in Israelite Wisdom Studies, edited by M. Sneed, 181–204. Society of Biblical Literature: The Ancient Israel and Its Literature 23. Atlanta.
  • 2012. Einführung in die alttestamentliche Weisheitsliteratur. [Introduction to Old Testament Wisdom Literature]. Darmstadt.
  • 2011. "Sapientia discursiva: Die alttestamentliche Weisheitsliteratur als theologischer Diskurs." [Old Testament Wisdom Literature as a Theological Discourse]. In Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 123: 236–249.
  • 2010. "Ezekiel 26–28 and the History of Tyre." In Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 24: 212–225.
  • 2008. Der Tyroszyklus des Ezechielbuches. [The Cycle of Tyre in the Book of Ezekiel]. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 386. Berlin and New York.
  • 2008. "Tyros im Spiegel des Ezechielbuches." [Tyre in the Book of Ezekiel]. In Israeliten und Phönizier: Ihre Beziehungen im Spiegel der Archäologie und der Literatur des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt, edited by M. Witte and J.F Diehl, 165–189. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 235. Fribourg and Göttingen.
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