Israel Knohl (Hebrew: ישראל קנוהל; born 13 March 1952) is an Israeli Bible scholar and historian. He is the Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor of Biblical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Senior Fellow at Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His books deal with the integration of scientific and archaeological discoveries with the biblical account, early Israelite beliefs, a survey of Israelite cult, and how and where the Israelites originated.
Biography
Israel Knohl was born in Giv'at Aliyah, Israel. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) he completed a Bachelor's degree in the Talmud Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For his graduate work he switched to the Bible Department and completed his PhD in 1988 under the supervision of Moshe Greenberg, with a dissertation on the relationship between the Pentateuchal Priestly source and the Holiness code. Knohl lives in Jerusalem and is the father of the three children. His brother, Elyashiv Knohl, was the rabbi of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion.
Academic career Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton he joined the faculty of the Bible Department at Hebrew University, where he served as the Chair of the Department from 1999-2001. Presently he is the Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor of Biblical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Senior Fellow at Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He has served as a visiting professor at Berkeley, Stanford, Chicago Divinity School, and Harvard.
Views and opinions Knohl identifies as a religious Jew and claims that biblical criticism is not necessarily at odds with traditional Jewish beliefs. He points out that the view that the Pentateuch was composed by multiple authors is supported by a number of Jewish authors, beginning in the Bible itself, and culminating with Abraham ibn Ezra and Hasidei Ashkenaz.
Published works Knohl's first book, The Sanctuary of Silence, was originally published in Hebrew. Based on his doctoral dissertation, it relates to his theories about the dating of the Priestly source. Knohl proposes that the Priestly source (P) dates from a much earlier period than is usually assumed and that the Holiness code (H) represents an addition to the law code of P, rather than the standard interpretation which is the reverse. Knohl suggests that H might have been inserted into P as a response of the Temple priesthood to the growing prophetic movements. Knohl's view has been widely accepted by scholars, most notably by Jacob Milgrom in his influential commentary on Leviticus. The book won the Shkop Prize for the best work in biblical literature.
The Messiah Before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Knohl is best known for his theory that Jewish culture contained a myth about a messiah who rose from the dead in the days before Jesus of Nazareth. One of the historical antecedents of this messianic figure is Menahem the Essene who is mentioned several times in rabbinic literature. Those theories are expounded in The Messiah Before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls (University of California Press, 2000). He also finds evidence of this belief in the Dead Sea Scrolls, although his interpretation of the partially preserved Self-Glorification hymn upon which his theory relies is not universally accepted. In 2007, after researching the Gabriel Revelation inscription, Knohl claimed that it supported his contention of a murdered Messiah resurrected after three days, he based himself primarily on the words לשלושת ימין חאיה (after three days he will live) in the inscription. This reading was controversial and Knohl later recanted in favor of the more accepted לשלושת ימין האות (after three days there will be a sign). His ideas about the messiah-myth were reviewed extensively in the popular press, including the New York Times, and Time magazine.
Where are We From?
In Where are We From? Knohl presents his theory of Israelite beginnings. According to the subtitle the purpose of the book is to crack the genetic code of the Hebrew Bible, or more specifically to address questions regarding the genesis of the Jewish people, the root of its belief system, and how its laws and traditions originated. Knohl bases himself on archaeological evidence and a critical reading of the biblical text. He claims that the Israelites became a nation in the 12th century BCE through the intertwining of three ethnically related groups, and that the Bible represents an integration of the beliefs of these groups. The first group is the Hyksos, who were originally Canaanite slaves who then assimilated into the Egyptian population and ruled the country for 100 years beginning in 1638 BCE. This group was banished from Egypt in the 15th century BCE after the fall of their dynasty. It is from this group that the stories about Joseph’s greatness originated, as well as the idea of Israelite banishment from Egypt. One also finds abnormal descriptions of climate, such as the Nile turning into blood, in Egyptian sources such as the Ipuwer Papyrus. Other sources for our knowledge of the Hyksos, according to Knohl, include Jewish historian Josephus’ book Against Apion. The myth of Abraham and his journey to Canaan originated, according to Knohl, with a group that immigrated from Mitanni following the fall of this kingdom at the hands of Shalmaneser I. A third group were slaves that escaped from Egypt and they were responsible for perpetuating the myth of Israelite slavery in Egypt, the construction of the cities Pithom and Ramses, and the experience of running away from Egypt. According to Knohl, this third group the Apiru (related to the word Hebrew) escaped from Egypt in the year 1208 BCE during the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah, the son of Ramses II who built the city of Ramses. According to Knohl it was this group of escaped slaves that brought with them the idea of monotheism, which was conceived by Pharaoh Akhenaten. On their way to Canaan the Apiru passed through Midian and accepted Yahweh as the name of their God, as well as the tradition of not representing God through images or statues. According to Knohl’s calculation the time that elapsed from the beginning of the Hyksos dynasty until the escape of the Apiru was exactly 430 years, which coincides with time of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt according to Exodus 12:41.
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