2026, Vol.32, No.2

Why Do You Look on Evil and Remain Silent?: A Theodicean Reading of the Book of Habakkuk

Kim Ki-Hyun | 2026, 32(2) | pp.19~47 | number of Cited : 0

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The Aesthetic of Hiddenness and Theological Significance Revealed in Job’s Language of Resistance and God’s Silence

Soon-Young Kim | 2026, 32(2) | pp.48~86 | number of Cited : 0

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This study is an integration of biblical theology and modern aesthetics, examining the aesthetic tension and theological implications between Job’s language of resistance and God’s silence. Pointing out that attempts to unilaterally explain and dogmatize suffering can become an oppressive measure against the sufferer, this paper reads the Book of Job from a macroscopic, aesthetic perspective by utilizing philosopher Byung-Chul Han’s concepts of ‘the negativity of roughness’ and the ‘aesthetic of hiddenness.’ This study first identifies the retributive logic defended by Job’s friends as a ‘smooth lie’ and a form of consumer religion that eliminates the negativity of suffering. In contrast, it argues that Job’s unfamiliar language of resistance possesses an ‘aesthetic of roughness’ that shatters the falsehoods of conventional theology and reveals the truth. Amid this conflict, God’s silence acts not as the absence of the divine, but as an active rhetoric and a negativity of hiddenness that draws out Job’s chaos to the end. Furthermore, God’s theophany in the storm overwhelms Job with the sublimity and wonder of the untamable created order rather than explaining the reasons for his suffering. Job’s subsequent repentance (42:6) is not a submission to doctrine, but a voluntary and active "aesthetic correction" of one thoroughly overwhelmed by the eeriness and beauty of the universe. Ultimately, this discussion rebels against a fictitious faith that seeks only positivity without pain. God’s anger toward the friends who enforced smooth positivity and His final approval of Job, who confronted the rough truth, corroborate this. This paper argues that only when confronting abrasive disharmony and God's hiddenness can one ultimately reach the beauty of salvation and the essence of wisdom theology concealed within suffering.

The Lex Talionis in Leviticus 24 from Legal-Historical and Literary Perspectives

Young Hye Kim | 2026, 32(2) | pp.87~118 | number of Cited : 0

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The Lex Talionis in Leviticus 24 from Legal-Historical and Literary Perspectives This paper examines the lex talionis in Leviticus 24 from two complementary perspectives: legal-historical and literary-structural. While the lex talionis has long been recognized as a legal principle shared between the ancient Near East and the Pentateuch, the distinctive literary characteristics of its formulation in Leviticus 24 have rarely been subjected to systematic legal-historical analysis. This study aims to fill this lacuna by situating Leviticus 24 within the broader trajectory of ancient Near Eastern legal traditions and demonstrating how its redactor transformed inherited legal forms into a vehicle for a distinctive theological expression. The paper proceeds in three stages. First, it conducts a diachronic analysis of the lex talionis across six ancient Near Eastern law collections, establishing that the lex talionis was not a universal principle but a selectively adopted one, consistently subordinated to social hierarchy and expressed through quantitative monetary compensation. Second, it compares the three Pentateuchal texts containing the lex talionis — Exodus 21, Deuteronomy 19, and Leviticus 24 — identifying the unique transformative trajectory of each. Third, it analyzes the formal and substantive peculiarities of Leviticus 24 in depth. The analysis reveals that Leviticus 24 exhibits two layers of differentiation. Formally, it integrates narrative and legal prescription within a single unit — a feature unattested in ancient Near Eastern law collections — and organizes its legal content through a sophisticated chiastic structure. Substantively, this chiasm serves as a legal reasoning system that ranks crimes hierarchically according to their theological gravity rather than their economic value, incorporates blasphemy within the domain of the lex talionis, and extends equal legal standing to resident aliens. The paper concludes that in Leviticus 24, the redactor appropriated the legal language of the ancient Near East while fundamentally reconstituting its conceptual foundations, establishing Leviticus 24 as the most theologically sophisticated expression of the lex talionis in the Pentateuch.

Rethinking the David–Solomon Polity as a Transitional, Semi-Pastoral, Polymorphic Kingship

Lee Sak (Yitzhak Lee-Sak) | 2026, 32(2) | pp.119~151 | number of Cited : 0

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Building on the recent proposals of Erez Ben-Yosef and Zachary Thomas, this study offers a critical reassessment of the Davidic-Solomonic polity against the polarized maximalist-minimalist landscape to challenge the habitual recourse to “chiefdom”, “territorial state”, or “empire” as primary explanatory frames. First, it argues that linear, evolutionary models of political development ─ from tribal confederation to chiefdom, then to state/territorial state and empire ─ tend to overdetermine the tenth-century BCE Israelite case and thereby obscure the genuinely composite texture of its social organization. Second, through a historical-critical rereading of the lists of the royal officials and the institutions of tribal assembly and elders in the Samuel-Kings corpus, the study contends that David and Solomon governed a political-administrative order fundamentally anchored in kinship relations, yet marked by forms of functional differentiation consistent with an incipient bureaucracy. David’s administrative infrastructure appears relatively limited, operating primarily through military networks of loyalty, personal retinues, and negotiated alliances. Solomon’s regime, while introducing more formalized districts and mechanisms of provisioning and tribute, nonetheless presupposes clan-, lineage-, and tribal-based authority as well as deliberative modes of governance. Third, the polity’s institutional profile is best described not as a monocentric state or an empire but as a polycentric, composite kingdom in which clan-kinship structures, tribal-lineage confederative elements, and chiefdom-like dynamics coexisted with emerging processes of administrative rationalization. More broadly, the David-Solomon kingdom is interpreted as a negotiated, coalition-based kingship that took shape within semi-pastoral and semi-sedentary traditions under tenthcentury southern Levantine conditions ─ constrained agrarian surplus, a temporary imperial vacuum, and heightened mobility. Accordingly, its historical plausibility should be assessed less by the monumental signatures typically expected of chiefdoms, territorial states, or empires than by the flexibility, adaptability, and contingent integration characteristic of transitional polities.

Theological Foundations of Ideal Kingship: A Study of the Programmatic Introduction Function and Ring Composition in Psalm 72:1-3

Soon Beom Lee

| 2026, 32(2) | pp.152~187 | number of Cited : 0

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This study analyzes the literary structure and theological function of Psalm 72:1–3 as the programmatic introduction to Psalm 72 as a whole. Through semantic analysis of the key terms מִשְׁפָּט(justice/judgment), צְדָקָה(righteousness), and צֶדֶק(righteousness), this research demonstrates how the chiastic arrangement (vv. 1b–2) and the inclusio (vv. 1, 3) establish the theological foundation of ideal kingship in ancient Israel. The analysis reveals that within this structure, Israel’s king is not an absolute lawgiver who legislates independently, but a mediator who receives מִשְׁפָּט and צְדָקָה from YHWH and administers them among the people. While accommodating the socio-cosmic structure of ancient Near Eastern royal ideology, particularly Egypt’s concept of Maʿat, this theology fundamentally subverts its absolute royal paradigm, in which kings possessed divine legislative authority in their own right. The possessive expressions “your מִשְׁפָּטִים” and “your צְדָקָה” (v. 1) underscore that justice remains YHWH’s exclusive prerogative. Verses 1–3 exhibit sophisticated literary structure. The chiastic arrangement (vv. 1b–2: מִשְׁפָּט– צְדָקָה/ צֶדֶק–מִשְׁפָּט) links God’s granting of justice (v. 1) with the king’s concrete practice of it (v. 2). At the same time, the inclusio formed by צְדָקָה in verses 1 and 3 illustrates this “socio-cosmic” causality: divine justice, mediated through the king’s righteous governance (צֶדֶק, v. 2), inevitably results in cosmic shalom and the restoration of creation’s original order (v. 3). This threefold expansion—divine commission (v. 1), social implementation (v. 2), and cosmic peace (v. 3)—provides the theological framework for the psalm’s subsequent themes, including the protection of the poor (vv. 4, 12–14) and universal dominion (vv. 8–11). Moreover, verses 1–3 form a vast ring composition with the concluding doxology and colophon (vv. 18–20), solemnly demonstrating that earthly kingship is ultimately subordinated to a theocentric vision: the universal manifestation of YHWH’s glory. Consequently, this study proves that Psalm 72 does not merely adopt ancient Near Eastern royal ideology but thoroughly reorganizes it within Yahwistic theology, successfully accomplishing a unique “theocratic transformation”.

The Theological Logic of Zion Faith in the Pre-Exilic Period: YHWH’s Kingship, His Dwelling in Zion, and Security

Joon-Hyuk Lee | 2026, 32(2) | pp.188~218 | number of Cited : 0

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This study analyzes the theological logic embedded in the Zion Psalm tradition associated with the pre-exilic period, focusing on the early stratum that derives Zion's security from YHWH's kingship and presence without presupposing ethical qualification. Rather than reopening debates over the origin or dating of Zion theology, the study aims to clarify the internal structure of faith confessions arranged within this tradition and rather than recasting it as mere political legitimation, the study proposes that it is better understood as a theological articulation centered on YHWH's sovereignty and presence. The analysis is based on Psalms 2, 46, 47, 48, 76, and 132. Texts that foreground ethical conditions—such as Psalms 15, 24, and Isaiah 33—are excluded from the primary scope, as they more plausibly reflect later reinterpretation. While drawing on J. J. M. Roberts' motif analysis as a heuristic point of departure, the study critically reassesses its applicability to the early stratum. In particular, it argues that Roberts' Element C—which ties Zion's security to the ethical fitness of its inhabitants—reflects a later layer of tradition and should not be read into the early stratum without distinction. Three interconnected motifs are identified as structuring Zion-related faith in this early layer. First, YHWH is confessed as the great king over all nations, providing the theological premise for the entire tradition. Second, this confession of kingship is concretized in the affirmation that YHWH has chosen Zion as his dwelling. Third, his enthroned presence in Zion serves as the sole basis for the city's security. In these texts, Zion's inviolability rests not on military strength, geographical advantage, or the moral condition of its inhabitants, but on the divine presence itself. By clarifying this theological structure, the study proposes a reading that does not reduce the Zion tradition to political ideology. While the tradition carries political implications, the ultimate subject of rule is consistently presented as YHWH rather than the human king, whose authority is delegated and subordinate. This distinction provides a theological framework for interpreting the prophetic critique of Zion theology as a process of ethical reinterpretation rather than outright rejection.

The Tradition-Historical Formation of Deuteronomic Sanctuary Theology: The Movement and Convergence of the Shiloh, Bethel, and Jerusalem Traditions

Eun-Pyung Ju | 2026, 32(2) | pp.219~247 | number of Cited : 0

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This study investigates the tradition-historical formation of Deuteronomic sanctuary theology. Previous scholarship has predominantly understood the centralization legislation of Deuteronomy 12 as a product of Josianic cultic reform. While such an approach has contributed significantly to the historical understanding of Deuteronomy, it does not fully explain how earlier sanctuary traditions were transmitted, transformed, and theologically reinterpreted within the Deuteronomic sanctuary formula. This study employs tradition-historical criticism as its primary methodological framework. The sequence Shiloh–Bethel–Jerusalem is not intended to represent the canonical order of the final form of the biblical text, but rather an analytical order for tracing the historical movement and theological convergence of sanctuary traditions. Archaeological and literary-critical studies are used only as supplementary evidence. Three lines of argument are developed. First, Shiloh functioned as an early central sanctuary that combined the ark tradition with priestly authority. Its collapse demonstrated that no sanctuary possessed automatic or permanent legitimacy apart from YHWH’s sovereign choice. Second, Bethel preserved ancient northern sanctuary memories associated with the Jacob traditions. After the fall of the Northern Kingdom, these memories may have entered the southern theological milieu through northern tradition-bearers, but they were not accepted uncritically. Rather, they were reconfigured through prophetic critique and Deuteronomic centralization. Third, Jerusalem emerged as the symbolic site in which earlier sanctuary memories were reinterpreted and gathered into the theology of “all Israel.” This study argues that the Deuteronomic formula, “the place where YHWH will choose to put his name,” should not be reduced to a mere institutional claim for Jerusalem. Rather, it represents a theological language of divine choice, name, and presence, shaped through the movement and reinterpretation of Israel’s sanctuary traditions.

From Samson to Structural Closure: A Syntactic-Hierarchical Reading of Judges 13:2–21:25

JIN GYU SANG | 2026, 32(2) | pp.248~304 | number of Cited : 0

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Walking Together in the Age of AI Oracles: A Practical-Theological Reading of the Deborah Narrative (Judg. 4-5)

Ha Kyungji | 2026, 32(2) | pp.305~333 | number of Cited : 0

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This study analyzes the Deborah narrative (Judg. 4–5) as a practical-theological resource for the era of artificial intelligence, with the aim of diagnosing the reductive pressure that algorithmic modes of thinking exert upon personhood, relationality, and human interiority in contemporary pastoral and ecclesiastical contexts. The study adopts intercontextuality as its governing methodological framework, placing the ancient biblical text in dialogical tension with contemporary AI discourse. It provisionally introduces AI Criticism as a hermeneutical instrument, distinct from AI-assisted textual analysis and from technology ethics, by deploying three conceptual categories developed within AI discourse, namely algorithmic mode of thinking, black box, and alignment failure, as interpretive lenses through which to illumine the meaning structure of Judges 4–5. The analysis proceeds from a synchronic, canonical-critical reading, treating the prose account (ch. 4) and the poetic Song (ch. 5) as a unified literary and theological whole. The study applies this framework to three figures. Deborah’s prophetic authority (Judg. 4:6–7) is distinguished from algorithmic prediction by its origin in the personal God of Israel, and her self-designation as 'mother in Israel' (Judg. 5:7) embodies a relational authority grounded in shared communal responsibility rather than in informational monopoly. Barak's conditional request (Judg. 4:8), examined through its double-conditional syntactic structure, is read not as a failure of faith but as a theological claim that grounds victory in personal presence rather than in data certainty. Jael’s tent is interpreted as a dual black box: an external black box marking the epistemological failure of Sisera's classification algorithm, and an internal black box marking Jael’s interiority as irreducible to any data system. The contrast between Deborah and Sisera’s mother further illumines the opposition between covenantal relational authority and pattern-dependent algorithmic cognition. The study proposes three conceptual frames, dual black box, holy inefficiency, and theology of the margin, as practical-theological categories for the AI era, and derives three corresponding pastoral principles: communal leadership, incarnational accompaniment, and care for those at the margins. What the Korean church, long oriented toward efficiency, must recover in the AI era is a theology of walking together.

The Past, Present, and Future of Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies (KJOTS): A Historiographical Reconstruction of Korean Old Testament Scholarship in Commemoration of the 100th Issue

Eunwoo Lee | 2026, 32(2) | pp.337~395 | number of Cited : 0

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This study undertakes a comprehensive historiographical reconstruction of Korean Old Testament scholarship over the past three decades by analyzing the entire corpus of articles published in the Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies (KJOTS) from its inaugural issue (1995) to issue 99 (2026). Commemorating the publication of the 100th issue, the study examines KJOTS not merely as a repository of scholarly articles but as a critical intellectual space that has reflected the institutionalization, professionalization, and hermeneutical transformation of Korean Old Testament scholarship. Employing a dual analytical framework that combines quantitative survey and qualitative interpretation, this research classifies the articles according to (1) biblical categories—the Pentateuch, Historical Books, Writings, and Prophets—and (2) methodological approaches, including historical, source, form, redaction, literary, canonical, social-scientific, and feminist criticism, as well as Ancient Near Eastern comparative studies, ecological criticism, and digital and AI hermeneutics. The thirty-year trajectory of KJOTS is further periodized into four developmental phases: the Formative Period (Issues 1–10, 1995–2000), the Growth Period (Issues 11–30, 2001–2009), the Transitional Period (Issues 31–60, 2010–2018), and the Expansion Period (Issues 61–99, 2019–2026). The analysis reveals that Korean Old Testament scholarship has evolved from a reception-oriented stage dominated by German historical criticism toward an increasingly autonomous hermeneutical tradition that engages Korean historical experience, ecclesial realities, and global crises. Particular attention is given to thematic shifts—from textual formation and historical reconstruction toward memory, identity, trauma, gender, ecology, empire, and digital culture—as well as to the emergence of convergent methodologies that integrate philological rigor with contemporary hermeneutical concerns. The study further identifies both the academic contributions and structural limitations of KJOTS, including its function as a "methodological laboratory," its limited engagement with international scholarship, and the relatively modest representation of Hebrew linguistics, textual criticism, and Septuagint studies. Looking forward, the study proposes five strategic agendas for the next era of Korean Old Testament scholarship: (1) the development of Old Testament studies in the AI era, (2) the expansion of international collaborative research, (3) the advancement of digital text criticism and data-driven biblical studies, (4) the deepening engagement between Korean public theology and Old Testament scholarship, and (5) the structural reorganization of KJOTS through the implementation of DOI and ORCID systems, the expansion of English-language publications, and integration into international indexing databases such as Scopus and A&HCI. Ultimately, this study argues that the 100th issue of KJOTS should be understood not as a mere commemorative milestone but as a symbolic turning point that inaugurates a new era of internationalization, convergence, and creative expansion in Korean Old Testament scholarship. The history of KJOTS, therefore, constitutes not simply a chronological archive but a living intellectual heritage that illuminates the future trajectory of biblical scholarship in Korea and East Asia.

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Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies 2024 KCI Impact Factor : 0.49

2026, Vol.32, No.2