Klingbeil, M: Yahweh Fighting from Heaven

Based on a comprehensive survey of metaphors of God in the Hebrew psalter, a total number of 507 occurrences are identified in which God is described by means of a metaphor. Applying modern metaphor theory, these occurrences are classified. Focusing on the "God of Heaven" and "warrior" metaphors, a group of eight psalms is selected which display a recurrence of these two metaphors: Psalm 18, 21, 29, 46, 65, 68, 83, and 144. In the iconographic part of the study, 93 images are presented of which approximately one-third come from Syro-Palestinian sites.Most iconographic images reflecting the "God of Heaven" and "warrior" metaphors originated in the Neo-Assyrian glyptic of the 9th-7th centuries. Though the biblical authors employed metaphors reflecting motifs from Ancient Near Eastern iconography, their reutilization and adaption of the imagery and its ascription to Yahweh demonstrates the tendency to indicate the superiority of Yahweh over these deities in a strong monotheistic fashion.Ausgehend von einem Überblick über die 507 Stellen mit metaphorischer Beschreibung Jahwes im Psalter untersucht der Autor acht ausgewählte Psalmen, in denen Gott als Kriegsherr und als Gott des Himmels dargestellt wird. Eine ikonographische Interpretation von 93 entsprechenden altorientalischen Götterbildern ergänzt die Untersuchung und belegt die Tendenz, mittels Applikation und Adaption auf Jahwe dessen Überlegenheit aufzuzeigen.