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Abstract:
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Die proefskrif ondersoek die funksie van fonteine en putte in die religie van ou Israel.
Die religie van die Hebreeuse Bybel word tradisioneel beskryf as 'n historiese religie
waarin Jahwe, die god van Israel, fundamenteel gemoeid is met die verlossing van sy
volk in die gang van die geskiedenis, terwyl die wêreld van die natuur van marginale
belang is. Dit is egter duidelik dat die natuur in die vorm van haar grondwaterbronne
'n belangrike rol in ou Israel se leefwerêld gespeel het, nie alleen as lewegewende
bronne in die droē fisiese Palestynse landskap nie, maar ook in hulle narratiewe en
simboliese wêrelde. Fonteine en putte was kultiese plekke en heilige ruimtes waar
teofanieē plaasgevind het, konings gekroon is, regsgedinge gevoer is, voorvadergeeste
opgeroep is en die nageslag van ou Israel verseker is toe die voorvaders hulle
toekomstige bruide by putte ontmoet het. Deur middel van die ou Nabye Oosterse
ikonografie as hulpwetenskap in die interpretasieproses, is gevind dat die rede vir die
sakrale waarde wat aan die waterbronne geheg is, opgesluit is in ou Israel se
kosmologie wat hulle met hulle mitologies-gesinde en natuurvererende bure gedeer het.
Daarvolgens ontspring fonteine uit die kosmiese onderaardse oeroseaan om lewe en
vrugbaarheid te bring aan alles wat lewe. Die beeld het daartoe aanleiding gegee dat
fonteine en putte metafories vir vroulike seksualiteit en vrugbaarheid gedien het. Die
waterbronne tree ook as draers van hoop op. In verhale oor die wonderbaarlike
ontstaan van fonteine in die wildernis deur lewensonderhoud aan die Israetiete tydens
hulle woestynomswerwinge te voorsien. Ons kan met sekerheid aanneem dat ou Israel
hulle watergate as lokaliteite van integrasie, sin en orde teen die aanslae van die
chaosmagte ervaar het. Deur die eeue het die mensdom nagedink oor eksistensiele
kwessles soos lewe en dood, vrugbaarheid en steriliteit, die redes vir rampe en oor wat
die toekoms inhou. Dit is ten diepste religieuse vrae wat die vervloe bybelskrywers vir
hulle tyd en omstandighede aangespreek het deur 'n refigurasie van Palestina se
waterbronne. Grondllggend dian hierdie studie as 'n herevaluering van die natuur in die
Hebreeuse Bybel om menslike wesens as deel van die natuur op te stel en nie as
staande bo die natuur nie.
The dissertation investigates the function of springs and wells in the religion of ancient
Israel. The religion of the Hebrew Bible has traditionally been descibed as a historical
religion in which Yahweh, the god of Israel, was fundamentally concerned with the
salvation of Yahweh's people In history in which the world of nature is of marginal
interest. However, it is evident that nature in the form of its groundwater sources played
an important role, not only as life giving sources in the arid physical environment of
Palestine, but also in their narrative and symbolic worlds. Springs and wells served as
cultic centres and sacred places where theophanies took place, kings were crowned,
lawsuits conducted, ancestral spirits conjured up and the future progeny of Israel was
ensured when patriarchs betrothed their future brides at wells. By means of ancient
Near Eastern iconography as an interpretation aid, this study finds the reason for the
sacred value attributed to groundwater sources in the cosmology of ancient Israel which
she shared with her mythically-minded and nature-worshipping neighbours. Springs
were believed to arise from the cosmic subterranean ooean to bring life and fertility to
all living things. This image caused springs and wells to serve as metaphor of female
sexuality and fertility. They also act as agents of hope in stories of miraculous springs
in the desert which provide sustenance during the Israelites' desert wanderings. We
can safely conclude that ancient Israel experienced their springs and wells as localities
of integration, meaning and order amidst the threatening forces of chaos. Through the
ages humankind reflected on existential questions regarding life and death, fertility and
sterility, the reasons for disasters and what the future holds. These are profoundly
religious questions addressed by the biblical authors for their time and circumstances
by implementing a refiguration of the groundwater sources of Palestine. Ultimately this
study serves to re-evaluate nature in the Hebrew Bible and to construe human beings
not as standing above nature, but as part of nature. |
