Review of Adam as Israel by Seth Postell: This book was foundational in developing how I read the Old Testament. Postell notes how Adam typology provides the overarching structure for Israels story as told in the Hebrew Bible, and provides several fascinating observations on the canon of the Old Testament as a whole. In short, he argues that Adams story is a prototype of Israels. Adam is told to subdue the Earth, sins in listening to the voice of his wife, and is exiled from the land. Likewise, Israel is told to subdue the land (this very word is used in Joshua 18 to describe the conquest), but takes foreign wives, is corrupted by them, and is exiled. Along the way, Postell argues that the canon of the Hebrew Bible was arranged into Torah-Prophets-Writings at the time of Ezra, and that Ezra provided literary seams at the beginning and end of each section in order to draw Israels focus to the eschatological king coming from the tribe of Judah. The strength of this case depends not so much on external evidence for this threefold division, but on the explanatory power of the internal evidence. Once Postell brings these connections to light, it is difficult to unsee them. I do, unfortunately, have a few significant criticisms. 1. Postell unfortunately adheres to John Sailhamers bizarre view that Genesis 1 describes the preparation of the Garden of Eden rather than the creation of the world. This throws a wrench in biblical theology as a whole. Genesis 1 describes the creation of the world as a Temple, and Genesis 2-3 provides an image of the Garden of Eden as a Sanctuary, guarded and cultivated by Adam as High Priest. But Adam is meant to actualize the whole creations destiny as a Temple by expanding the boundaries of the Garden. That is why he is told to subdue the beasts of the field in Genesis 1. The beasts were outside the Sanctuary, and Adam would extend the dominion of the Edenic Temple and bring the beasts under his rule, turning them into cattle (which means domestic animals) as he grew in communion with God. Understanding this makes it clear how the Church is moving towards its eschatological Sabbath as she brings all nations under the feet of Christ. Postells subscription to Sailhamers theory means that he misses a number of important biblical-theological insights which result from the identity of the land of Israel as a miniature Earth. 2. A better title for the book would have been Israel as Adam. The Adam typology which emerges from Israels history is written into it- later biblical authors did not have to mold their telling of the story to make things fit. God called Israel as Adam, Israel recapitulated Adams exile, and Jesus, in whom Israels destiny is focused, dies and is resurrected- thus bringing about the return from exile. This brings Postells thesis into profound connection with N.T. Wrights work on the return from exile. 3. Postell is a Messianic Jew, and thus never identifies the Church as Israel or exposits biblical theology along these lines. But his thesis seems to destroy the premise of Messianic Judaism, namely, that Israel and the Church are distinct entities. If Israel is Adam, and Jesus is the New Adam, then it seems obvious that Jesus is the one-person-Israel. Consequently, since since the Church is, in the New Testament, the new humanity in virtue of its union with Christ, it seems almost absurd to then deny that the Church is the renewed Israel under the new covenant. Despite the length of my criticisms, my impression of the book was enormously positive. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the theology of the Hebrew Bible in light of Christ. All of my criticisms are reducible to the fact that Postell simply fails to extend his insights as far as they should be extended.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 22:35:05 +0000
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