Isaiah 16: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of Messianism

ABSTRACT

Within the Isaianic oracle against Moab (15,1-16,14) is found what might be described as a neglected royal prophecy (16,4b-5). Evidence for its messianic character is found in a number of clear thematic similarities with other Isaianic passages of a decidedly messianic character, notably Isa 9,1-7 (Heb. 8,23-9.6) and 11,1-9. In each case, the text is futuristic in orienta-tion, the anticipated enthronement (or arrival) of a Davidic ruler follows the overthrow of the foreign oppressor, God is credited as producing this new sit-uation, and the promised ruler shows a devotion to “justice” and “righteous-ness”, which in Isaiah 16 takes the form of giving consideration to a Moabite appeal for amnesty. A similar pattern is found in Isaiah 32, with its picture of human kings with a limited judicial role within a kingdom set up by God. The phrase “the tent of David” (16,5) is shown to signify the sanctuary-city of Zi-on, with Isa 16,4b-5 providing an eschatological picture of divine protection mediated by a messianic ruler.     

The Iranian Chapter in the History of the Chuvash

The influence of the Iranian culture on Eastern Europe is undisputable. Scholars write of the Southern-Iranian road which stretched from the south, from the Parthians, Persia, and the Transcaucasia, to the north Iranian way through Khwarezm and as far as the Volga. The extent of the Iranian influence on the tribes populating southern Siberia prior to the Common Era however, is much less clear. It is believed that the Savirs/Suvars were the ancestors of the Chuvash. Although this theory has not yet been proven fully, it has served as a theme for historical and philological research. Drawing on geographic, religious, and linguistic materials this study attempts to trace the relationship between Iranian tribes and the Savir ancestors of the Chuvash.     

The Book of Marriage: Histories of Muslim Women in Twentieth‐Century Australia

From 1860 to the 1920s, Muslim merchants and workers from across British India and Afghanistan travelled to Australian shores to work in the extensive camel transportation network that underpinned the growth of capitalism in the Australian interior. Through marriage, South Asian women in addition to white women and Aboriginal women became part of families spanning the Indian Ocean. Yet, the life‐worlds of these women are absent from Australian historiography and the field of Indian Ocean studies alike. When women do appear in Australian histories of Muslim communities, the orientalist accounts work to condemn Muslim men rather than shed light on women's lives. Leading scholars of Indian Ocean mobilities on the other hand, have tended to equate masculinity with motion and femininity with stasis, omitting analyses of women's life‐trajectories across the Indian Ocean arena. In this article, I rethink the definitions of ‘motion’ that underpin Indian Ocean histories by reading marriage records as an archive of women's motion. Using family archives spanning from Australia to South Asia, this article examines five women's marriages to South Asian men in Australia. Challenging the racist accounts of gender relations that currently structure histories of Muslims in Australia, I turn to the intellectual traditions of colonised peoples in search of alternatives to orientalist narratives. Redeploying the Muslim narrative tradition of Kitab al‐Nikah (Book of Marriage) to write feminist history, this article proposes a new framework to house histories of Muslim women.     

Women and Law in Colonial India: A Social History

Book reviewed in this article: Women and Law in Colonial India: A Social History, by Srimati Basu.     

A Canadian Scholar'S Views on Geography in Canada and in the USSR

There has long been controversy over the exact location of the middle segment of the great medieval trade route from the Varangians (Northmen) in the Baltic to the Greeks (Byzantium) in the Black Sea. There is no ambiguity about the northern segment, between Novgorod and the Baltic, or the southern segment, from Smolensk down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, but authors have tended to disagree about the various rivers, lakes and portages used by traders in the Russian heartland between Novgorod and Smolensk. A Russian chronicle describing a campaign led by Aleksandr Nevskiy against a Lithuanian force in 1245 sheds light on the alignment of the middle segment of the trade route. It appears that the route originally passed through Velikiye Luki in the 10th century. As this area became embroiled in clashes between warring Russian principalities, the trade route shifted eastward to the Toropets area, which became dominant by the 13th century. The existence of two additional minor routes is also noted.