PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

These examples illustrate the pervasive presence of this motif of reversal in Jewish
literature. The figures of the condemned boaster and the vindicated sufferer are important
recognisable characters in much Jewish narrative, demonstrating the character of God as
the one who powerfully accomplishes or promises reversal.
Reversal as Interpretative Motif
The motif of divinely orchestrated reversal is more than a liturgical theme or a literary
pattern. It is also a lens through which history may be read and evaluated. The history of
Israel was commonly (internally) interpreted and summarised using the motif of divine
reversal, involving the downfall of enemies and the vindication of the suffering people of
God.
A summary of Israel’s history in Philo: Special Laws 2
Philo recalls Deuteronomy 26 in describing the worship that involves the presentation of
harvest-fruits at the temple. He depicts this act of worship as centrally involving the
recitation of a common history, which summarises Israel’s identity by using the themes of
corporate persecution and subsequent corporate vindication by God:
Philo, Special Laws 2.217-219
This is the sense of the song: “The originators of our race left Syria and migrated
to Egypt. Being few in number, they grew to become a nation of many people.
Their descendants underwent numerous sufferings at the hands of the land’s
inhabitants; and when it was apparent that there could be no further aid from
humans, they became pleaders before God, seeking refuge in his help. Their
pleas were accepted by the one who is kind to all those who suffer injustice; and
he entangled their oppressors with signs and wonders and strange phenomena and
all the other spectacles that occurred at that time. And those who were being
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