{"title":"What Is Not, but Might Be: Disnarration as Narrative Device in the Hebrew Bible","authors":"D. D'amico","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article investigates the use of disnarration in the biblical text as a narrative device to create cooperation between text and reader. Conceptualized by Gerard Prince in the late 1980s, disnarration refers to the technique of narratively explicating plot outcomes that are not realized in the actual flow of the story. This mechanism leads to several consequences that stimulate the reader's inference by producing a mimetic effect and contributing mainly to two functions. The first is to contribute to the creation of a narrative world that simulates the contingency of the real world; the second is to provide the reader with elements essential to the characterization of the characters involved in the disnarration process. Through some examples, it will be seen how biblical authors use disnarration and how this device contributes to creating a more complex and deeper narrative.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"183 - 196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42888728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"There Is a Tide in the Affairs of Women: The Biology of Menstruation in Levitical (and Israelite) Thought","authors":"Richard Whitekettle","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.2","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines the Levitical/priestly understanding of the biology of menstruation. In particular, it examines the Levitical/priestly legists' typology of vaginal discharging, as well as their understanding of the length of normally occurring menstrual cycles, the anatomy and physiology of vaginal discharging, the homologous relationship between the womb and the primeval world, the biological process that took place during the seven-day span of the menstrual state, and menarche and menopause. It is possible that some or all of what is presented here as the Levitical/priestly understanding of the biology of menstruation was the understanding of the Israelites in general.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"197 - 219"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45263049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Root of Ephraim among Amalek in the Song of Deborah","authors":"Quinn Daniels","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.4","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In the Song of Deborah's list of groups that went to war, the phrase \"from Ephraim, their root in/among Amalek\" (Judg 5:14a) has not been adequately explained. To better understand this line and the odd relationship it seems to recall, I investigate the crucial lexeme \"root\" [inline-graphic 01] (*šrš) in biblical and extrabiblical sources. The analysis reveals that a \"root\" metaphorically refers to a man's current or future \"patrilineage,\" that is, his line of male ancestors and offspring. In the Song of Deborah, the \"root\" of Ephraim therefore refers to one or many of its high-ranking patrilineal lines. Abdon ben Hillel in Judg 12:13–15 supports this conception, as he is, on the one hand, crucially buried at a location defined by both Ephraim and Amalek and, on the other, is portrayed as a prolific progenitor of male sons. In applying this definition of \"root\" to the internal logic of the Song of Deborah, I conclude that the fighting force from Ephraim was a body of high-ranking lineage-based leadership that mustered Amalekites (and Benjaminites) to war in the Jezreel valley. Alongside Ephraim's leader(s), Amalek too fought for the allied \"people of YHWH\" (Judg 5:13).","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"243 - 265"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46596146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Re-remembering Hagar: Reading the Σάρξ in Galatians with Hortense Spillers","authors":"Haley Gabrielle","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.7","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The harmful legacy of Paul's image of σάρξ (\"flesh\") demands a rethinking of the term's meaning in the allegory of Hagar in Gal 4:21–5:1. Σάρξ has been viewed as a spiritualized metaphor for sin, a connection that has perpetuated a racist sanction of slavery and a gendered, sexualized condemnation of materiality. In dialogue with Hortense Spillers's paradigm-shifting notion of the flesh, I explore the powerful and painful images in this passage with attention to their embodied, social, and structural elements. In Spillers's formulation, the flesh is a locus of the structural dispossession, dehumanization, and ungendering of African and African American people under the logics of American slavery, whereas the body is a locus of white people's violent advantage. I propose that in Galatians Paul's σάρξ indicates vulnerability and wounding, in contrast to the security indicated by the image of the πνεῦμα (\"spirit\"). Galatians associates Hagar and Ishmael with the σάρξ, not to distance this enslaved family from the divine but rather to call attention to the social disenfranchisement of both mother and son.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"305 - 324"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41688931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Jewish Pig Prohibition from Leviticus to the Maccabees","authors":"Julia Rhyder","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.3","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Pig avoidance is among the most famous and well studied of the customs described in the Hebrew Bible. Commonly the ban on consuming pork has been considered evidence of the importance of dietary prohibitions in establishing boundaries between Israel and neighboring groups. I argue, however, that differentiation from other ethnicities by means of diet was not the only function that the pig prohibition served in ancient Israel. In fact, the relevant biblical texts are as much, if not more, concerned with employing the pig prohibition as a device by which cultic norms as well as dietary customs within the Israelite community were standardized. With the accounts of the Maccabean rebellion in the second century BCE, the pig assumes a greater significance in identity formation, but even in these traditions, the relationship between pig avoidance and ethnic boundaries is more complex than is often assumed. Detailed analysis of the references to the pig in Lev 11, Deut 14, Isa 56–66, and 1 and 2 Maccabees, along with the study of archaeological evidence and comparative materials from the ancient Near East and ancient Mediterranean more broadly, reveals the multiplicity of factors that shaped the emergence of pig avoidance as a central custom in ancient Judaism.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"221 - 241"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44361980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"John of Patmos and the Appeal of an Exotic Apocalypse","authors":"D. C. Smith","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.9","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article situates John of Patmos, the author of the New Testament Apocalypse of John, as an exotic ritual expert within the religious landscape of the Roman East. Through comparison with local ritual specialists of the Egyptian gods Isis and Sarapis, I argue that John similarly deploys his own culturally constructed and imperially mediated foreignness to demonstrate the exotic appeal of his Judean God among the assemblies in the cities of western Asia Minor. I consider the role of ritual experts at the Isis sanctuary in Priene and the competing Sarapeia on Delos to contextualize Revelation's presentation of John as the only \"true\" expert among several \"false\" competitors and an authentic representative of his exotic Judean God.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"343 - 361"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42223900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prophetic Validation and the Nonregnal Dates in the Superscriptions to Jeremiah and Amos","authors":"Ian M. A. MacGillivray","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.6","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In superscriptions to the biblical prophetic books, dates are usually expressed in terms of the reigns of kings. In the headings to Amos and Jeremiah, however, the standard regnal chronology is augmented by a \"nonregnal date\" that does not directly refer to a monarch. Amos's prophecies are set \"two years before the earthquake\" (Amos 1:1), while Jeremiah's career ends with \"the exiling of Jerusalem in the fifth month\" (Jer 1:3). In this article, I examine both of these nonregnal dates and conclude that they serve similar rhetorical purposes in their respective books. Each reference anticipates central themes of divine judgment that are developed across the rest of the book, while also corroborating an important prediction that reinforces the authority of the titular prophet. The nonregnal dates thus help to show how the social processes of \"prophetic validation\" continued to operate in the literary production of prophetic books. The uniqueness of these dates among the Latter Prophets may be related to the unusually detailed accounts of prophetic conflict found in Amos and, especially, Jeremiah.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"289 - 304"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48373720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biblical Prophecy in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context: A New Interpretation of Jeremiah 30–33","authors":"Daniel E. Carver","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.5","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In a new approach, I interpret biblical prophecy in light of its ancient Near Eastern divinatory context and offer a new perspective on the (non)fulfillment of prophecy. I begin with a description of how divine communication was understood according to Mesopotamian and biblical texts, laying a foundation for comparative analysis. I then apply this approach to the prophecies of restoration in Jeremiah 30–33. I argue that the prophecies in these chapters, originally intended to be fulfilled in the postexilic era, were canceled (except 31:35–37, 33:19–26) and that a new decision or decisions were given to take their place. Nevertheless, these canceled prophecies continue to have great divinatory significance that reveals patterns of how the deity intends to bless and dwell among the people. Ultimately, a close reading of the text in the light of its ancient Near Eastern contexts provides a strong corrective to the ways that these chapters are commonly interpreted.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"267 - 287"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45198233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reading Slavery in the Epistle of Jude","authors":"C. Bonar","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1422.2023.8","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The Epistle of Jude has been examined by biblical scholars for a variety of reasons in recent decades, but one still underexplored interpretative avenue is Jude's treatment of enslavement. In this article, I argue that Jude pulls from the same conceptual toolbox as many other texts of the Roman republican and imperial eras in its depiction of believers as enslaved people (δοῦλοι) and Jesus as an enslaver (κύριος; δεσπότης). After placing these three terms in the context of ancient enslavement, I offer three examples of Jude's participation in a broader discourse of enslavement: (1) the importance of loyalty and disloyalty to Jesus the κύριος; (2) the capability of the enslaver to harm and control the bodies of the enslaved, and (3) the presumption of the benevolence of the κύριος in offering mercy. This reading of Jude highlights how deeply embedded even a short New Testament text can be in the vocabulary, stereotypes, and normalization of violence of Roman enslavement.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"325 - 342"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42697232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toilets and Toilet Humor in the Story of Eglon's Murder by Ehud (Judges 3:15–26)","authors":"J. Magness","doi":"10.15699/jbl.1421.2023.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1421.2023.4","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Judges 3:15–26 describes the murder of Eglon, the king of Moab by a Benjaminite named Ehud son of Gera. In this article I propose that archaeological remains of ancient Judahite and Judean toilets, particularly the arrangement of two installations in the eighth-century BCE gate at Lachish, shed light on some of the obscure elements in this story. My analysis supports the humorous and scatological understanding of the Eglon story favored by many scholars and suggests that toilets and excrement might have been associated with ritual impurity even before the Second Temple period.","PeriodicalId":15251,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biblical Literature","volume":"142 1","pages":"65 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47210534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}