scholarly journals Of Proust and Prophets: Samuel, Elijah, and Charles Swann

2021 ◽  
pp. 001452462110433
Author(s):  
A. Graeme Auld
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Biblical Narrative

The discovery of a much smaller draft of a multi-volume novel has suggested a partial analogy with the writing of Samuel-Kings in the Hebrew Bible. The draft makes no mention of the novel’s main character; and the proposed earlier version of the biblical narrative is silent about the prophetic giants that dominate the text we know.

On “Exegetical Function” in Rewritten Scripture: Inner-Biblical Exegesis and the Abram/Ravens Narrative inJubilees

2013 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Andrew Teeter
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Narrative Voice ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Substantial Degree ◽  
Rewritten Bible

While no consensus obtains among specialists as to what the term “rewritten Bible” (or “rewritten Scripture”) properly denotes—or whether, indeed, it is proper to use at all—most agree that the texts thought to represent this category are basically exegetical in character. That is, they are supposed to have as their aim or goal the interpretation of texts that are now part of the Hebrew Bible. At the same time, it is universally recognized that the authors of so-called rewritten Bible compositions exercised a substantial degree of freedom in their retelling. They clearly had their own interests, motives, and aims, distinct from those of the biblical narrative. These interests (sometimes characterized as “ideological” in nature), in turn, determine the structure or literary shape of their work, including such basic elements as character, plot, scope, and narrative voice. Thus, while it is constitutive for the genre or category that such works mainly follow the sequence and wording of the biblical text, they are not—and cannot be—identical to the latter in compositional form. Every rewritten Bible composition is defined by its own retelling strategy or program.

A Past No Longer Remembered

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Narrative Prose

Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of absence in the Hebrew Bible, or why certain early Iron Age locations do not appear in the stories told about this time period in the biblical writings. This study focuses on six locations from the early Iron Age that were of substantial significance during this era, but which are nevertheless not referred to in the Hebrew Bible. After surveying the archaeological evidence from these sites, it is maintained that the absence of these places from the biblical narrative was likely the outcome of Hebrew scribes not having access to information about these settlements, rather than an intentional act of suppressing what knowledge they had. This manner of forgetting was occasioned, it is argued here, because these particular locations had lost their cultural and political significance by the time in which past memories were being textualized by Hebrew scribes into stories of narrative prose.

“Israel” and “Jew” as Markers of Jewish Identity in Antiquity: The Problems of Insider/Outsider Classification

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Thiel
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Uneven Distribution ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Speech Situation

Abstract Building on K. G. Kuhn’s TWNT entry on the names “Israel” and “Jew” in post-Hebrew Bible Jewish literature, many scholars have claimed that the two ethnonyms can be classified as insider and outsider designations respectively. This essay nuances that categorization. While Kuhn and subsequent scholars have rightly noted the uneven distribution of the names, the exceptions to an insider/outsider model are too numerous to maintain it without modification. Both “Israel” and “Jew” were insider names whose usage in Jewish literature was influenced by the speech situation of the author as well as by consciousness of the biblical narrative.

The Role of the Secondary Characters in the Story of the Anointing of Saul (I Samuel ix-x)

2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Secondary Characters

AbstractIn this article I address the roles of the secondary characters in the story of the anointing of Saul as king (I Sam. ix-x). This story contains more than the usual number of secondary characters in a biblical narrative, with some of them playing strange or unusual roles. Through literary analysis of the story's structure and its key words, it becomes clear that the secondary characters play a central role in the story. The hidden message of the story, arising from the chiastic structure of this unit, the molding of the main character, and the molding of the secondary characters surrounding him, is that the king of Israel does not come to be chosen by chance; his selection is guided by God. This message is important for the reader, but the development of the story shows that Saul himself learns the same lesson over the course of the events.

scholarly journals Maternal Bodies in the Biblical Books of Samuel and Kings: Notes on the Representation of Maternity in Crisis Contexts

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 9-19
Author(s):  
Claudia Andreina D’Amico Monascal
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Maternal Body ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Books Of Samuel ◽  
The One

Although motherhood is the female destiny par excellence in the biblical narrative, it is an experience only accessible through a male point of view. In order to reflect on the problems of representation of the maternal body in the Hebrew Bible, I propose an analysis of different maternal characters present in the books of Samuel and Kings. My reading aims, on the one hand, to identify the features that define the maternal in the biblical text and, on the other hand, to offer an approach that allows to point to the implications that the crisis context the texts reflect have on the picture of the actions and the destinies of these female characters.

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