Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel

Authors from the ancient world rarely used great detail to describe the physical features of characters in their works. When they did mention bodies, they did so with very specific goals in mind. In particular, the bodies of "heroic" figures, such as warriors, kings, and other leaders became loaded sites of meaning for encoding cultural, religious, and political values on a number of fronts. Brian Doak analyzes the way biblical authors described the bodies of some of their most iconic male figures, such as Jacob, the Judges, Saul, and David. These bodies represent not mere individuals-they communicate as national bodies, signaling the ambiguity of Israel's murky pre-history, the division during the period of settlement in the land, and the contest of leading bodies fought between Saul and David. Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel examines the heroic world of ancient Israel within the Hebrew Bible, and shows that ancient Israelite literature operated within and against a world of heroic ideals in its ancient context. The heroic body tells a story of Israel's remembered history in the eventual making of the monarchy, marking a new kind of individual power. Not merely a textual study of the Hebrew Bible in isolation, this book also considers iconography and compares Israelite literature with other ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern materials, illustrating Israel's place among a wider construction of heroic bodies.

Auteur

Brian R. Doak (PhD Harvard University) is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Faculty Fellow in the William Penn Honors Program at George Fox University, just outside of Portland, Oregon.

Contenu

Preface Abbreviations List of Figures (1) Bodies and Heroes Describe the Body Religion and the Body: A Brief Genealogy Embodied Biblical Studies Body Trajectories in Recent Hebrew Bible Research Define the Hero An Orientation to Comparative Moves (2) Jacob: Israel's Heroic Body The Body is the Nation is the Land The Body of the Patriarch Hairy and smooth, part one (Gen 25:21-26) Hairy and smooth, part two (Gen 27:1-40) Hairy and smooth bodies in comparative perspective Hip Wrenching Disabling wound Heroic wound Conclusion: A Crisscrossed Body (3) Heroic Bodies in Judges Torn Bodies, Torn Nations Heroic Bodies in Judges Judg 1:1-7: Adoni-Bezek's dismembered body Judg 3:15-30: Ehud the left-hander, Eglon the fat king Judg 4:4-24: Deborah and Jael Judges 13-16: Samson Conclusion: The Concubine, the Left-Hand, and the Body of Israel (4) The Iconography of the Heroic Body Material Exegesis of the Heroic Body The Iconography of Heroic Bodies in and Around Israel Heroic Burials and Warrior Weaponry Conclusion: Displaying the Body (5) The Height of Saul and the Beauty of David Where are the Bodies of Israel's Kings? The Heroic Body of Saul Tall body Hidden body, frenzied body Scene One: Small and Desirable (9:3-26) Scene Two: Anointed and Frenzied (9:27-10:16) Scene Three: Hiding in the Baggage (10:17-11:13) Scene Four: Small in His Own Eyes (15:17) Further Scenes: Hiding, Disguising, Cutting, and Other Displays Interlude: Goliath's Giant Body The Heroic Body of David Young and beautiful body Beautiful bodies in Genesis David's beautiful ruddy body Dismembering and manipulating bodies Dismemberment and corpse movement Fake bodies Conclusion: Two Bodies (6) Saul's Heroic Bones Saul, Again Interpretations and Sources Heroic Bone Transfer in the Western Mediterranean and Beyond Bone Transfer in the Saul Narrative Part One: The Gileadites transfer the body Part Two: David and the bone transfer Conclusion: An Ongoing Body of Power (7) Conclusion: Heroic Bodies Reimagined Index of Authors Index of Subjects