Animal imagery in the book of Proverbs / by Tova L. Forti.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Forti, Tova.

Series:

Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 0083-5889 ; v. 118.

Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, 0083-5889 ; v. 118

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Proverbs--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Bible. Proverbs.

Symbolism in the Bible.

Animals in the Bible.

Physical Description:

xv, 193 pages ; 25 cm.

Other Title:

Interpretation of wisdom literature

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2008.

Summary:

Any treatment of the figurative and symbolic function of animal imagery in biblical literature requires special attention to its contextual meaning and cultural evaluation. The present study aims to demonstrate how this is particularly true of the Book of Proverbs, in which faunal imageries serve as a didactic means for delving into the more obvious truths of human behavior. This book makes a methodological contribution toward understanding the didactic function of Proverb's animal imageries by offering an ongoing three-pronged analysis: a. Zoological identification and literary perception of the animal in the Bible; b. Hermeneutic dynamics between the specific animal simile and its literary adaptation; c. Rhetorical function of the animal imagery within the conceptual framework of the Book of Proverbs.

Contents:

1.2 Survey of Scholarly Approaches 2

1.3 Methodology 4

1.3.1 The Problem of Zoological Identification 5

1.3.2 The Zoological Dimension 7

1.3.3 The Literary Dimension 7

1.3.4 The Conceptual Dimension 9

1.4 The Book of Proverbs: Introductory Remarks 11

1.5 Literary Forms 13

1.5.1 Short Forms 14

1.5.1.1 The Comparative Saying 15

1.5.1.2 The Antithetical Saying 16

1.5.1.3 The "Better-Than" Saying 17

1.5.1.4 Direct Speech 18

1.5.1.5 The Metaphorical Saying 18

1.5.2 Long Forms 18

1.5.2.1 Admonition and Exhortation Speech 18

1.5.2.2 First-Person Narrative 21

1.5.2.3 The Numerical Saying 21

1.5.2.4 The Graded Numerical Sequence 22

Chapter 2 Animal Imagery as a Literary and Artistic Device 25

2.1 Admonitions 25

2.1.1 Animal Imagery as a Concretizing Device in the Motive Clause 25

2.1.1.1 Ba'al Kanap 'Winged Creature' 25

2.1.1.2 Neser 'Vulture' 30

2.1.2 Animal Imagery in the Consequence Clause 35

2.1.2.1 Nahas 'Serpent' and Sip'oni 'Viper' in a Satirical Poem 35

2.1.3 Animal Imagery as an Exemplification in a Situational Clause 40

2.1.3.1 S[superscript e]bi 'Deer' and Sippor 'Bird' 40

2.1.3.2 Sor 'Bull, Ox' and Sippor 'Bird' in a First-Person Narrative 44

2.2 Proverbial Sayings 49

2.2.1 Animal Imagery to Exemplify an Idea 49

2.2.1.1 Hazir 'Pig' in a Simile 49

2.2.1.2 Sippor 'Sparrow' in a Comparative Saying 52

2.2.2 Animal Imagery as a Rhetorical Device in the Moral of an Instruction 55

2.2.2.1 'Alapim 'Oxen, Cattle' and Sor 'Ox' in an Antithetical Saying 55

2.2.2.2 K[superscript e]pir 'Lion' in an Antithetical Saying 57

2.2.2.3 K[superscript e]pir 'Lion' in a Synthetic Saying 60

2.2.2.4 'Ari 'Lion' and Dob 'Bear' in a Comparative Saying 62

2.2.2.5 K[superscript e]pir 'Lion' in an Antithetical Saying 66

2.2.2.6 D[superscript e]ror 'Sparrow' in a Comparative Saying 68

2.2.2.7 Hamor 'Donkey' and Sus 'Horse' in a Comparative Saying 71

2.2.3 Animal Imagery as an Expression of Ethical Values 75

2.2.3.1 Sor 'Abus 'Fattened Ox' in a "Better-Than" Saying 75

2.2.3.2 Sus 'Horse' in an Antithetical Saying 77

2.2.3.3 'Oreb 'Crow, Raven' and Neser 'Vulture' in a Metaphorical Saying 79

Appendix Hunting Techniques in Biblical Poetry 84

Chapter 3 Paradoxical Juxtaposition of Animal Imagery and Social Categories 87

3.1 Bear and Fool 87

3.1.1 The "Better-than" Saying 87

3.1.2 Discussion of the Saying 88

3.2 Lion and Sluggard 89

3.2.1 Sahal 'Lion' 90

3.2.2 Discussion of the Saying 90

3.3 Dog and Fool 92

3.3.1 The Comparative Saying 92

3.3.2 Keleb 'Dog' 93

3.3.3 Discussion of the Saying 94

3.3.4 The Expansion of Prov. xxvi 11 in the Septuagint and Ben Sira 95

3.4 Dog and Provoker 99

Chapter 4 Animals as Models for Human Society 101

4.1 A Didactic Model within an Admonition: The Industrious Ant 101

4.1.1 The Ant 101

4.1.2 The Parable 103

4.1.3 The Septuagint's Expanded Version of the Ant Parable 106

4.2 Animal Habits Worthy of Emulation, in Numerical Sayings 108

4.2.1 Ant, Hyrax, Locust, Gecko 108

4.2.1.1 N[superscript e]mala 'Ant' 109

4.2.1.2 Sapan 'Rock Hyrax' 109

4.2.1.3 'Arbeh 'Locust' 111

4.2.1.4 S[superscript e]mamit 'House Gecko' 116

4.2.2 Layis 'Lion', Zarzir Motnayim 'Rooster'(?), Tayis 'He-goat': Fleet-footed Creatures 118

4.2.2.1 Layis 'Lion' 118

4.2.2.2 Zarzir Motnayim 'Rooster'(?) 119

4.2.2.3 Tayis 'He-goat' 120

4.2.2.4 The Graded Numerical Sequence 120

4.2.3 Vulture and Serpent: Animal Conduct that Inspires Human Wonder 123

4.2.3.1 Nahas 'Snake, Serpent' 123

4.2.3.2 Discussion of the Saying 125

Philological Approach 132

Literary Paradigms with Reference to the Gattung 133

Literary Paradigms with Reference to Patterns and Clauses 134

Conceptual Aspect 135

Appendix A Animal Imagery as a Hermeneutical Tool for Analyzing the Conceptual Polarity in Qoheleth 137

1 Perfumer's Ointment and Dead Flies: Wisdom and Folly 139

2 Dog and Lion: The Living and the Dead 148

Appendix B A New Criterion for Identifying "Wisdom Psalms" 157

1 The Moth: Destructiveness and Ephemerality 160

2 Curbing Animals and Guiding Human Beings 163.

Notes:

A part of her 2000 dissertation for Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789004162877

9004162879

OCLC:

182621441