Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament

278 Pages·2008·1.55 MB·English

by  Nathan MacDonald

NOT BREAD ALONE
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Not Bread Alone
The Uses of Food in the Old Testament
NATHAN MACDONALD
1
3
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MacDonald,Nathan,1975–
Notbreadalone:theusesoffoodintheOldTestament/NathanMacDonald.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes.
ISBN978–0–19–954652–7(alk.paper)
1. FoodintheBible. 2. Food–Religiousaspects–Christianity.
3. Bible.O.T.–Criticism,interpretation,etc. 4. Foodhabits–Israel. I. Title.
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ISBN 978–0–19–954652-7
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Dedicatedto
mymother,AnnJosephineMacDonald(1953–)
andinmemoryofmygrandmother,EvaMacDonald(1914–1993)
TwoMacDonaldmothersandcooks
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Preface
Theoriginalstimulusforthisworkwastherealizationthattherewasnobook
on the theology of food in the Old Testament. My initial intention was to
produce such a book. Such a volume remains to be written, for as I have
workedonfoodintheOldTestamentitbecameevidenttomethattherewas
someveryinterestingworkonfoodwithinanthropologythatwasrelevantto
theOldTestament.Whathasresulted,therefore,isasetofpreliminarystudies
thathasbeenstimulatedbyreadingthebiblicaltextindialoguewithworkson
foodandfoodwaysinothercultures.
It will be apparent that the subject matter of this book has required me
to stray into areas where my expertise can be described only as that of an
interested amateur. I make no apologies for this. The study of the Old Tes-
tamentisacomplexdisciplinethattouchesuponmanydifferentfields,even
before the many issues that relate to food are considered. No one can be an
expertinthemallandsomeallowancesmustbemadeiftheconstantcallfor
interdisciplinaryworkistobeanswered(oraretheytheSirens’voices?).Ican
at least console myself with the knowledge that the biblical guild, especially
in the United Kingdom and North America, is usually characterized by a
generous spirit. New ideas and perspectives on ancient texts are welcomed,
whilstalsobeingsubjectedtocriticalprobingandrefining.Disagreementand
rigorouscorrectionarefriendsofacademicprogress.
In common with many other academic authors I delude myself with the
hope that my book will circulate beyond my immediate guild and may be
of interest to other academics interested in food and foodways and even to
thoseoutsideacademia.SomeguidanceontranslationandHebrewwordsare,
therefore,appropriate.WheneverIhavequotedtheOldTestamentIhavepro-
videdmyowntranslationoftheHebrewtext.Atsomepointstheversification
oftheHebrewtextdiffersfromthatfoundinEnglishBibles.Ihaveprovided
the English versification only, as scholars with Hebrew are familiar with the
pointsofdifference.IhavetriedtobesparinginmyreferencetoHebrew,and
Ihavefollowedarelativelysimplesystemoftransliterationwheneveritseemed
necessary to appeal to points of Hebrew grammar or lexicography. The only
exceptions,ofcourse,arewhenotherworksarequoted.HereIhaveremained
truetothesystememployedintheoriginalpublication.
I am grateful, as always, to many colleagues in St Mary’s and within the
wider Old Testament guild for questions, thoughts and ideas. These have
viii Preface
frequently been prefaced with gentle teasing about my chosen topic of
research, or with a burning question about some aspect of food in the
Bible (Was the fruit in Genesis 3 an apple? What was the manna? Why the
pig?). I will, inevitably, omit a name, but those who have been especially
helpful have been Mr Peter Altmann, Prof. Craig Blomberg, Prof. Markus
Bockmuehl, Prof. Ellen Davis, Dr Jim Davila, Dr Mark Elliott, Dr Walter
Houston, Dr Grant Macaskill, Prof. Carol Meyers, Prof. Walter Moberly,
Prof. Christopher Seitz, Prof. Alan Torrance, Prof. Jacob Wright. Thanks are
also due to Prof. Christoph Levin, who inadvertently helped me to detach
this project from another during discussions about an application for an
AlexandervonHumboldtresearchfellowship.
Partsofthisprojectweregivenaspapersorlecturesatvariousuniversities:
Aberdeen,Duke,Durham,Emory,Glasgow,Ludwig-Maximillians(Munich),
Ruprecht-Karls(Heidelberg),StAndrewsandattheSBLmeetingsinPhiladel-
phiaandSanDiego.Iamgratefultoallmyinterlocutorsatthoseoccasions.An
earlierversionofChapter7appearedas‘FoodandDrinkinTobitandOther
“Diaspora Novellas”’ in M. R. J. Bredin (ed.),Studies in the Book of Tobit ,
LSTS, 55 (London: T&T Clark, 2006), pp. 165–78. The research on Israelite
diet was conducted primarily during a trip to Jerusalem funded by a travel
grant from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. I am grateful
to the trustees for their generous support. I am also grateful to the Kenyon
Institute for a pleasant and productive stay as well as to the libraries of the
Israel Antiquities Authority, the Albright Institute, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University and Bar Ilan University. A number of Israeli
scholars gave generously of their time to hear my ideas and to offer much-
needed advice: Profs. Amnon Ben-Tor, Israel Finkelstein, Mordechai Kislev,
Amihai Mazar and Pat Smith, and Mr Baruch Rosen. I am grateful to my
owninstitution,theSchoolofDivinity(StMary’sCollege)attheUniversityof
StAndrewsforgrantingasemester’sleavein2006duringwhichthemajority
ofthebookwascompleted.IamalsogratefultotheAlexandervonHumboldt
Stiftung for a research fellowship, which although spent on another related
topic,allowedmetocheckreferencesinthewonderfulresearchenvironment
of the theology library of the Ludwig-Maximillians Universität. Thanks are
alsoduetoJonathanMacKenzieforassistanceincompilingtheindexes.
Finally,IamindebtedtoClaireandCallumfortheirgenerosityinallowing
metopursuemyresearchandfortheconstantjoytheybring.
Contents
ListofAbbreviations x
Introduction 1
1. Food,Anthropology,TextandHistory 17
2. MilkandHoney:theDietoftheIsraelites 47
3. ChewingtheCud:FoodandMemoryinDeuteronomy 70
4. MixedMenus:theConfusionofFoodinJudges 100
5. FeastingFitforaKing:FoodandtheRiseoftheMonarchy 134
6. TasteandDiscernment:theLiteraryMotifofJudgement
attheTable 166
7. YouAreHowYouEat:FoodandIdentityinthe
Post-exilicPeriod 196
Conclusion 219
Bibliography 227
IndexofNames 249
SubjectIndex 253
IndexofBiblicalPassages 257