Why Ask My Name?: Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative PDF
Preview Why Ask My Name?: Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative
Page iii "Why Ask My Name?" Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative Adele Reinhartz Page iv Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris São Paulo Singapore Taipel Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1998 by Adele Reinhartz Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Reinhartz, Adele, 1953 "Why ask my name?": anonymity and identity in biblical narrative / Adele Reinhartz. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0195099702 1. Names in the Bible. 2. Bible. O.T.—Psychology. 3. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. BS1199.N2R45 1998 221.6—dc21 9744216 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acidfree paper Page v For Barry Page vii PREFACE My interest in anonymous characters began in a single moment, during a conversation with a young student preparing for her bat mitzvah. The portion that Milena was preparing was Judges 13, the story of Manoah's wife, the mother of Samson. In addition to chanting this portion, Milena was also to present a short talk on the passage itself. As we studied the passage together, I felt a sense of mild discomfort. Something seemed out of kilter. It took me some time to realize that I was troubled by the absence of the woman's proper name. This gap seemed inconsistent with her starring role and obvious superiority to her doltish husband. On the appointed day, Milena chanted beautifully, spoke insightfully about this anonymous wife and mother, and moved on to the other challenges that await the post bat mitzvah woman. I, however, became increasingly interested in anonymity as a feature of biblical narrative. My interest lay specifically in the impact of anonymity on the ways in which readers construct their images of the characters within the narrative. Although I had largely overcome my presuppositions concerning the incompatibility of anonymity and narrative stardom, I had other assumptions to contend with. The most imposing of these was my sense that it was primarily women whose names were absent from the biblical narrative. I studied the women in the books of Samuel and Kings and, indeed, discovered a considerable number of female characters whose names are not recounted. Initially I considered a longer and more comprehensive study of anonymous women in biblical narrative. But no sooner had I embarked on this project than I realized that alongside the many unnamed mothers, wives, daughters and Page viii wise women in biblical narrative stood an even larger number of unnamed menfolk, servants, slaves, messengers, angels and animals. Only a comprehensive study, inclusive of unnamed men, women, children and nonhuman characters, would do. My thanks go out to the friends, colleagues and students who helped in many ways at all stages of this project. To Milena Romalis, my thanks for launching me into an area of unexpected riches. To my graduate and undergraduate students at McMaster University and to all who participated in less formal courses and workshops at the National Havurah Institute and a variety of venues in Toronto and Hamilton, my gratitude for their interest in biblical characters and the prodding questions they asked. Conversations in Jerusalem with Moshe Greenberg, Alan Rosen and Esther Chazon helped me step back from the thicket of characters and stories to contemplate the broader patterns and significance of anonymity. Ellen Frankel, Lori Lefkowitz, AmyJill Levine, Eileen Schuller and Barry Walfish took the time to comment with care on an earlier draft. Their comments were invaluable as I proceeded with the intensive task of revision. My appreciations go to AmyJill Levine and to Barry Walfish for speedy response to queries, bibliographical and otherwise, and to Cynthia Read, Will Moore, Joy Matkowski, and all others at Oxford University Press for their support and skill. Research support provided by McMaster University and its Arts Research Board is gratefully acknowledged, as is the research assistance given by Lorenzo Ditommaso, Jennifer Nettleton, Leonard Van Dyke and Jane Webster. Thank you to Jennifer Nettleton for proofreading, reference checking and myriad other time consuming tasks, all performed accurately and expeditiously. My thanks to Sheffield Academic Press for permission to use "Samson's Mother: An Unnamed Protagonist," JSOT 55 (1992): 25–37 (reprinted in Athalya Brenner, ed., A Feminist Companion to Judges [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993], 157–70), and "Anonymous Women and the Collapse of the Monarchy: A Study in Narrative Technique" from A Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 43–66, and to Scholars Press for permission to draw on "Anonymity and Character in the Books of Samuel,'' Characterization in Biblical Literature, Semeia 63 (1993): 117–41. Family and friends provided moral support, encouragement and laughter and thoughtfully refrained from complaining about the long hours required to prepare the final manuscript. On the home front, Barry and our two teens, Mordechai and MiriamSimma, took over more than their fair share of kitchen and childcare responsibilities to allow me uninterrupted time in front of the computer. Shoshana and Simcha kept my spirits up with hugs, jokes and antics. My thanks and love to them all. A.R. HAMILTO N, ONTARIO AUGUST 1997 Page ix CONTENTS Abbreviations xi Introduction 3 Part I. Anonymity and the Effacement of Personal Identity 1 19 The Bit Players 2 32 Servants, Stewards and ArmorBearers 3 45 Transmitters of Information Part II. Anonymity and the Expression of Personal Identity 4 63 Wise Women and Unworthy Levites 5 82 Wayward Wives, Multifarious Mothers and Doomed Daughters Part III. Anonymity and the Boundaries of Personal Identity 6 137 The Convergence of Characters 7 154 Character Confusion in the Heavenly Realm 8 178 Crossing the Threshold between Reader and Text Conclusion 187 Selected Bibliography 193 Index of Scriptural Citations 209 Index of Modern Authors 215 Subject Index 218 Page xi ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible ABD D. N. Freedman, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992) Ant. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities b. Babylonia Talmud BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, eds. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906) BHS Bilbila Hebraica Stuttgartensia BidAnt PseudoPhilo, Biblical Antiquities BidRev Bible Review BJS Brown Judaic Studies BKAT Biblischer Kommentar. Altes Testament BT The Bible Translator BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterlty ET Evangelische Theologie Gen. Rab. Genesis Rabbah HAR Hebrew Annual Review HCSB Wayne A. Meeks, ed., HarperCollins Study Bible (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs HTR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union Colloge Annual Page xii IB George Arthur Buttrick, ed., Interpreter's Bible, 12 vols. (New York: Abingdon Cokesbury Press, 1951–57) ICC International Critical Commentary Int Interpretation JANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JPS Jewish Publication Society JQR Jewish Quarterly Review JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament—Supplement Series JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha MT Masoretic Text NJPSV New Jewish Publication Society version, Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures according to the Traditional Hebrew Text (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1988) NLH New Literary History NRSV New Revised Standard Version OTL Old Testament Library RB Revue Biblique RSV Revised Standard Version SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series TDNT Gerhard Kittel and G. Friedrich, eds., The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964–76) USQR Union Seminary Quarterly Review VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Vetus Testamentum Supplements ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Page 3 INTRODUCTION Reading the bible for its unnamed participants is akin to examining the negatives of beloved family photographs. Initially I could make out only a few familiar figures: a sacrificial daughter, a seasoned family servant, a hero's mother. But as my eyes grew accustomed to this new perspective on a familiar text, I found unnamed characters wherever I looked, in virtually every corner of biblical narrative and in every social circle: among the ostracized lepers at the city gates, among the widowed and poor, in the households of Israel's founding families, in the courts and armies of the monarchs, and in the heavens themselves. As their numbers grew and their features became clearer to me, I began to view the anonymous as a society unto themselves—fully integrated into the human landscape of the biblical narrative, to be sure, but nevertheless set apart by the absence of their names. The demography and the demeanor of this population was surprising. Where I had expected only a small number of unnamed characters, I discovered more than a hundred individual actors and countless others who appear in groups or whose existence is mentioned or presumed by biblical narrative. Where I had anticipated a preponderance of women, I found abundant men, children and angels, as well as a talking animal or two. Whereas I had associated anonymity with indistinctness, impersonality, and distance, I was soon absorbed with these characters, whose personalities and stories became vital, vibrant, and vivid to me. The community of the unnamed not only challenged my prior views about anonymity but also revised my understanding of personal identity. The as
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