RT Article
T1 The literary roles of Reuben and Judah in Genesis narratives: A 'reflection complex'
JF Journal for the study of the Old Testament
VO 43
IS 2
SP 205
OP 227
A1 Kraut, Judah
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1663258902
AB Scholars have long perceived a relationship among Genesis narratives involving Reuben and Judah. Most treatments, historical in orientation, focus on the authorial and editorial processes that produced two episodes in which 'competing' Reuben and Judah narratives are preserved: the sale of Joseph (Gen. 37) and the guardianship of Benjamin (Gen. 42-3). Even literary studies of the Reuben and Judah characters typically address only some of the relevant narratives and reach limited conclusions about the characters' import. This study, in contrast, contends that all of the Reuben and Judah narrative passages in Genesis-whatever the processes leading to their inclusion-comprise a latent complex with a literary purpose. Reuben and Judah compel Jacob to reconsider behaviors from his own life, reminding their father-respectively-of his failings and his nobler aspects. I dub this dynamic a 'reflection complex', consisting of multifarious intertextual links, including multiple instances of the 'reflection stories' described by Yair Zakovitch.
K1 Bilhah
K1 Genesis 38
K1 Judah
K1 Mandrakes
K1 Reuben
K1 Tamar
K1 Intertextuality
K1 rape of Dinah
K1 reflection stories
DO 10.1177/0309089217711029