RT Article
T1 "Why Did Knees Meet Me?": Giving Birth on One's Knees in Job 3:12
JF The catholic biblical quarterly
VO 81
IS 3
SP 381
OP 404
A1 Eckstein, Juliane Maria 1983-
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1676531343
AB In Job 3:12, when cursing the day of his birth, Job asks, "Why did knees meet me?" This colon has been interpreted as referring either to a father who takes up his child in a gesture of acceptance, to a mother who puts the child on her knees to nurse it, or to another woman (midwife) who sits underneath the parturient mother. I argue, however, that the colon refers to the knees of Job's mother who gives birth in the kneeling position. The argument relies on biblical evidence, but also on textual and iconographic sources from various ancient cultures. The material demonstrates that, in antiquity, there were times when the kneeling position was considered the mental prototype for giving birth. Therefore, it is plausible that the author of Job 3 naturally referred to such a posture when writing v. 12a.
K1 1 Samuel 4:19
K1 Childbirth
K1 Gesture
K1 IDOLS & images
K1 Job 3:12
K1 KNEELING
K1 Posture
K1 Western Culture
K1 mental prototype
K1 Position
DO 10.1353/cbq.2019.0137