Torn Garments and Calamity Mourning in 1 Kings 11:30
First Kings 11:29-31 depicts the prophet Ahijah foretelling the dissolution of the Solomonic kingdom and the subsequent establishment of the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam. The prophet engages in symbolic behavior to convey this message, tearing a new cloak into pieces and giving ten of t...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Scholar's Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of Biblical literature
Year: 2020, Volume: 139, Issue: 4, Pages: 691-700 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Jeroboam I Israel, King 926 BC-907 BC
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/ Bible. Könige 1. 11,29-31
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament HD Early Judaism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | First Kings 11:29-31 depicts the prophet Ahijah foretelling the dissolution of the Solomonic kingdom and the subsequent establishment of the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam. The prophet engages in symbolic behavior to convey this message, tearing a new cloak into pieces and giving ten of them to Jeroboam, signifying the ten tribes that side with Jeroboam in the conflict. However, the ambiguity of the masculine singular pronouns in this passage makes it difficult to establish whose cloak Ahijah tears into pieces, Jeroboam's or his own. In this note, I challenge previous syntactical arguments that Jeroboam is the owner of the cloak in 1 Kgs 11:29-30. Furthermore, previous analyses of this passage have not examined it in the context of biblical mourning ritual, specifically calamity mourning in anticipation of an imminent personal or collective disaster. In addition to arguments on the basis of syntax, this ritual analysis of the passage suggests that Ahijah rends his own cloak in an act of calamity mourning. |
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| ISSN: | 1934-3876 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Biblical literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/jbl.2020.0040 DOI: 10.15699/jbl.1394.2020.4 |