RT Article
T1 Obadiah's ‘Day of the Lord': A Semiotic Reading
JF Journal for the study of the Old Testament
VO 38
IS 1
SP 109
OP 124
A1 Werse, Nicholas R.
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2013
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1777015553
AB The semiotics of Yuri Lotman employs a theoretical contradiction. A symbol, by definition, must be both repeatable and unrepeatable within the same semiotic system. This paradox precludes the possibility of a perfectly static symbol in poetry. Every symbol, by nature of its syntagmatic axis, must develop as the surrounding semiotic system unfolds. This article demonstrates that when Lotmanian semiotics is applied to the poetry of Obadiah, it becomes evident that Obadiah's use of ‘day’ originally appears to be two distinct symbols as determined by their differing syntagmatic values. Yet as the system develops, the apparently separate usages of the symbol are drawn together in a heightened state of tension before their fusion into a single unified sign for the ‘day of the Lord’ within the system.
K1 Yuri Lotman
K1 Semiotics
K1 Hebrew Poetry
K1 Edom
K1 Obadiah
K1 Day of the Lord
DO 10.1177/0309089213492818