Diagnosing Judah’s Distress and Restoration in the Isaiah Apocalypse: Frustrated Childbirth in Isaiah 26 and Mesopotamian Medical Discourse
Commenting on the metaphor in Isa. 26:17–18, i.e., ‘we were with child, we writhed in labour, but we gave birth to wind,’ scholars usually note that it is purely symbolic. The ‘wind’ in it indicates ‘nothingness’ representing Israel’s powerlessness to bring about its own salvation, let alone salvati...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Biblical interpretation
Year: 2023, Volume: 31, Issue: 1, Pages: 44-66 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Jesaja 24-27
/ Birth
/ False pregnancy
/ Miscarriage
/ Ancient Orient
/ Medicine
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| IxTheo Classification: | BC Ancient Orient; religion HB Old Testament TC Pre-Christian history ; Ancient Near East |
| Further subjects: | B
Isaiah Apocalypse
B Mesopotamian medicine B Childbirth |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Commenting on the metaphor in Isa. 26:17–18, i.e., ‘we were with child, we writhed in labour, but we gave birth to wind,’ scholars usually note that it is purely symbolic. The ‘wind’ in it indicates ‘nothingness’ representing Israel’s powerlessness to bring about its own salvation, let alone salvation on a larger scale. This article interrogates Isaiah 26 in light of pseudocyesis or false pregnancy, a condition recognised by the obstetrical knowledge of ancient societies and confirmed by modern medicine. More specifically, it explores the passage alongside Mesopotamian medical texts which feature the presence of ‘wind’ in the body describing illnesses in general and cases of abnormal births in particular. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5152 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685152-20211628 |