From Wild Beast to Huntress: Animal Imagery, Beauty, and Seduction in the Song of Songs and Proverbs
This article investigates the bestiary used to represent the dynamics of attraction and seduction in the Song of Songs and the book of Proverbs. It examines mainly the predatory imagery, focusing on the lions and leopards the female lover associates with, in Song 4:8, as well as the “hunting ground”...
| 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: 67-93 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Song of Songs
/ Bible. Hoheslied 4,8
/ Proverbs
/ Bible. Sprichwörter 6,26
/ Bible. Sprichwörter 7
/ Beauty
/ Seduction
/ Animals (Motif)
/ Predatory animals (Motif)
/ Metaphor
/ Figurative language
/ Feminist exegesis
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| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Seduction
B Animal B Predation B Proverbs B Gender B non-human B Song of Songs |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article investigates the bestiary used to represent the dynamics of attraction and seduction in the Song of Songs and the book of Proverbs. It examines mainly the predatory imagery, focusing on the lions and leopards the female lover associates with, in Song 4:8, as well as the “hunting ground” terminology used to characterize some of the strange women’s behaviors in Prov. 6:26; 7:22–23. Following Arbel (2015) and Imray (2013), the article contends that the female lover of Song of Songs and the strange women are not so different. Through a close philological examination of the passages staging these women, it sets out to decompartmentalize our understanding of what is an appropriate—or threatening—display of feminine charms and seductive strategies in the Hebrew Bible. This exegetical inquiry also brings the super/non-human persona of these women into focus. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5152 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685152-20211613 |