The Power of the Written Word in Israel

Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) has made available an excellent article by Joey Corbett on “Word Play: The Power of the Written Word in Ancient Israel” on its e-feature section. The following is an excerpt from the article:

In the Hebrew Bible there are clear indications that writing was often thought to have tangible, even magical, properties. In Numbers 5:11-28, a woman accused of adultery is made to consume "the water of bitterness," a cloudy concoction infused with the washed-off ink from the words of a written curse. If the woman is innocent, the curse will have no effect; if she is guilty, the curse will cause her thighs to waste away and her belly to swell. In a similar vein, when Ezekiel accepts his prophetic mission from God during a dreamlike trance, he eats a scroll inscribed with the words of the divine message (Ezekiel 2:9-3:11). Having ingested the words, Ezekiel and God's message become one.

The magical properties of writing meant that written words, once they came into being, were active and sometimes even unstable forces that could be manipulated, both for good and for ill. Numerous short dedicatory inscriptions found in Iron Age Israel and elsewhere make requests for divine blessing and protection, many having only the author's name, what is requested and the name of the deity. As Biblical scholar Susan Niditch has said, it is as if the act of writing the prayer "[brought] the God-presence into a sort of material reality," thus allowing the words to become infused with "visceral power."

Read the article in its entirety by visiting the e-feature page of the Biblical Archaeology Review.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archeology, Writing, Written Words

Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month

Happy New Year.

I have not been blogging since before Christmas. One of the reasons for taking some time off from blogging is that I am on sabbatical. So, I decided to take the holidays off and do some catching up on a lot of stuff. But now, I am back and hope to blog on a regular basis.

I will be on sabbatical until September 2008. During my sabbatical I hope to write a book on Jeremiah. I love Jeremiah. My project is a study of Jeremiah’s ministry to the people of Judah and how Jeremiah’s ministry can serve as a paradigm for prophetic ministry in the twenty-first century.

Several days ago, Chris Brady at Targuman proclaimed the month of January 2008 to be Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month. In his proclamation, Chris asked Bibliobloggers and Theobloggers to write an article, a book review, or any material that is related to the Bible and that will be submitted for publication.

The challenge has been accepted by Tim Bulkeley at SansBlogue, by Chris Heard at Higgaion, by AKMA at Random Thoughts, and by Charles Halton at Awilum. Today, a little bit late, I also accept the challenge.

Although most of my sabbatical work will be focused on Jeremiah, I commit myself to three different projects to celebrate Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month. My projects will be as follow:

1. I will write a book review of Mario Liverani’s book, Israel’s History and the History of Israel. London: Equinox, 2003.

2. I will write a book review of Ann E. Killebrew’s book, Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel 1300-1100 B.C.E. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

3. I will complete an article on Asa, King of Judah and submit it for publication by the end of January.

This is a very ambitious project for one month’s work. However, I have already finished reading Liverani’s book; I just need to write the review. I have done some research on Asa and was planning to write the article later in the year but I will change my schedule and work on the article at the beginning of my sabbatical.

In February I will write another post and report whether the challenge has been met. I want to thank Chris for this challenge. Some of us may need a challenge like this to get things done.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Writing