Matthew J. Lynch, «Neglected Physical Dimensions of “Shame” Terminology in the Hebrew Bible», Vol. 91 (2010) 499-517
Psychological and social paradigms have dominated translations and interpretations of shame terminology in the Hebrew Bible. Scholars often adopt modern notions of shame as either internal feelings of worthlessness or external social sanction, and then apply those notions to the biblical text. I suggest that there is need to reevaluate whether or not such psychological and social frames are appropriate to biblical terminology of shame. My essay contends that shame terms, such as #$wb, Mlk, and their cognates and synonyms, frequently denote the experience of 'diminishment' or 'harm' in ways far more physical than typically reflected in modern renderings.
504 MATTHEW J. LYNCH
garb. In vv. 3-4 the servants and farmers “cover their heads†in
mourning. Then in vv. 5-6 the animals manifest their impending
death by forsaking the newborn fawn, standing on dry ground, and
panting, as their eyes fail. The sustained emphasis on desperate
displays of suffering links together all the characters in vv. 2-6.
Likewise, the four motive clauses in vv. 4-6 link all human and
animal behaviors to the state of the desiccated land 18. In other
words, their behaviors, and the cause of their behaviors, are
physical. It is most likely, therefore, that vwb and μlk in vv. 3-4
s h a r e this basic function of depicting a state of physical
desperation brought about by the dry earth.
The physical disasters of vv. 2-6 then give way to the verbal
lament directed to the deity in vv. 7-9 19. That is, the embodied
disaster constitutes a sort of preparatory invocation for the appeal
which would ideally stir divine pity. Moreover, without clear social
or psychological explanations at hand, vwb and μlk describe a
process of withering diminishment. My translation of Jer 14,3b-4
takes the foregoing arguments into account, in recognition of the
interconnection between humans and the land:
They [the servants] come back with empty vessels.
They are diminished [wvb] and devastated [wmlkh] and so they cover
their heads.
The ground is (likewise) ruined, for there is no rain on the earth.
Farmers are diminished [wvb], so they cover their heads.
1. Joel 1,11: Call to Lamentation
Attending to physical dimensions of vwb-synonyms also helps
us understand imperatival vwb-synonyms in prophetic “calls to
lamentation †20. In Joel 1,11 the prophet commands farmers to wvybh
distress, not one seeking deliveranceâ€. The point is subtle, but important,
because it makes clear that the present scene simply depicts the plight of all
Judah, and not Judah’s aims.
“ because the ground is cracked†v. 4 ; “because there is no rain in the
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land †v. 4 ; “because there is no grass†v. 5 ; “because there is no herbageâ€
v. 6.
LAMBERT, “Fastingâ€, 480, discusses the role of bodily affliction as
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preparation for appeal.
Similar uses of vwb-synonyms in the imperative include Isa 23,4; Jer
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