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.
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NEGLECTED PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS “ SHAME â€
OF
Several clues in Isa 1,27-31 suggest that wvby denotes a process of
ruin that results from clinging to the wrong sources of protection.
Indeed, impending destruction forms the theme of this final stanza
(1,27-31) that stretches from 1,2-31 51. Verse 27 begins by announcing
Zion’s redemption, but advances in vv. 28-31 by proclaiming
destruction for “rebels and sinnersâ€. The archetypal “rebels and
sinners †are those who “seek to obtain†52 terebinths, and “chooseâ€
sacred gardens. Following the idolatry-as-dehumanization topos
found throughout the Hebrew Bible, the prophet proceeds in v. 30 to
announce that those who cling to terebinths and sacred gardens end
up “like a terebinth, whose foliage is witheredâ€, and “like a garden
without any water†53. In addition, they will “burn ... with no one to
quench themâ€. The prophet’s point is not that cultic devotees end up
“ blushing †and “feeling ashamed†about their religious deviance,
but rather that they end up facing destruction like the objects to
which they cling (cf. Isa 66,17).
Second, it is likely that the verb rpj in 1,29b denotes a
physiological affect akin to “melting in fear†rather than a
psychological affect like “blushing†or “turning red in shame†54.
The pairing of rpj with vwb is telling. When vwb and its parallel
terms refer to facial coloration they typically depict its loss. In Isa
29,22, for instance, the verb wvby is paired with the inflected verb
wrwjy (“ to turn paleâ€). Similarly, in Isaiah 19,9 wvb stands parallel to
wrwj (“ to become whiteâ€) 55. These terms clearly operate according
to the physiology of doom rather than shame, indicating that if rpj
BLENKINSOPP, Isaiah 1-39, 176. Blenkinsopp arranges 1,2-31 into a
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series of eight stanzas (vv. 2-3; 4; 5-6; 7-9; 10-17; 18-20; 21-26; 27-31).
The verb here is dmj, often translated as “desireâ€, is a very “‘material’
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verb †according to D. TALLEY, “dmjâ€, NIDOTTE II, 167. It has as its object
very material realities (land, wealth, agriculture, etc.), and likely connotes a
desire to obtain. Thus, the prophet’s indictment in line a is a neat contrast.
That which Israel desired to obtain would vanish.
Hos 9,10b links the nominal tvb with idolatry: “But they came to Baal-
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Peor, and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame, and became detestable
like the thing they lovedâ€; Note also the use of vwb-synonyms to depict the
fate of those who cling to idols in Ps 97,7; Isa 42,17; 44,11; 45,16-17; cf. Hab
2,18.
Cf. H. WILDBERGER, Isaiah 1-12. A Commentary (Minneapolis, MN
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1991) 74; BLENKINSOPP, Isaiah 1-39, 6, 179.
Here following the reading of 1QIsaa which employs the verbal form
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wrwj against the MT nominal yrwh.