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
Thus, in the three texts typically invoked to explain Num 12,14,
spitting denotes a process of social exclusion. Only in Deut 25,9
does spitting also involve ritual proceedings.
In light of these texts, several features of Num 12,14 emerge.
First, Num 12,14 presupposes a specific social custom of shunning
that is not explained, but that bears similarity with other texts
where spitting denotes social exclusion. Similar to those other
contexts, the act of spitting suggests the father’s ability to disgrace
his daughter, presumably for improprieties 58. Because Miriam
challenged Moses’ divinely-deputized authority, according to the
text’s logic she needed to be socially excluded.
However (second), in contrast to the parallel texts, Num 12,14
imagines a father shunning his daughter for a prescribed period of
time. Nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible is someone “ashamedâ€
(using μlk or vwb) for a set period. The time-frame of “seven daysâ€
outside the camp usually denotes a period of purification or quar-
antine for uncleanness (Lev 12,2; 13,4; 14,2-4). Given the priestly
context of Numbers, it is not clear whether her seven day exclusion
was for ritual impurity or social disgrace. Lev 15,8 discusses impu-
rities caused by spitting, though specifically from one who is al-
ready unclean. To return to the crucial question of this essay, what
process does the verb denote? Does μlkt denote her social dis-
grace or period of physical quarantine for impurity? We are left
with two possibilities that depend on one’s preunderstanding of the
niphal verb μlk. That is, μlkt may denote either the social exclu-
sion of a father’s daughter or her ritual quarantine “outside the
camp †for pollution 59. In the latter case, the verb μlkt should be
rendered “let her be diminished in the manner of a leperâ€, that is,
with torn clothes, disheveled hair, covered face, and detention out-
The analogy in Num 12,14 puts Moses in the authoritative role of the
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father even though Miriam was his sister.
In Numbers, the phrase hnjml ≈wjm (outside the camp) refers to a place
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for things defiled, where one who is in a state of uncleanness goes for a set
period of time in order to avoid contaminating the camp. In Num 5,3-4 we
read that lepers, those with a discharge, and those unclean because of a corpse
are to be expelled from the camp (hnjml ≈wjm) in order to avoid bringing
defilement on the camp. Interestingly, in the first six instances of the phrase
hnjml ≈wjm in Numbers, God directly intervenes to enact judgment on particular
individuals, whether those with impurities (5,3.4), Miriam (12,14.15), or the
man who violated the Sabbath (15,35.36), by casting them hnjml ≈wjm.