Hollow men, strange women : : riddles, codes and otherness in the Book of Judges / / by Robin Baker.

• Superior document: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume 143
• VerfasserIn: Baker, Robin (Professor of Old Testament),
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands ;, Boston, [Massachusetts] : : Brill,, 2016.; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Biblical interpretation series ; Volume 143.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (376 pages)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In Hollow Men, Strange Women , Robin Baker provides a masterly reappraisal of Israel's experience during its Settlement of Canaan as narrated in the Book of Judges. Written under Assyrian suzerainty in the reign of Manasseh, Judges is both a theological commentary on the Settlement and an esoteric work of prophecy. Its apparent historicity subtly encrypts a grim forewarning of Judah's future, and, in its extensive treatment of otherness, Judges explores the meaning of God’s covenant with Israel. Robin Baker's scholarly and perceptive reading draws on a deep understanding of ancient Hebrew and Mesopotamian symbolic codes to interpret the riddles in this many-layered text. The Book of Judges reveals complex literary configurations from which past, present, and future are simultaneously presented.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- 1 Introduction: ‘A Spoil of Divers Colours on Both Sides’ -- 2 ‘O Mirror of Our Fickle State’: Riddles, Words and Other Instruments of Illusion -- 3 Not Quite at Home: Geography and Otherness -- 4 ‘Let Me Feel the Pillars on Which the House Stands’: The Role and Symbolism of the Book’s Rhetorical Architecture -- 5 The Tangled Roots of Deborah’s Tree: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Soul of Judges -- 6 ‘This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms’: Death and Cosmic Warfare -- 7 Past as Parable, History as Honey: Judges as Historiography -- 8 Epilogue: Judges and the Deuteronomist -- Bibliography -- Index of Biblical References -- General Index.