Image, Text, Exegesis Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible

Images from the ancient Near East are an important though generally underutilized source of data for interpreting the Hebrew Bible and the cultural context from which it emerged. The essays in this volume highlight the ways that ancient Near Eastern iconography can inform exegesis. This aim is accomplished through case studies in iconographic exegesis and self-conscious reflection on the methodology for relating images and texts. Since the 1970s, biblical scholars have been turning increasingly to iconography as a source for understanding the religion, history and literature of the ancient Near East. The essays in this volume tackle two thorny issues: 1) how images reflect the cultures that produce them and 2) the nature of the relationship between images and texts, both within discrete cultures and among different cultures. Until now, there have been relatively few methodologically self-conscious treatments of ancient iconography and its relationship to the biblical text. So this volume addresses a clear need for establishing transparent and consistent methods for iconographic work among biblical scholars.

Dr Rüdiger Schmitt teaches in the Graduate School for Religion and Politics at the University of Münster, Germany

Introduction\ Section 1: Interpreting Images\ Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, "Acculturating gender Roles: Images as Conveyors of Culture in Ancient Israel"\ Rüdiger Schmitt, "Mixed Creatures and the Assyrian Influence on the West Semitic Glyptic repertoire"\ Meir Lubetski, "Unlocking the Cryptic Connection between the Inscription and the Icon in Pre-Exilic Hebrew Seals"\ Amy Gansell, "Feminine Beauty and Adornment Represented in Levantine Ivory Sculpture and the Old Testament"\ Martin Klingbeil, "Children I have raised and brought up" (Isaiah 1:2): Female Metaphors of God in Isaiah and ANE Images of Syro-Palestinian Goddesses\ Regine Hunziker Rodewald, "Thrones in Sheol"\ Thomas Staubli, An Iconography of Justification\ Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, "Finding Asherah: The Goddesses in Text and Image"\ Maria Lindquist, "Ethics, Ecology, and the Iconography of ‘the Peaceable Kingdom' in Isa 11:6-9"\ Brent A. Strawn, "The Iconography of Fear: yir' at yhwh in Artistic Perspective"\ Meindert Dijkstra, "Amos and the Ivory Beds and Houses of Samaria"\ Hans Ulrich Steymans, "Psalm 89, A Royal Funeral Song: Textual Development and Iconographic Evidence"\ Izaak J. de Hulster, " A God of the Mountains? An Iconographic Perspective on 1 Kings 20:23"\ Appendix\ Izaak J. de Hulster, "Tools for Iconographic exegesis: A Review of Important Literature for Iconographic Exegesis, a Survey of Image Sources, and Practical Information for Processing Pictorial Material"\Bibliography \ Index