Ethnicity, Adoption, and Exodus: A Socio-Rhetorical Reading of Exodus 2.1–10
The literary analysis of Exod. 2.1–10 offered in this article identifies a multi-layered narrative performance of identity formation around three foci: first, around ethnic formation shaped by an encounter between an exposed Hebrew child and an Egyptian rescuer who is viewed favorably by the storyte...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2013
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| In: |
Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2013, Volume: 38, Issue: 2, Pages: 163-187 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethnicity
B Situationalism B exposure B Pharaoh's daughter B Exodus B Primordialism B subgroup identity B Constructivism B Moses B Adoption |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The literary analysis of Exod. 2.1–10 offered in this article identifies a multi-layered narrative performance of identity formation around three foci: first, around ethnic formation shaped by an encounter between an exposed Hebrew child and an Egyptian rescuer who is viewed favorably by the storyteller (2.3–6); second, around ethnicity associated with nurturing that reunites the displaced child with members of his subgroup (2.7–9); finally, around ethnicity portrayed as malleable political identity by which the son of a Levite's daughter becomes the son of Pharaoh's daughter (2.2, 10). Read in light of three major theories on ethnicity (Situationalism, Primordialism, and Constructivism), the story reflects not only circumstantial ethics of individual actions, but also how larger socio-cultural and political shifts create and structure identity formation and meaning. Moses’ adoption (2.10) constitutes the culmination of a cluster of socio-economic, cultural, and political negotiations involving members of his Hebrew subgroup and a member of the house of Pharaoh. |
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| ISSN: | 1476-6728 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0309089213511754 |