'Nineveh is in ruins - who will grieve for her?' The case of a ravished city in Nahum 3:4-7

The prophets of Israel frequently personify cities as women. Well known and much debated are Hosea, Jeremiah and Ezekiel's personification of Samaria and Jerusalem as a faithless wife and Yahweh, the metaphoric male counterpart, as the faithful husband who is deeply affected by his wife's...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Klopper, Frances (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2003
In: Old Testament essays
Year: 2003, Volume: 16, Issue: 3, Pages: 615-623
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:The prophets of Israel frequently personify cities as women. Well known and much debated are Hosea, Jeremiah and Ezekiel's personification of Samaria and Jerusalem as a faithless wife and Yahweh, the metaphoric male counterpart, as the faithful husband who is deeply affected by his wife's misbehaviour. The wife's escapades and deserved punishment are described in vivid female sexual imagery. Nineveh is a neglected woman-city in scholarly discourse. Her treatment is no less vulgar and humiliating but the context of her story is not a disastrous marriage, but war and the victimisation of women under military and political circumstances. The paper argues that the theme of the booklet of Nahum as a cry for revenge in the face of the suffering of the prophet's people under Assyrian oppression, is the political-historical context of the metaphorical depiction of Nineveh as Hexenmeisterin and a prostitute city.
ISSN:2312-3621
Contains:Enthalten in: Old Testament essays
Persistent identifiers:HDL: 10520/EJC85592