Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's Sign-Acts: Rhetorical Nonverbal Communication (JSOT Supplement Series)

545 Pages·1999·28.33 MB·English

by  Kelvin G. Friebel

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
283
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
Executive Editor
John Jarick
Editorial Board
Robert P. Carroll, Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, J. Cheryl Exum,
John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald,
Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller
Sheffield Academic Press
This page intentionally left blank
Jeremiah's and
Ezekiel's Sign-Acts
Kelvin G. Friebel
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 283
Copyright © 1999 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19KingfieldRoad
Sheffield SI 1 9AS
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Biddies Ltd
Guildford and King's Lynn
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1-85075-919-7
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 8
Chapter 1
THEORETICAL BASES FOR UNDERSTANDING JEREMIAH'S
AND EZEKIEL'S SIGN-ACTS 11
1. Prophets and Rhetorical Nonverbal Communication 11
2. Parameters of Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's
Behaviors Considered 'Sign-Acts' 13
3. Actual Performance of the Prophetic Actions 20
4. Nonverbal Communication Model 34
5. Sign-Acts and Rhetorical Theory 40
Chapter 2
JEREMIAH' s AND EZEKIEL' s SIGN-ACTS 79
1. Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's Pre-586 BCE Sign-Acts 79
2. Pre-586 BCE Transitional Sign-Acts 314
3. Post-586 BCE Sign-Acts 351
Chapter 3
SIGN-ACTS AS NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 370
1. Intentionality of Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's Sign-Acts 370
2. Nonverbal Functions of the Sign-Acts 382
3. Coding of the Prophetic Sign-Acts 385
4. Sign-Acts as Types of Nonverbal Communication 392
5. Coordination of the Verbal and Nonverbal Elements 400
6. Conclusions: Sign-Acts as Nonverbal Communication 405
Chapter 4
THE RHETORIC OF JEREMIAH'S AND EZEKIEL' s SIGN-ACTS 407
1. Rhetorical Situation 407
2. Rhetorical Strategies 411
6 Jeremiah's and Ezekiel 's Sign-Acts
3. Audience Response 461
4. Conclusion 466
Bibliography 468
Index of References 503
Index of Authors 528
PREFACE
The study of Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's sign-actions has been a part of
my life, with varying degrees of prominence, for more than a decade. I
completed my PhD dissertation on the subject in 1989 for the Depart-
ment of Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin—
Madison. This present work is a major revision and updating of that dis-
sertation which was done under the supervision of Dr Michael V. Fox.
Although this work has undergone alterations and modifications over
the years, I am very indebted to Dr Fox for the help and insights which
he gave me when working on the original dissertation. I will always be
grateful for the model of thoroughness and excellence in his own per-
sonal scholarly works and research which he exemplified and which I
have in some way sought to emulate.
I would like to dedicate this work to Dr Joseph Davis who passed
away in July 1998. While doing my undergraduate work in Biblical Lit-
erature at Seattle Pacific College in the early 1970s, Dr Davis was my
Old Testament professor and Honors Thesis advisor. He communicated
to me a contagious passion for the study of Old Testament Scripture, as
well as reflected a genuine spirituality based on that Scripture.
I am also grateful to my wife, Margaret, and my two children, Jona-
than and Rachel, who have been an encouragement over these years to
bring this project to completion.
ABBREVIATIONS
AB Anchor Bible
AJBA Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology
AJP American Journal of Philology
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
AnBib Analecta biblica
ANEP James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near East in Pictures
Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1954)
ANET James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts
Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1950)
AnOr Analecta orientalia
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ARM Archives royales de Mari
ArOr Archiv orientdlni
AT ANT Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments
AusBR Australian Biblical Review
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BARev Biblical Archaeology Review
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BASORSup Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research,
Supplements
BBB Bonner biblische Beitrage
BDB Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs,
A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907)
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BFCT Beitrage zur Forderung christlicher Theologie
Bib Biblica
BibOr Biblica et orientalia
BN Biblische Notizen
BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin
BWANT Beitrage zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament
BZ Biblische Zeitschrift
BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW
CAD Ignace I. Gelb et al. (eds.), The Assyrian Dictionary of the
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago:
Oriental Institute, 1964-)
Abbreviations 9
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
ConBOT Coniectanea biblica, Old Testament
CTM Concordia Theological Monthly
DID Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
EBib Etudes bibliques
EstBib Estudios biblicos
ETR Etudes theologiques et religieuses
EvQ Evangelical Quarterly
ExpTim Expository Times
FOIL The Forms of the Old Testament Literature
GKC Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (ed. E. Kautzsch, revised and
trans. A.E. Cowley; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910)
GTJ Grace Theological Journal
HAT Handbuch zum Alten Testament
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
HTR Harvard Theological Review
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
IBS Irish Biblical Studies
ICC International Critical Commentary
IDB George Arthur Buttrick (ed.), The Interpreter's Dictionary of
the Bible (4 vols.; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962)
IDBSup IDB, Supplementary Volume
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
Int Interpretation
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia
University
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JBR Journal of Bible and Religion
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series
JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
KHAT Kurzer Hand-Kommentar zum Alten Testament
LD Lectio divina
Neot Neotestamentica
NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament
NKZ Neue kirchliche Zeitschrift
NovT Novum Testamentum
NTOA Novum Testamentum et orbis antiquus
OBO Orbis biblicus et orientalis
OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung