Table Of ContentThe Biblical Seminar
70
THE MATERIAL CULTURE
OF THE BIBLE
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THE
MATERIAL
CULTURE
OF THE
BIBLE
An Introduction
Ferdinand E. Deist
Edited with a Preface by Robert P. Carroll
Sheffield Academic Press
For Henrietta
Copyright © 2000 Sheffield Academic Press (A Continuum imprint)
Reprinted 2002
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6550
www.continuumbooks.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by Bookcraft Ltd, Midsomer Norton, Bath
ISBN 1-84127-098-9
CONTENTS
Foreword 9
Abbreviations 17
Introduction 19
Chapter 1
CULTURE AND INTERPRETATION 23
1. Formulating Hypotheses on the Authors' Intention,
or Identifying Relevant Intertexts 24
2. The Necessity of Cultural Information for Synchronic
Interpretation 33
3. The Validation of Interpretation and Cultural Information 39
4. Looking for Discriminatory Indicators in Interpretation 47
5. Self-Awareness and Cultural Information 48
6. 'Biblical'Culture 50
Chapter 2
WHAT Do WE MEAN BY 'CULTURE' ? 78
1. Renewed Interest in Culture 79
2. Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Culture 82
3. Choosing a Model for the Study of Biblical Literature 94
4. Pitfalls in the Study of Culture 96
Chapter 3
CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND MEANING 102
1. Cultural Domains, Function and Meaning 102
2. Language and Meaning 105
3. Custom and Meaning 116
Chapter 4
ENVIRONMENT AND MEANING 118
1. Heavenly Bodies 119
6 The Material Culture of the Bible
2. Natural Forces and Climate 121
3. Water Sources 124
4. Fauna 128
5. Flora 137
Chapter 5
ECONOMY AND MEANING 143
1. Property 143
2. Labour 146
3. Distribution 165
4. Consumption 182
5. Conclusion 188
Chapter 6
TECHNOLOGY AND MEANING 189
1. Agricultural Technology 189
2. The Technology of Subsistence 193
3. Architectural Technology 195
4. Mining Technology 209
5. Manufacturing Technology 211
6. The Technology of War 220
7. The Technology of Measurement 223
8. The Technology of Writing 226
9. Conclusion 232
Chapter 7
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND MEANING 233
1. Collective Goals 233
2. Mechanisms for Achieving Goals 235
3. Organizational Units and Strategies 244
4. Status Groups, Social Roles and Symbols 260
Chapter 8
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND MEANING 276
1. Tribal Authorities 277
2. Chiefdoms 278
3. States 281
Contents 1
Chapter 9
SOCIAL CONTROL AND MEANING 291
Concluding Editorial Remarks 299
Bibliography 300
Index of References 322
Index of Subjects 339
Index of Hebrew Terms 341
Index of Authors 346
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FOREWORD
Ferdinand Etienne Deist died suddenly of a heart attack on 12 July
1997, while on study leave in Heidelberg, leaving the incompleted
manuscript of this book at the time of his death. Appropriately enough I
had spent that day at Joseph Henry Magill's funeral—the father of my
good friend and colleague Father Tom Magill—a good old-fashioned
Catholic Scoto-Irish day-long series of celebrations of the departed's
life after the proper religious ceremonies (Mass followed by graveside
prayers and a decade of the Rosary) had been observed during the first
half of the day. Yet I was not really prepared for the shock of hearing
the very next day about Ferdinand's sudden death just short of his 53rd
birthday. He was far too young to die and far too important a scholar
for South African Biblical Studies to go so soon—and besides, he had
so much to live for, including a loving wife and children, and he was a
man of great intelligence, ability and integrity. But the angel of death
spares nobody, nor does she operate according to a rational list of hum-
ane values. Ferdinand is gone now and the preparation of his unfinished
manuscript for publication has fallen to me, for reasons outwith my
knowledge. While I do not know why this should have been the case, I
do embrace the opportunity to bring my friend's final manuscript to
published fruition. For Ferdinand and I were friends and I consider it an
honour, as well as an act of pietas and friendship, to take up the task on
behalf of my dead friend and also for Henriette his widow, and to give
to the world as complete a volume as I can manage in circumstances
which are less than ideal.
He and Henriette had visited us in Glasgow only some three months
before his untimely death, when we had discussed plans for another
visit to South Africa the following year in order to give some lectures
there. That visit was never made—will now never be made—so in its
place I offer the editing of this book as my final act for Ferdinand, both
to his memory and as a gesture of the strength of our friendship and the
depth of my high regard for him as scholar, intellectual, friend and,
