The Scapegoat

A Mimetic Reading of Exodus 4:24‐26

“…45 Similarly, the fifth and sixth signs affect only the Egyptians and their animals (9:6, 11). Furthermore, hail and fire rain down killing all the livestock of Egypt in the seventh sign, while in Goshen, where the Israelites dwell, there is no hail (9: [23][24][25][26]. Even the sign of locusts, which destroys all the crops, primarily affects the Egyptians who practice farming, in contrast to the Israelites who were primarily pastoralists (10:13-15).…”

“…Gen 17:12; Lev 12:3), textual and anthropological evidence suggests that circumcision originally functioned as either an adolescent or pre-nuptial rite of passage. 6 Exodus 4: [24][25][26], which stems from a non-Priestly source, appears to assume an adolescent or pre-nuptial form of circumcision, employing the phrase ḥătan-dāmîm (often translated 'bridegroom of blood'). Hatana, the Arabic cognate of the Hebrew term ḥātān can refer to both circumcision and marriage.…”

“…A MIMETIC READING OF EXODUS 4: [24][25][26] Mimetic theory was developed by the French literary critic, Réne Girard. In his seminal work, Deceit, Desire and the Novel, Girard studied the fictional worlds of Dostoevsky, Proust, and Cervantes.…”

“…24 Mimetic crises are characterised by excessive mimetic rivalry and a breakdown of the social order, which leads to a lack of differentiation within the community. 25 Within a mimetic crisis, community members engage in reciprocal violence. 26 This pattern can be observed in the Exodus narrative, which depicts excessive levels of mimetic violence through the imagery of the plagues (herein referred to as 'signs').…”

Is Mimetic Desire a Root Cause of Religious Violence in Tanzania? An Analysis of Girardian – Mimetic Desire Theory

“…This may happen in two ways: on the first hand the model and the imitator desire the same object. In this situation rivalry/conflict arises because the models/mediators have objects of desire of which the imitator is deemed to desire the same (Girard, 1986). Hamerton-Kelly (1994) summarized this situation by stating that "when any gesture of appropriation is imitated it simply means that two hands will reach for the same object simultaneously: conflict cannot fail to result" (Hamerton-Kelly, 1994).…”