Through the Looking Glass: Reflections/Inversions of Genesis Stories in the Bible

Zakovitch, Yair

doi:10.1163/156851593x00025

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…These multifarious links, assigned varied appellations by scholars, can be roughly subsumed within the category of 'intertextuality', which may serve as 'a covering term for all the possible relations that can be established between texts' (Miscall, 1992: 44). 1 One species of deliberate 2 intertextual reference has been termed the 'reflection story' by Zakovitch (1993), who defines it as follows:…”

Section: Zakovitch's 'Reflection Stories'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The new creation awakens in the reader undeniable associations to the source-story; … the reflection inverts the storyline of the original narrative. (p. 139) 3 Zakovitch (1993) cautions that identifying the components of reflection stories requires 'firm evidence', usually of two primary types: (a) 'plots with similar themes and which are constructed in parallel or similar fashion' and (b) 'common expressions (which are not otherwise common in the Bible)' (p. 140). 4 The dominant objectives of the reflection story are to contrast the (im)moral activities and attitudes of biblical characters and to implicitly condemn corrupt behaviors exhibited in a source-story by detailing comeuppance in its reflection:…”

Section: Zakovitch's 'Reflection Stories'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These multifarious links, assigned varied appellations by scholars, can be roughly subsumed within the category of ‘intertextuality’, which may serve as ‘a covering term for all the possible relations that can be established between texts’ (Miscall, 1992: 44). 1 One species of deliberate 2 intertextual reference has been termed the ‘reflection story’ by Zakovitch (1993), who defines it as follows: [Reflection stories are] instances where the biblical narrator shaped a character, or his or her actions, as the antithesis of a character in another narrative and that character’s actions. The new creation awakens in the reader undeniable associations to the source-story; … the reflection inverts the storyline of the original narrative.…”

Section: Zakovitch’s ‘Reflection Stories’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zakovitch (1993) cautions that identifying the components of reflection stories requires ‘firm evidence’, usually of two primary types: (a) ‘plots with similar themes and which are constructed in parallel or similar fashion’ and (b) ‘common expressions (which are not otherwise common in the Bible)’ (p. 140). 4…”

Section: Zakovitch’s ‘Reflection Stories’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Serving as literary antipodes, Reuben and Judah remind their father, respectively, of his own prior failings and the nobler aspects of himself. This ongoing dynamic, which I dub a ‘reflection complex’, consists of a variety of intertextual links—including, notably, multiple instances of the ‘reflection story’ phenomenon described by Yair Zakovitch (1993, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The literary roles of Reuben and Judah in Genesis narratives: A ‘reflection complex’

Kraut

2018

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

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Scholars have long perceived a relationship among Genesis narratives involving Reuben and Judah. Most treatments, historical in orientation, focus on the authorial and editorial processes that produced two episodes in which 'competing' Reuben and Judah narratives are preserved: the sale of Joseph (Gen. 37) and the guardianship of Benjamin (Gen. 42-3). Even literary studies of the Reuben and Judah characters typically address only some of the relevant narratives and reach limited conclusions about the characters' import. This study, in contrast, contends that all of the Reuben and Judah narrative passages in Genesis-whatever the processes leading to their inclusion-comprise a latent complex with a literary purpose. Reuben and Judah compel Jacob to reconsider behaviors from his own life, reminding their father-respectively-of his failings and his nobler aspects. I dub this dynamic a 'reflection complex', consisting of multifarious intertextual links, including multiple instances of the 'reflection stories' described by Yair Zakovitch.

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Section: Zakovitch's 'Reflection Stories'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Zakovitch's 'Reflection Stories'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Zakovitch’s ‘Reflection Stories’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Zakovitch’s ‘Reflection Stories’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The literary roles of Reuben and Judah in Genesis narratives: A ‘reflection complex’

Kraut

2018

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

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How (not) to murder a king: Variations on a theme in 1 Sam 24; 26

Edenburg

1998

Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament

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Much progress has been made in recent years in the study of the nature of interrelating texts, and many have demonstrated how interrelation has been used in ancient literature as a device for advancing ideology. This paper will discuss the nature of the relationship between the stories about how David twice spared Saul's life (1 Sam 24 and 26) and the purpose served by including double incidents within a larger narrative framework. The discussion of literary interrelations is not without danger since many such studies have been criticized as reflecting nothing more than one reader's personal associations. Without arguing whether authorial intent is of greater value than subsequent readers' interpretations, it must be owned that establishing authorial intent is essential to the questions of whether one text is patterned upon another or engages another in discussion, and such questions are of great importance to historical reconstruction and discussion of the history of ideas. Thus, it first proves necessary to establish a methodology for laying bare authorial intent in textual interrelations, and on the basis of such a methodology I shall clarify the nature of the relationship between the stories about the sparing of 1 This article is based upon a paper presented at

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Exodus in Matthew’s Looking Glass: Jesus’s Flight to Egypt (Matt 2:13–18) as a Reflection Story

Stargel

2021

Horiz. Biblical Theol.

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Matthew’s placement of Hosea 11:1 – “Out of Egypt I called my son” – following the arrival of Jesus in Egypt has been largely misinterpreted by scholars as a “premature quotation.” The Old Testament’s expanded portrayal of a symbolic Egypt, the interpretative framework of the Social Identity Approach, and the recognition of Matthew 2:13–18 as a “reflection story” add the necessary keys for understanding Hosea 11:1’s placement. Old Testament exodus stories not only advance the possibility of a symbolic interpretation of Egypt in the citation, but they favor such an interpretation. The exodus allusions in Matthew’s story endorse this symbolic interpretation of Israel as the Egyptian Other. In the looking glass of the exodus, Matthew’s Flight to Egypt story reveals both the character of the Other and that of the story’s hero.

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Through the Looking Glass: Reflections/Inversions of Genesis Stories in the Bible

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

The literary roles of Reuben and Judah in Genesis narratives: A ‘reflection complex’

The literary roles of Reuben and Judah in Genesis narratives: A ‘reflection complex’

How (not) to murder a king: Variations on a theme in 1 Sam 24; 26

Exodus in Matthew’s Looking Glass: Jesus’s Flight to Egypt (Matt 2:13–18) as a Reflection Story

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