Ancient Aramaic and Hebrew Letters. 2d ed. By James M.  Lindenberger. Society of Biblical Literature, Writings from the Ancient World, no. 14. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. Pp. xix + 188 + 1 table + 4 maps. $24.95 (paperback).

2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-296
Author(s):  
Blane W. Conklin
Keyword(s):  
Ancient World ◽  
Biblical Literature

He Will Wash His Garments in Wine (Gen 49:11)

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-83
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Special Function ◽  
Near East ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Symbolic Value ◽  
Ritual Context

This chapter takes its starting point from the notion that, for the biblical authors, clothing and jewellery symbolically encoded the personhood of its wearer. These items could thus manifest and modify the body in ritual contexts. As such, the manipulation and destruction of clothing items in the ritual context took on a heavy symbolic value. After the ritual use of textiles in the wider ancient Near East is explored, this insight is shown to explicate a number of the more difficult references to clothing in biblical literature. Moreover, since the production of textiles was gendered in the ancient world, this special function of clothing provided women with agency in ritual and religious settings. In these texts, textiles afford women with the means to become experts in rituals associated with life and death. These references therefore attest to the use of clothing and textiles in an important but largely unacknowledged aspect of female ritual expertise.

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