Juxtaposition and the Elisha Cycle

Description

This monograph examines the juxtaposition of narrative units in biblical narrative and the effect this has on interpretation. Early rabbinical and inner-biblical interpretations suggest that juxtaposition was an intentional device used by biblical editors and authors to shape the meaning of their material. Therefore, this monograph develops a framework for recognising the ways in which adjacent units interpret and re-interpret one another and presents this framework as an important hermeneutical tool. Stories and episodes that are linked chronologically affect one another through a relationship of causes and consequences. The categories of contradiction, corroboration and question and answer are also used to describe the types of interaction between narrative units and demonstrate how such dialogues create new meaning. Indicators in the text that guide the audience towards the intended interpretation are identified in order that a 'poetics' of juxtaposition is developed. The theoretical basis established in the first half of the monograph is then applied to the Elisha cycle. Each episode is interpreted independently and then read in juxtaposition with the surrounding episodes, producing a fresh literary reading of the cycle. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate how juxtaposition functioned as a diachronic process, attention is given to the literary history of the cycle. We conjecture earlier interpretations of the Elisha episodes and compare them to the final form of the cycle. Finally, the Elisha cycle is itself a story juxtaposed with other stories and so the same principles of interpretation are used to suggest the meaning of the cycle within the book of Kings. CONTENTS Acknowledgments Part A -- INTRODUCTION TO THE JUXTAPOSITION OF NARRATIVE Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION Chapter 2. PREVIOUS APPROACHES TO JUXTAPOSITION 1. Episodic Narrative and Different Types of Narrative Units 2. Literary History 3. Synchronic Approaches 4. The Rabbis 5. Inner-biblical Interpretation Chapter 3. INTERPRETING JUXTAPOSED NARRATIVE UNITS 1. Chronological Interpretation 2. Non-chronological Interpretation: The Dialogue of Voices Chapter 4. KEYS TO THE CONNECTION BETWEEN EPISODES 1. Repetition of Words and Phrases 2. Parallel Plots and Narrative Analogy 3. Mise-en-abyme Chapter 5. READING JUXTAPOSED EPISODES: CHRONOLOGICAL CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY 1. Juxtaposition of Episodes and Scenes 2. Juxtaposition of Stories 3. Summary of Part A: Introduction to the Juxtaposition of Narrative Units Part B -- THE ELISHA CYCLE Chapter 6. INTRODUCTION TO THE ELISHA CYCLE Chapter 7. ANALYSIS OF EPISODES IN THE ELISHA CYCLE 1. 1 Kings 19:19–21 2. 2 Kings 2:1–18 3. 2 Kings 2:19–22 4. 2 Kings 2:23–25 5. 2 Kings 3:1–3 6. 2 Kings 3:4–27 7. 2 Kings 4:1–7 8. 2 Kings 4:8–37 9. 2 Kings 4:38–41 10. 2 Kings 4:42–44 11. 2 Kings 5:1–27 12. 2 Kings 6:1–7 13. 2 Kings 6:8–23 14. 2 Kings 6:24–7:20 15. 2 Kings 8:1–6 16. 2 Kings 8:7–15 17. Elisha and the Anointing of Jehu 18. 2 Kings 13:14–19 19. 2 Kings 13:20–21 Part C -- CONCLUSIONS ON JUXTAPOSITIONAND BIBLICAL NARRATIVE Chapter 8. CONCLUSIONS ON JUXTAPOSITION AND BIBLICAL NARRATIVE 1. Questions, Answers, and the Interpreter’s Inquiry 2. Corroboration and the Creation of Themes 3. Contradiction, Correction, and Complexity 4. The Juxtaposition of Stories: The Place of the Elisha Cycle in the Book of Kings 5. Final Words Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors