Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Norman Cohn <normanncohn AT yahoo.com.br>]

Hi, Kevin!

It’s a very nice reflection! Thanks a lot for the reply.

My aim was not to condemn Ezekiel or whoever else may have written that passage – that’d indeed amount to a projection of contemporary moral sensitivities onto the past.  I’m sure he had no concept of ‘racial profiling’ or stereotyping! However, I think we do understand racial prejudice better nowadays, and that enables us to assess what use this kind of speech could have in ancient times and how its intended audience would have reacted to it. And more important: through what kinds of words, expressions and literary devices did the biblical writers try to cast other peoples in an unfavorable light.  

As you correctly pointed out, attacking an opponent on the basis of physical characteristics is a long-standing rhetorical strategy. And it was thinking about this issue that I came up with the topic.

So my question was: how did this kind of rhetoric expressed itself in the Hebrew language of that time? Can you think of other expressions and literary devices used by the writers to portray other peoples in a bad light?

 Thanks again for the reply!

Best regards,

 Norman Cohn - SP - Brazil