Fishing for Fish and Fishing for Men: Fishing Imagery in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient near East

• Main Author: Yoder, Tyler Russell
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2015
• Subjects: Archaeology; Biblical studies; Comparative literature; Judaic studies; Near Eastern Studies
• ISBN: 9798607378950

This dissertation examines the use of fishing imagery within the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern literature up through the end of the Iron Age. Outside of the concluding chapter, this study comprises six major units. The introduction grounds the ensuing literary discussion in chapters 2-6 with a survey of the ichthyological and piscatorial evidence from the ancient Near East, as well as a comprehensive lexical study of the fishing terminology employed in the Hebrew Bible. The following five chapters, each of which is a self-contained unit, analyze the gamut of fishing references within the Hebrew Bible. Chapter two investigates the conceptual phenomenon of divine fishers in the ancient Near East and its relationship to Jer. 16:16-18. The third (Amos 4:1-3; Hab. 1:14-17; Ezek. 12:13-14; 17:16-21; 19:1-9) and fourth (Job 40:25-32; Ezek. 29:1-6a; 32:1-10) chapters build directly on this unit by unpacking the chief connotation of this phenomenon, whether directed against humans or monstrous fauna: divinely appointed exile. Chapter five (Qoh. 9:11-12) takes the act of fishing to its logical end by examining its relationship to death. The sixth chapter explores the relationship between fishing and polarity in the final three fishing images within the Hebrew Bible (Is. 19:5-10; Ezek. 26:1-14; 47:1-12). The conclusion synthesizes the assemblage of data examined in the previous chapters, weaving all of the material and literary evidence together to evaluate the function and source of fishing imagery in the Hebrew Bible. In addition to focusing on the use of rhetoric and imagery, this comparative study sheds light on both the complex network of cultural and literary interchange in the ancient Near East.