Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:34:10.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Wishing Away One’s Birth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2021

Hanne Løland Levinson
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Get access

Summary

Job and Jeremiah share a unique death-wish motif, the wish to have died before they were born. This death wish is related to the death wish in despair, because despair is clearly part of the motivation here, but it is still a distinct category, reflected in the content of the wish. This category appears only outside of the biblical narratives, in poetic texts. As part of their laments, Jeremiah and Job ask “Why did I come forth from the womb? (Jer 20:18) and “Why was I not hidden like a miscarriage?” (Job 3:16).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Death Wish in the Hebrew Bible
Rhetorical Strategies for Survival
, pp. 89 - 118
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×