Three Blind Vices?
Vision and Blindness in the Samson Cycle (Judges 13-16)
In: Biblical InterpretationAbstract
Frequently Samson’s blindness is linked with newfound spiritual insight, with physical humiliation, and occasionally with instrumental talion. Few question the role of blindness in the text through other lenses or with knowledge of ancient theories of vision. Balancing this, I investigate Samson’s sight and blindness in the context of Judges 13-16, asking what his sensation and sensory impairment signified in the broader context of the Hebrew Bible (HB) and wider Ancient Near East (ANE).
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
1
Babylonian Talmud 2018 https://www.sefaria.org
-
2
Plato Plato in Twelve Volumes. 9 W.R.M. Lamb Cambridge, MA HUP 1925
-
3
Jacobson Howard A Commentary on Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum: With Latin Text and English Translation 1 Leiden Brill 1996
-
4
Allison Dale C. The Eye Is the Lamp of the Body (Matthew 6:22–23 = Luke 11:34–36) NTS 33 1987 61 83
-
5
Alter Robert How Convention Helps Us Read: The Case of the Bible's Annunciation Type-Scene Prooftexts 3 1983 115 30
-
6
Assis Elie The Structure and Meaning of the Samson Narratives (Jud. 13–16) 1 12 Samson: Hero or Fool? Erik M.M. Eynikel Tobias Nicklas Leiden Brill 2014
-
7
Auwers Jean-Marie H.J. de Jonge Simson Und Das Ende Des Richterbuches: Ein Beispiel Einer Kanonexegese Zwischen Kompositions- Und Wirkungsgeschichtlicher Auslegung 227 35 The Biblical Canons. Jean-Marie Auwers H.J. de Jonge Leuven Leuven University Press 2003
-
8
Avalos Hector Illness and Health Care in the Ancient Near East: The Role of the Temple in Greece, Mesopotamia, and Israel. Atlanta Scholars Press 1995
-
9
Avalos Hector Introducing Sensory Criticism in Biblical Studies: Audiocentricity and Visiocentricity 47 59 This Abled Body: Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies. Hector Avalos Sarah J. Melcher Jeremy Schipper Atlanta SBL Press 2007
-
10
Avrahami Yael The Senses of Scripture: Sensory Perception in the Hebrew Bible. New York T & T Clark 2012
-
11
Bahrani Zainab Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia London, New York Routledge 2013
-
12
Beck J.A. Gideon, Dew, and the Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Judges 6:33–40 BS 165 2008 28 38
-
13
Betz Hans Dieter Matthew vi.22f and Ancient Greek Theories of Vision 43 56 Text and Interpretation: Studies in the New Testament Presented to Matthew Black Ernest Best R. McLachlan Wilson Cambridge/New York CUP 1979
-
14
Biddle M.E Reading Judges: A Literary and Theological Commentary Macon, GA Smyth & Helwys 2012
-
15
Billings Thomas Henry The Platonism of Philo Judaeus Chicago University of Chicago Press 1919
-
16
Bowen Nancy R. Damage and Healing: Shame and Honor in the Old Testament Koinonia 3 1991 29 36
-
18
Chavel Simeon The Face of God and the Etiquette of Eye-Contact: Visitation, Pilgrimage, and Prophetic Vision in Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Imagination JSQ 19 2012 1 55
-
19
Chisholm R.B. Identity Crisis: Assessing Samson's Birth and Career BS 166 2009 147 62
-
20
Crawford Timothy Reading Samson with the Dead PRSt 35 2005 223 36
-
21
Crenshaw James L. Samson: A Secret Betrayed, a Vow Ignored Atlanta John Knox 1978
-
22
Crenshaw James L. The Samson Saga: Filial Devotion or Erotic Attachment? ZAW 86 1974 470 504
-
23
Davidson E.T.A Intricacy, Design, and Cunning in the Book of Judges Philadelphia Xlibris 2008
-
24
Elliot John H. Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World- Introduction, Mesopotamia and Egypt, Volume 1. Eugene, OR Cascade 2015
-
25
Elliot John H. Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World-Greece and Rome 2 Eugene, OR Cascade 2016
-
26
Frost Peggy Sight, Sin and Blindness in the Samson Narrative and in Milton's ‘Samson Agonistes.’ Dor Le Dor 15 1987 150 59
-
27
Fox Michael V. Proverbs 1–9: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. AB 18A New York Doubleday 2000
-
28
Galpaz-Feller Pnina Samson: The Hero and the Man : The Story of Samson (Judges 13–16) Bern Peter Lang 2006
-
30
Hartsock Chad Sight and Blindness in Luke-Acts: The Use of Physical Features in Characterization Leiden Brill 2008
-
32
Howes David Introduction: The Revolving Sensorium 1 52 The Sixth Sense Reader. David Howes Oxford Berg 2009
-
33
Howes David Varieties of Sensory Experience: A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses. Toronto University of Toronto Press 1991
-
34
Howes David Sensual Relations: Engaging the Senses in Culture and Social Theory Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan Press 2003
-
35
Howes David Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader Oxford Berg 2005
-
37
Howes David Constance Classen Ways of Sensing: Understanding the Senses in Society. London Routledge 2014
-
38
Gillmayr-Bucher Body Images in the Psalms JSOT 28 2004 301 26
-
39
Goering Greg Schmidt Moving and Thinking: Kinesthesis and Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs Sounding Sensory Profiles in the Ancient Near East Annette Schellenberg Thomas Kruger Atlanta SBL Press 2019 69 86
-
41
Jackson Bernard S. Studies in the Semiotics of Biblical Law London A&C Black 2000
-
42
Jackson Bernard S. Law, Wisdom and Narrative 31 49 Narrativity in Biblical and Related Texts George J. Brooke Jean-David Kaestli Leuven Peeters 2000
-
43
Jacobs Sandra Instrumental Talion in Deuteronomic Law Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte 16 2010 263 278
-
44
Jacobs Sandra Natural Law, Poetic Justice and the Talionic Formulation Political Theology 14 2013 691 699
-
45
Jacobs Sandra The Body as Property: Physical Disfigurement in Biblical Law New York T&T Clark 2014
-
46
K.L. Jones Home but not Healed: Sensory Disability in Isaiah 35 and Jeremiah 31 Sounding Sensory Profiles in the Ancient Near East Annette Schellenberg Thomas Kruger Atlanta SBL Press 2019 161 180
-
47
Jütte Robert A History of the Senses James Lynn Cambridge Polity 2005
-
48
Kim U.Y.H. More to the Eye than Meets the Eye: A Protest against Empire in Samson's Death? BI 22 2014 1 19
-
49
Laes Christian Disabilities in Roman Antiquity: Disparate Bodies a Capite Ad Calcem Leiden Brill 2014
-
50
Lang B. The Three Sins of Samson the Warrior 179 92 Berührungspunkte: Studien zur Sozial und Religionsgeschichte Israels und seiner Umwelt: Festschrift für Rainer Albertz zu seinem 65. Geburtstag Ingo Kottsieper Rüdiger Schmitt Jakob Wöhrle Münster Ugarit-Verlag 2008
-
51
Lazarewicz-Wyrzykowska Ela Samson: Masculinity Lost (and Regained?) 171 89 Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond Ovidiu Creangă Sheffield Sheffield Phoenix Press 2010
-
52
Lemos T.M. Shame and Mutilation of Enemies in the Hebrew Bible JBL 125 2006 225 41
-
53
Lowenfeld Berthold The Changing Status of the Blind: From Separation to Integration. Springfield, IL Thomas 1975
-
58
Mitchell David T. Sharon L. Snyder Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse. Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press 2001
-
59
Mobley G The Empty Men: The Heroic Tradition of Ancient Israel New York Doubleday 2005
-
60
Mobley G Samson and the Liminal Hero in the Ancient Near East New York Bloomsbury Publishing 2006
-
61
Moss C. J. Schipper Disability Studies and Biblical Literature New York Springer 2011
-
62
Moss C. Blurred Vision and Ethical Confusion: The Rhetorical Function of Matthew 6:22–23 CBQ 73 2011 757 76
-
63
Moss C. Joel S. Baden Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness Princeton Princeton University Press 2015
-
64
Neis Rachel The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture Cambridge CUP 2013
-
66
O’Connell Robert H. The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges Leiden Brill 1996
-
68
Olyan Saul M. Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences Cambridge CUP 2008
-
69
Paris Christopher T. Narrative Obtrusion in the Hebrew Bible Minneapolis Augsburg Fortress 2014
-
71
Raphael Rebecca Biblical Corpora: Representations of Disability in Hebrew Biblical Literature New York Bloomsbury 2009
-
72
Ritchie Ian D. The Nose Knows: Bodily Knowing in Isaiah 11.3 JSOT 87 2000 59 73
-
73
Roberts David Signals and Perception: The Fundamentals of Human Sensation. Basingstoke Palgrave 2002
-
74
Runia David T. Philo of Alexandria and The “Timaeus” of Plato Leiden Brill 1986
-
75
Schiffman Harvey Richard Sensation and Perception: An Integrated Approach. New York Wiley 1996
-
76
Schipper Jeremy Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible: Figuring Mephibosheth in the David Story New York Bloomsbury T&T Clark 2006
-
77
Schipper Jeremy Narrative Obscurity of Samson's HYDH in Judges 14.14 and 18 JSOT 27.3 2003 339 53
-
78
Schipper Jeremy What was Samson Thinking in Judges 16,17 and 16,20? Bib 92 2011 60 69
-
79
Schneider Tammi J. Judges. Collegeville, MN Liturgical Press 2000
-
80
Shemesh Y. Punishment of the Offending Organ in Biblical Literature VT 55 2005 343 65
-
81
Stoller Paul Sensuous Scholarship Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania 1997
-
82
Smith M.J. The Failure of the Family in Judges: Part 2, Samson BS 162 2005 424 36
-
83
Sparkes Andrew C. Seeking the Senses in Physical Culture: Sensuous Scholarship in Action Oxford Taylor & Francis 2017
-
84
Squire Michael Sight and the Ancient Senses. London Routledge 2016
-
85
Terry Daniel J. With the Jawbone of a Donkey: Shame Violence and Punishment in the Samson Narrative 42 55 A Cry Instead of Justice: The Bible and Cultures of Violence in Psychological Perspective Dereck Daschke Andrew Kille New York T & T Clark 2010
-
86
Tilford Nicole L. Sensing World, Sensing Wisdom: The Cognitive Foundation of Biblical Metaphors Atlanta SBL Press 2017
-
87
Ulmer Rivka The Evil Eye in the Bible and in Rabbinic Literature Hobroken, NJ Ktav 1994
-
88
Ullendorff Edward Thought Categories in the Hebrew Bible 273 88 Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism R. Loewe London Routledge 1978
-
89
Vannini Phillip Dennis Waskul Simon Gotschalk Senses in Self, Society, and Culture: A Sociology of the Senses. New York Routledge 2012
-
90
Vermeulen Karolien To See or Not to See. The Polysemy of the Word עין in the Isaac Narratives (Gen 17–35) JHS 9 2009 1 11
-
91
Vlahogiannis N. Disabling Bodies 13 26 Changing Bodies, Changing Meanings: Studies on the Human Body in Antiquity Dominic Montserrat New York Routledge 1998
-
93
Wilson Stephen M. Samson the Man-Child: Failing to Come of Age in the Deuteronomistic History JBL 133 2014 43 60
-
94
Wong G. 2005 Compositional Strategy of the Book of Judges: An Inductive, Rhetorical Study VTSup 111 Leiden Brill
-
95
Viljoen Francois P. A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22–23: ‘Your eye is the lamp of your body.’ Hervormde Teologiese Studies 65 2009 1 5
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 394 | 67 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 175 | 15 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 325 | 49 | 2 |
Three Blind Vices?
Vision and Blindness in the Samson Cycle (Judges 13-16)
In: Biblical InterpretationAbstract
Frequently Samson’s blindness is linked with newfound spiritual insight, with physical humiliation, and occasionally with instrumental talion. Few question the role of blindness in the text through other lenses or with knowledge of ancient theories of vision. Balancing this, I investigate Samson’s sight and blindness in the context of Judges 13-16, asking what his sensation and sensory impairment signified in the broader context of the Hebrew Bible (HB) and wider Ancient Near East (ANE).
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 394 | 67 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 175 | 15 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 325 | 49 | 2 |