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Document Details : Title: Mobility and Sedentism in the Patriarchal Narratives Author(s): CHEN, Y.S. , THOMPSON, Shane M. Journal: Biblica Volume: 106 Issue: 3 Date: 2025 Pages: 321-343 DOI: 10.2143/BIB.106.3.3295076 Abstract : This is a literary and historiographical study that explores the interactions between the Patriarchs in their migratory movements and nomadic mode of life and the diverse sedentary and urban establishments they encountered in Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt as represented in the canonical form of the Patriarchal Narratives in the Book of Genesis. By examining the causes, modes, and effects of these interactions in the narratives, this study argues that the interactions not only provide the key impetus to the articulation and progression of the narrative plots, but also play an important role in shaping the characterisation and identity of the Patriarchs and their deity and the relationship between the two. Finally, the study attempts to offer a preliminary evaluation of the historiographical constructions of the origins of Israel in the Patriarchal Narratives and the predilection of the biblical traditions for a mobile status by identifying the Patriarchs and their deity in light of the exile experiences in the first millennium BCE and in response to Mesopotamian urbanism and urban religion. |
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