Metaphor and Disunity: Tensions between Metaphors in Micah 3–5

Abstract

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1420205/

 

This paperuses metaphors from the book of Micah as an example of how disunity in a literary text can be caused by competing ideologies. Some metaphors in this book appear to contradict one another; verse 3.12 says that Zion will be ploughed up like a field, but 4.1-5 sees a new Zion lifted up on the mountain. The metaphors of ploughshares and pruning hooksin 4.3 speak of peace with other nations, but the metaphors of threshing and Daughter Zion in 4.11 – 13 describe preparations to annihilate other nations. Similarly, the metaphors in 5.6 – 7 variously describe Jacob’s remnant as refreshing like dewand belligerent like a lion. Previous scholars suppressed the tensions between these metaphors and even attempted to reconcile them, but this paper argues that we should recognise the tensions between metaphors as reflecting the authors’ competing ideologies and attitudes towards Israel and other nations.


Keywords

Frame of Reference., the Bible, Disunity, Ideologies, Metaphor

How to Cite

Cruz, J., (2014) “Metaphor and Disunity: Tensions between Metaphors in Micah 3–5”, Tropos 1(1).

108

Views

0

Downloads

Share

Authors

Juan Cruz (University of Aberdeen)

Issue

Dates

Licence

All rights reserved

Peer Review

This article has been peer reviewed.

File Checksums (MD5)