Ethnicity, Adoption, and Exodus: A Socio-Rhetorical Reading of Exodus 2.1–10

The literary analysis of Exod. 2.1–10 offered in this article identifies a multi-layered narrative performance of identity formation around three foci: first, around ethnic formation shaped by an encounter between an exposed Hebrew child and an Egyptian rescuer who is viewed favorably by the storyte...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ngwa, Kenneth Numfor (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2013
In: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2013, Volume: 38, Issue: 2, Pages: 163-187
Further subjects:B Ethnicity
B Situationalism
B exposure
B Pharaoh's daughter
B Exodus
B Primordialism
B subgroup identity
B Constructivism
B Moses
B Adoption
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:The literary analysis of Exod. 2.1–10 offered in this article identifies a multi-layered narrative performance of identity formation around three foci: first, around ethnic formation shaped by an encounter between an exposed Hebrew child and an Egyptian rescuer who is viewed favorably by the storyteller (2.3–6); second, around ethnicity associated with nurturing that reunites the displaced child with members of his subgroup (2.7–9); finally, around ethnicity portrayed as malleable political identity by which the son of a Levite's daughter becomes the son of Pharaoh's daughter (2.2, 10). Read in light of three major theories on ethnicity (Situationalism, Primordialism, and Constructivism), the story reflects not only circumstantial ethics of individual actions, but also how larger socio-cultural and political shifts create and structure identity formation and meaning. Moses’ adoption (2.10) constitutes the culmination of a cluster of socio-economic, cultural, and political negotiations involving members of his Hebrew subgroup and a member of the house of Pharaoh.
ISSN:1476-6728
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0309089213511754