National Allegory in the Hebrew Bible

Abstract

In order to develop the idea of national allegory in the Hebrew Bible I engage the work of Joel Rosenberg on 'political allegory' and Fredric Jameson on 'national allegory'-the notion that narratives about individuals function as allegories of the national situation. Moving from the straightforward example of Nathan's allegory in 2 Sam. 12.1-12, I find that national allegory also operates in the work of Regina Schwartz and Mieke Bal, specifically in the way women and their bodies act as allegorical markers for political and social transitions. Finally, I argue that the old prophet and the man of God in I Kings 13 are allegorical figures for Israel and Judah, only to be disrupted by external imperial forces, represented here as nature. In this final section mode of production turns out to be a crucial category.

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