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The Earthy Nature of the Bible This page intentionally left blank. The Earthy Nature of the Bible Fleshly Readings of Sex, Masculinity, and Carnality Roland Boer the earthy nature of the bible Copyright © Roland Boer, 2012. All rights reserved. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978- 1- 137- 27315- 4 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-137-27305-5 (hardcover) An earlier version of Chapter 1 originally appeared as “The Second Coming: Repetition and Insatiable Desire in the Song of Songs” Biblical Interpretation 8, no. 3 (2000):276– 301 and is reprinted here by permission of the publisher. An earlier version of Chapter 3 originally appeared as “Keeping It Literal: The Economy of the Song of Songs.” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 7 (2007), article 6; DOI: 10.5508/jhs.2007.v7.a6, freely available online at http://www.jhsonline.org and republished in a traditional printed version in E. Ben Zvi (ed.), Perspectives in Hebrew Scriptures IV: Comprising the Contents of Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, vol. 7 (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2008), 151–67, and is reprinted here by permission of the publisher. Earlier versions of chapters 4, 6, and 7 originally appeared as “The Patriarch’s Nuts: Concerning the Testicular Logic of Biblical Hebrew” in the Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 5, no. 2 (2011): 41– 52; “Of Fine Wine, Incense and Spices: The Unstable Masculine Hegemony of the Books of Chronicles” Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 4, no. 1 (2010):19– 31; and “Skin Gods: Circumcising the Built Male Body” Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 1, no. 1 (2007):35– 44, respectively, and are reprinted here by permission of the publisher. An earlier version of Chapter 5 originally appeared as “Too Many Dicks at the Writing Desk, or How to Organise a Prophetic Sausage Fest” in Theology and Sexuality 16, no. 1 (2010):95– 108, and is reprinted here by permission of the publisher. An earlier version of Chapter 9 originally appeared as “King Solomon Meets Annie Sprinkle” Semeia 82: In Search of the Present: The Bible through Cultural Studies (2000): 151– 82 and is reprinted here by permission of the publisher. First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Boer, Roland, 1961– The earthy nature of the Bible : fleshly readings of sex, masculinity, and carnality / Roland Boer. pages cm ISBN 978- 1- 137- 27305- 5 (hardback)— ISBN 978-1- 137- 27315- 4 (paperback) 1. Sex in the Bible. 2. Bible. O.T.— Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon— Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. BS1199.S45B64 2012 221.8'3067— dc23 2012019798 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: November 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my mother This page intentionally left blank. Contents Preface ix Introduction 1 I Song of Songs 9 1 The Second Coming: Repetition and Insatiable Desire in the Song of Songs 11 2 A Fleshly Reading: Masochism, Ecocriticism, and the Song of Songs 27 3 Making It, Literally: Metaphor, Economy, and the Sensuality of Nature 35 II Masculinities 47 4 The Patriarch’s Nuts: Concerning the Testicular Logic of Biblical Hebrew 49 5 Too Many Dicks at the Writing Desk, or How to Organize a Prophetic Sausage Fest 59 6 Of Fine Wine, Incense, and Spices: The Unstable Masculine Hegemony of the Books of Chronicles 71 7 Skin Gods: Circumcising the Built Male Body 81 III Paraphilias 91 8 Hooker Hermeneutics: A Reading of Avaren Ipsen’s Sex Working and the Bible 93 9 King Solomon Meets Annie Sprinkle 103 10 Orientalist Camp: The Case of Allen Edwardes 121 viii ● Contents 11 Hittites, Horses, and Corpses: On Bestiality and Necrophilia in the Hebrew Bible 133 Conclusion 149 Notes 151 References 169 Index 185 Preface After I had completed The Criticism of Heaven and Earth, an almost endless multi- volume work (Boer 2007a, 2009a; 2011a; 2012, in press), I was looking for a very different project to which I could devote my time and pleasure. Perhaps I should revise Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, I thought. A few messages to the publisher put an end to those plans, for they wished to keep the thing in print. What about a follow- up book, in the same spirit and with the same interest in the underside of the Bible? Before I knew it, I was working on various pieces for what was to become The Earthy Nature of the Bible. To test the waters, I began to post some snippets on my blog, stalinsmoustache.wordpress.com, on Hittites and hippophilia, on patriarchal nuts, zoological zirmahs, and so on. The responses were enough to suggest I was onto something, but what clinched the deal was the moment my mother began reading my blog. Apparently, she had heard rumors, a little gossip, and a little slander about my online activities. So when she had a chance— on a visit to my brother and his partner— she requested to read my blog. I was immediately informed via the grapevine (which had a foreboding that my mother would not be pleased). Forewarned and forearmed, knowing that a telephone call was forthcoming, I posted an open letter to my mother, which she didn’t read (although many others did). Finally, the call came. “Roland, I have to talk to you about something.” “Oh yes, the blog,” I said. “How did you know?” she said. “A little bird sitting on a vine,” I said. “I didn’t get far,” she said. “It was so disgusting, I had to stop!” “Well . um . yes.” I said. “I thought you had perhaps gone off the deep end after your father’s death,” she said. “But I can certainly understand why some people don’t want you to teach.” “Actually, mum,” I said. “I am perfectly sane. I made a decision some time ago that I would not hold back on the blog, knowing full well that you or my children or other relatives would read it.” x ● Preface “Are you sure that’s wise?” she said. “Your brother thinks you are a purveyor of pornography.” I laughed long and hard (and have told the story many times since). “The point of those blogs on the Bible,” I said, “is to show that the Bible is a very earthy and often crude text, uncomfortably so in many cases.” She paused. “Your father used to say that,” she said. I took that as the ultimate blessing, for he had died less than a year before but was very present in our conversations. It also meant that I simply had to dedicate this book to my mother. Others also should be thanked. The sundry blog conversationalists— NT Wrong with his astute suggestions concerning translations and reading (he put me onto Allen Edwardes), W. John Lyons who maintains a healthy interest in the grimier matters of biblical interpretation, Remi Low the fellow revolutionary, Jim West who wrote an open letter to my mother in my defense, Christian Cal- lisen (of ovenkitty.wordpress.com) the merchant banker become student with an eye for the absurd, the perversely indefatigable and indefatigably perverse Deane Galbraith, Stephanie Fisher who is willing to wade into any argument, Gillian Townsley who is prepared to admit that bukkake is a new term for her vocabulary, Queen Betty who I think comes from Australia but remains intriguingly pseud- onymous, and all those I have not named or who lurk unnamed. Thanks too to those who ensured the publication of early and now rather different versions of some of the chapters: J Cheryl Exum and Fiona Black, Ken Stone, Ehud Ben Zvi, Joseph Gelfer, and David Jobling. Wider afield, I also should thank those who have found reasons (which are entirely beyond me) why this zone of my work should be translated first. Milan Vukomanovic ensured that Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door was translated by Slobodanka Glišić into Serbian by XXVek (Belgrade, 2008). Milena Kirova also secured a Bulgarian translation, completed by Kornelia Slavova and published by Altera (Sofia, 2010). “The more outrageous, the better,” was the word Milena received from the press when discussing which work should be translated. It does make me wonder whether they will be interested in this one as well— or the next one, for I plan a third volume, to be called The Crude Text. Lastly, a word of thanks in an expected quarter: the final work on this book took place while sailing halfway around the world on the CMA-CGM ship, M/V La Tour. For almost the legendary forty days, we sailed from Melbourne to Til- bury, across the Pacific and then the Atlantic, via the Panama Canal. The peace- ful passage of a container ship, away from the chatter of Internet and email, the vastness of the oceans, the chance to reflect on the bridge or party with the crew (singing karaoke with Filipino sailors is an experience not to miss)— all these provided a perfect setting for completing the book.