Gert Prinsloo University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa

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RBL 03/2010 George, Mark K. Israel s Tabernacle as Social Space Society of Biblical Literature Ancient Israel and Its Literature 2 Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009. Pp. xiii + 233. Paper.

1 RBL 03/2010 George, Mark K. Israel s Tabernacle as Social Space Society of Biblical Literature Ancient Israel and Its Literature 2 Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, Pp. xiii Paper. $ ISBN X. Gert Prinsloo University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa In 1984, Gabriel Zoran lamented the paucity of specialized spatial studies in narrative literature and remarked: The existence of space is pushed into a corner (see Gabriel Zoran, Towards a Theory of Space in Narrative, Poetics Today 5 [1984]: [310]). Sadly, this is still true as far as narrative analyses of biblical texts are concerned. However, there has been a surge in spatial studies of biblical texts during the past decade. Much of the credit for this surge must go to the seminal work done in the field of so-called critical spatiality by participants in the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature s Constructions of Ancient Space Seminar ( ). The book under discussion makes an important contribution toward this surge. Extensive references to literature in this field can be found in the bibliography (see ). The author, Mark K. George, is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, and organizer and chair of the SBL s Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity Section (the successor of the Constructions of Ancient Space Seminar ). His experience in the field of spatial studies is clearly reflected in the book. As the first part of the title suggests, the book is concerned with Israel s tabernacle, the portable shrine that receives an extraordinary amount of attention in the book of Exodus (Exod 25 31: instructions for the tabernacle s construction; Exod 35 40: its actual

2 construction). The second part of the title adds an interesting perspective. George analyzes the tabernacle narratives using a specific interpretative key, namely, the concept of social space. Readers expecting a technical, historical-critical analysis of the tabernacle narratives, a defense of the shrine s existence (or nonexistence!), or a narratological analysis of the tabernacle story will be disappointed by the book. However, readers open for a creative, ingenious look at the ancient narratives from a spatial point of view will be rewarded with a most enjoyable experience. This review cannot do justice to the rich content of the book. The author should be commended for the clear, logical arrangement of the content of the book. An introductory chapter ( The Tabernacle, 1 16) provides a short overview of the tabernacle narratives history of research. George indicates that a modern, dismissive approach to these narratives does not reflect the clear importance these narratives enjoyed in ancient times, because they comprise nearly one-third of the book of Exodus (1). The proliferation of details in these narratives is further proof that the tabernacle was an important object (2) for the authors of these narratives, widely regarded as the product of the Priestly writers (6). George indicates that the tabernacle narratives interrupt (3) the narrative flow in the book of Exodus and that a mere historical-critical explanation (such as source criticism) does not adequately explain many anomalies contained in the narratives (7). He then proposes a new reading of these narratives and summarizes his approach as follows: The central argument in this book is that the tabernacle narratives do not simply describe the creation of a divine dwelling and worship space. They do more. The narratives express a social configuration and Priestly understanding of Israelite society, social organization, and Israel s role in the divine creation (8). George makes certain assumptions when he classifies the tabernacle as a social space: they are the product of Priestly writers working during the exilic period (9 10), using a variety of other sources in constructing their narratives (10 11), but also employing their experiences and understandings of a range of real social spaces (11). He accepts a fairly late date for the formation of the book of Exodus the Priestly writers were the last group to give significant shape and form (12) to the book and takes an agnostic position on the question of the historical existence of the tabernacle (12). The Priestly writers appropriated known material objects in their construction of the narratives; thus the Priestly writers gave the narratives material plausibility (13). In his analysis of the tabernacle of social space, George then follows a logical plan. In the second chapter ( The Tabernacle as Social Space, 17 44), George discusses the theoretical underpinning of his spatial analysis. His basic point of departure is the spatial theory that the French Marxist philosopher Henri Lefebvre developed in Production de l espace (1974; published in 1991 in English as The Production of Space). Lefebvre s basic premise is that space is a social product. Lefebvre uses a conceptual triad as key to critically

3 analyze this process of spatial production: spatial practice; representations of space; and spaces of representation (22). George prefers to use the terms spatial practice, conceptual space, and symbolic space (22) when he refers to this conceptual triad. Spatial practice refers to physical, material space and the ways in which members of a society both understand and perform their social practices in space (23). Conceptual or mental space is space as thought, the abstract, theoretical understandings and systems societies create to explain and conceive of space (25). Symbolic space is symbolic, metaphorical space (27), according to Lefebvre the most important aspect of critical spatiality because he thought it held the most opportunity for sites of resistance to capitalism (27). When Lefebvre thinks about the individual in space and the bodily encounter and experience of space (31), he calls his conceptual triad perceived space, conceived space, and lived space (31). To Lefebvre s approach based in his dialectic materialism, George adds insights of so-called New Historicism, especially the notion that literature, as well as any and every cultural expression or expressive act is enmeshed within a large, complex network of material practices and realities (34). George calls his combination of Lefebvre s approach and New Historicism a spatial poetics (38) and qualifies it as not a method (38) but rather a stance, a trajectory, or an approach to social space (38). He argues that certain mechanisms are at work in social space (39) that enable any given society to assimilate social energies, ideas, and forces (39) in their cultural products. He refers to the work of Greenblatt on the introduction of these concepts in Shakespeare s work within the context of Elizabethan England (see 39 for bibliographical details) and indicates that three mechanisms enable this introduction: appropriation; purchase; and symbolic acquisition (39). George argues that appropriation, but especially symbolic acquisition, is used in the tabernacle narratives. The next three chapters ( Tabernacle Spatial Practice, 45 88; Tabernacle Conceptual Space, ; Tabernacle Symbolic Space, ) make up the bulk of the book. Following the pattern of Lefebvre s conceptual triad, the tabernacle narratives are analyzed from the perspective of spatial practice, as a conceptual space, and as a symbolic space. In Tabernacle Spatial Practice, George indicates that a series of related social actions and practices constitute tabernacle social practice (56). He uses a Neo-Assyrian contract (the sale of a house) as parallel to indicate that five sets of social actions and practices reflect Priestly ideas about shaping and controlling social actions and behavior (56). These are: various inventories (raw material [Exod 25:1 7 and 35:4 9; 57 59], tabernacle items and how they were made [Exod 28:4, 31:7 11, 35:10 19, 39:33 41; 59 63], skills required for the construction of the tabernacle [Exod 31:1 6, 35:30 35; 63 67]); detailed descriptions of the tabernacle (67 71); the arrangement and configuration of tabernacle space (71 75); portability (75 79); and spatial orientation (79 85). The

4 tabernacle narratives create a specific kind of social space, and [o]nce created and produced, the tabernacle shapes the experiences of Israel in this space (86). George observes that tabernacle space results from Israel s conceptual space (87). That is the subject matter of chapter 4, Tabernacle Conceptual Space. Various accounts in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., the so-called creation narratives in Gen 1 3) express mental conceptions of space. They articulate Israel s understandings both of the nature of space and how space is defined and organized (90). This is also true of the tabernacle narratives. They specifically are an expression of Priestly conceptual space (90). Priestly cosmology presupposes that creation and created space are divine products and thus that their order and structure are divinely appointed (91). The Priestly writers typically employ taxonomies to undertake their endeavors at classifying and dividing (92). Utilizing the Gezer Calendar as parallel to illustrate the social importance of this endeavor (94 102), George argues that, although the concept of holiness plays a crucial role in the tabernacle narratives (105 11), the actual taxonomic system operating in tabernacle conceptual space involves three interrelated social concerns of the Priestly writers that reflect and encode particular values and preferences into tabernacle space (111 12). These are the congregation (112 19); descent or genealogy (119 23); and hereditary succession (123 25). Combined, these three concepts constitute the taxonomic system providing the conceptual logic of tabernacle social space (125). In the end, access to the tabernacle s various spaces depends upon where any one individual is classified within that conceptual logic (125). An important feature of this taxonomy is that it operates on the horizontal level, thereby effectively turning vertical schemas on their sides (129). It implies that the deity has moved from being at the apex of the system to being in the innermost space of the tabernacle complex (129). Another important feature is the absence of both king and monarchy (130) in the tabernacle narratives. Israel s cult is capable of functioning without these institutions. It becomes an important argument in George s view that the tabernacle narratives should be dated to the exile. It also implies that the social hierarchy envisioned in these narratives is not constant but can be continually reinstated and reproduced wherever the Israelites move (135). This becomes an important notion in chapter 5, Tabernacle Symbolic Space. With reference to Greenblatt s work on the circulation of social energy in Elizabethan England resulting in the works of Shakespeare becoming a compelling cultural force (137 40), George argues that the tabernacle becomes a symbolic space in the exilic community by allowing social energy and ideas to flow back and forth (139) between the tabernacle as holy space and the outside world. Symbolic space is the space of emotion, affectation, and aesthetics, which gives such space social meaning (142). George uses ancient Near Eastern building inscriptions, especially foundation deposits

5 placed inside stone boxes and then imbedded in the foundations of buildings (149 57), to explain the symbolic meaning of the ark as throne, footstool, and depository box for legal documents (157 60), thus combining the royal, divine and legal (160). The tabernacle narratives can be classified as an account of a building project (160 62), specifically a royal building project (162 67), with the ark as the building deposit (167 74). As such, it circulates three kinds of social energy : social energy of the divine dwelling (174 79); of holiness (179 80); and of creation (181 89). Unique to the tabernacle account is the fact that the king is completely absent and that the actual building is a tent, not a permanent structure. This has important implications for the exiles. On the one hand, they could take heart from the fact that they could survive in the future, as the people of YHWH, without a king (167); on the other hand, they are ensured that [t]heir deity was one who had no fixed place for his divine dwelling, because he dwelt in a portable space that moved with the people (174). Thus Israel s God becomes the God of all space (179) and the tabernacle a microcosm of creation (183). George concludes that a number of social energies from the ancient Near East are reinterpreted and represented in tabernacle furnishings, rituals, personnel, materials, decorations, spatial logic, and even the literary structure of the narratives (190). A final chapter, Some Assembly Required (191 94), summarizes the main findings of George s analysis of the tabernacle narratives. I want to point to only three important perspectives that his spatial analysis contribute to these narratives. First, the narratives create a space unique to the Priestly writers of the exilic period s view, namely, that Israel s holy space can be created and re-created throughout creation, because it is portable (191). The implication is that [i]f Israel can determine east, it can re-create its social identity and organization (191). Second, the narratives express the Priestly writers understanding of the social logic and organization of Israel. Israel shares with the rest of the peoples of the world an identity as human beings created in the original act of creation (192). What distinguishes Israel from the other peoples is the covenantal relationship with YHWH. Third, this qualification has important consequences. The Priestly writers created a porous boundary between Israel and the rest of the world. Recognition of YHWH does not require that one be born into Israel (192). The short overview of the content of the book illustrates that George in many ways makes a unique contribution toward the interpretation of problematic material in the book of Exodus. A spatial analysis of the tabernacle narratives along the lines of Lefebvre s conceptual triad of spatial practice, conceptual space, and symbolic space provides new insights regarding the Priestly writers understanding of Israel as a community during the exilic period and their relationship with YHWH and the world. Portability and horizontal orientation on the east-west axis make it possible for exilic Israel to re-create its social identity in any space, because their God is the God of all space. George s analysis does not

6 answer all questions regarding the tabernacle narratives. To name but one interesting question: If, as George argues, the book of Exodus received its final form in the late postexilic period, how would the tabernacle narratives communicate with an audience who had already experienced the exile, had already rebuilt the temple, had already experienced yet another important change in their social identity and organization? But a spatial reading of the narratives in the context of exilic Israel certainly provides important insights in the understanding of the narratives. In the final analysis, this book is a must read for any biblical scholar interested in the process of understanding biblical texts in their social and cultural context(s).

Joel S. Baden Yale Divinity School New Haven, Connecticut

Joel S. Baden Yale Divinity School New Haven, Connecticut RBL 07/2010 Wright, David P. Inventing God s Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. xiv + 589. Hardcover. $74.00. ISBN