Abstract
Incest was and is a universal taboo in human society. It is stigmatized as a deviation and leads to sanctions, in particular when minors are involved. Oral and written stories and narratives are stories that interpret and shape reality through the prism of power relations in society. In the present study, I carried out narrative analysis of incest stories in Hebrew Bible texts, those primordial stories and myths that shaped human society today. The article shows that incest was taboo from the onset, and is one of the seven Noahide laws. However, the social order was undermined already after the story of Creation: consanguineous marriages; sexual relations between a son and his stepmother, between a father and his daughters, and between a father and his daughter-in-law. The analysis shows that the brevity and ambiguity that characterize the Hebrew Bible “invited” interpretations and legends which biblical sages wrote over the generations. As a result, the text became part of a dynamic unit that forms new creations out of dialogue with the Book. Furthermore, the text is expropriated from the time axis and also serves as a relevant cultural work today. The feminist interpretation that attributes an important position to the reader enables reading that serves the feminist ideology and turns attention to subversive possibilities.
Highlights
Incest is a term that describes consanguineous sexual relations forbidden by a particular society’s law: between a father and his daughter or son, between a mother and her daughter or son, between a brother and a sister, etc. (Stiebert, 2016: pp. 1-18)
The analysis shows that the brevity and ambiguity that characterize the Hebrew Bible “invited” interpretations and legends which biblical sages wrote over the generations
The narrative inquiry may even help in a therapeutic situation, since it reconstructs the relations between the narrator-therapist and listener-patient
Summary
Incest (in Latin incestum/incestus, meaning impure, immodest) is a term that describes consanguineous sexual relations forbidden by a particular society’s law: between a father and his daughter or son, between a mother and her daughter or son, between a brother and a sister, etc. (Stiebert, 2016: pp. 1-18). The most common prohibition is incest between first-degree blood relatives: between a biological parent and a child, or between siblings. The prohibition of marriage between these relatives is derived from this, contrary to consanguineous marriages that were not forbidden and were rather common. In Catholic Christianity, it is forbidden to marry relatives up to the seventh degree. In Judaism and Islam it is permissible to marry some second-degree relatives, for example cousins In Judaism and Islam it is permissible to marry some second-degree relatives, for example cousins (Stiebert, 2016: pp. 1-18; Turner, Jonathan, & Maryanski, 2015)
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