Abstract
Abstract Commentators have long struggled to make sense of the role that ravens play in the story of Elijah, questioning why these predatory birds with a reputation for cruelty would be recruited to share their food during a time of scarcity. This essay takes up the reception history of biblical ravens, considering how various interpreters have drawn upon observational knowledge of ravens to explain the mysterious role ravens play in the feeding of Elijah in 1 Kings 17 and Noah’s commission of the raven in the wake of the flood in Genesis 8. The essay both recalls and reenacts this interpretive tradition by assembling together pieces of this reception history together with the work of modern ornithologists on the corvus corax to provide some insights for how we might understand the particular significance of ravens in the care and feeding of Elijah.
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