Jacob's Tears The Priestly Work of Reconciliation [Paperback]

Who is Israel? Who were the priestly authors of the Pentateuch? This anthropological reading of the Bible, by a world-renowned scholar, starts by asking why the Book of Numbers lists the twelve tribes of Israel seven times. Mary Douglas argues that the editors, far from being a separate elite unconcerned with their congregation's troubles, cherished a political agenda, a religious protest against the government of Judah's exclusionary policies. The priestly theology depends on God's Covenant with all the descendants of Jacob, including the sons of Joseph. It would have been unpatriotic, even subversive, to speak against the wars with Samaria. This book suggest an explanation of the editors' disappearance from the history of Israel.

Introduction
1. Counting Jacob's twelve sons
2. Jacob weeping for Joseph
3. Ezra redefines all Israel as Judah
4. Balaam delivers God's blessing on all Israel
5. Nine rules for reading rings
6. Numbers, a ring for meditating on twelveness
7. God's presence in his house
8. The body/house microcosm in a book
9. Uncleanness and taboo draw the lines of the world
10. One God, no ancestors in a world renewed

Mary Douglasis Emerita Professor of Anthropology at University College London