Lift Up Your Heads: Nonverbal Communication and Related Body Imagery in the Bible

By John A. Davies

We are increasingly conscious of the significance of our body language in our everyday interactions. The writers of the Bible were also aware of the role this nonverbal form of communication played and have recorded aspects of this in their narratives, or used idioms based on such gestures as head or hand movements, eye contact, and modes of dress. As with spoken or written language, postures and gestures need to be interpreted against a cultural background. This book provides a comprehensive overview of this rich world of nonverbal communication in the Old and New Testaments for the general reader and scholar alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Release date: Jun 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781498243650

John A. Davies

Until December 2018 JOHN A. DAVIES was Chief Curator for Norfolk Museums Service (NMS), member of the Senior Management Team and Keeper of Archaeology. Prior to retiring, he was Project Director (at NMS) for the major project to re-develop the historic Norman Keep at Norwich Castle – the largest museum heritage project in the UK. He previously led the Interreg European project ‘Norman Connections’, linking historic sites in Normandy and southern England. He has worked as an archaeologist in Norfolk since 1984 and is a highly experienced museum professional of over 30 years.

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Lift Up Your Heads

Nonverbal Communication and Related Body Imagery in the Bible

John A. Davies

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Lift Up Your Heads

Nonverbal Communication and Related Body Imagery in the Bible

Copyright © 2018 John A. Davies. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Pickwick Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-1825-3

hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-4366-7

ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-4365-0

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Davies, John A., author.

Title: Lift up your heads : nonverbal communication and related body imagery in the Bible / John A. Davies.

Description: Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2018 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-1825-3 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-4982-4366-7 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-4982-4365-0 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Human body in the Bible | Body image—Biblical teaching | Nonverbal communication | Body language | Bible—Hermeneutics | Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. | Bible. New Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Classification: bs680.b6 d385 2018 (print) | bs680.b6 (ebook)

Unless otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Illustrations from The Symbolism of the Biblical World by Othmar Keel are used with the permission of the author. Unless specified, references to Keel illustration numbers (Keel #) are to this work.

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/17/15

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Abbreviations

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The Head

Chapter 3: The Eyes

Chapter 4: The Neck, Torso, and Whole Body

Chapter 5: The Arms and Hands

Chapter 6: The Legs and Feet

Chapter 7: Conclusion

Bibliography

For my grandchildren

Charlotte, Ella, Harrison, Owen, Alice, Cora, Theodore, and Bree

Lift up your heads, O gates!

and be lifted up, O ancient doors!

that the King of glory may come in.

—Psalm 24:7

Preface

This work grew out of some four decades of teaching the Bible and reflecting on a somewhat neglected aspect of the information it contains—that relating to the recorded posture and movement of the characters who inhabit its pages and the metaphorical use of gesture idioms such as raising the hand or covering the head. Often one looks in vain at the commentaries for some insight on what might be signified when a character stands or sits, falls to the ground, claps her hands, shakes her head, touches her throat, removes a sandal, or remains silent. Perhaps at times we are right to assume they act as we might act. Perhaps at times there are cultural elements we have not fully understood. Only through a careful compilation of the references to similar gestures and their contexts, and a comparison, where relevant, with other ancient texts from the milieu of the biblical writers, and with the iconography of Western Asia and the Mediterranean world, can we with more confidence lift up our own heads. I have become convinced of the need for such a book to address a blind spot in our reading of the Bible as more than one scholar, on hearing of my project, has remarked that he could only think of one or two places in the Bible where reference is made to a gesture!

I express my gratitude to Professor Othmar Keel for generously allowing the use of illustrations from his The Symbolism of the Biblical World. Sami and Samia Gerges assisted with understanding aspects of nonverbal communication in the living cultures of Egypt and Western Asia. Dr Carole Ferch-Johnson kindly provided me with a copy of her unpublished manuscript, Human Hands and Feet and Their Functions as Media of Nonverbal Communication in the Narratives of Acts 3:1–11 and 9:1–19a. Steven Coxhead read the manuscript and made some helpful suggestions. My wife Julie assisted with the indexing.

Abbreviations

§ section number in this book

# illustration number

AB The Anchor Bible

ANEP The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament. With Supplement. 2nd ed. By James B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 2nd ed. with Supplement. Edited by James B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament

BDAG Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

BT The Bible Translator

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CoS The Context of Scripture. 3 vols. Edited by William W. Hallo. Leiden: Brill, 2003.

DCH The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. 8 vols. Edited by David J. A. Clines. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1993–2011.

NIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. 5 vols., edited by Willem A. VanGemeren. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997.

ESV The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001.

HALOT The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. 2 vols. Study edition. By Ludwig Koehler et al. Translated and edited under M. E. J. Richardson. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: B&H, 1989.

HTR Harvard Theological Review

IBD The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. 3 vols. Edited by J. D. Douglas et al. Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity, 1980.

IEJ Israel Exploration Journal

JANES Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society

JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies

JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages

JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JSOTS Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series

lit. literally

LXX Septuagint

Message The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. By Eugene H. Peterson. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2002.

NET The New English Translation of the Bible. net.bible.org

NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NTS New Testament Studies

NIV11 The Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

NLT2 The Holy Bible: New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2015.

NRSV Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.

OTL The Old Testament Library

REB Revised English Bible with the Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

s.v. see under the word

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. 10 vols. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1976.

TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. 14 vols. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley et al. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974–2004.

VT Vetus Testamentum

WBC Word Biblical Commentary

WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

1

Introduction

A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, as the proverb says (Prov 15:13). That is, an emotion (happiness) is likely to be evident through our body language (a smiling face).¹ Body language, or to use a term now commonly found in more formal discussion, nonverbal communication, covers the posture and movement of one’s body or its members, such as head movements, facial expressions, hand gestures, and whole body positioning and movement, in such a manner as to communicate status, relationships, attitudes, emotions, intentions, and commands. These postures, gestures, actions, looks, etc., may stand alone (nonverbal) or may accompany speech (co-verbal) as meaningful acts. For the sake of brevity, further references to nonverbal communication are generally to be understood as including co-verbal.²

The term nonverbal communication is strictly too broad for our purposes if interpreted to include such communication events as smoke signals (Judg 20:38) or the display of Rahab’s crimson cord in her window (Josh 2:18). The focus of this study will be on the references in the biblical text to the use of the body, apart from speech or in conjunction with speech, to aid the communication process. Of course, everything we do, or even fail to do, can potentially tell others something about us—our character, our emotions, our attitudes, our intentions, or expectations.³ Even those who habitually lie in bed all day (Prov 6:9–10) are telling us (whether they intend to or not) a great deal about their character as lazybones. The offering by the magi of gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matt 2:11) tells us something of their status, their estimation of the infant Jesus, and perhaps more if suggestions about the significance of the individual gifts are on the mark. We need to limit our focus to those actions which are more conventional or stylized; that is, those which generally have a meaning beyond a single context. To simple stances or movements of the body we might add actions involving items of clothing such as tearing one’s garments (cf. §4.11) or removing one’s sandals (cf. §6.3), and the use of other props which were ready to hand such as a ring or staff (chapter 5), items which are effectively extensions of the body.

We might also include as non-speech communication the utterance of sounds such as laughter, hissing, or whistling, which are not regarded as having a linguistic value, though the line between what is linguistic and non-linguistic vocalization is recognized to be very thin.⁴ To limit the scope of this study, interjections (aha, woe, alas, etc.) which are represented as lexemes in the text of the Bible (e.g., Gen 42:21; Ezek 16:23; Mark 15:29; Rev 18:19) will be excluded from further consideration.

This study then deals with nonverbal communication in the Bible. For the purposes of this study, the Bible will be taken to include the books of the Hebrew Bible (the OT) and the writings of the Greek NT, though all references will be given in English with English verse numberings.⁵ The books of the Apocrypha contain much useful material on nonverbal communication but are not included here as being less accessible to many Protestants.

Unlike the classical Greek and Roman literary corpus, the Bible contains little that could be said to reflect at a theoretical level on nonverbal communication, and nothing to compare with the extensive how-to manuals on the use and interpretation of gesture in public speaking. There is a tendency in the classical authors to try to read too much into physical appearance (physiognomy) and body language.⁶ It is possible to detect in Paul’s language of 1 Cor 2:1–5, when he eschewed human wisdom, a reference to the excessive reliance on oratorical technique, including gesture, by his contemporaries.⁷ The biblical writers, and not least Paul, do, however, demonstrate an awareness of the role of the body in communicating meaning, either along with or independently of speech.⁸

A proverb reflects on the power of nonverbal communication: One who winks the eyes plans perverse things; one who compresses the lips brings evil to pass (Prov 16:30), where the point is probably that deception is possible without a word being spoken (cf. §2.11). The Bible abounds in references to the body and its members, and includes a rich vocabulary of function words associated with parts of the body (turn, raise, reach, touch, kiss, clap, kneel, bow, fall, sit, run, etc.), including words we might not immediately recognize as involving posture or gesture but where body language underlies them (worship, respect, show favor, be generous). Even the act of praying is likely to be perceived by modern Western readers as a mental or at most vocal activity. Earlier readers would have understood this to involve the body. Nehemiah prays: "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you (Neh 1:6, emphasis added). The prophets of Israel in particular are noted for their significant use of pantomime-like actions to accompany or to substitute for the spoken word, as Isaiah’s nakedness" (Isa 20:1–6), Jeremiah’s yoke (Jer 27–28), and Ezekiel’s mock siege of Jerusalem (Ezek 4:1–3), and while this is not a technical study of legal and prophetic gesture, reference will be made to some of these.⁹

When the writers of the Bible record an aspect of nonverbal communication by one party in a dialogue, and either explicitly or implicitly the other party takes note of this communication, we enter a shared realm of understanding between them and hopefully ourselves rightly understand this exchange, just as we hope through all of our lexical and grammatical studies to understand their recorded linguistic communication.

Nonverbal communication can range from the finest of movements of facial muscles to the stance and movement of the body as a whole. Jacob could read in his father-in-law’s face a change of attitude towards him (Gen 31:5). A silence, when speech is expected, can be quite eloquent (cf. §2.10). How close or far apart people position themselves can be instructive (cf. §6.7). When Joseph’s estranged brothers draw nearer to him at his invitation (Gen 45:4), the emotional impact of the revelation of their brother’s true identity is heightened.

Of course we only have a written account of all such communicative acts in the Bible, so we are at least one step removed at the outset from witnessing and being able to interpret such actions directly (insofar as the texts are historical rather than fictive). On the other hand, the written text offers us an advantage in the discernment of nonverbal communication. Whereas in face-to-face contact there could be any number of incidental movements which the observer must filter out to determine which ones convey information, whether intended or not, the biblical writers have done the filtering and included reference only to those gestures and expressions which they deem pertinent to the reader’s understanding of the interaction.¹⁰

We need to exercise a degree of caution in endeavoring to reconstruct in any detail the physical gestures of the lived experience of the Israelites or their neighbors of the second or first millennium BC, or Jews, Christians, or pagans of the first century AD. Texts may use hyperbole, or stylize a character’s actions for their own rhetorical purposes. There may be some literary conventions which take on a life of their own with little to anchor them in the social conventions of the era the texts represent. Did people really fall face-down on the ground as frequently as the texts suggest, or is this a literary device to highlight the drama of the events depicted?

We are further constrained by the fact that speech, and particularly its derivative, writing, lack the range of subtlety of which nonverbal communication is capable. Human lips alone have a dozen or so muscles to shape them into an astonishing array of distinguishable positions. If we read that a hand is stretched out, is it clenched or open, palm in or out or up, and is the movement fast or slow? Does stretching out the hand, then, suggest simply pointing out something, or an act of aggression, or an overture of friendship, or the commencement of a speech, or something else? There is a limited number of words to indicate raising the hand, touching, or looking, for example, whereas these actions can be performed in an infinitely subtly variable range of ways and degrees, with corresponding gradation of intent. Written language is digital, whereas nonverbal communication is analogue, and spoken language a combination of the two (with the paralinguistic elements of gradation in volume, pitch, and pace).¹¹ The same Hebrew word can denote arrival (Gen 28:12), a reassuring touch (Dan 8:18), sexual molestation (Ruth 2:9), a beating (Prov 6:33), and affliction with plague or disease (Gen 12:17; 2 Chr 26:20). We are not going to be able neatly to correlate the communicative function of certain postures or gestures with particular vocabulary or to assign a one-gesture-one-meaning solution to the study of nonverbal communication in the Bible. However, through bringing together material in a more comprehensive manner than has been done to this point I hope to offer some insights and to stimulate further research. As David Calabro observes,

Relationships and contrasts . . . exist between the gestures described in ancient texts; paying attention to these allows one to tap a level of meaning beyond the analysis of isolated gestures. The meanings attached to these relationships and contrasts, like the grammatical rules of ancient languages, are rarely if ever stated explicitly in the texts, but they can be discovered through assembling examples of gestures and noting patterns of how they are used in context.¹²

As always, then, context plays a significant role in determining the meaning of the language employed to denote gesture, just as it must with the gestures themselves in real life.

Our expressions and gestures can be more or less instinctive and reflexive, such as smiling in response to a pleasing stimulus, turning or covering the face in shame, or putting a hand to the mouth to indicate silence. Such actions tend to be universal and hence more readily grasped by modern readers. Other gestures and body language are more voluntary, more culturally determined, and hence more open to misunderstanding. A modern Western reader might be inclined to interpret the phrase shake his hand (Isa 10:32 KJV) as a friendly initiative, whereas in context it indicates threatened judgment. Translators can ameliorate this by using the word fist for which there is no specific Hebrew equivalent. On the other hand, we may miss something of the significance of the right hand of fellowship (Gal 2:9) if we see it simply as a parting gesture of goodwill. And what is a modern reader to make of the intentions of one who places his hand under the thigh of another (Gen 24:2)? It is to these more ambiguous forms of nonverbal communication that we need to give greater attention.

No sharp distinction will be made here between gesture and body language as maintained by Cotterell and Turner.¹³ Nor does this study make a sharp distinction between involuntary and voluntary movement in that both may be revealing. Charles Darwin (who effectively marks the beginning of the modern scientific study of nonverbal communication) demonstrated the relationship between reflex actions and acquired habits (including some observations based on biblical references), and tended to universalize gesture as a natural reaction to stimuli, minimizing cultural difference in expressions of gesture.¹⁴ The philosopher of language E. P. Grice posited a polar distinction between natural (spontaneous) and non-natural (intentional) nonverbal communication, while others such as D. McNeill, Adam Kendon, and Tim Wharton have since refined this and demonstrated a continuum from gesticulation, through pantomime and culturally determined signaling, to signing.¹⁵ Wharton draws on relevance theory to show how it is not a matter of simply coding and decoding specific items of nonverbal communication, but each gesture is context-dependent for its interpretation, and its meaning needs to be inferred, so is not necessarily reducible to words. Some would prefer to restrict the designation nonverbal communication to voluntary movements, using nonverbal information to refer to involuntary ones.¹⁶ But natural gestures can be intentionally displayed or concealed with varying degrees of success. Sarah tried unsuccessfully to conceal her laughter at the news she would have a son (Gen 18:12–15), whereas Habakkuk pictures the advancing Babylonians who very openly laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it (Hab 1:10). On recognizing his brothers (Gen 42:7), Joseph managed for quite some time to contain his emotion in front of them but, after a couple of bouts of secret weeping (Gen 42:24; 43:30), eventually he could no longer control himself (Gen 45:1) and wept loudly (Gen 45:2; cf. §3.2.2). Smiling is both innate and universal on the one hand, and learned and cultural on the other, and as many as nineteen different smiles have been identified by researchers.¹⁷

There is also in the languages of the Bible (as in most languages) a vast range of metaphorical expressions employing words for body parts or movements.¹⁸ Walking is a standard metaphor for conduct or lifestyle (Ps 1:1; Mic 6:8; John 12:35), and standing for endurance (Exod 14:13; Eph 6:13; Phil 4:1). Some of these may owe their origin to physiological correlations of emotions and parts of the body.¹⁹ Many may have had their origin in cultural communicative gesture, but it is not always clear whether an element of this survives in the actual texts under consideration. Are we to picture a physical gesture in all references to raising the hand in an oath-taking context, e.g., Gen 14:22 where NRSV simply has I have sworn to the Lord? Given that the key Hebrew and Greek words usually translated worship refer in their etymology to the physical action of bowing or falling to the ground, are we to envisage this as taking place every time the word worship occurs or do some instances refer to an inner attitude alone (cf. §4.6)? We need to be open to the possibility that what we consider a purely internal process (as evidenced by some of our modern translations) may, in a different culture, have survived as a genuine act of nonverbal communication.

We recognize the reference to heaping burning coals on heads (Rom 12:20) as a metaphor. But what about Paul’s injunctions regarding head coverings for men and women in 1 Cor 11:4–7? And what could Jesus have meant when he taught that the eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light (Matt 6:22; cf. §3.2.1)?

This book does not endeavor to deal with the wealth of references to internal organs (heart, liver, kidneys, womb, intestines, blood, bones, etc.) which are frequently associated with various cognitive and emotional functions, but by their hidden nature are not normally involved with any nonverbal communicative actions.²⁰ Where idiomatic expressions are based on gestures, some of these will be touched on in the discussion that follows.²¹ A typical body idiom refers to a body part and an action or state predicated of the body part and where we understand that the reference is not literal; that is, the meaning of the whole is not immediately transparent from its components. Translations differ in the way they treat such idioms. Particularly where translators apparently feel the idiom may be reasonably transparent to a modern English reader, they may render the components of the Hebrew or Greek expression in a formally equivalent way. So we get: Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head (Gen 40:13 NRSV; cf. §2.3), or You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears (Acts 7:51 NRSV). Elsewhere, particularly where translators believe the idiom is opaque, or in translations where more dynamic equivalence is preferred in general, body idioms may be rendered without reference to the body. Thus Acts 7:51 (cited above from NRSV) becomes: You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth (NLT2). The Message renders heaping coals on the head as: Your generosity will surprise him with goodness (Rom 12:20), but is this understanding correct (cf. §2.6)? There is a gradation from literal to metonymic or metaphorical uses of body terminology as well as a gradation from involuntary through to voluntary body movements. Thus it will not always be possible to tell if a writer intends us to picture a literal action, or to infer the idiomatic meaning of the expression. When God stretches out his hands, that is, to plead or entreat (Isa 65:2), we know it is an idiom, but what about when Moses is said to do the same