A Mother Gets Custody: The Legal Background to Genesis 21:14-21
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Yael Landman in
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Abstract
This article adopts a law and literature approach toward Genesis 21:14-21, focused on the legal themes within the narrative and how these themes shape the story. Genesis 21:14-21 records the expulsion of Hagar and her son from Abraham’s home. I identify multiple legal idioms and terms within this unit and argue that the narrative uses legal terminology in order to depict the child’s expulsion specifically as a transfer of custody from his father to his mother. In her marginalization from Abraham’s home, Hagar also gains legal rights, and this article examines these shifts in power from a law and literature perspective in order to interrogate Hagar’s parental rights within the biblical text and to demonstrate how they function within the ancestral narrative as a means of formalizing the rupture in Abraham’s household.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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A Mother Gets Custody: The Legal Background to Genesis 21:14-21
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by Yael Landman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article adopts a law and literature approach toward Genesis 21:14-21, focused on the legal themes within the narrative and how these themes shape the story. Genesis 21:14-21 records the expulsion of Hagar and her son from Abraham’s home. I identify multiple legal idioms and terms within this unit and argue that the narrative uses legal terminology in order to depict the child’s expulsion specifically as a transfer of custody from his father to his mother. In her marginalization from Abraham’s home, Hagar also gains legal rights, and this article examines these shifts in power from a law and literature perspective in order to interrogate Hagar’s parental rights within the biblical text and to demonstrate how they function within the ancestral narrative as a means of formalizing the rupture in Abraham’s household.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 367 | 114 | 18 |
| Full Text Views | 66 | 19 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 265 | 58 | 3 |
