The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10-35:15 as a Votive Narrative

Synopsis: Daniel Hankore argues that the story of Genesis 28:10--35:15 has been misunderstood and mistranslated for two thousand years. He seeks to shed new light on it from Ethiopias Hadiyya culture revealing Genesis 28:10--35:15 to be a votive narrative. Making use of relevance theory Hankore tries to reconstruct the intended message of the story from the narrators point of view. Genesis 28:10--35:15 is presented as a coherent narrative unit and each episode of the story including the Dinah story is a part of the building blocks of the discourse structure of this coherent votive narrative. Hankore shows that a correct understanding of the Hebrew concept נדר (vow) in the context of the ancient Israelites social institution is fundamental for the reading and translating of Genesis 28:10--35:15. Endorsements: This is a fresh and original contribution to the interpretation of Genesis. It also contains a full and thorough evaluation of more traditional critical and historical approaches to the issues raised by Genesis 25-35. It deserves to be taken most seriously by future scholars trying to understand these chapters of Scripture. --Gordon Wenham Tutor at Trinity College Bristol Hankores effort to bring together cultural assumptions in modern Ethiopia the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East is convincing. I recommend it to Bible translators and scholars alike. --R. J. Sim Professor of Linguistics and Translation Africa International University This work is a stimulating example of what reading from a non-Western perspective can add to biblical exegesis uncovering links Western eyes can easily miss in this case the central role of vows in the Jacob narrative including the story of Dinah. Hankore also breaks new ground in his careful analysis of vows and oaths in biblical Hebrew. --Maik Gibson Senior Sociolinguistics Consultant SIL International and Africa International University Nairobi Daniel Hankore offers readers an important and stimulating contribution to the interpretation of the Jacob narratives. His discussion of the nature of vows the structure of the Genesis text and Dinahs abduction advance the discussion in helpful new ways. Robin Parry author of Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study Author Biography: Dr. Daniel Hankore is Bible Translation Consultant at SIL Ethiopia Branch.