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Drawing on contemporary studies showing that maternal grief can be instrumental in societal change, this volume argues that this is also a facet in biblical studies. It discusses narratives that draw on maternal grief as a model or archetype in Ancient Near Eastern literature.

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Setting out from the observation made in the social sciences that maternal grief can at times be a motor of societal change, Ekaterina E. Kozlova demonstrates that a similar mechanism operates also in the biblical world. Kozlova argues that maternal grief is treated as a model or archetype of grief in biblical and Ancient Near Eastern literature. The work considers three narratives and one poem that illustrate the transformative power of maternal grief in the
biblical presentation: Gen 21, Hagar and Ishmael in the desert; 2 Sam 21: 1-14, Rizpah versus King David; 2 Sam 14, the speech of the Tekoite woman; Jer 31: 15-22, Rachel weeping for her children. Although only one of the texts literally refers to a bereaved mother (2 Sam 21 on Rizpah), all four passages
draw on the motif of maternal grief, and all four stage some form of societal transformation.

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Kozlova´s rich and readable study makes a convincing argument for viewing the Bible´s grieving mothers as uniquely powerful rhetorical figures with a shared narrative function ... [it] provides a strong foundation for her and others to build upon. Amy Kalmanofsky, Catholic Biblical Quarterly

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Ekaterina E. Kozlova is an independent scholar.

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