“Show me thy glory” Sacred language and political rhetoric in Exodus 33:18-23

Abstract

The text of the Hebrew Bible as instrument of rhetorical projection of political and theological conflicts in the horizon of its production. The objective is to analyze rhetorically Ex 33:18-23, applying at the pericope hermeneutical procedures of social-historical approach and rhetoric analysis, and intending to identify possible relationships between the narrative and the historical and social horizon of its production. As methodological steps, it was translated the Hebrew text from Ex 33:18-23, it was compared with the versions in Portuguese, it was analyzed rhetorically each section of the pericope and sought to identify the elements of contact between the narrative and the historical and social world-that produced it and serves as its semantic context. It was concluded that this is a critical and sarcastic text to priestly prerogatives that marked the political and social transformation of Judah after the Babylonian captivity. The narrative rhetorical strategy is, in the form of a request to the deity, to isolate the priestly postulated in v. 18, confronting it in v. 19-23 through three categorical denials by Yahweh.

Keywords

• Ex 33,18-23, análise retórica, exegese, crítica, ironia