Customer Reviews

Harlot by the Side of the Road

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In a society obsessed with religion, it is hard to imagine that, for most people, the Bible is virtually an unknown book. True, many American households have one gathering dust on the bookshelf, yet if the spine is cracked at all, it's generally for the purpose of finding out great-grandma's maiden name. The fact that the Bible is seldom read in its entirety in our day makes Jonathan Kirsch's new book, THE HARLOT BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD (Ballantine Books, 1997; 378 pages), that much more of value, for in pointing out some of its "forbidden tales," the author might just send his reader back to the source.

In HARLOT, Kirsch has picked out seven tales from the Hebrew Scriptures which set center-stage humankind in all its sinful glory. The accounts include rape, murder, genocide, and wholesale slaughter, all drawn from Holy Writ, and include such famous names as Lot, Moses, and even King David. Readers used to getting their Bible stories from Sunday services or Grolier adaptations will no doubt be shocked by what the Word of God includes.

Yet Kirsch is not writing with the now popular Bible-bashing attitude of, say, a Lloyd Graham (DECEPTIONS AND MYTHS OF THE BIBLE). While he does accept modern-day theories as to the authorship of the biblical canon, his purpose is not to poke fun; rather, he extracts from each of the tales he recounts something of value, whether it be historical or practical. This makes the book good reading for both believers and unbelievers seeking to get a handle on some of the cultural mysteries of biblical times.

Kirsch's format is instrumental in doing this. For each of the seven tales, he recounts the narrative in novelistic style, and provides detailed examinations of the various factors involved. This is particularly effective in his chapter entitled "Tamar and Judah," where he explains the concept of brother-in-law marriage, the status of women in patriarchal times, and the true "sin" of Onan (it's not masturbation). Extensive documentation from ancient and modern times is considered, though Kirsch never strays far from the biblical source.

It's an approach that should please both scholars and casual readers alike.

I'm an atheist who also happens to have a strong interest in religious history and theology. I find the Old Testament captivating because both God and humanity are depicted with a variety of traits, both positive and negative. The complexity of its characters makes for stories far richer and true to life than a simple morality play.

With "The Harlot By The Side Of The Road" Kirsch has plucked some of the most provocative biblical tales to demonstrate this point.I was already familiar with the seduction of Lot by his daughters. But other Bible stories, such as that of Tamar and Judah, were new and interesting to me. Thus I found Kirsch's book to be a very useful guide to discovering these hidden scriptures.

I must admit, however, that I usually preferred the succinct text of the Bible to Kirsch's imagination fuelled re-tellings. I highly recommend that readers carefully read the scripture itself before jumping into Kirsch's version. For example, Kirsch often attributes thoughts and feelings to the characters not clearly indicated by the biblical text. This is perhaps Kirsch's attempt at the Jewish tradition of Midrashic writing. But certain readers may end up being confused about what the Bible actually says.

Another significant portion of the book includes examination and interpretation of the stories presented. Kirsch presents his own point of view while also discussing the research of other religious scholars. This section of the book is interesting enough. But actually my favorite parts were towards the end. The final chapter - "God's Novel Has Suspense" - is where Kirsch espouses his ideas about why the Old Testament still holds purpose and power for us today. The appendix provides a fascinating look into who wrote the various sections of the Herbew Bible and how these writings were collected and translated. He even makes a fairly strong case that the writer "J", who wrote much of Genesis was, in fact, a woman and thus many of the most important stories of the Bible are actually told from a female prespective. Good stuff!

Lot's daughters drug and rape their own father. Jacob's sons sacrilegiously slaughter Hamor's recently-circumcised clan. YHWH's night attack on Moses is thwarted by a perplexing smearing of blood. A Levite abandons his concubine to gang rape and uses her death to foment genocide. All of these tales are in the Bible. Yet their content is peculiar, distasteful and difficult to reconcile with modern preferences for a God who is undemanding and unthreatening.

"The Harlot by the Side of the Road" is no mere unmasking of the sensational parts of the bible. Author Jonathan Kirsch retells each tale in a modern novelistic style, interspersed with the biblical accounts themselves, allowing us to read the original and its retelling side by side. Kirsch then uses these tales as springboards to explore ancient social mores as well as the development of the Bible itself. Kirsch helps the reader to recognize and set aside the strong moral and xenophobic tone of post-Exilic editors, allowing a peek into the looser social practices that held sway prior to Israel's return from captivity.

The book's subtitle, "Forbidden Tales of the Bible" is a bit of an overstatement. While it's hard to find a home for these tales in a typical liturgical setting, the tales are hardly forbidden. What ought to be forbidden (at least taken with a grain of salt) are the head-spinning interpretations of some serious biblical scholars. Kirsch skims the conclusions of a number of scholarly schools--including Freudian, rabbinical, radical feminist and traditional--before finally settling on something more reasonable. Tamar's seduction of father-in-law (and patriarch) Judah, for instance, is difficult only if you insist that biblical morality never changed. But learning that the anti-prostitution Mosaic moral code postdated Judah's time by hundreds of years helps us to see Judah's behavior as less of an aberration.

"The Harlot by the Side of the Road" provides no illicit thrills. But it may scandalize those who reject the idea that the Bible went through hundreds of years of telling and editing. Truth be told, Kirsch is on sound scholarly ground. The ideas in this book are old news in any middle-of-the-road biblical history course, including those taught in seminaries.

For those who want a window into the violent and alien world of ancient Israel, and who are open to the idea that the Bible is a book with human fingerprints all over it, this book is strongly recommended.

I expected this book to fuel my sketicism about Christianity and all the Book religions. To my pleasant surprise not only did I get an interesting and meaningful history lesson but I was also rewarded with a deeper understanding of the Book and its teachings. The Book's stories come to life and its lessons became more meaningful.Thank you Mr. Kirsch for your courage in expressing this wealth of knowledge on such an emotional subjet.

A spiritual person has nothing to be afraid of by picking up and reading this book. The Harlot will not corrupt but enlighten.

This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed. I bought it because it seemed a little more "entertaining" than most books that take a hard look at the Bible, but I was caught off guard by the degree of insight contained within. Not only does Kirsch artfully present six of the "forbidden" stories in such a way that they come alive, but he also offers a good deal of background to help you understand the cultural significance of the stories, as well as some insight into what they say about the whole Bible.

The stories are not going to be unfamiliar to anyone who has really read the Old Testament. It's not like these stories are hidden and can only be found "between the lines." They are just stories that seem so preposterous, so dissonent with the message you hear in Sunday School or from the pulpit that rather than look at them, we ignore them. Kirsch makes the argument that not only is that denial not necessary, it's even harmful to our understanding! These stories underscore the humanity of the characters and the writers of the Bible, making it far more rich and interesting than the few sterile verses that constitute the average person's understanding of the bible.

The stories he relates in literary form include the tale of Lot's daughters, the rape of Jacob's daughter Dinah, the story of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar, how Moses' wife Zipporah saved him from being killed by God, the gang-rape and murder of a Levite's concubine, and the rape of David's daughter Tamar. Coupled with these principal stories is a smattering of other tidbits, including the story of Jacob wrestling with God (and defeating Him!) and the lusty excesses of King David and his sons. You won't believe what you read, and you won't want to put it down!

While I highly recommend this book, I only rate it four stars because there seems to be *some* unwillingness to admit the degree to which the stories he relates are radically sexist, and their interpretations as well as their implications stem from a horribily sexist, misguided culture, one which may contribute to the perpetuation of such nonsense to this day. Kirsch is a little too forgiving for my blood, and thus only 4 stars. Otherwise, I have no complaints and will recommend this book frequently.

Harlot by The Side of the Road was not only an interesting read that kept my attention throughout, it was a refreshing viewpoint which challeneged religious boundaries and censorship. The book focused on stories from the bible, well researched and explicated, which are not usually included in biblical texts. Kirsch has taken taboo subjects and explored them as part of human nature. I found that Kirsch retained a great sense of respect for ancient texts while trying to keep such sensitive subjects open to speculation and exploration. This was a great book and I highly recommend it.

This is a fun way to get into biblical scholarship. The author starts with Biblical stories that can be hard for us to understand because they seem very immoral and strange (Why did Lot offer his daughters to the men outside his door? Why did Tamar want to seduce her father-in-law? What was the night attack on Moses?). He then provides some history and understanding of the era and what may be behind the writing. I came away from this book thinking of how much richer the Bible is than I had ever imagined! For example, two stories may have been combined by an editor. Or the author may have had a personal axe to grind(attacking the Benjaminites in another story). Or the translator may have mistranslated some of the words. It helped me to see what a fascinating subject this is---combining history, language, customs and a lot of detective work!

This book is worth reading for anyone who thinks the Bible is sanctimonious and boring. The writing is very easy to read, and I would have gotten through the book much faster except I kept stopping to look through my copy of the Bible (the Oxford Study Bible) to see how it told each of the stories presented by Kirsch. (You don't need to have a Bible handy to read the book -- Kirsch includes quotes from the King James Version for each story -- but I wanted to compare it with one of the latest translations as well.)

For those who want to find out more about the *really* sexy stuff in the Bible, "The Song of Songs" by Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch reveals the real meaning of the allegories and veiled references in the Song of Solomon that would have been readily understood by the piece's contemporary audience but are now mostly missed or explained away.

First, let me say that I am an atheist who has never really sat down to read the bible at any great length, and yet I was familiar with several of the "forbidden tales". I found the book to be an entertaining and somewhat thought provoking read. Reading Kirsch's book has actually made me want to explore further the field of biblical analysis and scholarship. So, I suppose that you could say in that respect, the book is good. What, after all, should a book do if not make you want to know more about its subject matter.

Harlot By The Side of the Road is billed (on the cover of the book, no less) as "Forbidden Tales of the Bible", a theme that is further developed on the fly leaves. It is that, but so much more.

Concentrating on those tales (that do involve sex, incest, rape) that many would rather forget are in the Bible, Kirsch analyzes them on two levels: He retells each of seven tales in narrative style, then follows with a detailed (scholarly even!) analysis of how that tale came to be and why it has meaning for us all, despite its' apparent purient nature. Two examples suffice to illustrate:

1. Lot's drunken incestuous relationship with his daughters is that, but it is no worse than the necessarily incestuous relationship inherent in the Creation Myth (who did the children of Adam and Eve marry?). Kirsch reminds us that the devastation of Sodom and Gomorrah was so extensive that Lot's daughters truly believed that they were the only people left on earth,... and from this incestuous event arose the lineages of Moab, from whom came a woman (Ruth) whose lineage then went on to David and Jesus. Thus Kirsch concludes that "... the mountain cave .... turns out tobe the womb of history, in both Jewish and Christian traditions"

2. The Rape of Dinah is indeed a tale of mindless genocide over an incident that may or may not have a historical basis, but it is also a mirror on humanity which has used two methods to solve problems -- armed conflict vs negotiated settlements. Sometimes one, sometimes the other. Both are evident in this story. Kirsch notes that the "pious ghoswriters who fashioned myth and legend... into the book we know as the Bible" wove commentaries on both methods into this tale.

Highly recommended for thoughtful readers.