Esther J. Hamori is associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary. Her publications include a book on divine anthropomorphism, “When Gods Were Men”: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature. She lives in New York, NY.
“The strength of this book rests not in the answers it offers,
though many of these are persuasive, but rather in the range of
questions it poses and the fairness with which it
raises them.”—A. Graeme Auld, Journal for the Study of the Old
Testament
“This first comprehensive scholarly study of the role that ancient
Israelite women played in facilitating communication between the
human and divine worlds offers penetrating and original insights. A
solid and judicious study, it will become required reading in the
field of biblical interpretation.”—Robert R. Wilson, Yale
University
"In this first comprehensive study of all female diviners in
the Hebrew Bible, Dr. Esther Hamori acknowledges the whole
spectrum of ways ancient women were believed to have access to
divine knowledge, providing refreshing new perspectives on
female figures often ignored by researchers and readers. Her
book is essential for everyone doing research on divination in
the Hebrew Bible and women’s agency in the ancient world."—
Martti Nissinen, University of Helsinki
"Esther Hamori’s book on women’s divination in biblical literature
fills an important gap. It makes a significant contribution to the
academic field while also providing a thought-provoking,
academically-responsible and much needed account for students and
educated lay readers who are thirsty for knowledge in these
areas. This volume will be widely read by multiple
audiences."—Ehud Ben Zvi, University of Alberta
"Hamori offers astute theoretical correctives to the ways in which
women who were skilled in the divinatory arts are often
misconstrued. Her provocative analysis is a requisite read
for anyone who wants to understand the full spectrum of women’s
acquisition of privileged divine knowledge."—Theodore J.
Lewis, Johns Hopkins University
“Esther Hamori brings divination to life as something fundamental
to the world views of the biblical authors. With considerable
erudition and with great and penetrating discernment, she shows how
complex divination was in the Hebrew Bible and how varied the
biblical attitudes toward it were. Hamori’s fascinating and model
analysis will have ramifications for many other fields of study.”—
Peter Machinist, Harvard University
“This first comprehensive scholarly study of the role that ancient
Israelite women played in facilitating communication between the
human and divine worlds offers penetrating and original insights. A
solid and judicious study, it will become required reading in the
field of biblical interpretation.”—Robert R. Wilson, Yale
University
*Robert R. Wilson*
"In this first comprehensive study of all female diviners in
the Hebrew Bible, Dr. Esther Hamori acknowledges the whole
spectrum of ways ancient women were believed to have access to
divine knowledge, providing refreshing new perspectives on
female figures often ignored by researchers and readers. Her
book is essential for everyone doing research on divination in
the Hebrew Bible and women’s agency in the ancient world."—
Martti Nissinen, University of Helsinki
*Martti Nissinen*
"Esther Hamori’s book on women’s divination in biblical literature
fills an important gap. It makes a significant contribution to the
academic field while also providing a thought-provoking,
academically-responsible and much needed account for students and
educated lay readers who are thirsty for knowledge in these
areas. This volume will be widely read by multiple
audiences."—Ehud Ben Zvi, University of Alberta
*Ehud Ben Zvi*
"Hamori offers astute theoretical correctives to the ways in which
women who were skilled in the divinatory arts are often
misconstrued. Her provocative analysis is a requisite read
for anyone who wants to understand the full spectrum of women’s
acquisition of privileged divine knowledge."—Theodore J.
Lewis, Johns Hopkins University
*Theodore J. Lewis*
"Divination is an elusive and probably for many readers an
insignificant phenomenon in the Hebrew Bible, but in Esther
Hamori's hands, it comes to life as something fundamental to the
world views of the biblical authors. With considerable erudition,
lightly worn, and even more, great and penetrating discernment,
Hamori gathers the biblical texts at issue, and shows how
many-sided a phenomenon divination was in the Hebrew Bible and how
varied, even contradictory, the biblical attitudes toward it were.
Hamori is an outstanding reader of the ancient texts. Patiently and
meticulously, she can crawl inside them and illuminate what they
say and do not say. In the process, she carries on a lively
conversation with previous interpreters, able and willing to build
both on their insights and, as she gently but firmly demonstrates,
on where they have gone astray. At the same time, she understands
the importance of comparative study, and in a series of judicious
forays into such other ancient Near Eastern cultures as the
Mesopotamian and the Hittite, she finds just the analogy that will
clarify what the often elliptical biblical text is assuming – all
the while very much aware of the dangers of pressing the analogy
too far. In sum, Hamori has not only opened up the phenomenon of
divination in the biblical world in new and fascinating ways, but
given us a model analysis that has ramifications for many other
fields of study."—Peter Machinist, Harvard University
*Peter Machinist*
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