Rife with incest, rape, and murder, the biblical story of Jacob and his children must have troubled ancient readers. This title traces the steps of ancient biblical interpreters as they struggled with such problems. It reveals how they often fixed on a little detail in the Bible's wording to 'deduce' something not openly stated in the narrative.
"James Kugel is the expert in the history of biblical interpretation, and he offers a great introduction to and explanation of ancient exegesis of these parts of Genesis."--James VanderKam, University of Notre Dame
"A wonderful book. The chapters follow their subjects detail by detail with a kind of masterfully unpredictable logic, almost like a detective story."--David Stern, University of Pennsylvania
"James Kugel fuses immense learning with a poignant (yet wary) nostalgia for what he has called 'the God of old'. The Ladder of Jacob could be read side-by-side with Thomas Mann's Joseph tetralogy. Kugel, like Mann, belongs to authentic cultures now vanished or vanishing. Both novelist and scholar temper their ironies with wisdom and a sense of justice."--Harold Bloom, author of Jesus and Yahweh and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?
"All in all a fascinating and valuable contribution to the history of interpretation."
---R. Tomes, Society for Old Testament Studies
