


"They were trying to think about them and think with them," she said. Richey said monsters have traditionally gotten short shrift from Biblical scholars, who have dismissed them as incidental or irrelevant or explained them away as antiquated descriptions of real animals such as crocodiles and bison.īut ancient peoples attached huge significance to monsters, Richey said. She finds them everywhere - in the Book of Numbers, where God sends snakes to punish the Israelites to the mysterious nephilim, sons of God, in Genesis who cohabitate with human women to the more well-known ones such as the Leviathan, the giant fish in Jonah, and the demoness Lilith. People read the Hebrew Bible for all sorts of things - spiritual guidance, literary inspiration, moral enlightenment.Īssistant professor of Hebrew Bible Madadh Richey looks for monsters.

Graduate Professional Studies (Online Programs) Rabb School: Graduate Professional Studies Heller School for Social Policy and Management
