Lift Up Your Heads

Nonverbal Communication and Related Body Imagery in the Bible

Davies

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781498243650
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

We are increasingly conscious of the significance of our body language in our everyday interactions. The writers of the Bible were also aware of the role this nonverbal form of communication played and have recorded aspects of this in their narratives, or used idioms based on such gestures as head or hand movements, eye contact, and modes of dress. As with spoken or written language, postures and gestures need to be interpreted against a cultural background. This book provides a comprehensive overview of this rich world of nonverbal communication in the Old and New Testaments for the general reader and scholar alike.

1

Introduction

“A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance,” as the proverb says (Prov 15:13). That is, an emotion (happiness) is likely to be evident through our body language (a smiling face).1 Body language, or to use a term now commonly found in more formal discussion, nonverbal communication, covers the posture and movement of one’s body or its members, such as head movements, facial expressions, hand gestures, and whole body positioning and movement, in such a manner as to communicate status, relationships, attitudes, emotions, intentions, and commands. These postures, gestures, actions, looks, etc., may stand alone (nonverbal) or may accompany speech (co-verbal) as meaningful acts. For the sake of brevity, further references to nonverbal communication are generally to be understood as including co-verbal.2

The term nonverbal communication is strictly too broad for our purposes if interpreted to include such communication events as smoke signals (Judg 20:38) or the display of Rahab’s crimson cord in her window (Josh 2:18). The focus of this study will be on the references in the biblical text to the use of the body, apart from speech or in conjunction with speech, to aid the communication process. Of course, everything we do, or even fail to do, can potentially tell others something about us—our character, our emotions, our attitudes, our intentions, or expectations.3 Even those who habitually lie in bed all day (Prov 6:9–10) are telling us (whether they intend to or not) a great deal about their character as lazybones. The offering by the magi of gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matt 2:11) tells us something of their status, their estimation of the infant Jesus, and perhaps more if suggestions about the significance of the individual gifts are on the mark. We need to limit our focus to those actions which are more conventional or stylized; that is, those which generally have a meaning beyond a single context. To simple stances or movements of the body we might add actions involving items of clothing such as tearing one’s garments (cf. §4.11) or removing one’s sandals (cf. §6.3), and the use of other props which were ready to hand such as a ring or staff (chapter 5), items which are effectively extensions of the body.

We might also include as non-speech communication the utterance of sounds such as laughter, hissing, or whistling, which are not regarded as having a linguistic value, though the line between what is linguistic and non-linguistic vocalization is recognized to be very thin.4 To limit the scope of this study, interjections (“aha,” “woe,” “alas,” etc.) which are represented as lexemes in the text of the Bible (e.g., Gen 42:21; Ezek 16:23; Mark 15:29; Rev 18:19) will be excluded from further consideration.

This study then deals with nonverbal communication in the Bible. For the purposes of this study, the Bible will be taken to include the books of the Hebrew Bible (the OT) and the writings of the Greek NT, though all references will be given in English with English verse numberings.5 The books of the Apocrypha contain much useful material on nonverbal communication but are not included here as being less accessible to many Protestants.

Unlike the classical Greek and Roman literary corpus, the Bible contains little that could be said to reflect at a theoretical level on nonverbal communication, and nothing to compare with the extensive how-to manuals on the use and interpretation of gesture in public speaking. There is a tendency in the classical authors to try to read too much into physical appearance (physiognomy) and body language.6 It is possible to detect in Paul’s language of 1 Cor 2:1–5, when he eschewed “human wisdom,” a reference to the excessive reliance on oratorical technique, including gesture, by his contemporaries.7 The biblical writers, and not least Paul, do, however, demonstrate an awareness of the role of the body in communicating meaning, either along with or independently of speech.8

A proverb reflects on the power of nonverbal communication: “One who winks the eyes plans perverse things; one who compresses the lips brings evil to pass” (Prov 16:30), where the point is probably that deception is possible without a word being spoken (cf. §2.11). The Bible abounds in references to the body and its members, and includes a rich vocabulary of function words associated with parts of the body (turn, raise, reach, touch, kiss, clap, kneel, bow, fall, sit, run, etc.), including words we might not immediately recognize as involving posture or gesture but where body language underlies them (worship, respect, show favor, be generous). Even the act of praying is likely to be perceived by modern Western readers as a mental or at most vocal activity. Earlier readers would have understood this to involve the body. Nehemiah prays: “Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you” (Neh 1:6, emphasis added). The prophets of Israel in particular are noted for their significant use of pantomime-like actions to accompany or to substitute for the spoken word, as Isaiah’s “nakedness” (Isa 20:1–6), Jeremiah’s yoke (Jer 27–28), and Ezekiel’s mock siege of Jerusalem (Ezek 4:1–3), and while this is not a technical study of legal and prophetic gesture, reference will be made to some of these.9

When the writers of the Bible record an aspect of nonverbal communication by one party in a dialogue, and either explicitly or implicitly the other party takes note of this communication, we enter a shared realm of understanding between them and hopefully ourselves rightly understand this exchange, just as we hope through all of our lexical and grammatical studies to understand their recorded linguistic communication.

Nonverbal communication can range from the finest of movements of facial muscles to the stance and movement of the body as a whole. Jacob could read in his father-in-law’s face a change of attitude towards him (Gen 31:5). A silence, when speech is expected, can be quite eloquent (cf. §2.10). How close or far apart people position themselves can be instructive (cf. §6.7). When Joseph’s estranged brothers draw nearer to him at his invitation (Gen 45:4), the emotional impact of the revelation of their brother’s true identity is heightened.

Of course we only have a written account of all such communicative acts in the Bible, so we are at least one step removed at the outset from witnessing and being able to interpret such actions directly (insofar as the texts are historical rather than fictive). On the other hand, the written text offers us an advantage in the discernment of nonverbal communication. Whereas in face-to-face contact there could be any number of incidental movements which the observer must filter out to determine which ones convey information, whether intended or not, the biblical writers have done the filtering and included reference only to those gestures and expressions which they deem pertinent to the reader’s understanding of the interaction.10

We need to exercise a degree of caution in endeavo...