The Trickster Revisited: Deception as a Motif in the Pentateuch explores the use of deception
in the Pentateuch and uncovers a new understanding of the trickster's function in the Hebrew
Bible. While traditional readings often «whitewash» the biblical characters exonerating them
of any wrongdoing modern scholars often explain these tales as significant at some earlier
point in Israelite tradition. But this study asks the question: what role does the trickster
have in the later pentateuchal setting? Considering the work of Victor Turner and the mythic
function of the trickster The Trickster Revisited explores the connections between tricksters
the rite de passage pattern marginalization and liminality. Marginalized individuals and
communities often find trickster tales significant therefore trickster stories often follow a
similar literary pattern. After tracing this pattern throughout the Pentateuch specifically
the patriarchal narratives and Moses' interaction with Pharaoh in the Exodus the book
discusses the meaning these stories had for the canonizers of the Pentateuch. The author argues
that in the Exile and post-exilic period as the canon was forming the trickster was the
perfect manifestation of Israel's self-perception. The cognitive dissonance of prophetic words
of hope and grandeur in light of a meager socio-economic and political reality caused the
nation to identify itself as the trickster. In this way Israel could explain its lowly state
as a temporary (but still significant) «betwixt and between» on the threshold of a rise in
status i.e. the great imminent kingdom predicted by the prophets.
