Metaphors of Renewal and Return in the Hebrew Bible and Today

The forced migrations in the eighth-sixth centuries BCE stimulated Israelite prophets, poets, and storytellers to find metaphors for the horrors of those recurring experiences. The surviving texts also show a concerted effort to visualize return and renewal, especially via metaphors of the renewal of nature, the revival of agriculture, urban reconstruction, and renewal of the temple cult, family, and (limitedly) kingship. The biblical texts, especially in the prophets, blend these metaphors to create theologically rich visions of human flourishing. As such, the texts in question provide important raw material for contemporary movements for renewal.