|
by
Doug Ward |
If you have made a New Year's resolution to increase your vocabulary in 2025,
you have come to the right place. The professor has a new word for you:
illeism. Illeism is the act of referring to oneself in the third person.
In
our culture we tend to view illeism as a sign that either a person is
childlike-similar to Elmo on Sesame Street or Dobby the elf in the Harry Potter
stories-or is engaging in self-promotion, as some celebrities do. But there are
other circumstances in which illeism is used. When I refer to myself as
"the professor" above, I am both making a joke and presenting myself
as a credible source of information.
Illeism
is not a new thing; in fact, it appears frequently in the Bible. The first
example is in Genesis 4:23-24, where proud Lamech, in a show of bravado, makes
a declaration to his two wives about a man that he has killed. On the other
hand, when people humble themselves before God or a person in authority, they
may refer to themselves as "your servant" (e.g., in Genesis 18:3,5;
44:18, 32-33).
There
is an interesting example in Daniel 4, where King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
relates events from his life. He abruptly switches from first person to third
person in verses 28-33, where he describes the punishment he received for his
pride and arrogance. He uses illeism to distance himself from this "old
Nebuchadnezzar," to make clear that he is no longer that guy.
Illeism
is often used in passages where God is the speaker. Biblical scholar Andrew
Malone discusses several examples in his article "God the Illeist." A
typical one is in Isaiah 38:7, where God responds to King Hezekiah's prayer for
help by assuring him that "the LORD will do this thing that he has
promised." By referring to himself with his Hebrew name (translated
"the LORD" in English), he reminds Hezekiah of all the things
connoted by that name. It is as "the LORD" that God had rescued
Hezekiah's ancestors from slavery in Egypt, brought them to the Promised Land,
and watched over them faithfully ever since. God employs illeism here to remind
Hezekiah of his track record of keeping his promises to his covenant people.
Another
example is in Amos 4:11, where God chides the Israelites for not responding to
his correction. "I overthrew some of you," he says, "as when God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." In this case, God reminds Israel of the
phrase "God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah," which was an expression familiar
to the people. This phrase appears elsewhere in Isaiah 13:19 and Jeremiah
50:40, for instance. Today's writers would place the phrase in quotation marks.
All
of my illustrations have come from the Hebrew Scriptures. There is also lots of
illeism in the New Testament, where, in particular, Jesus typically refers to
himself as "the Son of Man." That is a subject for another article.
(Entire books have been written about it.) But the examples here are enough to
suggest that when we recognize illeism in the Bible and explore why it is being
used, our understanding of the Scriptures will increase. Better understanding
of the Bible is another worthy New Year's resolution.
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On 30 Dec 2024, 15:19.
