Of Fine Wine, Incense and Spices: The Unstable Masculine Hegemony of the Books of Chronicles

Is the double book of Chronicles in the Bible a solidly masculine zone, dominated by a seamless hegemony? This article suggests not. Making use of the theories of Louis Althusser, Antonio Gramsci and Antonio Negri on unstable hegemonies and constitutive resistance, the article looks for signs of trouble in the dominant hegemony of the text. It does so by exploring the utopian/dystopian ripples around a very phallic temple, the overdone camp of the mighty warriors, and the concern with crucial matters of cultic performance, such as utensils, cooking and interior design. In this respect, the study may be seen as another step not only in studies of masculinity, but in opening further new directions taken in the study of Chronicles in recent years.