Everett Fox is a scholar and translator of the Hebrew Bible. A graduate of Brandeis University, he is also a Professor of Language, Literature and Culture at Clark University. He holds a variety of degrees in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, with his work focusing on aspects of Judaic studies such as translation.
Education and Professional Experience
In the 1960s and 1970s, Fox received a B.A, M.A and Ph.D in Near and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. He has also taught in congregations across a variety of English-speaking countries, and his work in translation of religious text has been used to help build Jewish literacy in the Jewish community.
Fox is also known as an author of various books focusing on religious text. The Jewish talent provider, Kolot Management, details the publishing of his book, The Five Books of Moses, in 1995. In addition, Fox also served as the religious consultant for the animated film, The Prince of Egypt, and collaborated with Schwebel, an American-Israeli artist who portrayed religious tales against the backdrop of Jerusalem in the 1980s.
Academic Work and Themes
Sibling related motif
Another area of Fox's work focuses on a common theme that is renowned in the Hebrew Bible- that is, the story of a character triumphing over their older sibling in some manner. Fox argues that this theme has inspired various interpretations throughout the works created through classical Jewish and Christian studies. He uses such examples as the heavy featuring of the neglect of first-born children in Genesis, a section of the Hebrew Bible.
Military Conflict and Magic
Fox's research has also, to some degree, focused on depictions of military conflict within religious scripture. This theme is focused on heavily in his 2014 publication, The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, which is a part of The Schocken Bible, Volume II. Fox directs the readers' attention to the theme of war by describing a section of the Book of Joshua that focuses on the conquest of Canaan. Fox details the evolution of the conflict from the charge of Yehoshua by YHWH (meaning Yahweh, the God of the Israelites), to the Israelites' arrival in Canaan. In "Waging War," the second part of The Early Prophets, Fox states that a section of the Book of Joshua focuses on the victimization of the Israelites through a ruse from the inhabitants of Giv'on, Upon discovery of the deceit, the inhabitants are attacked. The Israelites then proceed to force those same inhabitants west to a town called Makkeda.
